After a few months of learning about Gerson Therapy, mom (Dr. Alicia Melendez) was incorporating juicing and detox in her day to day. Little did my brother and I know that we would be getting a crash course in nutrition. As a nine year old girl I had no idea what was coming my way. I remember growing up with lots of fruits and veggies but it wasn’t Gerson.
Despite having lots of fruits and veggies, I remember sugary cereals, white bread and ice cream sundaes too. One morning I went to serve myself a bowl of cereal and opened our pantry only to see it empty. I closed it thinking that when I re-opened it that it would magically be full. No such luck. My cereals were gone. We were introduced to Gerson in a very real and personal way. As kids we weren’t detoxing but my mother decided that we would eat as clean and green as possible. Thank goodness she did this.
Little by little I was given carrot and apple juices. I was then taught how to use the Norwalk juicer. Let’s just say that I had my fair share of carrot on the ceiling and juice cloths that exploded on me. Note: never over pack a juice cloth. One day my mom gave me a bucket…you know. I think I was about 12 when this was presented to me as a solution for my headaches. I wouldn’t get them often but often enough that my mother thought it would be a good idea to introduce me to her friend N. Ema Bouqet.
Once I started I did them periodically. As soon as I felt a headache come I knew what to do. We always had coffee. There was always distilled water and now I had my own bucket. As I got older these headaches went away but I will always be grateful that my mother gave me the tools to teach me how to take care of myself. I don’t recall any negative association with the bucket. On the contrary, I still look at my bucket and all I can think of is “relief.”
I clearly remember Charlotte Gerson once say that a newborn’s health isn’t based on how the baby ate while in utero but rather on what the mother ate as a child. In other words, the baby is eating from what the mother can give him at a cellular level from when she was a babe herself. My mind was blown. I hadn’t become a mother yet but what she said greatly impacted me and made me even more grateful for what my own mother had done for me as a child.
There are so many obstacles our children and grand children will face such as toxicity in the environment and pesticides. It’s never too early (or too late) to start eating green for a future of well being.