Understanding the metabolic approach to cancer with Dr. Nasha Winters

Explicit content warning

06/11/20 • 64 min

With the general risk of cancer only set to increase during the current generation, we face the hard reality of these dangers lingering in our lives. Dr. Nasha Winters is an expert in the integrative approach to fighting cancer and having successfully warded off multiple bouts with the disease in her own life, is positioned well to speak on the dietary and metabolic ways we can reduce risk and strengthen our resilience to it. Dr. Nasha joins us for this episode of the Muscle Intelligence podcast to share this philosophy, talk a little about her book The Metabolic Approach to Cancer and share a whole lot of wisdom on a number of adjacent and related issues! We start off with some basics, chatting about the building blocks of a good diet and how fasting can fit into this. Dr. Nasha also shares her own story and the difficult challenges she faced before she even became an adult, with a teenage cancer diagnosis. From there we chat about protein in a healthy diet, removing gluten and whether soy is as healthy or unhealthy as we often seem to hear. We also get into the damaging effects of too much exercise and the potential for exercise addiction; Dr. Nasha promotes an individual approach to movement and exertion, as there are many different physical needs that we have in order to flourish. We finish off our chat on the topic of pollution and how to purify our bodies from its harmful effects. Join us to hear it all!

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Timestamps

Dr. Nasha's early life and health issues from a young age. [4:53]
Dangerous practices around radiation and cancer screening. [10:30]
The simple dietary approach that Dr. Nasha takes with her patients. [13:22]
Starting from a clean, local and high-quality foundation for what you eat. [18:13]
The varied responses to fasting across different types of metabolic systems. [21:25]
When to lengthen a fast to three to five days and the effects that start to emerge. [25:19]
Protein intake amounts and balancing short and long term objectives. [28:53]
Basics to avoid and the real dangers of modern gluten. [32:40]
The actual health status of much-debated soy products. [38:18]
Our addiction to gluten and the answers that are readily available to solve the problem. [41:11]
The final addiction; over-exercising and the serious damage this can do. [45:07]
Environmental factors that influence our health and risks of cancer. [47:43]
Ways to dilute and reduce the pollution we encounter on a daily basis. [53:22]
Dr. Nasha's sauna practice and the natural methods we can all access to sweat healthily. [58:58]

Timestamps

Dr. Nasha's early life and health issues from a young age. [4:53]
Dangerous practices around radiation and cancer screening. [10:30]
The simple dietary approach that Dr. Nasha takes with her patients. [13:22]
Starting from a clean, local and high-quality foundation for what you eat. [18:13]
The varied responses to fasting across different types of metabolic systems. [21:25]
When to lengthen a fast to three to five days and the effects that start to emerge. [25:19]
Protein intake amounts and balancing short and long term objectives. [28:53]
Basics to avoid and the real dangers of modern gluten. [32:40]
The actual health status of much-debated soy products. [38:18]
Our addiction to gluten and the answers that are readily available to solve the problem. [41:11]
The final addiction; over-exercising and the serious damage this can do. [45:07]
Environmental factors that influence our health and risks of cancer. [47:43]
Ways to dilute and reduce the pollution we encounter on a daily basis. [53:22]
Dr. Nasha's sauna practice and the natural methods we can all access to sweat healthily. [58:58]

Previous Episode

Q&A: Empathy in stressful situations; and answering listener questions about fiber, tight muscles, and core stability

Welcome to this live episode of the Muscle Intelligence Podcast, where Ben and Ash talk about standing together at this moment in history and share some amazing diet and fitness wisdom! We kick things off thinking about all that is happening right now with the backfire against racism, talking about the need for empathy, and how we should use this moment as an opportunity to lend each other support. Ben gets into the core tenets of his workout goals next, speaking about his threefold aims in areas of strength and hypertrophy, mobility and stability, and cardio. In answer to a listener question about beating stiffness, Ben talks about meeting the problem from the inside out by breathing, walking, and meditating. Another listener question encourages some recommendations about what fiber sources to consume while avoiding leaky gut foods and Ben gets into his preference for things that beat inflammation like fermented veg, things from the Cruciferae family, and, of course, avocado and berries! Some other great talking points from today’s show are the potential imminent eruption of the Yellowstone volcano, the pitfalls of social media, how Ben got to where he is by mastering what he initially sucked at, and a whole lot more!

Today’s amazing episode is sponsored by Wild Alaskan Seafood Box. If you’re into great food, taking care of yourself, and only putting the best quality food into your amazing vessel, Ben highly suggests visiting wildalaskanseafoodbox.com/ben and using the code ‘BEN’ to get $25 off your next order!

