Some Vitamin Advice: Gerson Therapy and Lemonade Therapy for Kidney Stones

For those that know me, I am the worlds worst at remembering vitamins.  I honestly do good to get 3 of the 4 packs in a day, and miss various things here and there along the way in between.  But, I started drinking juices that were recommended by the Gerson Therapy so my labwork was always fine.  Only my D was out of range, and then about a 15 months out I started having citrate problems that causes kidney stones.

Well, I stopped drinking my juices because of the expense... and guess what happened?  My labs tanked.  Badly.  Vitamin A: horrible (night vision affected), Vitamin D: still low, Vitamin K: low for the first time ever, B12: so low they wondered how I got out of bed.  Citrate: still low and another 10 mm stone grew.

So, moral of this story:  If you are a horrible vitamin taker DON'T GET THE DS. If you are a half-way vitamin taker, drink some juices to help.

After my kidney doctor found out about my lab levels after I stopped juices, he recommended I add "lemonade" Therapy to help my citrate levels.  Basically, you need to drink the juices from four lemons a day (or organic juice in a bottle equivilant to that).  

Since you absorb the vitamins/minerals within the first 20 minutes of consumption, and it does not have to go thru the digestion process down the bowel (since it is juice it is absorbed without the work) juices are the best way to get vitamins quick with our DS system.

So now I am a human guinea pig instead of a hot pink poodle.  In two months they will test my labwork again.  I will try to take my vitamins better, and I will add my juices back to my diet, plus the lemonade to help prevent kidney stones. 

I recommend my DS pals think about juices to help them, especially if you are at goal.  I was drinking 32 oz total of equal parts ORGANIC carrot and ORGANIC apple juices a day.  Fresh pressed if you can get it, if not bottled works. And I incorporated a dish called Hippocrates soup into my weekly routine.  You can bet I am going to do it again.  May even increase my juices, because of the vitamin A issue.

For your reference:  www.gerson.org and http://www.treating-cancer-alternatively.com/Hippocrates-Sou p.html

Hope I am the only stupid person that this has happened to, but if not hope this info helps someone.

Have a happy healthy New Year!

what juices do you drink?

It's so interesting to read your post.  I just saw the documentary, "Dying to Have Known" about the Gerson Therapy.  And you've had positive results with their juices.  I cannot see when I drive at night . . .  I think it was Hippocrates who said, "Let thy food be thy medicine"!  I'm not at goal yet, so maybe I should wait to do the juices.  As a matter of fact, my weight loss has been slow and disappointing, until I got this anal fissure 5 weeks ago (I've lost 15 lbs.).

Anyway, I'll at least check out the method for now.  Thanks,

Interesting. About 6 to 8 weeks post-op I began craving orange juice and lemonade. Now I keep a half gallon of each in the frig for when I need it. I notice that I felt so much better on the days that I have one small 6 oz. glass of either as a morning snack. I know that fruit juices are generally frowned upon when in the active weight loss phase post-op. However I was progressing fairly slow with solid foods and don't generally consume more than 400-500 calories a day anyway... so I figured one small glass of juice a day probably wouldn't sabotage my weight loss. Plus fruit juice or half a fruit smoothie seem to especially help on the days that I hit the gym and exercise.

Regardless, I always take my vits and I skip the juice anytime my stomach is more agreeable to regular food. Thanks for the links. Checking them out right now. 

I drink 32 oz of carrot and apple juice.  Equal parts each, all organic.  The Gerson Therapy recommends much more, and they recommend you squeeze your own.  I have been buying Bolthouse and mixing it with Organic Apple juice from Sprouts.

I also wanted to mention about eating sprouts and sea weed.   My research showed that if you eat 1/4 cup of broccoli sprouts it contains as much vitamins as a whole field of full grown broccoli.  So since we can only eat a small amount, we get more bang for our buck with sprouts.  Also, sea weed is full of minerals we need and 1/4 cup of that a day will help us immensely.  I haven't been eating my sprouts either, but I am starting to grow them now.  I get my seeds from sproutpeople.org.   I highly recommend the French Garden Mix, Organic Broccoli, and Beanies Awesome Mix (I put garlic pepper on it and eat it like popcorn).

I eat raw nuts, and soak them for a bit to wake them up first so that I get all the good stuff out of them.  My favorite is a mix of raw Almonds, Pepitas (pumpkin seeds), and peanuts.  I like this mix better than roasted and salted any day.

Also, found something from the Dr. Oz show that recommended Chia seeds.  I bought some and they are easy to eat.  They do swell so I was leery on my tummy.  But, with the vitamin list they include for the 1 tsp serving, you can't beat it.  http://www.herbco.com/p-928-chia-seed-whole.aspx  You can eat them like sprouts too, and even a quick soak before you eat it will wake up the seed and give you more nutritional benefit.   I bought my Chia seeds from a store called Sprouts in the bulk section for 7.50 a lb.  My whole family puts it on oatmeal.  But I just read on the above link it goes well in a lemonade drink, so I may try that and kill two birds with one stone.

Also found a site http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php that has the "worlds best food list" that includes nutritional information about the best foods for what vitamin/mineral you are looking for.

You know how they say eat to live, don't live to eat?  As a DSer, you really have to take that to heart. 

Oh, and regarding losing weight and juicing.  There is a movie about a guy on Netflix and he juiced his way down the scale, so it can work for some.  Think the movie is called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.  If you have hit a stall it might give you a kickstart, but that depends on how your body handles carbs.

Interesting post.  I've bookmarked it for future reference.  Thanks.

That's very interesting! I have a friend who has a smoothie store, she made me a wheatgrass, apple apple and mango smoothie over the holidays and I added a big scoop of protein powder - it was delish! But i have to admit i was a bit wary of the carbs in it! I might have one more often as she does a lower sugar version for the carb conscious and she lets me add my own protein powder lol

My MIL is a PCP in Germany and they are big believers in using nutrition for healing/medical purposes, she recommends various organic herbal teas and supplements regularly in addition to conventional drugs. She is a big believer in the power of "you are what you eat"

Happy New Year
Yorkie xx