Planning to hit the Wahl;

A few years back, someone shared with me a TEDx talk with Dr. Terry Wahls, who was sharing her struggle with multiple sclerosis. Dr. Wahl struggled with MS for many years before seeking to address the issue through diet and exercise and has experienced remarkable success. Some people have criticized TED and TEDx events for not thoroughly screening their speakers, and essentially supporting quackery, but Dr. Wahls is careful to note that her experience is just one case. Dr. Wahls and her team are now supporting research into specific aspects of her intervention, and their effects on disease, but I’m interested in the protocol for its effects on exercise.

Dr. Wahls first published a book titled Minding my Mitochondria, where she explains MS as a disease process. She specifically points out the significance of mitochondria in the brain to MS and explains a few of the animal studies which demonstrate that link. The protocol she explains in the short talk, and which she further explains in her books, specifically supports the function of mitochondria, which are vital to endurance athletes. Mitochondria is an organelle which is responsible for the lion share of metabolic activity in cells (there are some exclusions), converting molecules of the food we consume into energy through the Kreb’s cycle and the Electron Transport Chain.

I consider my diet to be the single biggest opportunity for improvement in endurance sport, and it’s always something I wish I was doing better. I mostly subscribe to an “eat less, exercise more” attitude when focusing on diet, but typically fall short when my energy levels start to hinder my training. I’m going to give a modified Wahls protocol a go over the next five weeks. The main goals will be:

1. Eat 3 cups of leafy green vegetables, 3 cups of sulfur rich foods, and 3 cups of colorful fruits and vegetables per day.
2. Eat wild-caught fish 2 times weekly.
3. Eat Grass-fed beef, and organ meat 1 time weekly.
4. Eat grains only around training, as a pre-ride snack and while exercising.
5. Exclude refined grains and sugar.

I am going to take a tiered approach, and try to ratchet up my consumption of the desired foods each week. Hopefully the consumption of healthy foods will start to squeeze out other foods which I should not be eating. I will note that I’m still planning on consuming a handful of foods which are otherwise not permitted in the Wahls protocol, specifically dairy, some grain, and likely peanuts. I have no known allergy or tolerance issue with these foods, and would be willing to explore not consuming them down the road. On a typical day, I consumer just under 4000 calories, and my weight is steady. To maintain that level of training, I feel I need to consume calorie rich foods (that do not irritate my stomach) like milk, protein shakes, and peanut butter.

I’ll try to post weekly with an update. This week, I’m planning my meals for next weeks trip to the grocery store, and researching different foods. Wish me luck!