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Minding My Mitochondria: How I Overcame Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Got Out of My Wheelchair
Dr. Terry Wahls links micronutrient starvation to the epidemics of chronic disease that are overtaking modern society. She explains the key roles mitochondria play in maintaining a healthy brain and body. Americans are eating so poorly, something we all know to be true, that the majority of Americans are missing key building blocks that are needed for brain cells to be healthy. The result is an epidemic of depression, aggression, multiple sclerosis and early dementia. She then teaches you how to eat for healthy mitochondria, a healthy brain and a healthy body in language that is clear and concise, even for those without a science background. In this book, Dr. Wahls explains basic brain biology in simple terms. She tells us what vitamin, mineral and essential fat building blocks are needed by the mitochondria and other key structures in the brain. Then she explains what foods are good sources for those key nutrients. Over a hundred recipes are provided to help get you started on this new way of eating. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be used to fund research into the benefits of these interventions in others.
236 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 27, 2017
Minding My Mitochondria is a book by Dr. Terry Wahls, a doctor who learns how to treat her MS with diet and lifestyle change.
I personally love her books. Anyone can gain knowledge about living healthy and this is a must read for anyone with autoimmune disorders as diet and lifestyle play a huge role in all of them. Micronutrients is one very important key.
5*****
I personally love her books. Anyone can gain knowledge about living healthy and this is a must read for anyone with autoimmune disorders as diet and lifestyle play a huge role in all of them. Micronutrients is one very important key.
5*****
March 7, 2012
I was very unsure about this diet at first, as it seemed to clash so strongly with so many of the wonderful health and diet books I had been reading.
Wahls recommendation of a low fat diet that was also very low in saturated fat is the opposite of what highly respected lipid expert Mary Enig PhD recommends, and what is recommended - based on a ton of very convincing evidence - in so many other great books based on maintaining or regaining health through eating the diet our bodies have evolved to do best on, such as Primal Body- Primal Mind, Primal Blueprint, The Perfect Health Diet, Eat Fat-Lose Fat, The GAPS diet and others.
So when a friend told me that in fact Dr Wahls has very much changed her stance on fats and saturated fat and now recommends cooking with healthy fats such as coconut oil, butter/ghee (from grassfed cows) and lard, I was really happy to hear it!
With that one big issue resolved, this is a diet that tallies hugely with what some of the very best experts in this field are saying and combines the best of what many excellent nutrition books have to say into one dietary plan that I feel is really the best diet out there for anyone battling a serious disease. It is just excellent. I recommend following it if you are ill, very highly.
Patients need to read up online about the changes Wahl has made in addition to reading this book, or else just get the information of the diet online while making sure it is up-to-date. (I hope so much that those that have written very pro-low fat fat diet comments about this book on the reviews page will read this updated information somehow. The right fats in the diet are so essential for healing, and for proper mitochondrial function.)
The book recommends eating soy products, rice and potatoes and also recommends a low-fat diet. The current diet plan does not support adding these foods to the diet and is a high-fat diet; high in healthy fats. It is a low-sugar and starch, dairy-free, gluten-free and soy-free diet that minimises or eliminates grains, legumes and potatoes. (Some of us need to completely eliminate these. I know I do.)
Wahls writes, 'Raw dairy still has casein (protein) that looks like gluten to our immune system. That means raw milk still stimulates immune system problems. For those with food allergies / sensitivities it is still a major problem. Once sensitized - always sensitized. I avoid and strongly urge all with an a chronic disease or autoimmune disease to AVOID. Gluten grains - wheat, rye, barley, and the protein in dairy - can lead to an over active immune reaction -- which then can lead to autoimmune problems, asthma, rashes, mood problems and more. For many going gluten free, dairy free is the beginning of better health. Going fully paleo (no grain and no legumes) for many will lead to even more vitality. But for most - it is a transition that may take several weeks or months. It is ok to start small, but do start the journey..'
Wahls' current diet plan, as best as I can work it out, is as follows:
* Eating 9 cups of non-starchy vegetables and berries each day (3 cups each of greens, sulfur containing veggies, and colourful veggies) is essential. Choose organic and/or grow your own if you can.
* It is okay to take in some of your 9 cups in the form of freshly pressed juices.
* Eating good quality grass-fed/free-range/organic meats daily is essential.
* Cook with natural fats such as coconut oil, lard and clarified butter/ghee.
* Eating organ meats such as liver is recommended at least once a week. Liver is very important for B vitamins. Cooked medium rare is best.
* Bone broths are recommended daily. They are full of minerals and help heal the gut.
* Eating seaweed once a week or more is recommended.
* Eating nuts/seeds or nutritional yeast is recommended daily, including coconut milk.
* Eating sprouts is recommended, such as broccoli sprouts.
* Eating fermented foods such as unpasturised sauerkraut is recommended.
* Eggs are recommended, although people with autoimmune diseases should not have egg whites due to a problematic protein in the egg white. (They should be eliminated at first and added back after a few weeks, and only eaten if there is no reaction to them. Same with nightshades)
* Eating small amounts of honey or cocoa is okay, and so is eating natural flavourings in food such as spices and ginger.
* Getting enough Omega 3 fatty acids and not too many Omega 6s is important, so Omega 6 containing oils should be minimised and fish oil capsules taken, and foods such as hemp oil, seafood and flax oil eaten. The best ratio is 3:1.
