If you have heard about the Wahls protocol? It’s not really a “diet”, but many call it the Wahls protocol diet. In this post, you will learn everything you need to know to get started with the Wahls protocol and heal your body naturally.
What I love about the Wahls protocol is the emphasis on a nutrient-dense diet.
Dr. Terry Wahls was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000. She started declining rapidly until she decided to experiment with diet and supplements. Her condition improved to a point that she regained all her mobility. She started working with others who had multiple sclerosis or similar issues to test her protocol. The result is her Wahls Protocol Diet.
When you start a new healing protocol, one of the first things you want to know what you can and cannot eat. That’s what I am going to share with you now.
What you can eat:
What you need to avoid:
You may notice that eggs are off-limit on the Wahls protocol diet, contrary to the Paleo diet (read Paleo 101 to see what the Paleo Diet includes). The main reason you will avoid eggs on the Wahls protocol is that eggs are a common allergen. Dr. Terry Wahls was able to recover from MS following a strict diet that didn’t include eggs. If you are trying to recreate what she did, then you need to avoid eggs, at least temporarily. It’s a good idea to do so, and test reintroducing them later.
The Wahls protocol diet can be adapted according to your health goals. There are three levels:
Dr. Terry Wahls recommends that most people start with level one unless you are dealing with a serious chronic condition like obesity or autoimmune issues. In this case, you can start with the Wahls Paleo. If you still struggle at the Wahls Paleo level, consider moving on level 3. If you have neurological problems like dementia, epilepsy or a brain injury, she recommends you work towards attaining level 3.
In her first book, The Wahls Protocol, Dr. Terry Wahls provides a meal plan you can follow to try out the diet. I ended up buying the meal plan from her Website. I purchased level 1 for a whole year. I have been loving the recipes but finding it hard to follow exactly. I went shopping for a week, didn’t even buy the whole amounts I had on my list and still had some of the food one week and a half later. It’s going to be a process, that’s for sure!
Here’s an example of what I might eat in a day (keep in mind that I struggle with food sensitivities only, so my motivation to stick to the plan is not always high):
For breakfast, I almost always drink a smoothie. Read my 101 Smoothie Recipes to learn about my favorite recipe and to get a template that will help you create your own Wahls protocol friendly smoothies. If you get her meal plan, you will see that Dr. Wahls usually accompanies smoothie breakfast with a protein. I don’t typically do this. Otherwise, she does a lot of skillet breakfasts, like bacon and vegetables.
We usually eat leftovers from the night before for lunch. In her meal plan, Dr. Wahls includes all different meals, no leftovers. It’s up to you. The meals are all pretty fast and easy to make. A typical lunch would be a big salad with a protein like fish or chicken.
Dinner is where I get to cook. I usually go through all the recipes in any given week of the meal plan and pick what I feel like eating. I sometimes pick breakfast recipes for dinner, there is nothing wrong with that as most breakfast recipes included in the meal plan are dinnerlike. I like making one-pan dishes, soups, and stews. For example, you can fry ground beef, garlic, and onion. Add cabbage, sweet potatoes, halved cherry tomatoes, zucchini, ginger, a bit of bone broth and cumin. Cook until the sweet potatoes are soft and add some spinach.
Grocery shopping for the Wahls protocol can seem overwhelming. You will see things like 39 cups of baby greens on your list. The amount of veggies is A LOT more than what most people are used to buying. One advantage: you might find that you don’t need to buy as much meat as usual. In the past, I would thaw 4 lbs of meat for any given meal for my family of 9. On the Wahls protocol diet, 2 lbs are enough since we pile on the veggies.
As I mentioned already, I feed a family of 9. If I can do the Wahls protocol, you can too. I was surprised to find that following the protocol is cost-effective since we eat less meat and more veggies. My children don’t follow the protocol, but they eat what I eat for meals. For breakfast, they often have gluten-free toast while I make my smoothie. They may eat gluten-free pasta or rice with the meat and veggies I serve. This allows me to stretch the meals further.
I have lots of great tips to help you save money on the Paleo Diet in my Post How to Go Paleo on a Budget. Most of them apply to the Wahls protocol diet as well:
Watch this video to understand how you can make the Wahls protocol work for your family.
The Wahls Protocol is a healing protocol that focuses on nourishing your mitochondria, the energy factory of your cells. It’s an excellent protocol to use if you suffer from any type of autoimmune issue or chronic condition that affects your daily life. If your symptoms are bearable enough, you can choose to take one step at a time to start implementing the Wahls protocol diet in your life. Change takes time and practice. Be gentle with yourself. Give yourself the best chance at success by having a plan of action and a timeline to determine how you are going to accomplish the transition.