Susan, I too have many chronic health problems, so I watched the video with interest. I agree that we need to go back (waaaay back) and eat like our ancestors, the hunter-gatherers. No doubt about it. My new health plan starts on Monday. I had that 'plan' even before I watched the video but at least now I will be more specific with what I will eat. I want to lose weight but I also want to be healthy inside. I have some neurological issues that I'm hoping will be helped by the H-G diet.

Thanks for sharing.

Jodi-

I recommitted myself to my eating plan after indulging in a little too much holiday junk! I've eliminated meat, dairy, eggs, sugar, flour, and refined carbs. I'm dedicated to eating a pound of greens a day and at least 50% of my fruits and veggies are to be raw.

Yesterday I had a green juice with kale, cucumber, celery, parsley, apple, lemon, ginger and spinach, mixed with hemp protein powder. Then I had a gigantic salad for lunch with some curried quinoa with arugala and chickpeas and then for dinner I had whole wheat pasta with marinara and a pound of collard greens sauteed with garlic. It was awesome and I felt great all day.

I haven't watched the video as I'm at work but since you're mentioning meat, I already know I won't agree, lol. BUT I certainly agree with getting rid of crap food and focusing on a nutritional approach. Whole, natural foods are crucial.

I'm glad to see people taking a nutrition-based approach to their health. I cringe at everyone who pops pills every day and continues to eat what they want.

I just watched "Forks over Knives" and it was really interesting. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the links between nutrition and health.

I watched the video and agree with much she said. But I have not eaten meat in 30 years and would never ever start again . But I DO eat tons of fruits and veggies , grains , but not nearly in the quantity she does. Definitely not 3 platefuls . I have six fruits every day for lunch year round..mostly berries. I have a large fresh veggie every night like asparagus, broccoli, green beans. I threw out ALL processed foods years ago and everything I eat is fresh. I am mostly a vegetarian but eat salmon once a week and a small amount of chicken and an egg a day. I feel horrible when I ate sweets over the holidays. I don't drink and never drink soda. I believe in a lot of what this woman says, with the exception of eating meats(and organs)

Diet plays a huge role in our health. I have a few autoimmune conditions and all of them and 90% "cured" with diet change. I am pretty happy where I am at as I don't take any medications anymore. Granted I do take supplements but hey, they don't have to be monitored with monthly blood testing and are so safe especially compared to what I was on. I have been on this strict diet for about nine months and find I can now have cheat days (and have been for the past two weeks). I will be going back to my new lifestyle change and I don't dread it and am actually looking forward to it. For me though, I do better with meats than grains as every individual is different. Oh yeah, on my meds, I was probably at 60% as I wasn't willing to move on to even harsher arthritis meds without trying a natural approach first and am so happy I did.

Sounds like great advice, I bet many people would be able to get off - or reduce - their meds if they ate like she recommends. There are pitfalls though, f.e. in our fairly small community it's almost impossible to find organic berries year round. But our stores do have a great selection of organic kale and other greens.

I've seen something similar a Dr. put out on diet but I think it was adding something and I think it cured "cancer". I think our diet plays an important role in our health but I don't think it is the end all or will be the answer to curing chronic illnesses. Bottom line, the hunters and gathers died off often before chronic illnesses set in so I'm not sure it means anything just because our ancestors ate fresher. How was their health?

I know I personally eat healthier than anyone in my family and most of my friends. My favorite food is salad, I hate fast food, and I don't eat a lot of processed foods and I don't have a sweet tooth. I prefer to get my vitamins from food. I eat very healthy because I prefer the taste of natural food, but sadly I am probably the most unhealthy person in my family. My husband is as healthy as a horse, eats fast food almost every day, loves starch, and snacks on big chocolate bars and soda. I can't win. Obviously, you should eat healthy and I'm sure it can help many people with many things including keeping weight down. But, I don't think this diet is the miracle cure for illness.

I think chronic illnesses probably have a lot more to do with genetics and maybe even stress and hormones. I think if you do enough research, you may also find that with many there are bacterial and viral componants.

Aisande, Thanks for posting this. I watched the video and found it very interesting. I was a little surprised that she did not mentioned beans - maybe it is the carbs, but many hunter gatherers rely on beans and nuts for protein.
Please keep us posted on your progress.

