ITHACA - Sometimes Bert Scholl just wants a cheeseburger.
David Wilcox / The Citizen
Bert Scholl, an Auburn native, prepares one of his daily juice requirements at his home in Ithaca. Rather than pursue radiation and chemotherapy for his cancer, he is treating himself with Gerson Therapy. For this treatment he must consume 20 pounds of produce each day, which he prepares using a $2,500 Norwalk juicer because this machine uses less heat thus preserving the fruits and vegetables' enzymes.
Bert Scholl, an Auburn native, prepares one of his daily juice requirements at his home in Ithaca. Rather than pursue radiation and chemotherapy for his cancer, he is treating himself with Gerson Therapy. For this treatment he must consume 20 pounds of produce each day, which he prepares using a $2,500 Norwalk juicer because this machine uses less heat thus preserving the fruits and vegetables' enzymes.
Having stuck to a fastidious diet of fruits, vegetables and select other vegan items since mid-May, Scholl often fights cravings for the fattier fixtures of his prior eating habits.
For others, indulging in those cravings might not be so important to their health. But for Scholl, diet is a life or death issue.
In March, Scholl, an Auburn native, was diagnosed with T3 rectal cancer. Rather than pursue the radiation and chemotherapy commonly advised by American doctors, Scholl is treating himself with Gerson Therapy.
Named for the German doctor who developed it in the early 20th century, the therapy takes an alternative approach to healing by prescribing a heavy diet of fruits and vegetables to detoxify one's system. It specifically calls for Scholl to drink 10 juices a day: pear juice at 8 in the morning, followed by green juice at 9 a.m., carrot juice at 9:30 a.m., and a combined seven more glasses of the latter two juices throughout the day.
“They taste good, but the green juice took some getting used to,” Scholl said. “Every single food and juice in there is based on curing degenerative diseases.”
Each juice is prepared from the raw ingredients by hand using a Norwalk juicer. The $2,500 machine - which Bert and his wife, Daniela, purchased expressly for the therapy - compresses the foods with a minimum of heat. Not only does the absence of heat preserve the foods' living enzymes, the pressure of the machine releases even more by collapsing their cell walls.
One glass of juice requires about 10 minutes of preparation on Scholl's part.
“It's more like three to seven minutes for someone who knows what they're doing,” Scholl joked.
Since starting the therapy, Scholl has found support implementing it from a rotating crew of 20 friends. Each one may take a morning or afternoon out of the week to prepare a juice, or stop at a grocery store to purchase the 20 pounds of produce Scholl ingests each day. He also has an arrangement with a local organic farmer to pick up the 35 weekly gallons of used produce from his house for her compost heaps.
The schedules of Scholl's helpers are maintained by an online calendar.
“Without their support, I couldn't do it,” he said. “It's an honor to have the privilege to heal yourself naturally, and I don't take their generosity lightly.”
Outside of the juice regimen, Scholl's daily food intake includes oatmeal with stewed raisins, a baked potato, fat-free organic yogurt, a piece of toast, fresh fruit and vegetables and Hippocrates soup (consisting of tomatoes, potatoes, leeks, onions and celery root). Every week he is permitted a “special treat” - a bag of popcorn.
Although this menu totals between 2,500 and 3,000 calories - Scholl is by no means starving - it leaves little room for variety.
“It gets old quick,” he said.
The radical structure of a diet designed to detoxify one's system has put Scholl through recurring fatigue, leg pain and fleeting bouts of flu and acne.
“But people said I'll get used to it; there comes a point when you stop resisting,” he said.
He experienced the most difficulty with the adjustment during his three-week stay at the Baja Nutri Care Clinic in Tijuana, where Scholl started Gerson Therapy. In between lengthy periods of rest as the juices cleansed his body of its toxins, Scholl learned more about the treatment. He met Charlotte Gerson, the therapy pioneer's daughter, whom the juice regimen cured of leukemia at the age of 12.
Fellow patients staying at the center at the same time as Scholl have since felt the therapy's power firsthand. One patient with stage-four melanoma cancer has since seen all four tumors disappear from his body, and another has beaten bone cancer thanks to the treatment.
Scholl still communicates monthly with the Gerson Center in San Diego as he monitors his cancer at home with Dr. Janet O'Shae, who does not endorse the treatment but respects Scholl's decision to pursue it.
Since starting the therapy, Scholl's cancer has shown zero growth. He attributes the slower progress than his fellow patients to a subdued treatment due to his sensitive stomach, which cannot tolerate the salsa that is a part of other Gerson diets. But Daniela believes the absence of any growth is still a significant accomplishment.
