Terry Wahls in 2007
As a former Tae Kwan Doe national champion, Dr. Terry Wahls knew what it was like to be supremely fit. In 2000, though, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease without a cure, and her future looked bleak. Going to the best MS center in the country and taking the latest drugs provided no help. By 2003 she was in wheelchair and on chemotherapy and it looked she would, in not very distant future, be bedridden.
Facing a bleak future, she did what many people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome do: she stopped relying solely on doctors and began researching the latest findings on PubMed, the big medical literature database. She didn’t just look at MS, though; she looked at diseases that feature neurodegeneration such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in which, like MS, the brain actually shrinks.
Time and time again the word ”mitochondria” popped up in her research. After finding that fish oil, CoQ10, and creatine protected mouse brains she started taking those supplements. Her rate of decline actually decreased, but she was still declining.
Neuroprotection for the Brain
Encouraged, she looked further and came upon protocols developed by the Institute for Functional Medicine to provide neuroprotection for the brain.
Supplements
- Protect Myelin (the covering of the nerves) — Vitamins B1 (thiamine), B9 (folate), B12 (cobalamin), Iodine, Omega-3 fatty acids). (It’s not clear that myelin problems occur in ME/CFS. Baraniuk’s GWS findings suggested that they might, but his central finding did not include myelin disruption.)
- Help Out Neurotransmitters – sulfur, Vitamin B6
- Mitochondria – provide the energy for the brain with B vitamins, sulfur, antioxidants. (Several studies do suggest the mitochondria in the brain may be affected in chronic fatigue syndrome.)
Food
Greens make up a major part of Dr. Wahls protocol
Recognizing that science was probably missing many vital nutrients, Dr. Wahls focused next on foods to feed her brain. Using a pre-agricultural hunter-gatherer diet as a model she created a simple diet plan: three cups (a plateful) of green leaves, three cups of sulfur-rich vegetables, three cups of other colored vegetables, and three cups of grass feed beef, organ meat, and seaweed.
- Greens are rich in B-vitamins, and she noted that lowly kale has the most nutrition per calorie of any plant. Beside helping the brain, sulfur helps the liver and kidneys detoxify the body. Sulfur-rich vegetables include cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, turnips, rutabagas, onions, leeks, garlic, mushrooms, and chives.
- Colored Vegetables – Add three cups of other colored vegetables and fruits (beets, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, parsnips, berries, peaches, etc.) to increase antioxidants.
- High Quality Protein – Eat high quality protein to get omega-3 fatty acids (wild fish such as salmon), grass fed beef, and organ meats (liver, tongue, etc.)
- Seaweed – Eat seaweed at least once a week to provide iodine and selenium to help the myelin and remove toxins.
Dr. Wahls recognized that most Americans can’t imagine eating three plates of green vegetables and fruits every day given the grain-heavy diet they currently consume. But she noted that food allergies and sensitivities, which she believes run rampant in our population, often disappear on this diet. She made special notice of the problems that gluten can cause.
Minding Your Mitochondria by Terry Wahls
She believes a wide variety of disorders and problems can be reduced or eliminated by being on a hunter-gatherer type diet.
The Fight Against MS Continues
Despite the attempts of doctors at the best MS centers in the U.S., by 2007, Dr. Wahls, by that time too weak to sit up, was spending most of her time in a zero-gravity reclining chair. She was able to walk only short distances.
She began her hunter-gatherer diet. Four months later she could walk throughout the hospital without a cane. After five months, to her own and others’ amazement, she was back on her bike. At 12 months she pedaled 18 miles. The next year, hale and hearty, she did a trail ride in the Canadian Rockies.
Could it really be so simple? For some people it is; Dr. Wahls went from crippled to healthy by radically changing her diet.
It’s an amazing story of the dramatic effects that food can have on some people. We’ve seen some of these stories before. There was the young woman with several autoimmune disorders who’s health improved dramatically on a restrictive diet (but who’s not well.) We saw a young boy overcome crippling rheumatoid arthritis through a diet change. We know that everyone doesn’t respond so well to diet changes, but when diet changes work the results can be very dramatic.