I think it goes a little further than food. If you think about all the chemicals you come across every day...shampoo, conditioner, soap, makeup, lotion, toothpaste, cleaning products, air fresheners, car exhaust, perfume, laundry detergent...it's everywhere and obviously you can't avoid it all but I believe the almost constant exposure to chemicals also plays a role in the generally poor health of our population.

The body is amazing and can put up with a lot of abuse but near-constant assaults from environmental factors, combined with internal pollution from processed foods is just a combination that can't hold out forever. I know that sounds dramatic but if you really stop and think about it, you'll see just how much we're exposed to.

You see a lot more cases of lung cancer these days in younger people in their 30's and 40's, or even 20's, who have never smoked a day in their life. I can't help but think it can be attributed to everything you breathe in every day. I try to keep my home as chemical-free as possible and I don't like to use anything on my body that I couldn't eat. It makes me feel better because there's a lot I can't control, like air quality or the products used at work, but I like to do what I can.

I'm not able to get the video on this internet connection - does it say how long this doctor has gone without MS symptoms? MS patients can go for many years without symptoms, you know. I have a friend who has had *one* MS episode; now she seems perfectly fine. But she still has the MS diagnosis.

My aunt was a healthy eater: organic, very little meat, no medications; of all people she ought to have been very healthy. But - she had severe osteoporosis, had lots of strokes, and had Essential Tremor for most of her life. I have ET also - there may be a genetic component to that...but I'm not convinced that diet is the answer to most health problems. I think people didn't live long enough in previous generations to have developed many medical problems. Also, medical knowledge hadn't advanced enough to diagnose conditions like tremor and strokes.

In 1975 a lady named Eydie Mae Hunsberger wrote a book called "How I Cured My Cancer Naturally"---it was a very good seller, claiming 300,000 copies published. However, whatever happened to Eydie Mae was unknown, though the story was that she had died in "an accident", no specifics.

Although I never read the book, apparently when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1973, she had a lumpectomy, but turned down any further conventional cancer treatment, going with juicing, raw veggie food, etc. Her book had a second printing by her husband in 1992. Apparently no mention of her death...just a pure reprint.

I got curious about her when her book was mentioned on a health forum recently, so decided to do a genealogy work-up on her. I found it strange that I could find no published obit for her, though she & her husband were fairly prominent in their California community. I got the drift that her death was kept quiet.

So my last step was accessing her California death certificate to see how the accident story(alledgedly she & her husband had been bike-riding & she been hit by a car) held up. Not very well as it turned out. She died in 1984 at age 59 of breast cancer that for several years had matastasized all over her body. The lumpectomy was probably what bought her some time. Her second printing book is still available at Amazon, and from the reviews, a lot of people still believe she did "cure herself".

I don't know, living 10+ years in the 70's with cancer seems pretty successful to me. They didn't have very effective conventional treatments so I would wager she lived longer than she would have without changing her diet. Plus you have to factor in quality of life. I watched my mom on chemo and she wanted to die because it was so awful.

kfca, what are your opinions? Do you think diet has nothing to do with healing illness? I don't see any downside to a healthy diet.

I think Diet is very important....but not protection or cures from many diseases that are genetic in origin.

I won't take supplements, they are mostly chemicals maybe mixed in with some crushed organic matter just to be able to call the product "natural".

I have to take something for my RA, but it's frustrating when the one successful drug, Remicade, was responsible for my Sarcoidosis - a systematic disease that is also linked to Humera and Emberel - drugs that are advertised on TV,and can be prescribed by anyone with an MD license. Okay, they now put in a sentence at the end of the ads that you have to be careful about infections. The trigger with me last year was a common head cold - and it almost killed me.

So, we really can't trust the drug companies, have to be very careful about how knowledgeable our doctors are, and eat healthy to avoid ingesting chemical "nutritional supplements".

Can't win for losing.

I watched part of the video and then had to stop, will continue it in the morning.

Have any of you heard of Dr. Anthony Sattilaro? He wrote a booked called "Recalled to Life", it's based on his journey in the world of Michio Kushi and Macrobiotics. He had prostrate cancer that metastasized, he ended up with it throughout his body, including pancreas. He did eventually die from cancer but he lived nearly 12 years and I believe the cancer returned only after he began to add chicken back into his diet.

