In this episode, we sit down with integrative oncologist and metabolic health pioneer Dr. Nasha Winters (who insists we call her Nasha) to explore the powerful intersection of cancer, ultra-processed foods, metabolism, and sovereignty.
Nasha shares her astonishing personal story: years of dismissed symptoms, normalized suffering, and relentless gaslighting that culminated in a diagnosis of end-stage ovarian cancer at age 19—and being sent home to die. Thirty-four years later, she’s very much alive and leading a global movement to rethink cancer as a metabolic, terrain-driven disease rather than a purely genetic accident.
We talk about how ultra-processed foods don’t just starve our mitochondria—they starve our sovereignty, hijack our decision-making, and fracture our relationship with our own bodies.
Along the way, Nasha invites us to move away from perfectionism and fragility and toward aligned, values-based choices and fierce self-responsibility.
In this episode, we explore:
- Nasha’s “pain to purpose” story
- A metabolic and psychological reset
- Why a prolonged period of fasting (due to bowel obstruction) functioned as an unplanned metabolic intervention.
- How an accidental very high-dose psilocybin experience in 1991 fundamentally changed her perspective, reduced her fear of death, and gave her a will to live.
- The insight that cancer is not just genetic—but deeply tied to environment, metabolism, trauma, and disconnection from nature.
- Cancer as an ecosystem, not a battlefield
- What Nasha means by seeing the body as an ecosystem instead of a war zone.
- How we are in constant relationship with our internal and external environments—our bodies, food systems, and the land all reflecting each other.
- Ultra-processed foods and cancer terrain
- Why ultra-processed foods are “as genetically mismatched as it gets” for humans.
- How UPFs impact all the hallmarks of cancer—driving inflammation, insulin resistance, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and brain hijacking.
- The role of emulsifiers, preservatives, seed oils, and other additives in damaging the gut, microbiome, and immune surveillance.
- Why “a little” ultra-processed food isn’t neutral for people with a vulnerable system—and why in her oncology population, UPF often has to be all-or-nothing.
- Metabolic sovereignty vs. perfectionism
- Nasha’s powerful idea that UPFs don’t just starve our mitochondria—they starve our sovereignty.
- What it means to choose health as alignment, not achievement.
- How social pressure, cultural norms, and “moderation” language rob people of agency.
- Practical examples of reclaiming sovereignty: bringing your own wine, your own safe foods, and modeling a different way without preaching.
- Working with food addiction and emotional eating (without shame)
- How she meets people gently where they are, especially those whose only “comfort” has been food.
- “Upgrading” comfort foods and using cooking and eating as a creative, relational, and communal act rather than a shame-based one.
- Her boundary as a clinician: “I’m not willing to work harder than you.” How that shifted outcomes and reduced codependency.
- Community, clinicians, and doing this together
- How she used farmers’ markets and health-food store “field trips” as non-shaming education: reading labels together, swapping recipes, and making it fun.
- Seasonal group cleanses and experiments that removed UPFs without moralizing and re-connected people to real food.
- Justice, food deserts, and real solutions
- Stories from working in Indigenous and low-resource communities and helping reintroduce native seeds and traditional foodways.
- The Food-as-Medicine movement: projects like FreshRx, where CSA boxes for people with type 2 diabetes significantly lowered A1C and healthcare costs.
- Why she believes, increasingly, that the resources are there—and the work now is connection, awareness, and community organizing.
- A hopeful vision for the next 5 years
- Policy shifts around dietary guidelines and school food.
- Regenerative agriculture movements, farmer-led organizations, and bringing environmental, metabolic, mental health, and food systems together under one roof.
- Her dream project: a 1,200-acre regenerative farm, intentional community, and metabolic oncology hospital in Arizona.
- One small step you can take this week
- Start with non-judgmental awareness: a simple food and feeling diary.
- Her “triage” before reaching for UPFs:
- Big glass of water
- A bit of protein
- A bit of fat
- Then the UPF if you still truly want it—no self-punishment.
- How small wins (“I didn’t eat the thing”) build fierceness and confidence over time.
- Our signature question
- What Nasha would tell her younger self about ultra-processed foods:“I’m choosing health as alignment, not as achievement.”
Using food choices to align with who you really are and who you’re becoming, rather than chasing perfection or performance.
- What Nasha would tell her younger self about ultra-processed foods:“I’m choosing health as alignment, not as achievement.”