In 2011, Dr. Wahls reported that a small three-month trial incorporating her diet, muscle stimulation, and supplements resulted in improvement in five MS patients, although two declined. Neither the Multiple Sclerosis Society or the NIH have approved grants to fund clinical trials, partially because they prefer to fund trials focusing on one medication or therapy (instead of a complex diet/supplement and muscle therapy trial). She has a book coming out next year with all proceeds go to research in this area, and she’s attempting to produce a bigger trial.
Could this very simple but different diet work or help in ME/CFS? It’s a question to grapple with. If anyone has tried it or something similar let us know.
Didn’t she use Minocycline as well?
Maybe before she got well? I didn’t catch any antibiotics in her talk.
Minocycline has a beneficial effect which has nothing to do with whehther it can “kill germs.”
It has been investigated in ALS. If there are final results, I don’t know what they are or were.
My diet is healthy and I follow all these suggestions that the experts say will cure you. They don’t. I am so tired of reading articles that suggest if the ill would just change they would be cured. While proper diet will help a person to feel better or have more energy the overall illness will still be there. Of course if a person eats candy all day long they are going to be worse off. I am happy for any person who feels that they are doing so much better that they are “cured”, really I am; but certainly these people must not be as ill as those of us who do everything they can to feel better and yet we are still ill.
I think they just have a different problem, Cathy. Dr. Wahl had to sit in a gravity chair because she couldn’t sit up. She couldn’t walk more than a few paces. She was very, very ill (after being very athletic.). She thought she would be bedridden soon. She just happened to find something that worked for her. She had a different problem than you. I dare say, though, that I’ve never tried a diet that restrictive for three or six months. It makes me wonder..
When my fibromyelgia got so bad I had to take pain medication to get through the day I started researching the use of diet and supplements as well as what medications had been shown to improve FM symptoms. High dose thiamine and electrolyte replacement helped but I still was in constant pain. I then eliminated gluten, sugar and all processed food from my diet. After less than 2 weeks I noticed an improvement in my pain and a reduced requirement for pain medications. Now after 6 months of elimination of all gluten, sugar and processed foods I am off all medications. I lost over 30 pounds without trying and am again able to live the life I want. I am active and pain free. I also take antioxidents, B vitamins and cortisol supporting supplements. If I inadvertently ingest gluten or food additives I have a flare up that resolves in a couple of days providing I am careful of my intake. I am so thankful that I have my life back and urge anyone with FM to change their diet and see if they do not also get relief.
Wow – congratulations Theresa! Thanks for passing that on.
Aren’t the most sulfur-rich vegetables a problem for some of us with partial methylation blocks? I am very vague about the science here–something about the trans-sulfuration pathway?
for years i take Stress-B Complex with MSM with CoQ10 and so ill i can’t stand it from living with M.E.! i’m not strong enough to SNEEZE or turn over in bed without panting for air! if i do ANYTHING, i become MORE ill! MOVEMENT is our enemy!!!
I like her approach. I think it may be essential to be very strict in what we do not eat as well as to include the things she says are essential. I have tried a bit of this and a bit of that…but now I may try her regimen. lol..We will see how that goes. Maybe ‘a handle on this disease’ is all I may get for now, but that is more than I have at present. Good article.
http://www.terrywahls.com/
It’s quite a diet, takes alot of discipline and probably takes months to show results. I imagine few can get through it. I’m definitely adding more veges to my diet, cutting down on grains more…Cutting out gluten has helped with my bloating…I did that a couple of months ago and it wasn’t that difficult, actually.
Do you recall the recent hints on the gut`s probable involvement with this?
In recent years research has suggested that the gut is our second ” brain”.
This mode of eating will assist the gut also.
So maybe this diet repairs both, and hence general functionality.