A gal I was very close to was given a death sentence and told to put her affairs in order, that she would be dead within 6 months due to melanoma and stage 4 pancreatic cancer and in her lymph nodes. That was in 1984, she is alive today and has been proclaimed to be cancer free by the Cleveland Clinic (who was doing a study on her). She too saw Michio Kushi and followed a very strict macrobiotic diet.

Another good friend and client of mine held off the ravages of MS for over 30 years by strict diet. He has begun to suffer severe fatigue and a limp but he has done extremely well. He had to retire from medicine because of the fatigue but he has done extremely well and is a gifted photographer who has traveled the globe, thanks to his diet keeping the disease at bay.

Well, maybe. Unless I see something very official, I tend to take "miraculous cure stories" with a grain of salt. People can make up some fantstic stories about their illnesses. BTW, Dr. Kushi was operated on for colon cancer in 2004 & his wife, who was very active in the macrobiotic movement, died of cancer at age 78.

As far as prostate cancer, that usually is one of the slowest-growing cancers. Sometimes drs. don't even treat it. Living 11 years eating a macrobiotic diet or pop-tarts wouldn't be that unusual.

Yes, Aveline Kushi died from cervical cancer, his daughter passed from cancer as well. Kushi is not a physician, and I believe he passed from lung cancer. Dr. Sattilaro's cancer had metastasized. It traveled into his bones and he was given less than a year to live when he went to the Kushi institute. Dr. Sattilaro's story is well documented, I believe he was president of the Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia.

Well, according to Wikipedia, Kushi is still living. And he was operated on for colon cancer, not lung cancer...unless that's a new development.

Addressing some of the points in the above posts.....

I suspect the carb content of beans explains why they weren't mentioned. I don't know about the nuts, though. I eat walnuts every day and get my omega 3 that way. I love the idea of beans, but don't do well with them.

I would love to be a vegetarian, but have found I need animal protein. When we had the tofu business we ate a vegetarian diet for some time. My husband and kids did well on it, but I did not. I'm insulin-resistant and couldn't handle the carbs, even though they were good carbs.

Carla, I don't know how old your DH is, but his eating habits may catch up with him someday. Or they might not. I have observed that some bodies can handle all sorts of dietary sins. I remember my parents' neighbor in Florida, a very elderly, rather thin man who directed his cook to serve him spareribs every night of the week.

Gladys, I don't think she mentions how long she's been without symptoms, but she does describe the changes that took place after a month on the new diet, after two months, three months, etc. She started out spending nearly all her time in a special (zero gravity?) chair, unable to walk except for very short distances with two canes. Now she walks normally, rides a bike, rides a horse, etc.

Remember, the goal of the diet she outlines is to feed the mitochondria--more specifically, the mitochondria contained in brain cells. Her focus was to prevent the brain shrinkage common to MS, and in the process she eliminated the symptoms of the disease.

I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say this (most of you eat well!), but when I'm standing in line at the supermarket and glance at the contents of the carts in my vicinity, I can't help thinking that most people are missing the point of hunger. When we're hungry, our bodies are not signaling us to simply fill the stomach (with chips, soda, grease and starch), but to provide nourishment.

Cookie, please let us know how you eat! Your story is encouraging.

I'm insulin-resistant too Susan. I've found I have to eat a lot of protein. Greens are great for protein among other things. I also think people eat too much of it. I have no idea if you do but I think in general we're very protein-obsessed! If you want some more low carb veggie protein ideas, let me know.

If I keep my diet almost all fruits and veggies and limit the whole grains, I can keep my body in check. I don't eat a whole lot of fruit other than berries except for a treat.

Sugar is my main problem. Cutting it out has made a huge difference. So has avoiding dairy. I slipped up and ate a little cheese today for the first time in a while and I feel cruddy.

I'm not overly religious but I believe the earth was smartly designed to provide everything we need to heal ourselves, unless of course the health has deteriorated to an extreme. Nutrients aren't miracle workers and drinking carrot juice won't fix 40 years of abuse. But it's certainly better than continuing bad habits!

What I find a little curious is how anyone can know for sure that it is the "diet" that cured them. I mean MS is a very complicated and unknown disease -- with progressions and remissions as part of the disease itself.

