I have hit the 6 week mark of being on a modified version of Gerson Therapy! Woo-hoo! Six weeks doesn’t seem like much, but it has been a bit of an effort to reach this milestone. So, I wanted to show you what a day in my life is like right now while I’m in full-swing healing mode.
In case you don’t know my story, I’ll do a quick little recap: After years of increasing digestive pain and bloating, I was diagnosed with Celiac disease in 2011. In the years that followed I have tried every thing possible to heal the damage done to my gut, but it only got worse. I looked sick. I felt sick. My weight skyrocketed over those 3 years, my brain was foggy, I had fatigue, my stomach was in pain every day. As much as I trying to climb my way back to health, somehow I just kept slipping further and further back.
I started Gerson at my lowest health point – 6 weeks ago.
The first three weeks were the toughest. Adjusting to the strict diet is no easy feat – especially for a salt-addict like me. The Gerson therapy diet is a healing vegan diet, that includes fresh carrot/apple and green juices, hippocrates soup, coffee enemas and three big meals a day. The meals include a baked potato, cooked veggies, salads, a little flax seed oil and nothing else – strictly salt-free, fat-free and minimal spices and herbs.
I started walking most days, which I have had to build up to as I have felt better. Theres an hourly schedule to keep so it’s hard to get out of the house. On Saturdays and Sundays we head down to the farmers markets so I get out for about 45 minutes. But other than that it’s very isolating, and the house can start to feel like a prison!
One thing that has suprised me – how much digestive issues and ill health impact you mentally. Now that the fog is starting to lift in my head, it’s unbeleivable to me just how foggy my thinking was, and why trying to sit down and write even a simple blog post was such a task for me. I would often just end up slumped on my desk, head on my arm coming to the conclusion that I was a rubbish writer. The mental clarity I have right now is just astounding compared to before.
Okay, let me show you what a typical day looks like for me:
6:30AM: I wake up, reach over into my drawer and pull out a notepad and a pen: it’s time for my morning pages. Morning pages are three pages of unedited and uncensored thoughts, written in long hand first thing in the morning – from the book The Artists Way by Julia Cameron. The idea is to get it all out of your head so you don’t think about it all day. Usually my cat Cupcake will have climbed out of bed and onto my stomach/chest to get some morning snuggles while I do this.
7:00AM: I jump out of bed and head to the bathroom to roll out my yoga mat and towels for my morning enema. I start cooking some apples and baking a potato for breakfast and take my Chinese digestive herbs.
8:00AM: I make and eat breakfast: Grapefruit juice, a big bowl of fruit with applesauce mixed with bee pollen and a baked potato with some relish or dressing. I then read emails, figure out what work I have to do that day and get organised.
9:00AM: I make and drink my first green juice. I start work – it could be creating a recipe (I am currently working on my next eBook, Gluten-Free Vegan Survival Guide due out in a few weeks) or writing a blog post. Or I could be doing some kind of food prep for my meals, like making the soup or dressing, relish, etc.
10:00AM: Make and drink carrot apple juice
11:00AM: Make and drink green juice
12:00PM: Make and drink carrot apple juice and I start preparing lunch.
1:00PM: Eat hippocrates soup and lunch
2:00PM: Green juice
Finally some free time in the afternoon! If I have any errands I run them now.
4:00PM: Walk around the neighbourhood.
5:00PM: Put the baked veggies in the oven and/or on the stove for dinner and do coffee enema #2. Then shower and finish prepping dinner.
6:00PM: Make and drink carrot apple juice. Eat hippocrates soup and dinner.
7:00PM: Last juice of the day: green juice with a few supplements!
Finally done for the day! I will watch TV for a few hours and head to bed around 8:30PM to read and then lights out at 10.
Phew! Then rest up for the next day.
And this is the beautiful path I get to walk through every day:
