America’s Food Supply: What Changed, Why It Matters, and What I Learned Fighting Stage 4 Cancer

What Changed, Why It Matters, and What I Learned Fighting Stage 4 Cancer

There was a time when food looked like food.

A roast came from a cow. Chicken came from a farm. Butter was made from cream. Potatoes came from the ground. Families gathered around the dinner table, and most meals were prepared in the kitchen instead of manufactured in a factory.

Today, much of what fills grocery store shelves barely resembles the foods our grandparents recognized. Brightly colored packages promise convenience, health, and longer shelf life. Ingredients have names that sound more like chemistry experiments than nourishment. Products are engineered to taste irresistible, last for months, and maximize profits.

At the same time, America has experienced an unprecedented rise in obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, autoimmune disorders, and cancer. While no single food causes cancer, researchers increasingly recognize that metabolic health, chronic inflammation, obesity, and insulin resistance all influence the body’s ability to prevent and fight disease.

As someone fighting stage 4 cancer, I couldn’t ignore those questions.

Did my diet contribute to the environment where cancer developed?

Could changing the foods I ate improve my health while receiving treatment?

Could millions of Americans unknowingly be eating themselves into chronic illness?

Those questions eventually transformed the way I viewed food, medicine, and my own future.

This article is not intended to replace medical advice, nor is it a claim that food alone cures cancer. Surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted treatments have saved countless lives, including mine. But nutrition deserves a place in that conversation.

What follows combines my personal experience with current scientific research to explore how America’s food supply has changed over the past several decades, and why that change may matter far more than most of us realize.

Growing Up on Real Food

When I was a kid, nobody talked about “organic,” “clean eating,” or “whole foods.”

We simply called it dinner.

My parents prepared nearly every meal from scratch. Roast beef simmered in the oven for hours. Pork chops filled the house with their unmistakable aroma. Chicken roasted in its own juices instead of being injected with flavorings or coated in preservatives. Gravy came from the drippings in the roasting pan, not from a powdered packet.

Mashed potatoes began as actual potatoes. Butter was real butter. Whole milk came from the refrigerator, not from a laboratory recipe designed to remove one ingredient and replace it with another.

Food didn’t require health claims on the label because food was the label.

Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was.

My childhood wasn’t unusual at the time. It reflected how many American families ate before convenience gradually replaced cooking.

Then life changed.

During the economic recession of the mid-1970s, my father lost his job. Like many families struggling during that period, we moved across the country so he could find work. My mother, who had always stayed home raising our family, entered the workforce for the first time.

Nothing about that decision reflected poor parenting. It reflected reality.

Two working parents meant less time to prepare meals.

America was changing, and our kitchen changed with it.

Frozen dinners became more common. Microwave ovens appeared in millions of homes. Packaged snacks multiplied. Convenience foods promised to save precious time for busy families.

They delivered convenience.

Whether they delivered better health is another question entirely.

As I grew older, I never noticed how dramatically the American diet had shifted. It happened gradually enough that most of us accepted each new product as progress.

By the time I became an adult, many of the foods I considered normal simply hadn’t existed when my parents were growing up.

That realization didn’t occur until decades later, after I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

America Didn’t Change Overnight

America’s food supply didn’t transform in a single year.

It changed one ingredient at a time.

One marketing campaign at a time.

One government recommendation at a time.

One convenience product at a time.

During the second half of the twentieth century, several major trends reshaped how Americans ate:

More dual income households reduced the time available for home cooking. Highly processed convenience foods became increasingly available. Food manufacturers developed products designed for longer shelf life and lower production costs. Restaurants and fast food chains expanded rapidly. Soft drink consumption increased dramatically. The “low fat” movement encouraged manufacturers to remove fat from foods, often replacing it with refined starches and added sugars.

Ultra processed foods gradually became a dominant part of the American diet.

Today, research estimates that nearly 60% of the calories consumed by American adults come from ultra processed foods.

That represents one of the largest dietary shifts in human history.

Our genetics have changed very little over the past hundred years.