The repaired gut will provide and process the necessary nutrients for this to take place.
That’s so good. I think also it’s interesting to know Terry firstly tried the Paleo diet with no real results. So she had to tweak it to increase the nutrient load.
I went on a hunter/gatherer diet and cut out wheat several years ago. My health improved a lot and I am known for my cheese and butter sandwhich (two slices of hard cheese with a little butter in the middle). I have since had a lot of stress and come down with a couple of new ills plus Ross River Fever, which I currently have. I am thinking of trying the Wahl’s diet as my brain is being affected now and I don’t want it to get worse. I am starting online brain excersizes also to improve it, which work.
Cheese and butter sandwich! 🙂
I’m going to make my diet more hunter-gather for sure. Parts of it are too expensive for me I think, but I’m definitely going to add more veges of all colors.
Good luck. Glad to hear the online brain exercises are helping. Are you willing to share what you’re doing?
Would someone on warfarin be able to be on this diet?
I am eating a hunter/gatherer diet since June 2013, but I am not getting better from ME.
I do think it’s better to eat this way so I’ll continue. Diets aren’t always the solution. I feel there is way more to it than just food.
I imagine these diets work really well for some people, probably a minority (what a find if you’re in that minority, though) and are probably helpful for others.
Terry tried the paleo first with no results. She needed much higher nutrient value to achieve the healing she did, so her diet is more nutrient dense than any other diet you’ll find.
This is so sad, we’re approaching 2014 and still the only «treatments» offered us are diets and stress-reduction.
Seriously, if diets were a cure we would be cured decades ago or never gotten sick at all. The majority of patients already eat healthy and have a balanced diet. Many have also tried dozens of expensive diets, only to feed the bank accounts of alternative therapists claiming they have «the cure».
There are no easy fix! We will never get the biomedical progress and scientific discoveries we need when anecdotal «evidence» like this appeal to the population at large. I’m tempted to say to you my fellow patients: Get a grip! Let’s fight for the real stuff!
I do agree we need alot more treatments, and I also imagine that these diets only work for a minority of patients. On the other hand, I think they can help and in some cases have dramatic results.
I’ve always eaten healthy but I’ve never tried as restrictive a diet as Dr. Wahls and certainly not for that time span, so it’s a question for me.
I disagree, though, that presenting anecdotal evidence like this somehow prevents from progressing on the research front. All we have at this point, really, is anecdotal evidence to go on. While it is only anecdotal, to not pass it forward would be a mistake, particularly when we don’t have many research studies.
I think the best course is to pass the anecdotal stuff along (it does mean something when someone recovers from that severe of an illness using diet) and keep abreast of the research, and of course, push for more research.
Could not agree more PM, we will continue to be treated as a waste basket disease and waste basket patients with this kind of stuff.
Point me to clear diagnostic tests and biomarkers I’ll agree with you that we shouldn’t cast a very broad net. Until you can do that I suggest that ME/CFS very much is a wastebasket disorder. How could it not be when it’s simply explained by symptoms – most of them quite common.
The heterogeneity in this condition, both in symptoms and test results is incredible. You have people testing positive or not positive for viruses, autoimmune problems, orthostatic intolerance, immune abnormalities. You have people with digestive problems and those who don’t have them. You have people in pain and people who are not in pain. You have people with swollen lymph nodes and not with swollen lymph nodes.
All sorts of people with all sorts of issues fit under the ME/CFS criteria and that includes the Canadian Criteria. If you fall through the cracks, don’t test positive on lab tests for other disorders and experience fatigue, sleep problems, cognitive issues and pain – you’re probably going to get diagnosed with ME/CFS.
Until subsets can be ferreted out and specific treatments designed, I think it’s prudent to take a very broad approach towards treatment in this broadly defined disorder.
