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Wahls diet, mitochondria

maddietod

Senior Member
Messages
2,859
Is anybody here doing Wahls diet, or anything close to it? I'm working my way back into it and could use some discussion partners.

I've got a good head start on bone broth - there's a few quarts in the freezer. I find I love swiss chard, so I use more of that and less kale. I'm not going to do organ meats. Just forget it.

I'm adding acai, resveratrol, and 400mg coq 10 daily. My doctor also recommends d-ribose for mitochondrial function, but I didn't notice anything when I tried it in the past.

I would love to hear what other people are doing, and how it feels.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
I'm back on the paleo / low oxalate diet after 10 months
of eating gf processed foods. I was just too tired to keep
up with fresh food. And I was burned out on how time
consuming this is. I feel better on it tho.

I see the Wahls diet as paleo with more veggies. At least
that's what I saw a few years ago. I'm not sure if she's
made any changes.

I'm getting most of my veggies via juicing. My digestive tract
can't handle veggies like it used to.

If you have leaky gut, beware of high oxalate foods.
The yahoo tryinglowoxalate forum explains this.
 
Messages
2,565
Location
US
Yes Wahls is similar to Paleo. Paleo usually has a lot of meat and seafood, to me, the Wahls diet is more reasonable there. Wahls has you eat a good amount of fruit, and Paleo says don't eat much. Wahls allows some legumes (sometimes?) and most Paleo don't eat legumes.

I am almost doing Wahls. The part I fall short on is I don't spend on the grass-fed meats. I get conventional to save money. Also I need more seafood in my diet and bone broth. I am trying to find energy to get good bones and make bone broth.
 

maddietod

Senior Member
Messages
2,859
I don't have leaky gut - I dodged one bullet!

Wahls only recommends 4oz of animal protein daily, compared to 2 pounds of fruits and vegetables, so I don't see it as paleo-ish. That might be a minimum recommendation - I don't remember.

She does allow legumes and other starches, but only after you've eaten the fruits/vegetables.

I found the beef bones in the frozen dog food section of Whole Foods. I roast them and then stick them in the slow cooker for 3 days. I now buy "happy chickens" so I can safely use those bones for broth. I just roast it and then slow cook the bones for 24 hours. The beef bone broth makes an incredible base for beef stew. It will blow your socks off.

I'm not doing all organic. My focus is on getting used to this quantity of vegetables and fruits. This is really only possible because the last of my kids moved out, so I'm finally only cooking for me. I tried before, but it was too much work to then share the bounty.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
I can't imagine a pwc trying to feed a family paleo
style. From what I just saw the old school paleos on the web consider
Wahls paleo. Probably because it's focus is meats,
fruits and veggies.

I get the air cooled chicken from whole foods. Is that
the kind you're getting ? Love the taste.

WF has some great lamb too. I get the cut with the bone
in it but I can't remember the name right now. Shoulder
maybe. It makes a great broth.

I can't do organ meats either. Bleh. If I could find
an organic liverwurst I could do that tho.

Dulse is the only seaweed I like. I've tried most of
them. I didn't like any of the new seaweed treats. Have
you tried these ?
 

maddietod

Senior Member
Messages
2,859
I get everything possible at trader joe's, and then go to WF if necessary. So I get the chicken at TJs. They have a seaweed snack I like, but I'm going to avoid processed food for now. TJs sells chopped swiss chard in bags..that's saving my ass ATM.

I have powdered kelp that's easy to sprinkle on foods. I like arame a lot. But for now I'm getting the trace minerals from sea salt and blue green algae, because I have a ton of both. I also just noticed that 1tsp of any algae = 2c leafy greens. Score!

I think you're right about Wahls-paleo. I think of paleo as tons of meat plus some vegetables, because that's the easy way to cook paleo. That's how I did it. No wonder it didn't feel very healthy to me!

xchoc, do you have a problem with oxalates? Did I understand correctly that you felt better on Wahls than now on paleo?

Sick of sickness, how do you feel on Wahls?
 
Messages
2,565
Location
US
I am only a few weeks in. I was eating dairy before that. I think I am better without dairy, but it is a small difference. I also think corn is very damaging based on what "Dogtor J" wrote and I eliminated it. (I linked his article in my blog.)

I do eat small amounts of non-gluten grains. I don't know if the Wahls diet allows "cheating" and having those. In the Paleo diet, they expect you to cheat frequently!

A blender helps with getting enough vegetables and fruit. Two tall smoothies could do it all, or one can get you about half your daily amounts.

I like roasted seaweed that has only seaweed, salt, and oil. But, I am trying to eat raw seaweed instead. Maybe I will start to like it after a while.

I expect to feel better if I add bone broth. I have started fermenting vegetables but not eaten them.

I think of paleo as tons of meat plus some vegetables

I do too.
 

maddietod

Senior Member
Messages
2,859
I have started fermenting vegetables but not eaten them.

LOL!