Our food has changed almost beyond recognition.

The obvious question becomes:

Has our health changed along with it?

The Great War on Fat

For much of human history, people didn’t fear fat.

Our ancestors cooked with butter, lard, tallow, and other traditional animal fats for generations. Eggs were considered one of nature’s perfect foods. Whole milk was simply milk. Nobody removed the cream because someone believed it was dangerous.

Then everything changed.

Beginning in the 1960s and accelerating through the 1970s, researchers began searching for the cause of America’s growing heart disease epidemic. One influential hypothesis suggested that saturated fat raised cholesterol, which in turn increased the risk of heart disease.

That idea gained enormous influence.

By the late 1970s, government dietary recommendations encouraged Americans to reduce saturated fat and cholesterol. In 1992, the USDA introduced the Food Pyramid, placing bread, cereal, rice, and pasta at the foundation of what Americans were told should be a healthy diet. Fats and oils were placed at the very top with the instruction to “use sparingly.”

The message was simple.

Fat was the enemy.

Americans listened.

Butter gave way to margarine.

Whole milk became skim milk.

Eggs developed an undeserved reputation as dangerous.

Red meat became something to avoid.

Supermarket shelves quickly filled with products proudly displaying labels like low fat, fat free, cholesterol free, heart healthy.

Consumers assumed these foods must be healthier.

Food manufacturers saw an enormous opportunity.

The Problem Nobody Saw Coming

Removing fat from food creates a problem.

Fat carries flavor.

It creates texture.

It helps people feel full.

Without fat, many foods simply don’t taste very good.

Manufacturers had to replace what they removed.

In many cases, they replaced it with refined carbohydrates, starches, and added sugars.

Fat free yogurt often contained more sugar than ice cream.

Low fat cookies were packed with refined flour and sweeteners.

Salad dressings removed healthy fats and compensated with sugar, stabilizers, and artificial ingredients.

Consumers believed they were making healthier choices while unknowingly consuming significantly more refined carbohydrates than previous generations.

The labels looked healthier.

The ingredient lists often became longer.

America’s Waistline Continued to Grow

Many researchers expected obesity and chronic disease to decline as Americans reduced fat consumption.

That isn’t what happened.

Over the following decades, obesity rates rose dramatically.

Type 2 diabetes became increasingly common.

Metabolic syndrome affected millions of adults.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, once considered relatively uncommon, became one of the fastest growing liver disorders worldwide.

At the same time, consumption of highly processed foods and added sugars also increased.

This does not prove that reducing dietary fat caused these conditions. Public health trends are influenced by many factors, including larger portion sizes, lower physical activity, increased consumption of ultra processed foods, socioeconomic changes, and overall calorie intake.

However, many scientists now believe the original dietary advice was overly simplistic and that replacing dietary fat with refined carbohydrates and added sugars may have produced unintended consequences.

Nutrition science has continued to evolve.

Today, many dietary guidelines place greater emphasis on the quality of foods rather than simply reducing total fat intake.

Looking Back Through My Own Experience

Like millions of Americans, I never questioned those recommendations.

I believed what most people believed.

If something said “low fat,” it had to be healthier.

If butter was bad, margarine must be better.

If whole milk was unhealthy, skim milk must be the smarter choice.

Looking back, I realize how much of my thinking had been shaped by advertising as much as science.

Over time, I stopped eating many of the foods my parents had raised me on and gradually replaced them with foods that came in boxes, bags, and brightly colored packages.

I wasn’t trying to eat poorly.

I thought I was making healthier choices.

Looking back now, I wonder how many Americans were doing exactly the same thing.

Science Doesn’t Stand Still

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned during my cancer journey is that science evolves.

Researchers ask questions.

New studies are published.

Old assumptions are challenged.

Ideas that once seemed settled are sometimes revised as better evidence becomes available.

That’s exactly what has happened with nutrition.

Today, many researchers agree that not all fats affect the body in the same way. Rather than viewing all saturated fat as harmful or all unsaturated fat as beneficial, current research often focuses on overall dietary patterns, food quality, and metabolic health.

