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Summary
On episode 263 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Dr. Nasha Winters, a board-certified naturopathic doctor, licensed acupuncturist, and fellow of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology, and Jess Higgins Kelley, director of the Oncology Nutrition Therapy Certification program at the Nutrition Therapy Institute in Denver, co-authors of The Metabolic Approach to Cancer.
They walk through the 10 hallmarks of cancer that conventional medicine targets one drug at a time, then contrast that with their Terrain 10, a whole-body model that treats cancer prevention and care like tending a garden: canopy (epigenetics), soil (microbiome), trunk (emotional health), and seven branches that include blood sugar, circulation, inflammation, immune function, hormones, toxicant load, and circadian rhythm.
Much of the conversation centers on the ketogenic diet as a tool that touches nearly every branch of that tree, along with a hard look at food quality, why not all meat and fat are equal, and how high-heat grilling changes the safety of the food on your plate.
Links
- https://optimalterrainconsulting.com
- https://remissionnutrition.com
Key Takeaways
- Western medicine treats cancer as 10 individual security breaches, each needing its own drug. Jess explains the 10 hallmarks, from sustained proliferation and evading cell suicide to metastasis and genome instability, and notes that most drugs only hit one or two targets at a time because of toxicity limits.
- The Terrain 10 looks at cancer as a whole-body imbalance instead of a single broken gene. Dr. Nasha’s garden metaphor covers epigenetics, the microbiome, emotional health, and seven branches (blood sugar, circulation, inflammation, immune function, hormones, toxicants, and circadian rhythm) that can all be nourished or poisoned by daily choices.
- The ketogenic diet appears to address at least 6, and likely all 10, of the conventional hallmarks of cancer. Dr. Nasha cites research showing it’s anti-angiogenic, induces apoptosis, and can work like a checkpoint inhibitor, and that it often makes other therapies, from chemotherapy to high-dose vitamin C, more effective.
- Eating fat in ketosis is not the same risk as excess protein when it comes to fueling cancer cells. Dr. Nasha says the clinical concern she actually sees is too much protein driving the mTOR pathway, not dietary fat, even though a small amount of early cell-line research raises the fat question.
- Humans were never meant to stay in ketosis year-round. Jess explains that historically people cycled in and out of ketosis for days or weeks at a time, and she has clients dip in and out of it a few times a year for prevention rather than staying in it permanently.
- Food quality changes the entire conversation about meat and fat. Jess points out that 100% grass-fed meat carries far more anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acid than grain-fed, commercially raised meat, which runs higher in inflammatory omega-6, so lumping “all meat” together in a study misses the real variable.
- Pasture-raised chickens and their eggs carry more vitamin D and better fat quality than conventionally raised, grain-fed birds. Jess notes chickens are natural omnivores that prefer bugs and lizards, so labeling eggs “vegetarian-fed” is a marketing term, not a health claim.
- High-heat grilling creates a well-known carcinogen when fat drippings smoke back into the meat. Dr. Nasha and Jess recommend cooking low and slow, marinating with herbs like rosemary that can offset the effect, and building the rest of the plate around a heavy base of vegetables.
- The cancer stem cells most people carry are set early in life, and lifestyle determines whether they ever develop. Coach Allan and Dr. Nasha agree that only about 5% of cancer risk is pure inheritance, which means daily choices around diet, toxins, and stress carry most of the weight.
“Conventionally raised meat, they’re four-legged Superfund sites.”
Jess Higgins Kelley