Disagree profoundly. Prevalence studies show only 0.2 percent Of population meet CCC, Fluge and Mella are convinced that ME correctly diagnosed is a distinct disorder, allthough possibly heterogenous in origin. Breast cancer is heterogenous! They stress that broadly defined cfs describes 2-3 percent Of population, nothing to do with ME…allthough it may look similar on the surface…this is the reason why the large RCT in Norway will be based on CCC. 50 experts around the globe agree, including your sponsor, Dr. Peterson.
Your blog is read by many people, it is important what You write and the Message You send, You say You are commited to breakthrough….mixing people with different diseases will Get us nowhere!
Want You to know that I really appreciate some of what You write, but I think You are wrong, this is the case Of one diagnosis, several diseases, Of which ME stands at the core. To me that is what advocates like Jennifer spotila and Jennifer brea stands for, and I support them with all Of what is left Of me.
I hope they can come up with a core diagnostic protocol for ME ASAP. If the CCC is it then good. I think it will take more than the CCC (but honestly, what do I know? :))
Until that occurs and treatments are developed for it, I think its appropriate to look at what works in other disorders, particularly autoimmune disorders and report on them. You never know what might work.
I realize this is old. If you look at primitive people, they tend to be less affected by diseases than the U.S. Their native diet plays a roll in that. If your mother was in less than optimum health, she passed on deficiencies to you. As did your father. Our soil is depleted. Restoring the body to balance does lead to health. Read Dr. Weston Price and Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.
After 3 months of Dr Myhill’s ‘stone age diet’ all I detected was a little deterioration and so I had to give it up before I became completely incapacitated.
It all seems to point to the need for sub-grouping; we’re not all suffering from the same illness, or perhaps not the same ‘variety’ of the one illness.
Diet, like many things, appears to help a minority, but it’s clearly not a panacea. Following a nutritious diet can only be good, but it isn’t a treatment, let alone a cure.
Of course, if it (whatever ‘it’ is) helps, keep doing it!
Thanks for passing that on, John. Three months would be enough I would think to tell.
This diet helped my IBS more than anything else I’ve tried – but the gas from all the fibre is hard to live with! It’s also good for energy and keeping blood sugar stable. I have pots not ms and It hasn’t cured it but I think it has helped (then again I haven’t been really strict with it – it’s hard to do it every single day) im sure it has reduced the strep overgrowth in my body too (probably the fact it’s very low sugar)
Hi. I will just throw in my two cents. I have had fibromyalgia for 30 years and CFS/ME for over 20 years. I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian and went through a phase after getting CFS/ME when I was an omnivore.
Being an omnivore, IN MY CASE, made the fibro MUCH, MUCH worse and also greatly worsened osteoarthritis that I have in my knees from a long-ago sports injury.
Arachadonic acid is a well-known, well-established inflammatory agent and is found in abundance in meat (especially from cows) and egg yolks.
I became vegan because I learned how monstrously cruel cow’s milk production is (don’t take my word for it!) and egg production is not much better.
Anyway, very much to my surprise, I went from having moderate to severe fibromyalgia to almost not having it. I still have it, but it’s so mild I don’t even mention it to doctors.
I did an elimination diet and discovered that I am very much bothered by gluten and so have been largely gluten-free (I have cheated on occasion) for about 15 years. Eliminating gluten from my diet made me less anxious and less depressed.
Also, I don’t really have cognitive problems to speak of (some mild ones, like greater difficulty doing simple math), but if I have a large amount of gluten, I will be very foggy-headed the next day.
I also have interstitial cystitis and for a number of reasons (not having to do with diet), it got much worse. I have therefore had to cut soy, fruit, anything fermented, carbonated beverages, chocolate, artificial ANYTHING and caffeine out of my diet.
I am now a reluctant pesco-vegan, because my diet really is SO limited (though I could eat most of the things on Dr. Wahls’ regimen).
I do know that fish suffer a lot when they get a hook jabbed through their mouth (they’ve shown this in labs) and of course, when they suffocate, but I do have to eat something. I am lucky in that I can afford to eat only wild, line caught fish (fish farms produce fish with much lower Omega 3s and with antibiotics and artificial dyes). So, at least they led the lives they were meant to, before being impaled on hooks and suffocated.