Do you have Wahls' book? On page 180 she oks non gluten grains. She has a number of recipes using allowed grains. I can't find the page reference, but once you've eaten the recommended servings of the foods on the diet, you can have anything you want that's not on the "Foods not on food list." I can't imagine having much appetite left.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
Sorry, it was clear in my head. lol. I feel better off
all grains and legumes. Strictly meats, fruits and
veggies. I really hate cooking so this is a pita for
me.

I have two oxalate related disorders. Kidney stones
and pelvic pain. Sadly both disorders are closely tied so I can't
cheat. The upside is that I can avoid these by avoiding high
oxalate foods. : )

What algae are you using ? I need to get more Kelp too.
I'd forgotten about it. The dulse i get is all natural and
I like it straight from the bag. It's raw.
 
Messages
2,565
Location
US
LOL!

Do you have Wahls' book? On page 180 she oks non gluten grains. She has a number of recipes using allowed grains. I can't find the page reference, but once you've eaten the recommended servings of the foods on the diet, you can have anything you want that's not on the "Foods not on food list." I can't imagine having much appetite left.


I don't have it. That is good to know.

I was already doing Paleo with extra fruit (and dairy and corn for cheats, now I think they are bad). Then I learned about Wahls having fruit, and not that much meat (I don't believe in eating lots). I probably eat too much fruit still, but if I do bone broth, I could cut back on fruit.
 

maddietod

Senior Member
Messages
2,859
I use Klamath lake blue green algae. I've also got chlorenergy chlorella tablets and some spirulina that came as a sample, so I'm set on those micronutrients.

I really like cooking.....when I feel like it. So I try to do 4 days' worth of whatever I do cook. After 4 days I'm bored of it, no matter what it is.

I agree about grains/legumes. It's best when I eat low starch.

The oxalate issue must be a pain....on the other hand it's kinda nice to have SOMETHING you can make better.

I'll take a look at dulse.
 
Messages
2,565
Location
US
That amount of vegetables and fruit could be too much, depending on your height and/or weight. Dr. Wahls said petite women may only need 6 cups per day. Most of us can manage to eat the 9 cups plus the meat and other things recommended. It is only if you can't.
 

maddietod

Senior Member
Messages
2,859
Well, I took the plunge. I'm roasting an organic chicken, and I looked at those organ meats, and thought......Why not? I sauteed a quarter of a red onion, chopped fine, and then added also pretty small bits of the liver and heart. And salt.

It all tastes like liver and onions; no flavor from the heart at all. I picked those two because my minimal research indicated that that's where the most nutrients are. So yeah, liver tastes pretty strong, but next time I'll start with more onion. I could see doing this once a week, when I roast my chicken.

This had better be REALLY good for me.
 
Messages
2,565
Location
US
Well, I took the plunge.


Great! I would eat heart, but am too scared to try the others. I would try some of them if a professional chef prepared them :)

An alternative is taking liver powder in capsules. I will be doing that and hopefully can find good quality hearts.



She said something like Paleo diet did not heal her, until she tried the variety and quantity of vegetables. Still, it has much in common, and so does the GAPS diet.
 

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
Today on Facebook I saw a post by Jamie Deckoff-Jones, who is doing magnificently well on the Wahls Diet. After 3 months on that and oxygen, she's able to take extensive tandem bike rides with her husband and has no PEM afterwards.

I tried eating this way last fall after seeing Terry Wahls TED talk. It was rather exhausting to prepare and shovel down all those greens.:p:p:p But after reading more about Jamie's great results, I am going to revisit it once again.
 

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
So yeah, liver tastes pretty strong, but next time I'll start with more onion. I could see doing this once a week, when I roast my chicken.

This had better be REALLY good for me.

Hahaha! Yeah, I know. I have been eating a modified Paleo diet for quite a while now, but it's not nearly as time consuming as slicing up all these vegies.

As for the organ meats, using onions, curry powder and nutmeg helps to quell the strong liver taste.
I tried beef heart once this past month, sliced in thin strips and sauteed in a skillet. It was really good, and I noticed a boost in my energy level after eating it.
 

maddietod

Senior Member
Messages
2,859
I friended her on FB just so I could join that discussion.

The diet is suddenly easy for me to understand, this time around, so I'm not having trouble with it. I went out to lunch today, salmon, spinach, and broccoli, no big deal to figure out. 1/3 colorful fruits, 1/3 dark leafy greens, 1/3 other nonstarchy vegetables, good proteins........it's just making sense.

I made and froze chicken and beef bone broth before starting, because that felt like the tricky part. Then I cooked pre-chopped (trader joes) swiss chard (good recipe, not plain) and measured it into 300g portions. I mixed frozen rasperberries/cherries and blueberries with half a cantaloupe and measured that into 300g portions. I keep chopped kale on hand, and can make a quick smoothie with equal weight of kale and mixed fruit, plus water. Tomorrow I'm going to buy a few pounds of mushrooms and get them into the cooking rotation. Onions and garlic go into my vegetables.

I keep omega-3 organic eggs in the fridge, roast a chicken once a week or so, and have salmon and flax in the freezer.

I decided that my priority was organic, grass fed meats and wild salmon, and I'll worry about organic vegetables later. I'm getting the 900 grams of fruit and vegetables daily, plus the flax, algae, etc........that's the most important thing for me.