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Dr Nasha Winters and Jess Higgins Kelley MNT deserve considerable credit for The Metabolic Approach To Cancer - Integrating Deep Nutrition, the Ketogenic Diet, and Nontoxic Bio-Individualized Therapies. I am confident that this highly professional, authoritative, well-researched, clinically innovative, articulate, integrative and comprehensive book will stand the test of time and be regarded as a ‘bible’ and academic treasure trove, valuable in its considerations of the multitude dimensions of cancer.

These two authors are accomplished clinicians, researchers and educators, as  evidenced by the clarity and directness of the information emanating from this title. The topics addressed span the entire universe of health subjects today: Metabolic Approach, Assessing your Terrain, Genetics, Sugar, Cancer and the Ketogenic Diet, Carcinogens, Cancer and Detoxification, the Microbiome, Immune Function, Inflammation-Oxidation Association, Cancer Growth and Spread – Halting Angiogenesis and Metastasis, Hormone Balance, Stress and Circadian Rhythms, Mental and Emotional Well-Being, the Terrain Ten in the Kitchen.

This hardback volume, referenced to the published scientific literature as well as published volume and online resources is replete with numerous notes and comprehensive index, invaluable and absolutely essential for looking up unfamiliar terms. The authors set out to explain cancer utilizing many Tables and Lists including The Ten Hallmarks of Cancer, and progress to explain “The metabolic approach to cancer is a naturopathic nutrition program that utilized the medicinal powers of traditional foods, therapeutic diets, and nontoxic lifestyle approached as cancer counteragents and preventives.

“We developed this program during our thirty years of collective work in the fields of naturopathy, Oriental medicine, acupuncture, nutrition and integrative oncology…Dr Nasha’s personal cancer experience began over twenty years ago when a diagnosis of stage IV ovarian cancer veered her away from pursuing a conventional medical degree and toward the study of naturopathic medicine. To treat her own cancer she used an integrative approach fortified by a traditional whole food diet and environmental adaptations.”

The scientific and mainstream broadcast media have tended to concentrate upon the identification of so-called cancer genes and the prospect of their future manipulation leading to better outcomes for cancer patients over the past 70 years, excluding other approaches. It is therefore refreshing if somewhat novel, to read herein factual, articulate and comprehensible chapters explaining cancer, causes, growth, spread, as well as its prevention, treatment and ‘cure’ in the language and terminology of biochemistry, naturopathy and nutrition.

The section “How Cancer Cells Gobble Glucose: the Warburg Effect” explains the processes of respiration – aerobic and anaerobic - and how anaerobic respiration – fermentation – enables cancer cells to utilize this inefficient metabolic pathway to produce less energy (ATP) but faster, due to damaged and dysregulated mitochondria. This results in cancer cells secreting large amounts of the fermentation product lactic acid into their extracellular microenvironment, lowering the extracellular pH to 6-6.5, contributing to acidosis, initiation of angiogenesis and providing a metabolic fuel for cancer cells, which also induces immunosuppression.

The authors report clinical success with their cancer patients using low-glycaemic, calorie restricted, fasting and ketogenic dietary approaches. “We know (and have witnessed) that reducing intake of sugar and high-glycaemic foods is the most important dietary step patients can take to prevent and manage their cancer. This is the ultimate key to exploiting the metabolic weakness of cancer. No other dietary therapy exerts such powerful protective and anticancer effects. But to be clear, the ketogenic diet is not a cure for cancer, per se.” The elements of the ketogenic diet are thoroughly explained with helpful tables of foods with their caloric and nutrient content, as well as practical direction regarding foods to focus on – healthy fats, quality protein and calorie restriction.

Other areas of emphasis and focus include the endless number of toxic cancer-causing (carcinogens) chemicals – in the home, environment, personal use products - which can be found ubiquitously: cars, furniture, gardening, laundry and cleaning, dry-cleaning, foods, hair colouring, drinking water, perfumes, prescription medicines to name but a few. The authors discuss detoxification of carcinogens by the body, or not, explaining how toxins may persist in the body for a lifetime and explain how carcinogens cause cancer through their many avenues of entry / exposure. The information imparted here – including lists of toxic medications electromagnetic fields (EMFs), cancer screening, and SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism – a type of genetic variation passed from parent to child which has become a critical component of personalized medicine)  is a vital clarion call to us all. Detoxification processes and pathways are detailed as are approaches to reduce toxic load, including foods, herbs, fasting, caloric restriction and saunas.

Herewith a selection of chapters devoted to:

• The microbiome - beneficial bacteria - their function and role in the immune system, threats and depletion through diet, antibiotics, medications and chemotherapy, as well as top low-glycaemic foods for the microbiome;
• Immune Function – key immune cell constituents of and how the immune system works and cancer and the immune system, causes of immune system impairment including food allergens, leaky gut, nutrient deficiencies nutrient-depleting medications and immunomodulation therapies including mistletoe, and immune system reboot;
• Inflammation-Oxidation – together forming a vicious cycle at the root of cancer development, Essential Fatty Acids – Omega-3 and -6, Free Radicals, Mitochondria, Fasting, Antioxidants;
• Cancer Growth and Spread – Healing Angiogenesis and Metastasis, discussing blood vessel development and growth factors, dysregulation including hypoxia and other blood supply stress responses in cancer and other diseases and how cancer cells travel and invade – metastasis via the complex tumour microenvironment – TME – comprised of immune cells, cytokines, growth factors, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF);
• Hormones and Cancer – balance and imbalance – oestrogen metabolites, cruciferous vegetables, progesterone, hormone SNPs, dietary approaches, environmental oestrogens in everyday products, tables listing hormone disrupting chemicals, where they are found and how to avoid, balancing hormones with deep nutrition;
• Stress and circadian rhythms, stress and cancer, types of stressors, sleep, metabolic approach to stress reduction including key nutrients vitamins C and E and magnesium, adaptogenic herbs;
• Mental and Emotional Well-Being – cultivating the most powerful medicine of all;
• Connecting with the Terrain Ten in the Kitchen – getting started, kitchen detox, setting up a nontoxic kitchen – tables and lists of foods to remove from your fridge, freezer and pantry and re-stocking fridge, freezer and pantry, approaches to the metabolic diet, tiered approach to starting a low-glycaemic diet and suggested keto recipes.

About the Authors

Dr Nasha Winters ND FABNO, is the founder and CEO of Optimal Terrain Consulting. She has worked in the US health care industry for twenty-five years and is a nationally board certified Naturopathic Doctor, Licensed Acupuncturist, Practitioner of Oriental Medicine, and a fellow of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology. She lectures all over the world and trains physicians in integrative therapies including the application of mistletoe therapy, and consults with researchers on projects involving immune modulation via mistletoe, hyperthermia and the ketogenic diet.

Jess Higgins Kelley MNT is the director of the Oncology Nutrition Therapy Board Certification Program at the Nutrition Therapy Institute in Denver, Colorado. She is the founder and CEO of Remission Nutrition – metabolic nutrition consulting, education and research enterprise.

Further Information

Available from Chelsea Green Publishing

www.chelseagreen.com/food-drink/the-metabolic-approach-to-cancer

and Amazon

www.amazon.co.uk/Metabolic-Approach-Cancer-Integrating-Bio-Individualized/dp/1603586865

www.amazon.com/dp/B071Z36X5C