Introduction

Katrina Foe is a board certified holistic nutritionist and functional practitioner who became passionate about cancer care after healing her own breast cancer 100% naturally. In this episode, she joins me to discuss her comprehensive approach to individualized cancer treatment and building your personalized recovery team.

Episode Highlights

Katrina's Cancer Journey and the Power of Choice

Katrina shares how a cancer diagnosis at a young age led her to question one-size-fits-all treatments and discover functional medicine.

• Despite living an extremely clean lifestyle (grinding her own grains, raising meat animals, following GAPS diet), she still developed cancer
• Her experience at a Mexican cancer clinic taught her that alternative medicine can also use protocols without individualization
• The discovery of functional testing revolutionized her understanding of what was actually happening in her body
• She found numerous issues she had no symptoms of, highlighting the importance of objective data
• This journey led her to become a practitioner focused on empowering patient choice

The Problem with One-Size-Fits-All Medicine

Both conventional and alternative medicine often fall into the trap of generic protocols that don't address individual root causes.

• Cancer is multifactorial and highly bio-individual - there is no magic bullet approach
• Many patients receive supplement lists without any testing to determine if those treatments are appropriate
• Alternative practitioners often use the same protocols for everyone just like conventional medicine
• Without testing, treatments become guesswork regardless of whether they're conventional or alternative
• The disconnect happens when patients assume all doctors know everything outside their specialty

Cancer as a Metabolic Disease

Blood sugar regulation and ketosis emerge as critical components that are often overlooked in cancer treatment.

• PET scans use glucose to find cancer because cancer cells consume sugar preferentially
• Many cancer patients are told diet doesn't matter while being given glucose for diagnostic scans
• Therapeutic ketosis can provide free ketones that research shows can shrink tumors
• Stress can raise cortisol and blood sugar, knocking people out of ketosis even when eating correctly
• Individual genetics affect how people process carbohydrates and maintain ketosis

The 10 Root Cause Areas to Address

Katrina outlines her comprehensive framework for understanding what drives cancer development.

• Emotional trauma (usually within a year prior to diagnosis)
• Metabolic dysfunction and blood sugar dysregulation
• Microbiome and digestive health issues
• Hormone imbalances and processing pathways
• Environmental toxins including mold, glyphosate, and heavy metals
• Genetics that affect detoxification and processing abilities
• Sleep disruption and circadian rhythm dysfunction
• Immune system modulation problems
• Angiogenesis and metastasis markers
• Inflammation and oxidative stress

The Importance of Testing Over Guessing

Objective data transforms treatment from guesswork into targeted intervention.

• Testing reveals issues patients have no symptoms of but are driving disease
• Genetics testing shows actionable variants that can be addressed with lifestyle changes
• Hormone testing (like DUTCH tests) reveals processing pathways, not just levels
• Most oncologists never test sex hormones despite their connection to many cancers
• Testing allows practitioners to see which interventions are working and adjust accordingly

Taking Time for Informed Decisions

Despite pressure from medical providers, patients need space to make thoughtful choices about their care.

• The shock of diagnosis impairs decision-making ability
• Scare tactics and time pressure prevent patients from exploring all options
• Taking intentional time with a deadline prevents endless research paralysis
• Collaborative care teams provide the best of both conventional and functional approaches
• Patient empowerment comes from understanding options and making informed choices

The Seed Oil Problem

One of the most pervasive inflammatory drivers hiding in plain sight throughout the food system.

• Seed oils are inflammatory and present in almost all restaurant foods
• Even "healthy" choices like salads with dressing contain inflammatory oils
• Mayonnaise and salad dressings are major hidden sources
• Bringing your own dressing or oil becomes necessary when eating out
• The inflammatory load from seed oils affects sensitive individuals immediately

Notable Quotes from this Episode

There is no one size fits all magic bullet. There isn't one, it's not possible because we know that cancer, much like every other issue with the body, it's multifactorial and it's very, very bio individual.
Katrina Foe

Our bodies were designed to anti inflame when it's supposed to. But that magic bullet, like we want that. And I can't tell you how many times I have clients coming to me with this list of supplements and I say, oh, did they do some testing? Nope. Crickets.
Katrina Foe

You can't just generically kind of eat well and think you're gonna cure cancer. It doesn't work like that. The shifts that need to be made, we do a very clean ketogenic diet, but it's very personalized.
Katrina Foe

If you don't make a decision, you live in this perpetual state of like, I don't know what to do. And then you're stuck researching everything and they're frozen. And that state is more stressful than anything I know about.
Katrina Foe