Dr. Terry Wahls treated her own patients like most doctors do, with prescription drugs and surgical procedures, until she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000. She was confined to a wheelchair within three years.

When conventional medical treatments failed her, she started doing her own research. She studied the latest research on autoimmune disease, brain cell biology and functional medicine. She devised her own treatment protocol, the Wahls Protocol, based on nutrition. She set out to correct nutritional deficiencies and give her cells everything they needed to heal at a fundamental level, ideally through food instead of just supplements and pills. Within three months on her Wahls Protocol diet, she went from a wheelchair to walking with a cane. Within one year she was riding bicycles and horses with her family.

Her Wahls Protocol recommends nine cups of fruits and vegetables per day: three cups from leafy greens, three cups from sulfur-rich vegetables like cabbage, mushrooms, onions, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and three cups of brightly colored fruits and veggies like berries, oranges, carrots and beets. It uses grass-fed meats, wild-caught fish, organ meats and seaweed. It encourages gradually implementing exercise, limiting toxin exposure and managing stress.

She breaks down the latest research and three different plans in her new book, “The Wahls Protocol: How I beat Progressive MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine.”

She will be answering questions and signing books tonight (4/28/2014) at Unity Temple on the Country Club Plaza at 7 p.m. as part of the Rainy Day Books Authors Series.

Go to www.rainydaybooks.com for ticket information. For the $28 book price, you get a hardcover edition of the book, two tickets to the event and one provides autograph access.