I don't doubt that there are people that have been 'cured' or in remission from MS and Cancer -- People claim that cures come from many things. I've heard of making religious pilgrimages, prayer chains, just having the will to want to live and going on an all liquid diet for miracle cures. What really cured these people of their diseases - I don't know. Was it the pilgrimage? Was it the red wine? I just don't think it's clear what actually cures people in some cases. If these cures were really cures, wouldn't everyone who tried these diets be cured? And, sadly, that's not the case. Most people trying these hopeful tricks or diets probably don't get healed at least not from the "tricks" or diets. Lynn's friend is suffering severe fatique but is somehow doing really well because of the diet... It doesn't really sound like he's doing all that great to me and how do you know he wouldn't be doing better without the special diet? There's really no way to know...

Some people tell you what they think you want to hear and some people choose to hear what they want. Suggestibility is a powerful tool especially with chronically ill people and they can be easily taken advantage of because of it. They need and want hope and will look for it anywhere. But, have any facts actually been presented that this diet cures MS?

If this is the first Dr. you've seen talk about diet cures like this, yes, it can be fascinating but after you've seen a couple, you become a little more cynical in what is really going on and maybe aren't as easily swayed by it. This whole thing reminds me of that Miracle Cures Dr.

I found the below spoof on YouTube. Kind of funny...

Here is a link that might be useful: YouTube Natural Cures Mad TV Infomercial Spoof

Well said, Carla.

I have Essential Tremor - another one of those chronic maladies. There are currently no easy treatments for it, so many people try the diet/alternative medicine route. Some people seem to improve with alternative stuff/nonconventional treatment. But the reality is that the scientists haven't done any blind or double blind treatments with alternative treatments for ET or other chronic conditions. If they had done scientific evaluations of those treatments and found them to be effective and safe medically, that'd be wonderful. But until then, I'll stick to my nonalternative treatment for my chronic condition (wires in the brain for ET) - and keep eating a basically healthy, but normal diet (chocolate, anyone?).

Don't ask Steve Jobs how macrobiotic diet worked for his pancreatic cancer. He went on a very strict diet when first diagnosed and had he been operated on then , he'd be alive today, no doubt. I take six vitamins a day and that's all the meds I take. I have fibromyalgia and osteopenia. Genes play a huge role in the osteo. I was dealt a bad deck. My mother was okay at 91 but her sisters were really bent over. The one who died at 90 had osteo for 30 years and my other aunt who turned 95 last week is bent at the middle almost. Not good on the paternal side as my aunt and G-ma both who died in their 80's, always had a Dowager hump all the time I knew them. I will not take any prescription drug because I distrust the drug companies. I could take Boniva or Fosamax and have necrosis of the jaw with no real effect
on the osteo. But it's not cheap to live a veggie/fruit life. I'm getting all my fruits from Chile and Mexico now because they're not available in America. It's 3 or 4 dollars for 1/2 pint of blueberries or raspberries...cherries $5 a pound. But in years past, they would not have been available at all.

I agree about looking in others carts at the store. I guess I'm a food snob , but some carts are just laden with junk...chips, sodas, cookies, cakes...with not a healthy thing in sight.

I didn't watch the video yet.Just had to stop in and say i have a BIL with ms and has had it for many years.At times he was in a wheel chair.Then i don't know what or who led him to changing his diet,but i do know for a fact that he did it.

While he is still considered to have it,his quality of life has improved immensly.He lives in Va and has made a couple trips out here to s.ca driving himself and bringing a lot of what he eats with him,and he's very careful of what goes in his mouth these days.His weight also stays down.

Now don't ask me what he eats as he doesn't live here and i didn't pay that close of attention to it when he was here.I know he uses the flax seed oil,and some others,i just don't remember what.He just turned 78 on xmas day,and he came down with this while in the air force in the mid 50's.

It runs in his family on his mothers side,and many of his relatives have it or have had it.
Kathi

If this is the first Dr. you've seen talk about diet cures like this, yes, it can be fascinating but after you've seen a couple, you become a little more cynical in what is really going on and maybe aren't as easily swayed by it.

Carla, I'm 68 years old and I'm from New York. I'm not easily swayed by anything. :-)

Have you watched the video? She makes the connection between diet and lessening of symptoms pretty clear.

Some people tell you what they think you want to hear and some people choose to hear what they want. Suggestibility is a powerful tool especially with chronically ill people and they can be easily taken advantage of because of it.

