Minding My Mitochondria 2nd Edition: How I overcame secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and got out of my wheelchair. [Paperback]

Terry L. Wahls (Author), Tom Nelson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0982175086 | ISBN-13: 978-0982175088 | Edition: 1

Dr. Terry Wahls links micronutrient starvation to the epidemics of chronic disease that are overtaking modern society. She explains the key roles mitochondria play in maintaining a healthy brain and body. Americans are eating so poorly, something we all know to be true, that the majority of Americans are missing key building blocks that are needed for brain cells to be healthy. The result is an epidemic of depression, aggression, multiple sclerosis and early dementia. She then teaches you how to eat for healthy mitochondria, a healthy brain and a healthy body in language that is clear and concise, even for those without a science background. In this book, Dr. Wahls explains basic brain biology in simple terms. She tells us what vitamin, mineral and essential fat building blocks are needed by the mitochondria and other key structures in the brain. Then she explains what foods are good sources for those key nutrients. Over a hundred recipes are provided to help get you started on this new way of eating. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be used to fund research into the benefits of these interventions in others.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Her body ravaged by secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, Dr. Terry Wahls spent nearly four years dependent upon a tilt-recline wheelchair. Now, thanks to the intensive, directed nutrition and neuromuscular electrical stimulation protocols she developed, Dr. Wahls now rides her bicycle to work. She has brought together an interdisciplinary team to conduct clinical trials using intensive, directed nutrition and neuromuscular electrical stimulation to combat advanced Parkinson's disease and secondary and primary progressive multiple sclerosis. She is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa where she sees teaches residents and medical students in primary care and rounds in traumatic brain injury clinics. She is also committed to helping the public learn about the connection between the foods we eat and the health we have or do not have and lectures nationally and regionally on the use of intensive, directed nutrition to restore health. The Food as Medicine lecture series hosted by the Kirkwood Community College and New Pioneer Food Cooperative has transformed the lives of many people. Terry lives in Iowa City with her spouse, Jackie, and has two children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: TZ Press; 1 edition (April 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0982175086
• ISBN-13: 978-0982175088
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Multiple Sclerosis
  • #25 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Alternative Medicine
  • #34 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Women's Health

More About the Author

Her body ravaged by secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, Dr. Terry Wahls spent nearly four years dependent upon a tilt-recline wheelchair. The photographs reveal the remarkable changes which occurred between 2007 and 2009. One year after beginning the intensive directed nutrition and neuromuscular electrical stimulation interventions which she designed, Dr. Wahls was able to complete a 18 miles bicycle tour. The following year she completed a trail ride in the Canadian Rockies.

Dr. Wahls is a clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Iowa where she sees teaches residents and medical students in primary care and traumatic brain injury clinics. She also conducts clinical research and has over a hundred abstracts, oral presentations and publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and meetings. Dr. Wahls is the process of conducting a clinical trials testing the efficacy of intensive, directed nutrition and neuromuscular electrical stimulation in the setting of secondary and primary progressive multiple sclerosis.


She is also committed to helping the public learn about the connection between the foods we eat and the health we have or do not have. Her Food as Medicine lecture series has transformed the lives of thousands. Terry lives in Iowa City with her spouse, Jackie, and has two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recovery from progressive multiple sclerosis is possible, January 1, 2011

By 

Prof George Jelinek (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minding My Mitochondria 2nd Edition: How I overcame secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and got out of my wheelchair. (Paperback)