Other helpful things:
* Vitamin D should be over 50 ng/ml and under 100 ng/ml. (Take a test every 1- 3 months and take 4000 IU vitamin D3 daily, or more if needed. 150 ng/ml is toxic.).
* Having daily quiet time is important, to calm down our adrenals. Meditation, massage, nature and family time is also important.
* Epson salt baths, melatonin and herbal teas can help sleep.
* Minimise toxin exposure and quit smoking.
* B complex supplements or sulphur amino acids may be helpful (under a doctor's direction).
* Heavy metal testing and treatments such as clay baths and facial clay masks and saunas may be helpful.
* A good quality water filter is essential.
Wahls also supports ideas such as:
* Supplements can in some cases be helpful, but they can never replace a nutrient dense and healthy diet. A proper diet must always come first. Foods contain many beneficial cofactors and other compounds not included in supplements and many that we have not yet even discovered or named.
* Getting evaluated for potential food allergies, toxic load issues and more personalised nutritional needs by a practitioner of functional medicine is a very good idea. The Institute for Functional Medicine can help you find a provider in your area.
* Drugs are not the answer. Let food, good wholesome food be thy medicine.
* "Between the unexpected, unpleasant events in our lives and our response to those events is a space, and in that space we have a choice in deciding what our response will be. We can either give up or get up each day and do our best."
* "Epigenetics is how your environment talks to your genes. Our cells are capable of reading the state of our environment and activating or deactivating genes. This means that, based on the choices we make, we can turn on genes for health or turn off those health-promoting genes. In other words, it is your health behaviors such as diet and activities, that determine whether the health-promoting or the health-robbing genes are active. For some conditions, such as cystic fibrosis or hemophilia, our genes are an important factor, often the cause of the disease. But for the obesity, heart disease, mental health and autoimmune epidemics that are driving up the cost of health care in the U.S. and around the world, there are no single genes that are the culprit. Instead, for each of these problems, multiple genes are involved, and they interact in a complex way with the environment."
* We need to stop blaming our genes for our illnesses and work on making the best of the 70% that is under our control.
* "Yes, it does cost more to eat vegetables. But you will pay the price either way--for food that restores your health and vitality or for doctor visits, drugs, surgery and loss of work due to health problems."
* "Functional medicine is really looking at health of the cell. And what can we do to help the individual make the environment for their cells, an environment for doing the biochemistry life more ideal. So that comes down to the fruit you eat or do not eat, the quality of the air you breathe, the water you drink, the toxic load that is in your body is a result of the exposure you had over a lifetime because if you couldn't get the toxins out the day you were exposed to them, they get parked in your fat and did you know that your brain is 70% fat? So if you can't get the toxins out you had today with your whatever your exposure was, you're parking it in your fat and your brain which is going to create havoc over time."
Hard to argue with any of that! I agree with all of it. Most of the above are quotes from Dr Wahls, from her many websites.
Functional or holistic medicine just makes so much sense. It treats the actual cause of diseases, rather than just blindly drugging everything and focusing on endlessly chasing and minimising symptoms.
There are 3 basic principles of the type of medicine discussed by Wahls and others in this same field:
A. Get the good stuff in. Give your body the fuel and tools it needs to work at an optimum level. Good food, nutrients and all the proper vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Make sure you aren't deficient in any of the major nutrients as the different nutrients all work together.
B. Get the bad stuff out. Make sure your body can detoxify out all the toxic substances and toxic by-products of bodily processes properly. Stop as many toxins from getting in in the first place, and do things which aid detoxification to get rid of the ones you have.
C. Reduce your body's total load. The total load concept is that lessening the body's overall burden/work and stress level in one area, will improve health generally and improve the body's ability to heal because the body's total load (or burden) is lessened. Fixing one problem frees up bodily resources that can be then be used to help other parts of the body function getter or to heal. In other words, you need to look at the body as a whole in order to heal, and not just the one part of the body that is generating the most symptoms.
------
A special note to M.E. patients on the Wahls protocol:
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis is a neurological disease similar in some ways to MS, which also causes demyelination and mitochondrial dysfunction.
For those with my particular neurological disease, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, it is important that activity levels be kept always within very strict limits, or else relapse will occur. (Death is also a risk in M.E. if overexertion is severe. This is not about symptoms or feeling fatigued, but a problem of cardiac insufficiency, reduced circulating blood volume and POTS and so on which is very serious and non-negotiable. Overexertion always causes a worsening of the disease.) But of course activity levels can and should be raised slowly to keep in line with health improvements in M.E. - this is something that happens naturally anyway.
For those unfamiliar with the disease, many M.E. patients are housebound and almost entirely bedbound (and far too ill to use wheelchairs for even small periods of time in a day or week) and limited with even basic communication and reading; which is also part of why I am trying hard to summarise the work of Wahls for them as much as possible. 30 minutes of gravity opposing exercise is probably a great recommendation for almost everyone but should be ommited by M.E. patients unless they can do this without becoming more ill or symptomatic.
Also, Wahls says: 'It is common to have some level of detoxification (more fatigue, headache) in the first week which resolves and then improves markedly by week two.' I would say that for M.E. patients this statement is not quite right and is an enormous understatement. M.E. patients will often have quite severe healing reactions to supplementation and changes in diet. These can be severe enough to make a patient no longer able to feed themselves or do other tasks of daily living, as well as leave them in agony. They can also last FAR longer than just a week!