Fish oil, in high quantities, really makes me calm and happy. It also makes me run a fever, something that I did for most of the time I’ve had CFS/ME, but only rarely do now.
However, it is apparently vanishingly rare that fish oil would make anyone run a fever (I am an outlier on a number of indices), and I recommend fish oil if you have problems with anxiety and/or depression. It’s also good for arthritis.
MS is a disease well known to have periods of remission of variable length, and often followed by further flare-ups & further deterioration. So not a good idea to compare MS with ME or FM.
I think you might want to take Dr. Wahls up on that; if you saw the video you probably got that she believes her neuroprotection diet may be helpful for many disorders. The video was clearly aimed at more than MS patients.
I have been *trying* to follow her eating plan for about 8 months. Eliminating grains and dairy, and going to mostly organic foods and naturally fed meats definitely helps with my energy level (probably ~10% improvement), and significantly reduces my arthritis pain. When I eat more veggies, I feel better, but I haven’t gotten up to her recommended levels for more than a day or two at a time.
Biggest problems w/ this plan are twofold. One is the expense – I am fortunate that I am able to afford it, although it hurts. But worth it, given the improvement.
The other, and the biggest problem for me, is the energy required to fix all the veggies. I am figuring out ways to reduce energy expenditure, like sitting down as much as possible while cooking. But I’ve got a long ways to go.
I want to really, thoroughly try out her eating plan for at least a month, to see how much it can do for me. Of course, winning the lottery so I could hire a cook would help 🙂
Oh, and I’ve lost ~25 lbs, which definitely helps my energy levels. And without cravings – after about 5 days of no sugar/grains/dairy, the desire to overeat just packs up and goes away.
That’s good to hear. I think the only way I could afford her diet is to grow a big garden! Still I am going to incorporate more vegies of all sorts into my diet and see how it goes..:)
Hi Cort,
Maybe you I’ve missed the fact that Dr Jamie Deckoff-Jones ( “ME/cfs + Lyme+” along with her daughter ) have been on the Wahls Diet for the last 2 yrs and ARE Improving to the Point that she is also riding a bike almost 8 miles 3-5 times weekly now WITH her husband and instead of experiencing P.E.M afterwards is feeling only worse when she does NOT get that exercise !
I would call that a HUGE Improvement… They have also started a FB Group for us to follow their Tweaks of the diet and for others of us to chime-in and they also add recipes.
Dr Wahls has already started her “Trial” now and there is also an “AutoImmune Paleo” Diet Cookbook out there now… Dr Perlmutter, a Neurologist, also has a book and is basically agreeing with Dr Wahls, (and his dad has Alzheimer’s)… and he also is saying avoid sugars, ALL Grains, processed ANYTHING esp Carbs, and that GOOD “FAT” Helps your Brain which is composed of 70% fat, so if they call you a “Fat-Head” it’s accurate. 🙂
So he’s about not ONLY Healing the gut, but also the brain….
I started modifying my diet last August following a 3 day webinar by Dave Asprey,
” The BulletProof Exec” and started by Eliminating the bad stuff, as that was the cheapest easiest thing to start with for me… I had NEVER thought I had any sort of Gluten sensitivity, but after about 3 weeks suddenly my “waistline tire” disappeared and I could FEEL a shift taking place ON my body… I’m NOT one of those people that lives on the weight scale daily, I only look when I feel a shift in one direction or the other… So after this last Shift STAYED for about a week… I got on the scale and discovered I had dropped down the Next Plateau I had been battling which added up about a 10 lb loss WITHOUT Trying…. and YES, I bought some seaweed and diced it up and added it in powdered form to my morning shakes… to Help the thyroid and added the Selenium that we DO Need.
