Book Review: Wahls Protocol

What kobo.com says:

An integrative approach to healing chronic auto-immune conditions by a doctor, researcher, and sufferer of progressive multiple sclerosis whose TEDx talk is already a web sensation.

Like many physicians, Dr. Terry Wahls focused on treating her patients’ ailments with drugs or surgical procedures—until she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000. Within three years, her back and stomach muscles had weakened to the point where she needed a tilt-recline wheelchair. Conventional medical treatments were failing her, and she feared that she would be bedridden for the rest of her life.

Dr. Wahls began studying the latest research on autoimmune disease and brain biology and decided to get her vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids from the food she ate rather than pills and supplements. Dr. Wahls adopted the nutrient-rich paleo diet, gradually refining and integrating it into a regimen of neuromuscular stimulation. First, she walked slowly, then steadily, and then she biked eighteen miles in a single day. In November 2011, Dr. Wahls shared her remarkable recovery in a TEDx talk that immediately went viral. Now, in The Wahls Protocol, she shares the details of the protocol that allowed her to reverse many of her symptoms, get back to her life, and embark on a new mission: to share the Wahls Protocol with others suffering from the ravages of multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune conditions.

What I Say: Upon my diagnosis I had several people reach out with advice. I had more than one person send me the TED Talk link for Dr. Terry Wahls’ video. I did watch the video (seen in my Nutrition Consultation blog post) and I downloaded The Wahls Protocol onto my kobo to start researching how to handle my MS sidekick with proper nutrition. I spent the past two months reading through this book. As it’s very scientific-based it took me a while as it definitely overloaded my brain with information. I am not completely following the diet entirely but am adapting principles slowly into my meal planning. It would be a shock for my body to go complete Wahls Paleo Plus so I’m definitely working on adapting meal planning ideas from the first diet level. There are three in total covered in the book. Wahls Diet, Wahls Paleo & Wahls Paleo Plus.

1. I’ve added daily seaweed consumption for Iodine

2. I’m trying more organ meat in my weekly protein consumption

3. I’m trying to increase my green vegetable consumption up to the 9 cups a day that she recommends. I’m probably at 4-5 right now. Kale salads for the win!

4. I’ve added more sulphur vegetables like onions & mushrooms into my diet.

If you suffer from an auto-immune disorder I highly recommend reading this book and seeing if you can take on one of three of her diet options into your lifestyle. She also covers toxic load, exercise & electricity, drugs, stress & recovery. I appreciate her research & way of writing about it so that it makes sense. I’m also going to be researching other MS diet books to compare. We are all unique in our makeup and we each need to find what works for us. What’s great is that Dr. Terry Wahls has received funding for clinical trials and has preliminary results on her site.

Happy Reading & Researching!

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