It is important for anyone ill to make the dietary changes gradually, and for patients with M.E. this caution should be taken very seriously. Jumping in with both feet too fast could leave you very very ill for months afterward. Healing reactions are a good sign that healing is occurring, but need to be controlled so they don't become overwhelming. Switch to the full diet over a few months at least. Slowly but surely is the way to go! Improvements will almost certainly be slow too, so patience is necessary there as well, especially when the illness has been severe for many years or even several decades or more.
M.E. patients will also often do far better eating cooked veggies rather than raw, which can be too difficult and painful for us to digest. (For more M.E. patient-specific tips and cautions see the HFME website.)
-------
This diet is described as an MS diet, but really this diet is the diet we have all evolved to be best suited to. All of us need such a nutrient-dense and low-toxicity diet, and so I hope people with all sorts of diseases look into the Wahls diet and not just those with neurological diseases. The diet can also help where there is not yet a correct diagnosis. We all need the right amounts of the nutrients that enable healing, no matter what disease we have.
For some people following this diet plan will be enough, but for others a higher level of intervention will be required in addition to the diet. The first step toward healing has to be an excellent diet and good gut health, combined with minimising toxin exposures. If more help is needed then, as Wahls explains, it is best to see a Functional/Holistic medicine expert so that it can be determined what extra supplements or other supports you may need. The key is learning about your own 'biochemical individuality.' There are so many tests now which can be done to determine where your detoxification pathways are failing, which nutrients you need more of or have problems utilising or why your gut is still not functioning right.
For those that can't find or can't afford to see a Functional/Holistic medicine expert, or cannot see any medical expert due to being housebound etc., an excellent companion to Wahls book are the books by Functional/Holistic medicine experts such as Dr Sherry Rogers. Dr Rogers tells you exactly which tests may help you, how to treat more complex gut problems and how to go about following a more intensive detoxification regime involving a detox cocktail and FIR sauna use. Dr Rogers books are to some extent `do-it-yourself' health books but ideally Dr Rogers recommends that you get well with the help of a qualified practitioner that will be able to order the appropriate tests for you, and also help you interpret them.
Dr Sherry Rogers writes in `Detoxify or Die',
`I have to laugh when people ask me if I do alternative, herbal, acupuncture or holistic medicine. 'No,' I reply. 'We do state-of-the-art medicine. In other words, we find the biochemical, nutritional and environmental causes and cures rather than blindly drugging everything. Sure, herbs are gentler, safer and more physiologic than drugs and holistic medicine attempts to incorporate many diverse modalities, etc. But there is no substitute for finding the underlying biochemical causes and cures. This is real medicine. This is where medicine should and would have been decades ago, if it had not been abducted by the pharmaceutical industry.'
Following a super-high-quality diet is also the foundation of Dr Rogers' treatment plan and so starting with the Wahls diet (which is the best there is) and then moving on (if necessary) to follow Dr Rogers' advice on advanced detoxification techniques just makes so much sense. The best book of hers to start with is Detoxify or Die. It is just brilliant and very easy to read as well. It has so much good information and support for sauna use and so much more. Her book 'The Safe, Effective Way to Prevent and Heal Chronic Gastrointestinal Disorders' is also excellent.
In addition to books by Dr Sherry Rogers I'd also recommend books and articles by Dr Lawrence Wilson (particularly his book on sauna use), Dr Klenner, Dr Abram Hoffer, Andrew Saul, Sally Fallon and Mary Enig and any and all of the vitamin C and orthomolecular experts such as Linus Pauling and Dr Thomas Levy. Other excellent books on diet and nutrition (with huge amounts in common with the Wahls diet) include Primal Body-Primal Mind, The Primal Blueprint, The Perfect Health Diet and Deep Nutrition as well as books on the GAPS diet for the treatment of dysbiosis and a diet-based plan to heal the gut.
Gut health is so important and if gut health is poor, then your body can't properly use all the wonderful nutritious food you are eating. Many of us need to heal the gut first of all, and this may at first involve supplements such as Betaine HCL, enzymes and probiotics, as well as dietary changes, as these books explain. All of these books, along with Wahls book, are far more than just standard Paleo diet books.
Combining the excellent Wahls diet with the advice on detoxification by Dr Rogers (including the use of an FIR sauna and a daily detox cocktail and 'oil change' nutrients and digestive supports) has seen me finally start to slowly improve my health this last year and a half. I'm slowly improving month by month from a very severe neurological disease - thanks in part to the work of Dr Wahls and Dr Rogers, and others like them - that has left me housebound and almost entirely bedbound for many years. I have been housebound and almost entirely bedbound (and far too ill to even use a wheelchair, or even the phone) for over 10 years and I got ill when I was just 19. Getting slowly worse and worse year after year was terrifying, especially when I was so ill and disabled already.
I wish so much I had had this information early on in my disease, rather than coming to it more than 10 years in. Healing is so much easier the earlier you start it.
I wont know how much of my damage is irreversible until I improve a lot more (a LOT more I hope!) and find out where I plateau. But for those that have been ill 'only' 5 or 7 years or less, or that are not severely ill, I do think these approaches could be curative or very close to it. At the very least they will undo as much damage as can be undone.
My big dream is to get to a 30% function level, where I can live independently.... I'm still so far away from that currently, but I am at least making slow but sure progress now! Being able to cook a little this last year after 8 years or more not being able to even make myself a cup of tea has been just so wonderful. Cooking myself an egg is a joyful experience! It is so wonderful to now each month be getting small UNsymptoms and UNdisabilities!
I have learned so much about health that I would never have known if I had not become so ill and been forced to learn it!