Whole foods, adequate protein, vegetables, healthy fats, fiber, and minimizing ultra processed foods receive far more attention than they did several decades ago.

While debates continue over the ideal diet, one point has become increasingly difficult to ignore.

Americans are eating more ultra processed food than ever before, and chronic disease has risen alongside it.

That observation became impossible for me to dismiss after my own diagnosis.

It forced me to ask a different question.

Maybe the biggest problem wasn’t the fat we removed.

Maybe it was everything we added in its place.

Sugar: America’s Sweet Addiction

When I was growing up, sugar was a treat.

Dessert came after dinner, not before breakfast.

A birthday cake was something you looked forward to because it was special. A bottle of soda was a reward after mowing the lawn or a drink you enjoyed at a picnic. Candy belonged in Halloween bags, not on the grocery list every week.

Today, sugar has become something entirely different.

It isn’t just in desserts anymore.

It’s in bread.

It’s in yogurt.

It’s in pasta sauce.

It’s in ketchup.

It’s in salad dressing.

It’s in sports drinks.

It’s in breakfast cereal.

It’s in protein bars.

It even hides in foods that most people believe are healthy.

Without realizing it, millions of Americans begin every morning with a blood sugar spike before they leave the house.

That wasn’t always the case.

The Explosion of Added Sugar

According to public health data, the average American consumes far more added sugar than organizations such as the American Heart Association recommend.

Men are advised to limit added sugar to approximately 36 grams per day.

Women are advised to stay below approximately 25 grams.

Many Americans exceed those amounts before lunch.

A flavored coffee drink.

A bowl of sweetened cereal.

A glass of orange juice.

A granola bar.

Together, they can easily provide more added sugar than an entire day’s recommended intake.

The problem isn’t one cookie.

The problem is that sugar has quietly become part of nearly every meal.

Food manufacturers discovered decades ago that sugar doesn’t simply make food taste better.

It also extends shelf life.

Improves texture.

Masks bitterness.

Encourages repeat purchases.

From a business standpoint, it is an incredibly effective ingredient.

From a public health standpoint, the picture becomes much more complicated.

Reading Labels Changed Everything for Me

After I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, I started doing something I had almost never done before.

I read ingredient labels.

Really read them.

Not just the calories.

Not just the protein.

Every ingredient.

It shocked me.

Products that looked healthy often contained several forms of added sugar.

Some listed sugar three or four different ways.

Others hid it behind unfamiliar names.

I realized I had spent decades eating foods I believed were healthy without understanding what was actually inside them.

Once you begin reading labels, you can’t unsee it.

Sugar isn’t hiding because it’s rare.

It’s hiding because it’s everywhere.

Sugar Has Many Names

One of the reasons many consumers underestimate their sugar intake is because manufacturers often use multiple sweeteners within the same product.

Instead of listing only “sugar,” ingredient labels may include names such as high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, maltose, sucrose, corn syrup, rice syrup, cane syrup, fruit juice concentrate, evaporated cane juice, maltodextrin.

Although these ingredients differ chemically, many ultimately contribute to the body’s overall sugar intake.

Reading labels taught me an important lesson.

If sugar appears several times under different names, it may not immediately appear near the top of the ingredient list, even though the total amount is substantial.

I had never paid attention before.

Now I rarely buy packaged food without looking first.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Changed the Food Industry

One ingredient deserves particular attention.

High fructose corn syrup.

Beginning in the late twentieth century, high fructose corn syrup became increasingly popular because it was inexpensive, easy to transport, blended well into beverages, and provided manufacturers with a consistent sweetener.

It quickly found its way into soft drinks, breads, sauces, cereals, snack foods, and countless processed products.

Today, many people consume it regularly without realizing it.

Scientists continue to study whether high fructose corn syrup produces health effects different from other added sugars when consumed in similar amounts. While that debate continues, there is broad agreement that excessive consumption of added sugars, regardless of their source, contributes to obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.

For me, that was reason enough to avoid it whenever possible.

