The Wahls Protocol gained international attention when Dr. Wahls addressed an audience in Iowa City as part of a 2011 independent TED Symposium.  Her talk, Minding Your Mitochondria, is available on Youtube.com and to date has drawn over 2.5 million viewers.  A book by a similar name (Minding My Mitochondria) has also been published.  However, Dr. Wahls’ best-selling book The Wahls Protocol stands as her magnum opus and has attracted thousands of followers around the world who refer to themselves as Wahls Warriors.

The inspiration for The Wahls Protocol came from her own life experience when, after several years of waxing and waning symptoms, Dr. Wahls was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Despite a career in academic medicine at the University of Iowa, and access to the best conventional medical doctors and treatments, by 2006 her condition declined the point that she was restricted to a wheelchair.  She tried the Paleo Diet, and by chance, after she discovered the principles of Functional Medicine, through research and self-experimentation, she perfected what is known today as The Wahls Protocol.  She is now ambulatory and able to ride her bicycle 20 miles.  Dr. Wahls spreads her message of therapeutic lifestyle medicine through her book, speaking engagements, clinical research, and her practice at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Iowa City.   Dr. Wahls also holds a faculty position with The Institute for Functional Medicine.