Tool for what purpose? If you watched the video, you know she isn't selling anything. She's not promoting a book; she's not marketing a line of supplements. She's just relating her story in hopes that it will help others. If I choose to incorporate more kale into my diet, etc., exactly how am I being taken advantage of?

Dr. Wahls is a professor at the University of Iowa School of Medicine. Some of you may have seen the video of her son, an engineering student who testified so movingly at the Iowa State House opposing a proposed amendment to ban gay marriage.

I feel like this thread is going two directions. Citing examples of people who still died despite strict diets doesn't really prove anything as I don't think people are being persuaded to do risky things like skipping chemo or flushing their meds in favor of healthy diet.

If the point is you can eat anything you want and you still may or may not get hit with disease - well, sure. There's always going to be a randomness to it. People will live to be 100 eating nothing but junk while babies less than a year old will succumb to cancer before they even had a chance to develop bad habits. Most people who eat strict diets are doing it to help their chances at not getting stricken with disease.

I guess it's one of those things that I don't see a bad side to it so I don't understand why people are arguing against it. Eating healthy? Maybe it won't 100% protect you but it will definitely help. Not to mention you'll feel better without the junk. I think the science and medical communities are just now starting to see the power of appropriate nutrition - things they've known for centuries in other countries. I've had my share of illnesses back when I was eating poorly and my doctors never once suggested food to stop eating or start eating and I find that strange. It's always a pill while the body is very good at healing itself if properly supported. Not everything but a lot of things could be fixed with a diet adjustment. I really believe that. There have been many documented cases of people getting rid of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, even heart disease by a diet change. If it can help there, why not think it can help in other areas?

There have been many documented cases of people getting rid of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, even heart disease by a diet change.

My father is a wonderful example of that, and it made a profound impression on me growing up. Many here have heard his story already, but here it is again, briefly: In his forties, my dad's arteries were so blocked that he couldn't walk up a subway ramp without putting a nitroglycerine tablet under his tongue. He was in and out of the hospital with severe angina.

This was back in the 1940s and early 1950s. At the time, no one heard of cholesterol, etc., but somehow he connected with a physician who was far ahead of his time, and he persuaded my dad to give up saturated fats. Goodbye cheese, ice cream, sausage, etc. A dramatic improvement took place, and eventually my dad could not only walk up subway ramps but play tennis and ride a bike. He died at age 90, not of heart disease.

It's always a pill....

Ain't it the truth!

I also stay high protein but must stay very low carbohydrate and for the same reason, insulin resistance. The side benefit is the way it makes me feel, energetic, rids me of excess fluids and my cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose numbers are all low. I absolutely believe that diet has direct impact on me, and in some cases it is immediate.

Susan, I spent some time on Dr. Wahl's website this morning and found the video of her wonderfully articulate son speaking to the IA State House. I watched it several weeks ago the first time and was so impressed with him.

What is Kale? Seriously, I've never had it. Does it taste like lettuce? Chicken? :-)

Jodi-

Jodi, kale is a highly nutritious (oh, that's right--you saw the video LOL) green. I've grown both curly and flat varieties. I'll bet you have tons of it for sale in California. I love it in soups--particularly a Portuguese soup with beans and garlic (and sausage for those who eat sausage). It's also good steamed with some sauteed onion and garlic. And lots of other ways.

As for the taste, maybe somewhat like collards, only more delicate?

We had a thread here awhile back about kale. Maybe it'll show up in a search. Or maybe not. But several of us are particularly fond of kale "chips" baked in the oven.

I love kale. One of my favorite ways to eat it is raw, cut up and "massaged" with a little olive oil and salt. It wilts it and takes away some of the bitterness. Then you rub in 1/2 (or whole depending on how much kale) avocado and then sprinkle with fresh lemon juice and anything else you want to add (I like scallions). It sounds weird but it's amazing - earthy and creamy and so healthy. I can easily eat a whole pound of kale this way.

It's also really good in soups, as mentioned.

I knew what kale was but have never tried it. Reminded me of collard greens so never even gave it a try. I will say my diet is very fruit orientated with veggies second. Healthy eating to me is a way to possibly prevent illness, but the most important thing is how it makes me feel. When I go off, never with meat or organ parts, but with a heavy dessert at the holidays, I immediately feel sluggish. I eat no sugar except what's naturally in food but my vice is salt which I season on stuff I eat. I'm trying to cut back.