The Warburg Effect Changed the Questions I Asked

One of the most fascinating discoveries I encountered while researching cancer was something known as the Warburg Effect.

Nearly one hundred years ago, physician and scientist Otto Warburg observed that many cancer cells metabolize glucose differently than normal cells.

Even when oxygen is available, many cancer cells rely heavily on glycolysis, a less efficient process that consumes glucose at a remarkably high rate.

That discovery remains one of the foundations of modern cancer biology.

It is also why PET scans work.

Before many PET scans, patients receive a radioactive glucose tracer.

Because many tumors consume glucose rapidly, they often absorb more of the tracer than surrounding tissues, making them easier to detect on imaging.

When I learned that, I stopped looking at sugar the same way.

If tumors preferentially absorb glucose, what role does my overall metabolic health play?

What happens when blood sugar remains elevated day after day?

How does insulin resistance influence cancer biology?

Those questions led me into an entirely new area of research.

What the Research Says Today

This is where it’s important to separate what researchers know from what they are still investigating.

There is strong evidence that obesity, insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, and metabolic syndrome are associated with an increased risk of developing several types of cancer.

There is also strong evidence that maintaining a healthy body weight, staying physically active, and limiting added sugars support overall health.

What remains under active investigation is how specific dietary patterns, blood glucose levels, insulin, ketosis, and metabolic therapies might influence cancer progression or response to treatment.

Researchers around the world continue studying these questions.

Some results are encouraging.

Others remain inconclusive.

Science is still evolving.

That distinction matters.

I don’t claim that eating sugar causes cancer.

Nor do I claim that eliminating sugar cures cancer.

What I do believe is that improving metabolic health creates a healthier internal environment for the body.

That belief influenced many of the decisions I made after my diagnosis.

My Relationship With Sugar Had to Change

Before cancer, I rarely thought about blood sugar.

I thought about taste.

Convenience.

Cravings.

Dessert.

Cancer forced me to think differently.

Every decision suddenly felt important.

Not because I believed one cookie would determine my future.

But because thousands of small decisions, repeated over decades, might have helped shape the environment inside my body.

I stopped asking,

“Can I eat this?”

Instead, I began asking,

“Is this helping my body heal?”

That single question transformed the way I grocery shopped, the way I cooked, and the way I thought about food.

A Lesson Bigger Than Cancer

Whether someone has cancer or not, I think the lesson is the same.

Food isn’t simply about calories.

It’s information.

Every meal tells your body something.

Build muscle.

Store fat.

Reduce inflammation.

Increase inflammation.

Raise blood sugar.

Stabilize blood sugar.

Support your immune system.

Or make its job harder.

We often think of medicine as something that comes in a bottle.

But every day, three times a day, most of us place something on our plate that also influences our health.

That realization changed my life.

It may change yours, too.

Ultra Processed Foods: The Largest Dietary Experiment in Human History

Walk through almost any grocery store in America and ask yourself a simple question.

How much of the food actually came from a farm?

Not the ingredients.

The food itself.

You’ll quickly notice something surprising.

The outer aisles are filled with meat, eggs, dairy, fruits, and vegetables.

The center aisles are dominated by boxes, bags, bottles, frozen meals, snack foods, breakfast cereals, cookies, crackers, chips, candies, sodas, protein bars, powdered drinks, instant meals, and foods with ingredient lists that seem to go on forever.

This wasn’t an accident.

It was the result of decades of food engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and consumer demand.

Some of these products made life easier.

Some undoubtedly helped busy families.

But together they created one of the most dramatic shifts in human nutrition ever recorded.

What Is an Ultra Processed Food?

Not every processed food is unhealthy.

Freezing vegetables is processing.

Grinding coffee beans is processing.

Pasteurizing milk is processing.

Even making cheese is processing.

The issue isn’t processing itself.

The concern is ultra processing.

Researchers often use what is called the NOVA Food Classification System, which categorizes foods according to the extent and purpose of processing.

Ultra processed foods are typically industrial formulations containing ingredients that most people would never use in their own kitchens.

