The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles Paperback – December 30, 2014

Wahls admits in her first book, Minding my Mitochondria, that before MS she didn’t put a lot of stock into nutrition as medicine, and like most other doctors, really didn’t know much about nutrition at all. She relied on medical science-based treatments and interventions, which put great emphasis on pharmaceuticals. It wasn’t until she developed MS and became incredibly disabled, with modern science absolutely letting her down, that she became open to the idea that nutrition might be used as medicine—indeed it became her last resort. So what makes Terry Wahls so special that we should give her our attention when there are so many others out there with diet books, protocols, and theories? Not only is Wahls an MD (that specializes in traumatic brain injury), not only is her protocol based on science at a very fundamental and cellular level, but she herself suffers from an autoimmune disease. She’s one of us! She not only has the tools, the training, and the knowledge-base to do what many of us are unable, and that is to sift through the hundreds and thousands of scientific journals and research articles to come up with a protocol that works, but she has the motivation. She has absolutely everything riding on this. Furthermore, she uses proceeds from her book sales to help fund research projects to actually test her interventions so they may be backed (or refuted) by hard science. I'm not aware of any other authors out there who do this. Talk is cheap, but action speaks volumes—Wahls is taking action and she has become an ambassador for each and every one of us who suffer from autoimmune disease. With so many books out there on how to beat autoimmune, with such contradictory theories and protocols, it can be very overwhelming! Dr. Wahls is like a beacon of light guiding so many of us through this storm of disease and contradictory information, and her book is a lifeline. What an incredible gift she has given to this world, thank you Dr. Wahls!Now it’s time for the book diet/lifestyle review:There are three levels to the diet, which I really like, because her 3rd tier is definitely NOT for everyone. There are many who simply wouldn’t do it no matter how good or scientifically proven it is. Having the two lower tiers is great because Wahls reduces her plan into the most important elements, leaving the additional interventions for those who are especially motivated. My husband and I started this diet two weeks ago, I follow the 3rd tier (Paleo plus) and my husband follows the 2nd tier (Wahls Paleo). With the exception of eating organ meat, we are following these protocols almost to the letter (working on incorporating the organ meat as well, however). I suffer from severe psoriasis (also HTN and obesity) and I’m hoping to eventually get off the immunosuppressive drugs and maintain clearance through diet, as well as achieve healthy BP/weight. This is what motivates me. My husband on the other hand, is healthy as an ox (except for HTN and obesity), so he has less motivation other than the fact that I prepare all of his meals, and do all of the shopping, so unless he wants to start cooking/shopping (though I don’t see that happening any time soon, ha ha), he’s stuck with what I give him. This is what motivates him. All of the dairy, grains, legumes, and processed foods either went into the garbage or were donated. I now fill our fridge/freezer with organic veggies, pasture-raised/organic/wild-caught beef/chicken/seafood, and fermented foods, and line our cabinets with cans of coconut milk.There is a definite learning curve with this diet, in how you shop, prepare food, what you eat, when you eat, how much you eat, etc., so if you do not have a lot of extra time/money/energy to get it all going right away, don’t get discouraged, just start working on one aspect at a time and incorporating that. Once you have a system down for that, then incorporate the next piece. Having a good blender for making smoothies is extremely helpful. My husband and I have dark leafy green smoothies every morning, with an additional protein source (such as a piece of chicken or beef). Because we are on different tiers, the actual ingredients of our smoothies vary, but both are incredibly nutritious and make for an easy way to start your day off with 2-3 cups of packed greens and a cup of berries. My smoothie is 3 cups packed dark leafy green (with preference for kale), 1 cup of organic berries, 1 can of whole coconut milk, and 1 tsp of spirulina. That’s it. It tastes like freshly mowed grass, lol… but when I’m drinking it, I tell myself it tastes like life, and I’ve actually acquired a taste for it.For our other meals I do a lot of stir fry, crockpot, salads, etc. I buy organic lettuce and cabbage on Sunday, wash it, shred it, and put it in a big plastic container with small holes drilled in the lid to allow for air. Then I put a damp paper towel over the salad mix, and it will keep for about 5 days in the fridge. I also cook up organic chicken breasts by braising on the stove, and then store those in the fridge. I then use the cooked chicken for quick salads and stir fries. Not having to deal with raw chicken for each meal preparation saves me a lot of time and cleanup. We don’t just have chicken though, we eat grass-fed beef, wild caught salmon, shrimp, and Tuna, and occasionally will have nitrite free bacon. I now cook with grass-fed ghee (clarified butter) or coconut oil, and save the olive oil for making vinaigrette. I also cook up whole organic chickens in the crock-pot, take off the meat, then let the bones and any chicken leftovers (such as the wings) simmer in the crock with some onions, garlic, celery, etc., overnight to make a quick and easy chicken stock.So when I first started this diet I went from having a constant low-energy state to being extremely lethargic, this is because I am doing the 3rd tier which aims to put you in a mild ketogenic state (fat-burn state instead of glucose-burn state). While your body is making adjustments, fatigue is a common side effect, so common in fact that it has a name: Low carb flu. If you jump into this diet with both feet like I did, be prepared that you may experience extreme fatigue at first, but rest assured this fog will lift, and leave you with more energy than you’ve had in a long time. Overall in the two weeks that I’ve been on this diet, my energy has increased dramatically. Lately I have been having so much energy that I don’t want to sit… I need to get up, I need to move around. I’ve started taking my