I’ve also been taking a B-100 Stress complex daily and supplementing with some Krill Oil for Omega 3’s, and taking Chorella until I can get out and start making/eating more fermented food like sauerkraut. I DO personlly need to stay away from eggs and niuts.
IMHO, this “Tweaked Version” of the Paleo diet is for us One Heck of a LOT Safer than 99% of the drugs & their side-effects they invent and want us to every and also a Heck of a lot cheaper and actually even relatively easy to follow as you Jump in at your own Pace, according to what you can tolerate and afford. I’m considering Buying Organic/Grass Fed/non-GMO foods CHEAPER than living with and paying for ALL of the agonies we have been Living MINUS all of the medic al bills, appts, tests and drugs, esp for those of us that have NOT had any medical coverage due to “pre-existing conditions for 25 yrs.”
Hope that gives you a little feedback… I’m ALL Favor of it as long as
I’m getting Positive results and so far I am.
I’m awaiting Dr Wahls book, and also Dave Asprey’s Dietbook and I’ll be getting the AutoImmune Paleo DietCookbook also.. I’ll be matching up my DNA SNPs and am getting excited about actually making some Positive progress after all of these decades.
I have my Dehydrator “Ready to go” to use for Organic when they are IN SEASON, so I know in the winter they will be Clean & Safe, and looking now to source the non-antibiotic “Range-free” meat sources.. In the meantime some “Indian meals” are Helping a LOT.
Happy New Year Everyone !!
Hi Cort,
I’ve had ME/cfs for about 27yrs now and extremely BAD OI/POTS for the last 7 after a head-on car accident…along with many other borderline AutoImmune symptoms.
I’ve tried MANY different diets over my whole LONG life…
Maybe you I’ve missed the fact that Dr Jamie Deckoff-Jones ( “ME/cfs + Lyme+” along with her daughter ) have been on the Wahls Diet for the last 2 yrs and ARE Improving to the Point that she is also riding a bike almost 8 miles 3-5 times weekly now WITH her husband and instead of experiencing P.E.M afterwards is feeling only worse when she does NOT get that exercise !
I would call that a HUGE Improvement… They have also started a FB Group for us to follow their Tweaks of the diet and for others of us to chime-in and they also add recipes.
Dr Wahls has already started her “Trial” now and there is also an “AutoImmune Paleo” Diet Cookbook out there now… Dr Perlmutter, a Neurologist, also has a book and is basically agreeing with Dr Wahls, (and his dad has Alzheimer’s)… and he also is saying avoid sugars, ALL Grains, processed ANYTHING esp Carbs, and that GOOD “FAT” Helps your Brain which is composed of 70% fat, so if they call you a “Fat-Head” it’s accurate. 🙂
So he’s about not ONLY Healing the gut, but also the brain….
I started modifying my diet last August following a 3 day webinar by Dave Asprey,
” The BulletProof Exec” and started by Eliminating the bad stuff, as that was the cheapest easiest thing to start with for me… I had NEVER thought I had any sort of Gluten sensitivity, but after about 3 weeks suddenly my “waistline tire” disappeared and I could FEEL a shift taking place ON my body… I’m NOT one of those people that lives on the weight scale daily, I only look when I feel a shift in one direction or the other… So after this last Shift STAYED for about a week… I got on the scale and discovered I had dropped down the Next Plateau I had been battling which added up about a 10 lb loss WITHOUT Trying…. and YES, I bought some seaweed and diced it up and added it in powdered form to my morning shakes… to Help the thyroid and added the Selenium that we DO Need.
I’ve also been taking a B-100 Stress complex daily and supplementing with some Krill Oil for Omega 3’s, and taking Chorella until I can get out and start making/eating more fermented food like sauerkraut. I DO personally need to stay away from eggs and nuts.
