The Wahls Protocol: Book Review and Interview

This Wahls Protocol Book Review and Interview shares insights from the book and notes from our Primal Diet – Modern Health podcast interview.

Dr. Terry Wahls is a physician and researcher with MS.  Her book, The Wahls Protocol, shares how she reversed her MS with a gluten free Paleo Diet, supplements, exercise and E-Stim therapy.   It offers guidance for all auto-immune disorders, and for all of us learning to customize our diets.

One feature I like here is that Dr. Wahls offers three levels of diet.   Find the one that suits you or a family member best!

The “starter” diet (The Wahls Diet), and two versions of the Paleo Diet which lead progressively towards a high-fat ketogenic diet. The three levels offer clear help for anyone wanting to work with food and supplements, no matter what level they’re ready for.  Going gluten free for starters, or more ketogenic for the advanced folk.

This is a sizeable book, almost 400 pages, but it reads well and is formatted so you can find what you want easily and then enjoy thumbing through all the chapters. She offers starter Paleo meal plans, a few favorite Paleo Recipes (including Wahls fudge if you are losing too much weight on Paleo), and insights on supplements and smoothies. 

Dr. Wahls was a long-term vegetarian before being diagnosed in 2000, and her initial change to eating animal protein and fats along with quantities of vegetables brought her some help.  In pursuing the question of finding the micronutrients she needed without taking supplements, she went deeper into Paleo and found results.

I spoke with Terry in 2012 in this Interview.  This current podcast coincides with the pre-release of the new book, “The Wahls Protocol”.  There is useful advice on keeping a food diary, finding a Functional Medicine practitioner, a good chapter on exercise, specifics on MS, and plenty of info on the benefits of coconut oil and its abundant MCT’s (Medium Chain Triglycerides).

Dr. Wahls and I discuss coconut oil use and ketones, as humans did not evolve with access to coconut oil. If you want to understand more about ketones, your brain and muscle cells, you’ll enjoy this interaction.

There’s more here on weight loss, digestion, the immune system, and the perils of conducting medical research on non-drug protocols.  Dr. Wahls is a wealth of information, as both an enlightened physician and a dedicated patient.  Check out her 2011 TEDx talk on MS which went viral.

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