"It's very atypical for there to have been no growth, because by the Western model there has been no treatment," said Daniela Scholl.
With progress already to show for the first four of 24 months of treatment, Scholl believes that the long-term benefits of his therapy will outweigh the short-term satisfaction of a snack.
"It's a constant practice of letting go of how life should be and living inside the commitment," he said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
Scholl's progress
To keep up to date on the progress of Bert Scholl's Gerson therapy, visit http://bertscholl.blogspot.com.
For others, indulging in those cravings might not be so important to their health. But for Scholl, diet is a life or death issue.
In March, Scholl, an Auburn native, was diagnosed with T3 rectal cancer. Rather than pursue the radiation and chemotherapy commonly advised by American doctors, Scholl is treating himself with Gerson Therapy.
Named for the German doctor who developed it in the early 20th century, the therapy takes an alternative approach to healing by prescribing a heavy diet of fruits and vegetables to detoxify one's system. It specifically calls for Scholl to drink 10 juices a day: pear juice at 8 in the morning, followed by green juice at 9 a.m., carrot juice at 9:30 a.m., and a combined seven more glasses of the latter two juices throughout the day.
“They taste good, but the green juice took some getting used to,” Scholl said. “Every single food and juice in there is based on curing degenerative diseases.”
Each juice is prepared from the raw ingredients by hand using a Norwalk juicer. The $2,500 machine - which Bert and his wife, Daniela, purchased expressly for the therapy - compresses the foods with a minimum of heat. Not only does the absence of heat preserve the foods' living enzymes, the pressure of the machine releases even more by collapsing their cell walls.
One glass of juice requires about 10 minutes of preparation on Scholl's part.
“It's more like three to seven minutes for someone who knows what they're doing,” Scholl joked.
Since starting the therapy, Scholl has found support implementing it from a rotating crew of 20 friends. Each one may take a morning or afternoon out of the week to prepare a juice, or stop at a grocery store to purchase the 20 pounds of produce Scholl ingests each day. He also has an arrangement with a local organic farmer to pick up the 35 weekly gallons of used produce from his house for her compost heaps.
The schedules of Scholl's helpers are maintained by an online calendar.
“Without their support, I couldn't do it,” he said. “It's an honor to have the privilege to heal yourself naturally, and I don't take their generosity lightly.”
Outside of the juice regimen, Scholl's daily food intake includes oatmeal with stewed raisins, a baked potato, fat-free organic yogurt, a piece of toast, fresh fruit and vegetables and Hippocrates soup (consisting of tomatoes, potatoes, leeks, onions and celery root). Every week he is permitted a “special treat” - a bag of popcorn.
Although this menu totals between 2,500 and 3,000 calories - Scholl is by no means starving - it leaves little room for variety.
“It gets old quick,” he said.
The radical structure of a diet designed to detoxify one's system has put Scholl through recurring fatigue, leg pain and fleeting bouts of flu and acne.
“But people said I'll get used to it; there comes a point when you stop resisting,” he said.
He experienced the most difficulty with the adjustment during his three-week stay at the Baja Nutri Care Clinic in Tijuana, where Scholl started Gerson Therapy. In between lengthy periods of rest as the juices cleansed his body of its toxins, Scholl learned more about the treatment. He met Charlotte Gerson, the therapy pioneer's daughter, whom the juice regimen cured of leukemia at the age of 12.
Fellow patients staying at the center at the same time as Scholl have since felt the therapy's power firsthand. One patient with stage-four melanoma cancer has since seen all four tumors disappear from his body, and another has beaten bone cancer thanks to the treatment.
Scholl still communicates monthly with the Gerson Center in San Diego as he monitors his cancer at home with Dr. Janet O'Shae, who does not endorse the treatment but respects Scholl's decision to pursue it.
Since starting the therapy, Scholl's cancer has shown zero growth. He attributes the slower progress than his fellow patients to a subdued treatment due to his sensitive stomach, which cannot tolerate the salsa that is a part of other Gerson diets. But Daniela believes the absence of any growth is still a significant accomplishment.
"It's very atypical for there to have been no growth, because by the Western model there has been no treatment," said Daniela Scholl.
With progress already to show for the first four of 24 months of treatment, Scholl believes that the long-term benefits of his therapy will outweigh the short-term satisfaction of a snack.
"It's a constant practice of letting go of how life should be and living inside the commitment," he said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
Scholl's progress
To keep up to date on the progress of Bert Scholl's Gerson therapy, visit http://bertscholl.blogspot.com.
Citizen
Hot Jobs
New! Off the Menu
The Citizens' Say
Post your comment - click hereThere are No comments posted.