The Wahls Foundation is a nonprofit organisation that hopes to raise funds to do research on this diet. Buying this book helps fund their research. The book is mostly recipes and reading more of her ideas online is so helpful. I'd highly recommend watching all her free videos online (watch out for the loud sound on some of them - ouch!), plus her FB page and blog and website. They are all so helpful.
Dr Wahls is the real deal and is clearly motivated by a genuine desire to help ill people improve their health. I wish her and her Foundation all the best and thank them for all their wonderful work. This is real cutting edge medicine.
Best wishes for future health to anyone still reading this far!
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Wahls recommendation of a low fat diet that was also very low in saturated fat is the opposite of what highly respected lipid expert Mary Enig PhD recommends, and what is recommended - based on a ton of very convincing evidence - in so many other great books based on maintaining or regaining health through eating the diet our bodies have evolved to do best on, such as Primal Body- Primal Mind, Primal Blueprint, The Perfect Health Diet, Eat Fat-Lose Fat, The GAPS diet and others.
So when a friend told me that in fact Dr Wahls has very much changed her stance on fats and saturated fat and now recommends cooking with healthy fats such as coconut oil, butter/ghee (from grassfed cows) and lard, I was really happy to hear it!
With that one big issue resolved, this is a diet that tallies hugely with what some of the very best experts in this field are saying and combines the best of what many excellent nutrition books have to say into one dietary plan that I feel is really the best diet out there for anyone battling a serious disease. It is just excellent. I recommend following it if you are ill, very highly.
Patients need to read up online about the changes Wahl has made in addition to reading this book, or else just get the information of the diet online while making sure it is up-to-date. (I hope so much that those that have written very pro-low fat fat diet comments about this book on the reviews page will read this updated information somehow. The right fats in the diet are so essential for healing, and for proper mitochondrial function.)
The book recommends eating soy products, rice and potatoes and also recommends a low-fat diet. The current diet plan does not support adding these foods to the diet and is a high-fat diet; high in healthy fats. It is a low-sugar and starch, dairy-free, gluten-free and soy-free diet that minimises or eliminates grains, legumes and potatoes. (Some of us need to completely eliminate these. I know I do.)
Wahls writes, 'Raw dairy still has casein (protein) that looks like gluten to our immune system. That means raw milk still stimulates immune system problems. For those with food allergies / sensitivities it is still a major problem. Once sensitized - always sensitized. I avoid and strongly urge all with an a chronic disease or autoimmune disease to AVOID. Gluten grains - wheat, rye, barley, and the protein in dairy - can lead to an over active immune reaction -- which then can lead to autoimmune problems, asthma, rashes, mood problems and more. For many going gluten free, dairy free is the beginning of better health. Going fully paleo (no grain and no legumes) for many will lead to even more vitality. But for most - it is a transition that may take several weeks or months. It is ok to start small, but do start the journey..'
Wahls' current diet plan, as best as I can work it out, is as follows:
* Eating 9 cups of non-starchy vegetables and berries each day (3 cups each of greens, sulfur containing veggies, and colourful veggies) is essential. Choose organic and/or grow your own if you can.
* It is okay to take in some of your 9 cups in the form of freshly pressed juices.
* Eating good quality grass-fed/free-range/organic meats daily is essential.
* Cook with natural fats such as coconut oil, lard and clarified butter/ghee.
* Eating organ meats such as liver is recommended at least once a week. Liver is very important for B vitamins. Cooked medium rare is best.
* Bone broths are recommended daily. They are full of minerals and help heal the gut.
* Eating seaweed once a week or more is recommended.
* Eating nuts/seeds or nutritional yeast is recommended daily, including coconut milk.
* Eating sprouts is recommended, such as broccoli sprouts.
* Eating fermented foods such as unpasturised sauerkraut is recommended.
* Eggs are recommended, although people with autoimmune diseases should not have egg whites due to a problematic protein in the egg white. (They should be eliminated at first and added back after a few weeks, and only eaten if there is no reaction to them. Same with nightshades)
* Eating small amounts of honey or cocoa is okay, and so is eating natural flavourings in food such as spices and ginger.
* Getting enough Omega 3 fatty acids and not too many Omega 6s is important, so Omega 6 containing oils should be minimised and fish oil capsules taken, and foods such as hemp oil, seafood and flax oil eaten. The best ratio is 3:1.
Other helpful things:
* Vitamin D should be over 50 ng/ml and under 100 ng/ml. (Take a test every 1- 3 months and take 4000 IU vitamin D3 daily, or more if needed. 150 ng/ml is toxic.).
* Having daily quiet time is important, to calm down our adrenals. Meditation, massage, nature and family time is also important.
* Epson salt baths, melatonin and herbal teas can help sleep.
* Minimise toxin exposure and quit smoking.
* B complex supplements or sulphur amino acids may be helpful (under a doctor's direction).
* Heavy metal testing and treatments such as clay baths and facial clay masks and saunas may be helpful.
* A good quality water filter is essential.
Wahls also supports ideas such as:
* Supplements can in some cases be helpful, but they can never replace a nutrient dense and healthy diet. A proper diet must always come first. Foods contain many beneficial cofactors and other compounds not included in supplements and many that we have not yet even discovered or named.
* Getting evaluated for potential food allergies, toxic load issues and more personalised nutritional needs by a practitioner of functional medicine is a very good idea. The Institute for Functional Medicine can help you find a provider in your area.