Examples include artificial flavors, artificial colors, emulsifiers, stabilizers, preservatives, flavor enhancers, modified starches, hydrogenated oils, highly refined sugars, industrial seed oils.

Many are designed to be ready to eat with little or no preparation.

They’re convenient.

They’re inexpensive.

They last for months.

And they’re incredibly profitable.

Food Became a Manufactured Product

Somewhere along the way, many of us stopped buying food.

We started buying food products.

There’s a difference.

Real food eventually spoils.

A strawberry grows mold.

Milk turns sour.

Fresh meat must be refrigerated.

An avocado ripens whether you’re ready or not.

A surprising number of packaged foods can sit on a shelf for six months…

Sometimes a year…

Occasionally much longer.

That shelf life doesn’t happen naturally.

It requires chemistry.

Preservatives.

Packaging technology.

Industrial processing.

Again, none of these automatically make a food dangerous.

But they represent a dramatic departure from the foods human beings consumed throughout most of history.

Convenience Changed Everything

I understand why processed foods became popular.

Life became busier.

Families had two working parents.

Commutes grew longer.

Children participated in more activities.

Nobody wanted to spend three hours preparing dinner every evening.

Convenience solved a real problem.

The problem was that convenience slowly became the priority.

Not nutrition.

Not ingredient quality.

Not metabolic health.

When convenience becomes the primary goal, food begins to resemble manufacturing more than agriculture.

Engineered to Keep You Eating

One of the things that surprised me most during my research wasn’t that processed foods tasted good.

It was that they were intentionally designed to.

Food companies invest enormous resources in understanding how consumers respond to taste, texture, aroma, crunch, sweetness, and mouthfeel.

Researchers have described something known as the “bliss point.”

It refers to the combination of sweetness, saltiness, fat, and texture that many consumers find especially rewarding.

The goal isn’t simply making food enjoyable.

The goal is encouraging another bite.

And another.

And another.

Modern neuroscience has shown that highly palatable foods can strongly activate the brain’s reward system. Researchers continue studying how these responses compare with other rewarding behaviors, but there is broad agreement that many ultra processed foods are intentionally formulated to maximize appeal and repeat consumption.

As I learned more about this, I stopped blaming myself quite so much.

Maybe I wasn’t weak.

Maybe I had spent decades eating foods that were deliberately designed to make moderation difficult.

Food Marketing Begins Earlier Than You Think

Children rarely ask for steak during a trip to the grocery store.

They ask for colorful cereal.

Fruit snacks.

Cookies.

Candy.

Cartoon shaped crackers.

Brightly colored drinks.

That isn’t an accident.

Food companies spend billions of dollars each year marketing directly to children and families.

Mascots become household names.

Television commercials create emotional attachments.

Packaging is carefully designed to stand out at a child’s eye level.

Even words like:

“Natural”

“Made with whole grains”

“Excellent source of vitamins”

can create what nutrition researchers call a health halo, making products appear healthier than they actually are.

Many products marketed toward children contain substantial amounts of added sugar while emphasizing a few positive nutrients on the front of the package.

As parents, we assume companies share our interest in our children’s health.

Unfortunately, companies primarily have another responsibility.

Their shareholders.

My Grocery Cart Started Looking Different

Cancer changed many things about my life.

One of them was how I walked through a grocery store.

Before my diagnosis, I mostly shopped the way many Americans do.

If something looked healthy…

If the commercial sounded convincing…

If the packaging used words like whole grain, natural, or heart healthy…

That was often enough.

After my diagnosis, I found myself spending far less time reading the front of the package.

Instead, I turned it over.

The ingredient list became more important than the marketing.

I started asking questions I had never asked before.

Could I pronounce every ingredient?

Would my grandmother recognize this food?

Could I make something similar in my own kitchen?

If the answer was no, I usually put it back on the shelf.

That simple habit changed almost everything I bought.

What the Research is Finding

Over the past decade, researchers have published a growing number of studies examining diets high in ultra processed foods.