I use to reAct BADLY to any oils/fats, but now I am OK and not having any problems
as long as I ONLY stick to the GOOD Fats… They are starting to Prove that being a Total Vegan is actually NOT Healthy cuz there are Nutrients that our bodies NEED that they can ONLY Get in animal proteins…so ONLY eat the “RangeFREE” and only in amounts like a side dish, like they do in Chinese meals.. We NEED the god protein, and Of Course, each person’s NEEDS “will Vary” according to their DNA and where they are on their Healing Journey.. but many are lowing their FULL Glass after being on this regime for awhile, and can slowly start adding back in previous foods that they couldn’t eat, albeit in small amounts, but even THAT is Progress…
So Each person much take “Baby Steps”, work within their means and abilities, and
according to their current situation and DNA/SNPs…. but Many Many AutoImmune people ARE Improving…. Everything is Relative and Hey “Even the Dr’s are PRACTICING on you”
IMHO, this “Tweaked Version” of the Paleo diet is for us One Heck of a LOT Safer than 99% of the drugs & their side-effects they invent and want us to every and also a Heck of a lot cheaper and actually even relatively easy to follow as you Jump in at your own Pace, according to what you can tolerate and afford. I’m considering Buying Organic/Grass Fed/non-GMO foods CHEAPER than living with and paying for ALL of the agonies we have been Living MINUS all of the medic al bills, appts, tests and drugs, esp for those of us that have NOT had any medical coverage due to “pre-existing conditions for 25+ yrs.”
Hope that gives you a little feedback… I’m ALL Favor of it as long as
I’m getting Positive results and so far I am.
I’m awaiting Dr Wahls book, and also Dave Asprey’s Dietbook and I’ll be getting the AutoImmune Paleo DietCookbook also.. I’ll be matching up my DNA SNPs and am getting excited about actually making some Positive progress after all of these decades.
I have my Dehydrator “Ready to go” to use for Organic when they are IN SEASON, so I know in the winter they will be Clean & Safe, and looking now to source the non-antibiotic “Range-free” meat sources.. In the meantime some “Indian meals” are Helping a LOT.
Happy New Year Everyone !!
Exciting stuff! Please keep us informed of how it goes. I hope the positive results keep up. I’m adding more vegies and in raw form to my diet. I don’t know if cooked vegies are going to do. I want the live stuff 🙂
I didn’t know about Dr. Deckoff-Jones and her daughter. What a long battle with Lyme she’s had. To see that kind of progress after all the things she’s tried is quite encouraging…Thanks for passing that on. 🙂
Gosh, and all this time we’ve been taught that whole grains are the “staff of life.” How in the heck can protein packed quinoa hurt anyone? I guess it can…..
Like with anything, I think the point is listen to your body and believe your own instinct. Dietary changes, as well as lifestyle changes, can bring enormous results. But they are not going to be good for everyone. In my case, I am already vegetarian. I supplement with many of the things that she focuses on, and have overall found them to be good. However, I am not much a fan of carbs really and cut them out of my diet years ago, only to become severely and acutely ill because it turned out I have a blood disease that requires gluten or I can have an attack and die! Who knew? So, while this is very rare, it’s a good example of how even while everyone in the world can be telling you that something is good for you, they can still be wrong.
I am constantly faced with people insisting that exercise is good for me, that continually increasing it regardless of how my body feels will cure me. Likewise, I am constantly dealing with people who insist that I should cut out gluten and my body will heal. And yet, I am the expert on my own body, not strangers, and not even my doctor either. People mean well really, but excessive exercise causes our immune systems (and everything else) to crash, making us actually sicker, not better. And if I were to cut out gluten, it would kill me. It has been a hard lesson, but I have learned over time to listen to my body when it is screaming out to me. I am not afraid to try new things, but if it makes me worse, I stop, and if it makes me better, I try a little more. Had I listened to all those who said, “It’s good that you feel like you’re dying – that’s all the toxins squeezing out of your body, that’s die off!” I would actually be dead now.
So yes, try new things. Healthy ideas are often healthy for everybody. But, sometimes they’re not. If it works for you, great. If it doesn’t, don’t force a square peg in a round hole – listen to your body when it says “No.”