* Drugs are not the answer. Let food, good wholesome food be thy medicine.
* "Between the unexpected, unpleasant events in our lives and our response to those events is a space, and in that space we have a choice in deciding what our response will be. We can either give up or get up each day and do our best."
* "Epigenetics is how your environment talks to your genes. Our cells are capable of reading the state of our environment and activating or deactivating genes. This means that, based on the choices we make, we can turn on genes for health or turn off those health-promoting genes. In other words, it is your health behaviors such as diet and activities, that determine whether the health-promoting or the health-robbing genes are active. For some conditions, such as cystic fibrosis or hemophilia, our genes are an important factor, often the cause of the disease. But for the obesity, heart disease, mental health and autoimmune epidemics that are driving up the cost of health care in the U.S. and around the world, there are no single genes that are the culprit. Instead, for each of these problems, multiple genes are involved, and they interact in a complex way with the environment."
* We need to stop blaming our genes for our illnesses and work on making the best of the 70% that is under our control.
* "Yes, it does cost more to eat vegetables. But you will pay the price either way--for food that restores your health and vitality or for doctor visits, drugs, surgery and loss of work due to health problems."
* "Functional medicine is really looking at health of the cell. And what can we do to help the individual make the environment for their cells, an environment for doing the biochemistry life more ideal. So that comes down to the fruit you eat or do not eat, the quality of the air you breathe, the water you drink, the toxic load that is in your body is a result of the exposure you had over a lifetime because if you couldn't get the toxins out the day you were exposed to them, they get parked in your fat and did you know that your brain is 70% fat? So if you can't get the toxins out you had today with your whatever your exposure was, you're parking it in your fat and your brain which is going to create havoc over time."
Hard to argue with any of that! I agree with all of it. Most of the above are quotes from Dr Wahls, from her many websites.
Functional or holistic medicine just makes so much sense. It treats the actual cause of diseases, rather than just blindly drugging everything and focusing on endlessly chasing and minimising symptoms.
There are 3 basic principles of the type of medicine discussed by Wahls and others in this same field:
A. Get the good stuff in. Give your body the fuel and tools it needs to work at an optimum level. Good food, nutrients and all the proper vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Make sure you aren't deficient in any of the major nutrients as the different nutrients all work together.
B. Get the bad stuff out. Make sure your body can detoxify out all the toxic substances and toxic by-products of bodily processes properly. Stop as many toxins from getting in in the first place, and do things which aid detoxification to get rid of the ones you have.
C. Reduce your body's total load. The total load concept is that lessening the body's overall burden/work and stress level in one area, will improve health generally and improve the body's ability to heal because the body's total load (or burden) is lessened. Fixing one problem frees up bodily resources that can be then be used to help other parts of the body function getter or to heal. In other words, you need to look at the body as a whole in order to heal, and not just the one part of the body that is generating the most symptoms.
------
A special note to M.E. patients on the Wahls protocol:
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis is a neurological disease similar in some ways to MS, which also causes demyelination and mitochondrial dysfunction.
For those with my particular neurological disease, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, it is important that activity levels be kept always within very strict limits, or else relapse will occur. (Death is also a risk in M.E. if overexertion is severe. This is not about symptoms or feeling fatigued, but a problem of cardiac insufficiency, reduced circulating blood volume and POTS and so on which is very serious and non-negotiable. Overexertion always causes a worsening of the disease.) But of course activity levels can and should be raised slowly to keep in line with health improvements in M.E. - this is something that happens naturally anyway.
For those unfamiliar with the disease, many M.E. patients are housebound and almost entirely bedbound (and far too ill to use wheelchairs for even small periods of time in a day or week) and limited with even basic communication and reading; which is also part of why I am trying hard to summarise the work of Wahls for them as much as possible. 30 minutes of gravity opposing exercise is probably a great recommendation for almost everyone but should be ommited by M.E. patients unless they can do this without becoming more ill or symptomatic.
Also, Wahls says: 'It is common to have some level of detoxification (more fatigue, headache) in the first week which resolves and then improves markedly by week two.' I would say that for M.E. patients this statement is not quite right and is an enormous understatement. M.E. patients will often have quite severe healing reactions to supplementation and changes in diet. These can be severe enough to make a patient no longer able to feed themselves or do other tasks of daily living, as well as leave them in agony. They can also last FAR longer than just a week!
It is important for anyone ill to make the dietary changes gradually, and for patients with M.E. this caution should be taken very seriously. Jumping in with both feet too fast could leave you very very ill for months afterward. Healing reactions are a good sign that healing is occurring, but need to be controlled so they don't become overwhelming. Switch to the full diet over a few months at least. Slowly but surely is the way to go! Improvements will almost certainly be slow too, so patience is necessary there as well, especially when the illness has been severe for many years or even several decades or more.
M.E. patients will also often do far better eating cooked veggies rather than raw, which can be too difficult and painful for us to digest. (For more M.E. patient-specific tips and cautions see the HFME website.)
-------
This diet is described as an MS diet, but really this diet is the diet we have all evolved to be best suited to. All of us need such a nutrient-dense and low-toxicity diet, and so I hope people with all sorts of diseases look into the Wahls diet and not just those with neurological diseases. The diet can also help where there is not yet a correct diagnosis. We all need the right amounts of the nutrients that enable healing, no matter what disease we have.
