Episode 11: The Metabolic Approach to Cancer with Dr. Nasha Winters

Listeners can find Dr. Nasha Winters on her website Dr. Nasha, and on Instagram @drnashawinters

Dr. Nasha Winters is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor (ND) and a Fellow of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology. She is a global healthcare authority in integrative cancer research and consults with physicians around the world bridging ancient therapies with advancements in modern medicine in the digital era. 

A personal journey with cancer and a medical career spanning over 25 years has Dr. Nasha on a mission to educate and empower the nearly fifty percent of the population expected to have cancer in their lifetime. Prevention is the only cure. She is also the bestselling co-author of “The Metabolic Approach to Cancer”, which has received many accolades. 

In this episode we talk about Dr. Nasha’s personal journey as a cancer survivor, how nutrition and lifestyle can affect cancer, the role that ketones play in cancer treatment, why metabolic flexibility is important, and some advice from Dr. Nasha!

Episode Top Takeaways:

• Cancer is on the rise, and our diets and environments are playing a huge role.
• Sugar, Stress, and Sex (hormones), are the three S’s that drive cancer production.
• Ketones treat cancer in a shotgun-style approach, addressing many issues simultaneously in a way modern pharmaceuticals are not capable of. 
• Most cancers are driven by obesity, even people who appear “thin” can have organ fat creating the same problems.

Show Notes:

• [5:00] Nasha was born and raised subjected to dietary and environmental factors that, like so many others of her generation experienced, left her digestive and hormonal issues from infancy onward
• [8:00] When her symptoms were not properly diagnosed, at age 19 Nasha was hospitalized and near death in the end stages of ovarian cancer.
• [9:30] While at college Nasha discovered Dr. Otto Warburg, and miraculously began recovering from her cancer and complications.
• [12:00] The physical inability to eat, coupled with Dr. Warburg’s finding that cancer is mitochondrial and not genetic, alerted Nasha to the power of fasting.
• [14:00] Nasha became vegetarian at age 16 in response to the cruelty she witnessed of mass-production cattle farming. Which meant removing any meat from her already predominantly processed food diet.
• [16:30] Nasha used the Gerson Therapy diet, which gave her body a much-needed break from sugar and carbohydrates, but still was not sufficient to repair the damage.
• [19:25] “In 2010, we (my husband and I) went hard-core keto. And that was a game changer.”
• [20:15] Nasha and her husband experienced such profound physical and psychological results from the diet, that despite an unwelcoming environment at the time from the general medical community, she began sharing her story of reversing cancer.
• [25:20] Ketones treat cancer in a shotgun style approach, addressing many issues simultaneously in a way modern pharmaceuticals are not capable of. 
• [26:10] Less than 12% of American’s are metabolically flexible.
• [27:30] The goal of metabolic flexibility is to change a metabolic signaling system in the body, which makes healthier cells healthier and unhealthy cells more vulnerable. 
• [31:00] Chemotherapy probably yields its results, ironically, from the medically induced fasted state most patients enter in the time around their chemo session. Fasting alone can yield the same results.
• [36:50] Everyone has cancer cells all the time. 1 in 2 men, and 1 in 2.4 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Brain cancer and color-rectal cancer are two of the fastest growing world wide for people under the age of 35. 
• [40:00] The most metabolically reactive cancers, meaning sugar intake directly affects them, are breast, color-rectal, lung, prostate, and gynecological cancers.
• [40:40] Sugar, Stress, and Sex (hormones), are the three S’s that drive cancer production.
• [42:30] Dr. Nasha’s book, A Metabolic Approach to Cancer, helps readers assess their own exposure and lifestyle in light of cancer prevention.
• [47:00] Most cancers are driven by obesity, even people who appear “thin” can have organ fat creating the same problems.
• [49:45] “If I had a dollar for every person who said ‘I was healthy before I got cancer’, I would have retired years ago. There’s no way. You do not go to bed one night… and wake up with cancer. …There’s something you can do about it way before…”
• [50:30] Travel is hard on the body, Nasha makes sure to take Vitamin D3 and fast during travel days.
• [52:30] Dr. Nasha is currently creating her own research facility.

Listen to the full episode HERE. 

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Rachel Gregory (@rachelgregory.cns) is a Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist, Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and Author of the best-selling book, 21-Day Ketogenic Diet Weight Loss Challenge. She received her Master’s Degree in Nutrition & Exercise Physiology from James Madison University and Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Medicine from the University of Miami.

Rachel helps her clients transform their lives by starting with the physical (body), realizing the power of the mental (mindset), and ultimately gaining massive confidence that bleeds into every aspect of their lives (family, relationships, work, etc.).