Many have found associations between higher consumption of ultra processed foods and increased risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and several cancers.

It’s important to understand what these studies can and cannot prove.

Most are observational.

They identify relationships, not direct cause and effect.

People who consume large amounts of ultra processed food may also differ in exercise habits, smoking, sleep, income, healthcare access, and many other factors.

Even so, the consistency of the findings across many populations has attracted significant scientific attention.

Researchers continue investigating exactly which characteristics of ultra processed foods, including excess calories, refined carbohydrates, sodium, additives, or displacement of more nutritious foods, may contribute most to poor health outcomes.

Regardless of the exact mechanism, one conclusion appears increasingly clear.

The less room our diets leave for whole foods, the less opportunity our bodies have to receive the nutrients they evolved to use.

Real Food Doesn’t Need a Marketing Department

One afternoon, I stood in the produce section and had a realization that made me laugh.

Nobody advertises broccoli.

Nobody hires celebrities to convince us to eat eggs.

A ribeye steak doesn’t need a cartoon mascot.

An avocado doesn’t need a television commercial.

Real food simply exists.

It doesn’t need clever branding because it has survived thousands of years without it.

Much of modern food marketing exists because manufacturers aren’t really selling ingredients.

They’re selling convenience.

They’re selling cravings.

They’re selling habits.

Sometimes they’re selling the illusion of health.

That realization changed the way I viewed almost every package I picked up.

Cancer Made Me Simplify Everything

Before cancer, nutrition seemed complicated.

Experts disagreed.

Books contradicted one another.

Every week another headline claimed some food was either saving lives or shortening them.

Eventually, I stopped chasing headlines.

I simplified my thinking.

I asked one question.

Did this food come from nature, or from a factory?

That question wasn’t perfect.

But it dramatically improved my choices.

The more my meals resembled the food my parents prepared when I was growing up, the better I felt.

More meat.

Fewer packages.

More cooking.

Less processing.

More nourishment.

Less marketing.

For me, the simplest answer turned out to be the most sustainable.

Why I Chose the Carnivore Diet

When I stopped chasing nutrition headlines, I wanted the simplest way to eliminate ultra processed foods and focus on real, nutrient-dense meals. For me, that meant adopting a carnivore diet. It wasn’t about following the latest trend. It was about creating a sustainable way of eating that supported my health during my fight against stage 4 cancer.

A Question Worth Asking

Imagine walking through a grocery store with your grandparents.

How many products would they recognize as food?

How many ingredient labels could they read without needing a chemistry textbook?

How many brightly colored boxes would they mistake for medicine rather than dinner?

Those questions aren’t meant to romanticize the past.

They’re meant to remind us how dramatically our food environment has changed in just two or three generations.

And if our food has changed that much…

Is it unreasonable to ask whether our health changed with it?

Ingredients Banned in Europe but Still Found in Some American Foods

One afternoon, I was standing in my kitchen reading the ingredient label on a loaf of bread.

Not the nutrition facts.

The ingredient list.

I had started doing this after my cancer diagnosis because I wanted to understand exactly what I was putting into my body. Before cancer, I rarely gave ingredient labels a second thought. If the package looked healthy or the advertising sounded convincing, that was usually enough.

This time was different.

I noticed an ingredient I couldn’t pronounce.

Then another.

Then another.

Curious, I started researching them.

That simple decision opened a door I wasn’t expecting.

I discovered that some ingredients commonly used in American foods were either banned, restricted, or required warning labels in parts of Europe and other countries.

My immediate reaction wasn’t anger.

It was confusion.

How could one developed nation consider an ingredient acceptable while another decided it wasn’t?

That question deserves an honest answer.

Different Countries Regulate Food Differently

One of the biggest misconceptions on the internet is that Europe simply “cares more” than America.

The reality is more nuanced.

The United States and the European Union often use different regulatory philosophies.

In general, U.S. regulators tend to require evidence that an ingredient is harmful before restricting or banning it.

European regulators more often apply what is known as the precautionary principle, meaning an ingredient may be restricted if there is significant uncertainty about its long term safety, even before definitive proof of harm exists.