For some people following this diet plan will be enough, but for others a higher level of intervention will be required in addition to the diet. The first step toward healing has to be an excellent diet and good gut health, combined with minimising toxin exposures. If more help is needed then, as Wahls explains, it is best to see a Functional/Holistic medicine expert so that it can be determined what extra supplements or other supports you may need. The key is learning about your own 'biochemical individuality.' There are so many tests now which can be done to determine where your detoxification pathways are failing, which nutrients you need more of or have problems utilising or why your gut is still not functioning right.
For those that can't find or can't afford to see a Functional/Holistic medicine expert, or cannot see any medical expert due to being housebound etc., an excellent companion to Wahls book are the books by Functional/Holistic medicine experts such as Dr Sherry Rogers. Dr Rogers tells you exactly which tests may help you, how to treat more complex gut problems and how to go about following a more intensive detoxification regime involving a detox cocktail and FIR sauna use. Dr Rogers books are to some extent `do-it-yourself' health books but ideally Dr Rogers recommends that you get well with the help of a qualified practitioner that will be able to order the appropriate tests for you, and also help you interpret them.
Dr Sherry Rogers writes in `Detoxify or Die',
`I have to laugh when people ask me if I do alternative, herbal, acupuncture or holistic medicine. 'No,' I reply. 'We do state-of-the-art medicine. In other words, we find the biochemical, nutritional and environmental causes and cures rather than blindly drugging everything. Sure, herbs are gentler, safer and more physiologic than drugs and holistic medicine attempts to incorporate many diverse modalities, etc. But there is no substitute for finding the underlying biochemical causes and cures. This is real medicine. This is where medicine should and would have been decades ago, if it had not been abducted by the pharmaceutical industry.'
Following a super-high-quality diet is also the foundation of Dr Rogers' treatment plan and so starting with the Wahls diet (which is the best there is) and then moving on (if necessary) to follow Dr Rogers' advice on advanced detoxification techniques just makes so much sense. The best book of hers to start with is Detoxify or Die. It is just brilliant and very easy to read as well. It has so much good information and support for sauna use and so much more. Her book 'The Safe, Effective Way to Prevent and Heal Chronic Gastrointestinal Disorders' is also excellent.
In addition to books by Dr Sherry Rogers I'd also recommend books and articles by Dr Lawrence Wilson (particularly his book on sauna use), Dr Klenner, Dr Abram Hoffer, Andrew Saul, Sally Fallon and Mary Enig and any and all of the vitamin C and orthomolecular experts such as Linus Pauling and Dr Thomas Levy. Other excellent books on diet and nutrition (with huge amounts in common with the Wahls diet) include Primal Body-Primal Mind, The Primal Blueprint, The Perfect Health Diet and Deep Nutrition as well as books on the GAPS diet for the treatment of dysbiosis and a diet-based plan to heal the gut.
Gut health is so important and if gut health is poor, then your body can't properly use all the wonderful nutritious food you are eating. Many of us need to heal the gut first of all, and this may at first involve supplements such as Betaine HCL, enzymes and probiotics, as well as dietary changes, as these books explain. All of these books, along with Wahls book, are far more than just standard Paleo diet books.
Combining the excellent Wahls diet with the advice on detoxification by Dr Rogers (including the use of an FIR sauna and a daily detox cocktail and 'oil change' nutrients and digestive supports) has seen me finally start to slowly improve my health this last year and a half. I'm slowly improving month by month from a very severe neurological disease - thanks in part to the work of Dr Wahls and Dr Rogers, and others like them - that has left me housebound and almost entirely bedbound for many years. I have been housebound and almost entirely bedbound (and far too ill to even use a wheelchair, or even the phone) for over 10 years and I got ill when I was just 19. Getting slowly worse and worse year after year was terrifying, especially when I was so ill and disabled already.
I wish so much I had had this information early on in my disease, rather than coming to it more than 10 years in. Healing is so much easier the earlier you start it.
I wont know how much of my damage is irreversible until I improve a lot more (a LOT more I hope!) and find out where I plateau. But for those that have been ill 'only' 5 or 7 years or less, or that are not severely ill, I do think these approaches could be curative or very close to it. At the very least they will undo as much damage as can be undone.
My big dream is to get to a 30% function level, where I can live independently.... I'm still so far away from that currently, but I am at least making slow but sure progress now! Being able to cook a little this last year after 8 years or more not being able to even make myself a cup of tea has been just so wonderful. Cooking myself an egg is a joyful experience! It is so wonderful to now each month be getting small UNsymptoms and UNdisabilities!
I have learned so much about health that I would never have known if I had not become so ill and been forced to learn it!
The Wahls Foundation is a nonprofit organisation that hopes to raise funds to do research on this diet. Buying this book helps fund their research. The book is mostly recipes and reading more of her ideas online is so helpful. I'd highly recommend watching all her free videos online (watch out for the loud sound on some of them - ouch!), plus her FB page and blog and website. They are all so helpful.
Dr Wahls is the real deal and is clearly motivated by a genuine desire to help ill people improve their health. I wish her and her Foundation all the best and thank them for all their wonderful work. This is real cutting edge medicine.
Best wishes for future health to anyone still reading this far!
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
March 4, 2012
Like probably everyone else reading this book right now, I heard of Terry Wahls by getting a link to her Ted talk:
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxIo...
In the talk she advocates the consumption of 9 cups of vegetables every day. This basic rule formed an important part of her surprising recovery from progressive MS (progressive MS is the kind you're not supposed to recover from).She went from being wheel-chair bound to doing long-distance bike rides.
