Zoë chats with Dr Christy Kesslering about metabolic health and cancer

Bio

Dr. Christy Kesslering is a Radiation Oncologist turned Metabolic Health practitioner.  She trained at UCLA, Loyola-Chicago, and UW Madison.  She worked with cancer patients in Radiation Oncology for over 20 years in the Chicagoland area but realized many years ago that something was missing from conventional medicine.  She saw the big link between obesity and cancer but then realized that the real link was mitochondrial health and metabolic function, and she pursued additional self-learning in metabolic health. 

Christy did additional studies in the fields of Functional Medicine, Integrative Medicine, and the Terrain-Theory of cancer.   She opted to leave conventional medicine to work exclusively in Metabolic Health via telehealth.  She now helps both cancer patients and non-cancer patients optimize their health by using a data-driven approach to help navigate the confusing world of diet recommendations.

You can find out more about Dr Christy Kesslering on her website https://www.kessrx.com/

Show notes

As with the recent (vet) podcast, Christy and I had never met or spoken before this podcast. We seem to be following each other around the podcast circuit, however, having both been on Jesse Chappus and Dr Eric Westman’s channels recently.

In under an hour we covered:

- Christy’s pathway from radiation oncology to working more with patients on diet and metabolic health.

- The connection between cancer and obesity – or more likely insulin.

- The genetic/cell mutation vs metabolic aspects of cancer – compatibilities and differences. (Covering some experiments undertaken by Elliott and Seyfried).

- How Christy’s personal diet changed alongside her research.

- What a keto diet means to Christy – Carbs? Net carbs? Dairy? Fasting? Ketone levels?

- Which markers does she rely on to get a picture of the patient’s starting point and progress?

- What evidence do we have for diet helping with cancer? Both tolerance of cancer treatment and in the case that someone declines treatment.

- Questions people might like to ask their oncologist. How might the person’s age and stage of cancer (especially stage 4) impact the question that is rarely asked – to treat or not to treat?

- Why does Christy think we have so much cancer in the world? - Finally, Christy has a parting thought for us that we might like to think about.