Susan, back many years when I was a baby , my maternal GF dropped dead at 65 downtown shopping. I know it was his German diet of "pudding" (organ meats) and all the heavy meat based German food. By contrast his three daughters who ate relatively well lived to their 90's and one is still going at 95. Same genes , different diets. I believe this video because she is doing a service by providing info and NOT peddling a book.

chi, I don't think anyone is arguing against eating a healthy diet. I would though have problems defining what exactly a healthy diet is especially for a sick person. Are you suggesting everyone here tries this or just those people with MS (and how many people are here with MS?)

For diabetics, a healthy diet may be one thing, for a person with Crohns, it may be another. It's not black and white. Of course, you should cut out fast food and junk food. But is diary good for weight loss or should you follow the no casein/cheese diet? Will red wine and coffee cure your cancer or cause it? Should Lupus patients eat tons of alfalfa sprouts or could it send them into a flare? Even for people with MS this diet would probably have to be adjusted and altered by their own doctor. MS is complicated; it's most probably not a one diet fits all kind of disease.

Chronically ill people often feel the need to do something and often finding cures for their illness is one of those things to make them feel needed and worthwhile. I've worked with chronically ill people and I can't tell you how many of them have found the cure to their disease. A doctor with that attitude can be especially scary because ill people want to believe them and they get the added respect of being a doctor. (And, I am surprised that there is no a book, because if this was there cure, there really should be a book -and I'm NOT being sarcastic).

And I stress again, if this is the "first" doctor you have seen present something like this, you will probably be swayed. But seak out others or just read some book reviews on all the doctors that have found cures for things, and after a while you may have a different opinion on these ideas. (I remember buying a cure all book the first time I saw something like this presented -it's convincing until you've seen it done over and over)

I have no ill will torwards the doctor above and I wouldn't doubt she means well. And, if I were dying, I'd probably try anything including her diet, never dying my hair again, and wearing only green clothes, but her diet really appears to me to be just another fad or idea. (It would be very nice if I were wrong though).

Again, of course, eat healthy, that should be a given. Ill or not. Other than that, I don't think what she's saying is proven. I think it's only a "theory". But try it and check back in --but if you have an ongoing illness, I would run it by your doctor first because not all changes are safe for everyone and even meds can have reactions with foods, etc. I'm not sure that the doctor above suggested checking with your doctor first, but she really should have.

Lily, my maternal grandmother, also German, died of a heart attack while out shopping, too--on a bus. She was only in her mid-40s. (An ER doctor actually said to me once, "That can't be true. Women don't die of heart attacks in their forties.")

Based on what I know about my own body, specifically the triglyceride levels that rise way above normal if I don't severely limit carbs, I would say my GM's death was due to her love of baking strudels and other goodies.

I know I inherited "my father's arteries," as I refer to it. Eating a restaurant meal made with butter, for instance, will give me chest pains. And I'm pretty sure I inherited the carb sensitivity from my maternal grandmother.

Actually, there IS a Book---second edition even. Check Amazon. Maybe next a line of supplements?

