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

Terry L. Wahls, Tom Nelson · 1 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "Minding My Mitochondria 2nd Edition: How I overcame secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and got out of my wheelchair." by Terry L. Wahls, Tom Nelson.
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Amazon Summary
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.
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Just to note, I believe Terry Wahls has been arguing a version of this for at least a decade (https://www.amazon.com/Minding-Mitochondria-2nd-progressive-...) and has written a diet (the Wahls Protocol) directed towards mitochondrial health.

I've been interested in her ideas ever since close family contracted an autoimmune disease.

faeyanpiraat
Look for unbiased meta-analyses on this topic. I haven't found any evidence that diets can cure or significantly modify MS disease progression.

I'm affected by it so believe me if I say that I really wanted to find something reassuring, but the evindence is just not there.

lambdaba
I've had MS and fully recovered with a carnivore diet (started with "paleo", similar to Whals protocol). I've come to believe it's all about gut permeability. There's a clinic in Hungary practicing this with various illnesses, calling it a "paleolithic ketogenic" diet (very high fat, low food volume, again for fast gut healing).

I'm fully convinced that I would have been crippled by now if not for the dietary changes.

I mention this often in online discussions and usually get a lot of pushback. It's very strange to me how people can doubt that diet plays a MAJOR role in health.

faeyanpiraat
May I ask which clinic are you talking about?
lambdaba
Paleomedicina. Zsofia Clemens, one of the researchers, has a Twitter presence as well.

They likewise get pushback from the name alone, but hopefully motivated people will look past that.

faeyanpiraat
Yeah I see some wild claims there.

Need to look into it further to verify.

Thanks!

lambdaba
I understand the skepticism, but I urge you to look into the people running the clinic, they are honest and credible people, and the results are real. They also recount that they have trouble with people finding such a simple solution in-credible.
faeyanpiraat
I might be wrong, but it seems like they are charging a couple thousand euros for this simple solution?
lambdaba
If you're interested in a case of a person treating brain cancer successfully with a similar diet, look up Andrew Scarborough, he's presently a cancer researcher iirc, but he has been using such a diet for years to successfully put a rare inoperable brain cancer into remission.
faeyanpiraat
I've skimmed your comment history and I think we could have some productive conversations outside of HN, if you want you can send me your preferred way to contact you to: [email protected]

(köszi)

lambdaba
Sent you an email
lambdaba
They offer a service that includes their supervision... The diet itself isn't proprietary, and given their results I don't mind they charge a decent amount. But, again, the diet is basically: get almost all of your calories from animal fat (four-legged animals, because of the particular fatty acid profile), eat enough protein but not in excess, and eat organ meats (liver, brain, etc.) once a week.

I don't know how you make your judgments but if you look at any intervention by Zsófia Clemens she will strike you as an obviously decent person, these people are not charlatans.

Also, this animal-based ketogenic approach is not unique to them, the "zerocarb" / "carnivore" community is also full of testimonials of people reversing various conditions, especially autoimmune disease. This high-fat approach tends to attract people who are in more difficult / urgent situations, such as late-stage, inoperable cancers.

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