Dr Terry Wahls, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Iowa, is an inspiration. She was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2000, and within three years had become wheelchair dependent in the secondary progressive phase of the disease. Her rapid descent into disability was a strong motivation to begin to delve into the scientific literature around MS. Terry began to assemble literature around the health of mitochondria. These little (about 5micrometres diameter) structures live inside our cells and convert food into energy. It is quite likely that over evolution, these tiny particles originated as bacteria that learned how to live symbiotically in cells as organisms grew more and more complex. They play very important roles not only in energy production for cells, but in cell death and ageing. Terry became convinced after reviewing the literature that mitochondrial health was intimately tied up with MS, and set about devising a program to improve the health of her mitochondria. The nutritional program she produced has many similarities with other ultra-healthy diets that have been shown to produce marked improvements in other chronic western diseases. She also added electrical stimulation in an attempt to encourage muscles suffering from disuse to get accustomed to activity again.
The results were astonishing. Six months after starting the program, she attempted to ride a bicycle again, in a year she completed an 18 mile bicycle tour, and now she is fully mobile. Terry chose to spread the word rather than be content with her own improvement. Hence the second edition of her book `Minding My Mitochondria: How I overcame secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and got out of my wheelchair', at the time of writing ranked number 8th best-selling MS book on Amazon, was released in April 2010.
Dr Wahls' book is powerful, as is her story. One of the things that strikes you on reading the various accounts of people who have recovered from MS is the great similarity between their recommendations. Most firmly place optimal nutrition at the top of the list of important interventions. The rationale for Dr Wahls' nutritional program, of essentially a plant-based diet with an emphasis on plenty of high-antioxidant vegetables and fruit, is to optimise mitochondrial function. But in fact, it is an ultra-healthy diet that also has wide-ranging benefits in the body through many different mechanisms, on lipid profile, endothelial health, the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, blood pressure, cognition, mood, and so on. Whether or not it operates particularly through its effect on mitochondria is actually not clear, but given its similarity to other well-studied nutritional approaches such as ultra-low saturated fat diets (the Swank approach in MS), and plant-based wholefood diets (the Colin Campbell and Dean Ornish approaches to health) in general, there is every reason to expect it would work in MS.
The scientific part of the book is actually quite short, with chapters about the function of mitochondria and cell metabolism, but actually not a lot of clinical evidence presented about a direct link between mitochondrial health and MS, and certainly not a lot of evidence showing the intervention works. That is to be expected given the heavy bias in medical research in general towards drugs. Most of the book is in fact made up of recipes. These can be very useful for people with MS just starting out on a healthy way of eating, who haven't yet sourced much in the way of recipes for this approach. Most people who are trying to do everything possible to stay well after a diagnosis of MS will have already assembled a recipe bank for daily use from many other sources.
But Dr Wahls is a physician and an MS survivor, and her real strength is not in cooking but in medicine and healing. That it is possible to recover from secondary progressive MS is the real story here. Professor Roy Swank showed in his landmark but often overlooked study that regardless of level of disability at entry, people with MS adhering to his diet had not deteriorated much over the 34 years of study. By implication, given that some with progressive disease got worse and some died from MS, some must have got better and some recovered. But their individual details have never been published. One of the great values of Dr Wahls' book is that it shows that recovery from secondary progressive MS is possible. It only has to happen once to make it possible, and there can be no doubt she has recovered significantly.
Some may dispute the exact details of the diet, as different commentators often do about any dietary approach to MS, such as Dr Wahls' recommendation to eat meat (I must admit I cannot reconcile this recommendation with my own review of the literature on diet in MS), or the omission of some key components of optimal health, like meditation, adequate sun exposure, and so on. Others may be critical that there is no direct evidence provided of a link between mitochondrial health and MS, or the suggested diet and the health of mitochondria. Was the diet successful in her case because of its effect on mitochondria, or through some other mechanism? In fact this is largely unimportant. The important thing is that Dr Terry Wahls recovered. Dr Wahls' story and her book make inspiring reading for anyone affected by MS, particularly those with progressive MS. People with MS, their relatives and their healthcare professionals should take the time to read this book, realise what is possible, and not give up hope even if they have profound disability.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommend, March 29, 2011

By 

EOlsen "EOlsen" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minding My Mitochondria 2nd Edition: How I overcame secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and got out of my wheelchair. (Paperback)

I am a 39 year old male diagnosed in 2008 with RRMS. Within 8 months I went from running 6 minute miles to a brief time in a wheel chair. I have yet to run a step since. MRIs uncovered significant lesions along my spinal cord and only two small ones in my brain. For me, MS hit hard and fast and threatened to continue until I started on Dr. Wahls diet protocol. At the time I started on the protocol I was experiencing a progression of physical and mental symptoms. The fatigue and depression were the most pronounced. As I started the diet, my energy level returned and my depression is no longer an issue for me. At the same time I improved the consistency of my exercise. I have yet to see the same improvement in my physical symptoms (ability to walk, foot drop, etc) so I am increasing focus on my leg muscles and considering electro stimulation.

I highly recommend Dr. Wahls' approach. I am convinced I would be in a wheelchair today without taking her advice and direction.

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The diet is great for Brain Injury also!, April 30, 2010

By 

D. Bekel (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minding My Mitochondria: How I Overcame Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Got Out of My Wheelchair, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I have the good fortune to have Dr. Wahls as a physician in the Polytrauma Clinic at the local VA. She outlined the diet, and I chose to give it a try. It's not easy to stick to it--I fell away from my routine at Christmas. But I can tell the difference in my ability to think quickly and clearly when I follow the protocol as opposed to when I am eating the way I used to eat. For me, I am making a lifetime commitment to keeping the protocol going because the of the positive mental changes.