Antioxidants, electrolyte drinks with high sodium, 1500mg of Vit. B1, flaxseed oil, and magnesium are just some of the things that have worked for me. So are daily stress management, exercise with a low heart monitor limit, compression stockings, and interval resting throughout the day. High complex carb and high gluten intake just also happens to work for me. We have similarities, but when it comes down to it each body is individual.
Cort,
I grew up in the town where Dr. Terry Wahls lives. I go back and visit at least once a year. Dr. Wahls is a pretty serious scientist/Doctor…..
I’ve seen her wearing a T-shirt with an expression which I especially like, KALE IS THE NEW BEEF…
too funny!
anyway, in the spirit of good science, I want to make sure that everyone reading this thread understands the total therapy that she used.
Here is a research paper that her and some of her practitioners published on her case:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769364/
She Intensively used a neuromuscular electrical stimulator (NMES in the document)…
here is a quote from the document:
…….the patient routinely did 30 minutes of NMES while completing her homeexercise program each day and another 4 to 5 hours of NMES at much lower intensity through out the day while working or at home………….
I don’t know why she does not emphasize her use of this stimulator….
I know 2 people who were both bedridden for years with lots of pain and brain fog who changed their diet – one went completely alkaline and it took her 6 month on the diet to start noticing some benefits and after 18 months she returned to work and now she is living what most of us would call a largely normal life. Another acquaintance spent 6 years struggling and then her husband got leukemia. At that point she started with a juice fast and after 2 weeks of herxing, she woke up and her head was clear for the first time in years. Both her and her husband returned to normal health. I tried the alkaline diet for 6 months. It was very hard, but I remember saying to a friend, that I actually felt good all day. I didn’t have that 2 o’clock crash. However, when I tried to increase my exercise, I found I was still having issues. Also, I was tired of eating that way and so I stopped. Now, 5 years later after the worst year of my life, I am moving back towards that diet, but I am going to add the proteins. I am looking into the organ meats and bone marrow from grass fed bison. The problem is getting it shipped to Miami.
Interesting stuff, Chris…It makes one wonder if one should try a big diet change and for how long…Too bad they don’t have a test that can tell you that.
Going gluten free cured my brain fog and gave me back my life for several years before excessive exercise (on medical advice) caused a relapse that had me so weak I feared being bedbound. I slept for most of 3 days and then had trouble doing anything. So did being gluten free solve my problem – no. Did it make my life substantially better – yes. So I’m a big advocate for diet changes.
I don’t get the resistance to people explaining what made them better and suspect its jealousy. Already tried it and didn’t work – tough but maybe the next time someone explains what helped them that one will work. Can’t afford it – modified versions may be cheaper and give some benefit without full cost. Can’t cope with hope and disappointment – expect little and you may be pleasantly surprised.
ME is a hotpotch of conditions and even if people have the same condition the other things going on in their body and other conditions they have mean they may not react just like the person next door.
Personally I’ll keep reading the stories and then decide what sounds like me and what doesn’t, what has some prospect of scientific validity and what not. So I’ve tried a lot of things and some have just made me financially poorer but diet changes have been some of the cheaper and more effective.
I’ve messed about with my diet in lots of ways over the years, and it has never made any difference. I have since settle on a varied vegetarian wholefood diet with little or no processed food.
However, after reading this article I was inspired to try again.
I can’t eat a lot of greens as they will make me sick, however, I have found ways and means. In the past I have only tried adding one extra nutritious thing (like spirulina) but this time I’ve added lots.
All of the following are very high in minerals and B vitamins and I take them all daily:
Barley grass powder
Spirulina
Nori flakes
Malt Extract
Black Treacle (aka Molasses)
Yeast extract
I added one thing at a time to help my body adjust, and I can honestly say I am feeling a lot less tired. Of course, I need to take all my herbs as well 🙂
http://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2013/08/11/an-herbal-approach-to-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-that-worked/