My diagnosis for arthritis happened about 7 years ago. I was on DMARD meds and went off them to get pregnant, which was great because I would go in remission with pregnancy. Anyways, that one pregnancy turned into two and after the birth of my second it came back fiercely. This was last year. I started with anti-inflammatories because I really didn't want to go on harsh meds again, which worked for 6 weeks, then went to Celebrex with worked another 6 and had to move to the DMARDS again. I had a pretty strong reaction this time which really worried me as my blood count got really messed up and this when I started a natural route. I did an elimination diet and had results within 10 days - I could pick up a plate with one hand, turn a door handle, pick up my 1 1/2 year old. At the beginning of the diet, if I ate the wrong foods, the inflammation occurred instantly so with paying attention I could really find my agitators. At this point I was at about 80% (3 months in) so I got an IgG test (food sensitivity) and found dairy and soy to be very high on the list. I now eliminate those but will have a cheat with them every so often. Basically, I follow the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent veggies and fruit with remaining being fish, meats, grains, etc. An ideal day for me could be a spinach salad for breakfast (topped with walnuts, fruit), 1 cup cooked oats with 1/2 cup blueberries, an egg with sauteed spinach, onions, asparagus or zucchini - lunch would be something similar, or meatballs with squash, a soup, rice cake with almond butter and sliced banana, dinner can be a salad with souvlaki, hamburger with green pepper and onions, etc. It got easier as I got into it and more food options became available as to what was good for me. I found it hard going by a book as I do believe each person is different for what it good for them. Since being on the diet my blood count (specifically my ESR rate) has changed, my anemia, gingivitis, fatigue, tooth sensitivity is gone. These are all physical changes that happened - I have psoriasis, which is pretty much cleared except a couple of spots but no dry skin either. I have had all these conditions all my life, as they have been monitored, but not in the past 6 six months since starting this diet! My last dental appointment - no lecture! A first for me. I brushed and flossed regularly beforehand and would always get a tutorial and I would follow and would get the lecture again at the next checkup. It's hard and frustrating but I am glad I didn't give up. The next round of meds suggested scared me. I will no longer be skeptical if someone suggests something to me because if I didn't have that reaction to my medication I wouldn't have done it (the natural route). Sorry it's so long.

Thank you, Cookie! Don't apologize......it was all interesting. I'm so glad you're having success with this diet--and how empowering to have taken this step on your own.

I had to look up souvlaki--shame on me, as I used to work for a Greek ship owner and enjoyed what I thought was a good familiarity with Greek foods. Oh, well--I worked for the Captain a long time ago. :-)

It sounds like you gave up dairy and minimized grains. Is that accurate? Anything else you had to give up completely?

Kfca37, thanks for the heads up on the book. I'm glad to see she's written one; her story is too good to keep to herself. As for the line of supplements, I sincerely doubt it. Although she mentions specific nutrients in the video, she says getting them from food is the way to go. She points out that the foods may contain a large number of additional benefits, some of which might not be even identified yet.

For the record, no one has suggested that everyone should be on this diet. I've been saying for years that we are all individuals and how we approach healthy living should be an individual thing. I've had to give up some foods that are quite healthy for most people.

I don't understand the hostility I perceive in some of these responses. Not everyone who has information to share is a scam artist. It sounds like Terry Wahls pushed some buttons and generated some defensiveness. Or maybe I perceived something that isn't there.

My personal belief is diseases that we grow into can be helped through our diets such as diabetes (not juvenile), heart diseases, high blood pressure, autoimmune can be helped immensely through diet.
I definitely believe in modern medicine for the aggressors such as cancers and trauma. Funny how one part of Hippocrates (our doctors "father") oath isn't taken into account - "let food be our medicine" as doctors aren't given a lot of training in nutrition. My doctors don't endorse what I am doing but don't discourage it as my Rheumatologist is impressed with the improvement I had within one month even though it isn't his practice to suggest such a thing but is happy with my results and is willing to do bloodtests. My old GP wasn't.
And you know, it's been about 10 days where I haven't been watching my diet and so far, I still feel like I'm in remission. In the summer, we went away for 4 days and by the time we came home (because I went off the diet) I had almost all my swelling and pains back and then disappeared after three days on the diet.
I still believe in a lot of medical research because figuring out my diet and being on it (more so at the beginning) was not fun and was very frustrating I wish they would do more research on nutrition. I do believe a lot of people don't have the interest in doing so much research and want a magic pill. Heck, I want a magic pill but there isn't one without some really bad side effects.
I also rely on my supplements - Seacure, fish oil, turmeric, probiotics and vitamin D which I purchase from very reputable companies. My diet is always changing to what my body needs because I have to admit I try and get away with as much as I can ;). Learned that one from my kids, lol.

I think we'll see a shift soon in nutrition...a renaissance if you will. The general public seems to be growing more informed of the health risks of the additives. We can see that in the push for organics, the fight against trans-fats and high fructose corn syrup that are forcing manufacturers to make a change. There's still a loooooong way to go but it's a start.

To me it just makes perfect sense to rely on a diet 100% from the earth. Whether you believe in creation or evolution or anything in-between, the plant-based resources are there for a reason. Why else would they be in so many colors, flavors, different nutritional profiles, different vitamins and minerals and protective benefits. If we weren't supposed to eat them as the majority of our diet, we would have been given vending machines instead of apple trees, lol.