Timestamps

The pitfalls of social media: facades, hateful comments, & the skew fan/host dynamic. [0:20]
Getting over prejudices and the need for empathy between humans beyond race. [3:30]
The potential impending eruption of the Yellowstone volcano and what it could mean. [10:00]
Ben explains his 3 workout aims: strength/hypertrophy, mobility/stability, and cardio. [11:51]
How Ben builds dynamic movement, a fourth aim, into his existing three already. [17:50]
Ashleigh’s current workouts focusing on muscle contraction, boxing, and skipping. [18:33]
People’s tendency not to listen to Ben’s workout advice, to their detriment! [20:01]
Gut motility; how Ben got so good at certain things: because he used to suck at them. [21:35]
How far Ben has come since being a skinny guy who knew nothing about exercise. [23:13]
Improving mobility through breathing, walking, and meditating. [26:00]
Paying attention to how you walk; the foot’s role in knee, hip, back, and shoulder pain. [29:30]
A deeper look at Ben’s morning breathing practice and its effects on pain and mobility. [32:41]
Ben’s thoughts on healthy fiber sources: fermented veg, Cruciferae, berries, avocado. [34:25]
Quick thoughts on what to eat to manage allergies; avoiding histamine foods. [35:55]
How to maximize hypertrophy and Ben and Ash’s morning workout styles. [37:43]
Ben’s thoughts on being a life coach and more on his coaching mentorship. [40:02]
Looking at identity, beliefs, and habits for attaining your goals. [42:22]
All the great seafood Ben has been eating from Wild Alaskan Seafood Box! [43:07]

Next Episode

All About Oxalates with Healthy Agriculture Advocate and Former Vegetarian Sally K. Norton

So-called health foods that we think are doing something great for us sometimes are leading to the very things we are trying to avoid. Today’s guest is Sally Norton and she joins us to talk about chemical compounds called oxalates that are found in plants and the dangers they pose to our health! Sally grew up veggie-centric and spent 16 years as a vegan and vegetarian, and today she tells us about the many health difficulties she experienced before discovering the dangers of oxalates. We take a deep dive with her into the chemical reactions and physiological processes caused by oxalates in our bodies and she weighs in on how these compounds bind to minerals causing things like gout, stopping damaged tissue from healing properly, and blocking our ability to read warning signals from the body. Sally also gets into which parts of different food groups like brassica, leafy greens, tubers, and grains are high in oxalates and should be avoided. We talk about the damage a vegetarian diet can cause to the gut before getting into a fascinating exchange about the birthplace of moral arguments for avoiding meat, with links to Seventh Day Adventism and societies whose reasons to dissuade populations from an animal diet were originally economic. Other talking points are lost methods of preparing vegetables to make them lower in oxalates, how vegans might decrease oxalates, and how Sally thinks about eating meat sustainably as an environmentalist!

We have a new promotion from Ben’s favorite source for wild-caught, high-quality fish, Wild Alaskan Seafood Box. They've upped the discount to $25 off your first order, and there's no subscription required. Try a box and Ben bets you'll go back for more! Head to http://www.wildalaskanseafoodbox.com/ben/ and use the code BEN.

Timestamps

Introducing Sally Norton and her work on dangerous oxalates in ‘health foods’. [0:17]
Sally’s plant diet journey that destroyed her health leading her to a new diet. [4:51]
How oxalates destroy health and stop your ability to discern the body’s signals. [7:55]
Health issues Sally faced growing up even while eating a veggie-centric diet. [8:51]
Sally’s fight with gout as a student and how oxalates can cause gout. [12:45]
A molecular description of oxalates and how they bond to minerals causing damage. [14:13]
How oxalates get hung up in injured tissue and interrupt the healing process. [18:06]
Foods from the leafy green and tuber family that are high in oxalates. [20:37]
High oxalate indicators and pre-birth/early life causes for Sally’s poor health. [26:00]
How to lower broccoli oxalates and dangers of brassica vegetables. [29:54]
Lectin and phytates in vegetables and the damage eating them did to Sally’s gut. [31:08]
Taking isolated vitamins from vegetable sources and stopping trusting what’s natural. [34:47]
Grains high in oxalates and the birthplace of linking ‘health foods’ with being moral. [36:05]
Veganism as an offshoot of Kellogg’s anti-sex Seventh Day Adventism teachings. [39:12]
Economic reasons for meat avoidance reframed as moral arguments for veganism. [44:08]
Dangers of soluble fiber, and how we have lost old methods of preparing vegetables. [45:47]
High oxalates in nuts, and the benign qualities of fermented cabbage. [48:20]
Healing oxalate problems as a vegan and how meat bioaccumulates toxins too. [50:55]
The dangers of mono-cropping and Sally’s preference to build sustainable systems. [52:32]
How Sally eats meat sustainably as an environmentalist. [57:12]