Important caveats: The nine cups of vegetables were only a PART of Wahls' improvement in health. She also followed a regime that included muscular electrical stimulation, a still very experimental form of treatment for MS. She also takes significant supplements of algae and uses clay treatments and epsom salt baths, all for detoxification.
And perhaps most importantly, Wahls repeatedly says in this book that she's not trying to prescribe her regime as a definite, one-size-fits-all, miracle cure for MS or anything else. She's a medical doctor, so she repeatedly explains why it will be a long time before any of the results she got can be clinically reproduced. She also emphasizes repeatedly that context will vary from patient to patient, and each reader of the book needs to consider their own particular problems and resources. And she warns that they simply may not get the same results.
Ok, that said, I still think this book is a worthwhile read. I don't have MS myself, but I have family members with chronic health problems. One of my family members saw the TED talk, and was impressed enough to get interested. Eager to be of help, I immediately ordered and read the book.
As a book, this one's got limitations. It's self-published and it could really benefit from a professional editor. It's clear *enough* for a public lecture, or a set of seminar hand-outs, but its clarity as a book could be much improved. It would be nice if Wahls considered bringing out a third edition with a major for-profit press that could provide some of those services for her.
However, the information it contains is riveting. Starting with a basic biology lesson on the mitochondria, the part of each human cell responsible for the creation of energy, the removal of toxins, and "equipment replacement" (ie, deciding when cells live and when they die), the book goes on to detail how both nutrients and toxins affect this functioning. One of Wahls' basic premises is that vegetables -- especially dark greens and colorful vegetables -- provide micronutrients to the mitochondria in a way that is more efficient and simply higher volume than any number of vitamin supplements could ever be. Plus, she raises the point that there are plenty of micronutrients that we need, that science knows nothing about, and those are also available through food and not through supplements. Her secondary recommendation follows from these two ideas: She recommends that we consume only wild-caught fish, grass-fed meats, because grain-fed animals haven't had the proper nutrition either, and so provide little nutrition to those who consume them. She also recommends the regular consumption of (ick!) organ meats.
In sum, her basic recommendation: that we get rid of the refined sugars, refined grain products, and mass-manufactured foots in our diets and replace them with a nonstop variety of vegetables plus some grazing meat, wild-caught fish, and organ meats. Her book provides reasonably convincing scientific reasons for why this will create *some* improvements in almost everyone's life. I think the most enjoyable part of the book, in fact, was learning all of the various factors that contribute to brain function and energy levels in humans.
At the end of the book, I was convinced enough to commit to making major changes in my own diet (my god -- the kale! the kale!). About half the book is vegetable-intensive recipes to get you started on this road. (there are also food blogs aplenty, too, to help you out in this regard. Just start googling "sauteed kale" and you'll see what I mean).
But just as importantly, after reading this book I was intellectually stimulated enough to seek out some of the other books on nutrition that she recommends. Wahls is a smart woman who has a deep knowledge of and real passion for thinking about how food and toxins affect the human body, and that comes through quite clearly, even in this poorly edited book.
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxIo...
In the talk she advocates the consumption of 9 cups of vegetables every day. This basic rule formed an important part of her surprising recovery from progressive MS (progressive MS is the kind you're not supposed to recover from).She went from being wheel-chair bound to doing long-distance bike rides.
Important caveats: The nine cups of vegetables were only a PART of Wahls' improvement in health. She also followed a regime that included muscular electrical stimulation, a still very experimental form of treatment for MS. She also takes significant supplements of algae and uses clay treatments and epsom salt baths, all for detoxification.
And perhaps most importantly, Wahls repeatedly says in this book that she's not trying to prescribe her regime as a definite, one-size-fits-all, miracle cure for MS or anything else. She's a medical doctor, so she repeatedly explains why it will be a long time before any of the results she got can be clinically reproduced. She also emphasizes repeatedly that context will vary from patient to patient, and each reader of the book needs to consider their own particular problems and resources. And she warns that they simply may not get the same results.
Ok, that said, I still think this book is a worthwhile read. I don't have MS myself, but I have family members with chronic health problems. One of my family members saw the TED talk, and was impressed enough to get interested. Eager to be of help, I immediately ordered and read the book.
As a book, this one's got limitations. It's self-published and it could really benefit from a professional editor. It's clear *enough* for a public lecture, or a set of seminar hand-outs, but its clarity as a book could be much improved. It would be nice if Wahls considered bringing out a third edition with a major for-profit press that could provide some of those services for her.
However, the information it contains is riveting. Starting with a basic biology lesson on the mitochondria, the part of each human cell responsible for the creation of energy, the removal of toxins, and "equipment replacement" (ie, deciding when cells live and when they die), the book goes on to detail how both nutrients and toxins affect this functioning. One of Wahls' basic premises is that vegetables -- especially dark greens and colorful vegetables -- provide micronutrients to the mitochondria in a way that is more efficient and simply higher volume than any number of vitamin supplements could ever be. Plus, she raises the point that there are plenty of micronutrients that we need, that science knows nothing about, and those are also available through food and not through supplements. Her secondary recommendation follows from these two ideas: She recommends that we consume only wild-caught fish, grass-fed meats, because grain-fed animals haven't had the proper nutrition either, and so provide little nutrition to those who consume them. She also recommends the regular consumption of (ick!) organ meats.