dog on runs again, while I ride my bike. It’s a great feeling and one I haven’t had for a long time.Other tips: Some organic/wild caught items can be very expensive. I can’t say this for all of the Costcos out there, but at least for the Costco in my area (Central Cali) I can buy a big bag of pre-washed organic mixed dark baby greens, wild caught salmon/shrimp/tuna, organic chicken, and big 3 lb bags of frozen organic berries for a fraction of the price you would pay for these items at a regular grocery store. There are other items I buy at Costco as well, but these are the big ones. Costco membership is about $60/year, but if that is too expensive for your budget, you can have a friend with a Costco card purchase giftcards for you, and with that, you can shop without a membership. For my other organic produce, I go to a grocery store.Just two weeks into this diet, my husband and I are both losing weight effortlessly. At first my husband didn’t think he would lose weight, because we were eating things like ground beef, chicken with the skin on, veggies sautéed in ghee, and avocado on his salads… I said trust me… and sure enough, he is effortlessly losing weight (this is on tier two) without feeling hungry or deprived, and he has great energy, so he is finally really getting on board with this. At first, with all of the veggies, and lack of dairy/grains/legumes, he started to complain because he wasn’t happy with the meals. He said there wasn’t enough variation (but trust me, there was plenty of variation, and lots of thought put into our meals… he was just missing the variation that involved dairy/grains/legumes). So I had a “Meet Jesus” talk with him, and basically said I am putting a lot of effort into our meals, with all the shopping, cleaning and preparing of veggies/meat, and cooking, and then cleaning of dishes, and making his lunches, and getting up early to make his smoothies, and if he wanted to start adding back grains, dairy, processed foods to give him added "variety", I would do that, because I’m putting way to much work into this to not have it get appreciated, and those kind of foods are easier to prepare and store anyway, so it would save me a lot of time and effort. He said no, he didn’t want that… then I started reading excerpts from Wahl’s book to him, especially the part about how important veggies are (especially dark leafy greens and sulfer rich veggies). I’ve tried explaining some of this stuff to him, but no one says it more convincingly that Dr. Wahls! After that he was much more on board, and hasn’t complained once! And now that he is losing weight and feeling good, he’s starting to get really into the diet, and feel excited about it. I told him in 20 years when he has great health at 70, he is going to look back on this and thank me (and Dr. Wahls) for helping him maintain such robust health.I highly recommend Dr. Wahls’ book, and highly recommend this diet for everyone, autoimmune disease or no. This is a diet that will nourish every cell in your body. Will I ever be able to get off immunosuppressants and maintain clear skin? That remains to be seen. But thanks to Dr. Wahls I have hope that I will be able to. And as a side effect, my weight, BP, and overall health will improve.

I just don’t get it. I’m totally confused by the reviews that say this is just the Paleo diet or it’s just specific to MS. I almost didn’t buy the book because of this. I was on the Paleo diet for years and although I enjoyed it, I experienced mixed health results with it. I don’t have MS, but I have a number of other health problems that create fatigue, pain, inflammation and brain fog and I found this book immensely helpful and clearly actionable. She even gives you three levels so you can ease yourself into the transition.This protocol is very targeted in the types and quantities of foods she recommends you eat on a daily basis to meet the micronutrient requirements needed to effect physiological change. It’s also heavily plant based unlike some Paleo diets. So you don’t need to figure out what to eat to help you, you just have to get in the old pie hole! Not quite that simple, but she really has done the incredibly heavy lifting here. She has done the medical studies literature analysis, created a diet to reflect those findings, and demonstrated the efficacy of this diet beyond just herself, through the clinical trials that she has completed. Zip zero nada of the numerous Paleo or vegetarian books I’ve read have done this at the level that Dr Wahls has done. She tells you what to eat daily and why it’s so critical that you eat it and shares her entire protocol which includes some things beyond diet.I want to get well, so I appreciate a roadmap that lays a scientifically validated path for creating a wellness foundation. I find it incredibly hard to believe that anyone following this nutrient dense diet wouldn’t show some significant changes in measurable lab tests, physical functioning and overall quality of life within 1-3 months. I certainly hope to be a success story and I’m already noticing some positive changes.I find it interesting that Dr Wahls was a long-term vegetarian when she first contracted MS, then switched to a Paleo diet and continued to decline, also supplemented and slowed her decline and it wasn’t until she created a diet that included the majority of what she was taking in supplements in whole foods form that she started to see her symptoms reverse.So yes, the diet can be challenging, but what’s a LOT more challenging is being sick and missing out on your life. And the further I get in to the diet (I’m only on day 10) the easier I’m finding it to do.I know it can be difficult to be unwell and try to make behavioral changes, but please don’t let a few reviews that seem to not fully understand the protocol discourage you from moving forward. Try to just be directionally correct, not perfect in the beginning if it’s overwhelming. Taking small steps wherever you can does add up to meaningful change. Dr Wahls also offers a lot of free info on her website and social media channels. Ask for help from your family or maybe find a social media group for support. I’m so grateful that Dr Wahls chose to share what she’s learned on her path to recovery for only the price of a book.Finally, I purchased the Kindle version of this book in March, 2022 and all diagrams were clear and accessible. An older review mentioned that the Kindle version had problems with the charts being readable. Any problem that existed has been corrected.If your unwell, the Wahls protocol is something you need to seriously consider.