In sum, her basic recommendation: that we get rid of the refined sugars, refined grain products, and mass-manufactured foots in our diets and replace them with a nonstop variety of vegetables plus some grazing meat, wild-caught fish, and organ meats. Her book provides reasonably convincing scientific reasons for why this will create *some* improvements in almost everyone's life. I think the most enjoyable part of the book, in fact, was learning all of the various factors that contribute to brain function and energy levels in humans.
At the end of the book, I was convinced enough to commit to making major changes in my own diet (my god -- the kale! the kale!). About half the book is vegetable-intensive recipes to get you started on this road. (there are also food blogs aplenty, too, to help you out in this regard. Just start googling "sauteed kale" and you'll see what I mean).
But just as importantly, after reading this book I was intellectually stimulated enough to seek out some of the other books on nutrition that she recommends. Wahls is a smart woman who has a deep knowledge of and real passion for thinking about how food and toxins affect the human body, and that comes through quite clearly, even in this poorly edited book.
August 20, 2013
I've been captivated by Dr. Wahls ever since watching her TED talk. Her story is among the most amazing I've seen demonstrating the power of real food.
Her book is on the short side - about a third of it is recipes. But the information provided within is very worthwhile to someone just getting started with real food or someone who has been doing this for awhile and wants a little more in depth information on specific nutrients.
I am disappointed that she doesn't have a problem with soy given all the evidence against it, and I'm also disappointed that she doesn't place much value on eggs (presumably due to her own allergy). I would love to see some marriage of GAPS protocol and the Wahls protocol because it seems that each could benefit from the other. Still, you can't argue with her results!
Her book is on the short side - about a third of it is recipes. But the information provided within is very worthwhile to someone just getting started with real food or someone who has been doing this for awhile and wants a little more in depth information on specific nutrients.
I am disappointed that she doesn't have a problem with soy given all the evidence against it, and I'm also disappointed that she doesn't place much value on eggs (presumably due to her own allergy). I would love to see some marriage of GAPS protocol and the Wahls protocol because it seems that each could benefit from the other. Still, you can't argue with her results!
May 14, 2016
Not only for those with MS but for anyone who is suffering from chronic disease: an outline of the author's research and experimentation on her own health, which was surprisingly successful. The book is unfortunately full of typos and other small errors, but also gives a message of practical hope that can be summed up as
Eat lots of vegetables (9 cups a day of various kinds)
Eat fish
Use a special kind of electric muscle stimulation
Her next book is more polished and probably more completely researched, but this one is practical and shows the author's development of her ideas. Interesting and potentially life-changing.
Eat lots of vegetables (9 cups a day of various kinds)
Eat fish
Use a special kind of electric muscle stimulation
Her next book is more polished and probably more completely researched, but this one is practical and shows the author's development of her ideas. Interesting and potentially life-changing.
May 14, 2012
There is some great information in here, particularly how the Kreb's Cycle and related work together in the body. It simply explains mitochondria and how they function, but 2/3 of the book is really a glorified recipe book. If you're new to mindful eating and nutrition, you may find this beneficial, but I didn't. I was particularly turned off by some of the recommendations, for example, incorporating grains, tofu, and legumes in the diet when these are particularly irritating foods.
July 23, 2018
Want to have a better life? Energy, immune system, weight loss, muscles? Read this book and then overhaul your diet.
August 23, 2014
Patron Review:
Very simply, this book digs into the causes of MS as the sub-cell level by a medical practitioner who wouldn't take no for an answer. Her investigation of the mitochondrial issues that cause this neuromuscular disease led her to a diet that centered on the consumption of 9 cups daily of three kinds of vegetables: Dark greens, yellows, and purples as well as a variety of fruits. She also discovered that one really needs a full-spectrum of whole food sources of vitamin B that are essential for neurological health. In addition to dark greens, she recommends a weekly helping of organic liver to get the range of B vitamins.
The book contains an accessible explanation of the mitochondria and how the common US consumption of processed foods, sugars, and other carbohydrates causes MS and other neuromuscular diseases. I was given the book because I have been diagnosed with early stage Parkinson's and have been very critical of the common practice of dispensing very disturbing drugs to deal with the symptoms but not the causes of this degenerative disease.
June 2, 2013
Very informative in regards to how nutrients in food play a role in overall health. Easy to understand format of which foods to eat to get the essential vitamins and minerals our bodies need. I don't have a problem with gluten so many of the recipes are irrelevant, but I can change them for my needs. Overall it is good for the nutrition information and what foods to eat to maximize health. I can incorporate the recommended foods easily into my daily intake.
September 12, 2012
I saw a TedX talk given by Dr. Wahls and became fascinated with her views on diet and health. The book adds more information and detail about her diet and how the body uses nutrients. I recommend this book for anyone interested in better health, and especially for those who are struggling with some type of auto-immune disease.
August 16, 2012
Fascinating, new views on nutrition's role in maintaining good health, as well as in treatment of chronic diseases. I've heard that studies are being (or will be) conducted to confirm Dr. Wahl's theories and claims as applied to treating MS. Exciting! Also, delicious smoothie recipes!
March 14, 2016
No matter if you choose to follow none, a portion or all of the aspects of the Wahl Protocol, this book is filled with incredible ground breaking scientific information you will want to know about and consider for creating a health regimen for your personal needs.
June 10, 2013
CHANGED my life.
October 29, 2013
The most practical book for MS that I have read.. the supplements are not overwelming and it makes sens!
June 8, 2014
I suppose since I already know her message this brings nothing new very few extra details. Even though I have heard she use more then food and lifestyle changes.
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