Neither approach is perfect.

One attempts to avoid removing useful ingredients unnecessarily.

The other attempts to reduce potential risks before they become widespread.

Understanding that difference helped me look beyond sensational headlines and ask a better question.

If another developed nation believes an ingredient deserves additional scrutiny, shouldn’t I at least understand why?

Artificial Food Dyes

Walk through the cereal aisle.

Then the candy aisle.

Then the sports drink section.

Bright reds.

Electric blues.

Neon yellows.

Many of those colors don’t come from fruits or vegetables.

They’re synthetic dyes.

Several artificial food colorings commonly used in the United States are restricted or require warning labels in parts of Europe because of concerns about possible behavioral effects in some children.

Research has particularly examined dyes such as Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6.

The scientific evidence remains mixed.

Some studies suggest that certain children may experience increased hyperactivity or behavioral changes after consuming artificial dyes, while others find smaller or inconsistent effects.

Regardless of where someone stands on that debate, I found myself asking a simple question.

If food doesn’t need to be bright blue to nourish my body…

Why was I eating bright blue food?

Today I generally avoid artificial food coloring whenever possible.

Not because I believe every dye causes cancer.

Because I no longer see a compelling reason to consume them.

Potassium Bromate

Before my cancer diagnosis, I had never heard of potassium bromate.

It’s sometimes used during commercial bread production to strengthen dough and improve texture.

Several countries, including members of the European Union, prohibit its use because laboratory studies raised concerns about possible carcinogenic effects at certain exposure levels.

In the United States, its use has declined substantially, and many commercial bakeries no longer include it, but it can still appear in some products.

Finding that out surprised me.

Bread had always seemed like one of the simplest foods imaginable.

Flour.

Water.

Yeast.

Salt.

Learning that industrial bread sometimes contained additional chemical dough conditioners made me start looking much more closely at labels.

Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO)

For years, brominated vegetable oil appeared in some citrus flavored soft drinks and sports beverages.

It helped keep flavoring oils evenly distributed throughout the liquid.

Some countries prohibited its use because of concerns about long term exposure.

In the United States, regulatory decisions have changed over time, and manufacturers have increasingly removed it from many beverages. More recently, federal regulators also moved to eliminate its use in foods.

When I learned that history, my takeaway wasn’t simply that one ingredient had changed.

It reminded me that food regulations evolve.

Science evolves.

Products evolve.

The ingredients in today’s foods are not necessarily the same as those sold twenty years ago.

That’s one more reason I believe consumers should remain curious rather than assuming every product stays the same forever.

Titanium Dioxide

Titanium dioxide is used primarily as a whitening agent in some processed foods, candies, chewing gum, and baked goods.

The European Union no longer approves its use as a food additive because regulators concluded they could not rule out potential concerns related to DNA damage after reviewing available evidence.

Other countries continue to evaluate the evidence differently.

Again, this doesn’t necessarily mean that eating a single product containing titanium dioxide is dangerous.

It illustrates something broader.

Scientists sometimes interpret the same body of evidence differently.

As consumers, we have every right to understand why.

Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners became enormously popular during the low fat movement.

If sugar was considered unhealthy, replacing it with something that contained few or no calories seemed like an obvious solution.

Products containing aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, and other sweeteners quickly spread across grocery stores.

Researchers continue studying how these compounds affect metabolism, appetite regulation, insulin response, and the gut microbiome.

Some have been classified or discussed by international agencies with varying levels of concern based on specific evidence and exposure levels, while remaining approved for use within established intake limits in many countries.

That scientific complexity reinforced a lesson I had already learned.

Rather than replacing one highly processed ingredient with another, I preferred to eat foods that required neither.

Why This Matters Beyond Individual Ingredients

One ingredient by itself rarely changes someone’s health.

Neither does one meal.

Health is usually shaped by patterns repeated thousands of times.

What concerned me wasn’t a single additive.

It was the cumulative effect.

If a frozen meal contained artificial colors…

Artificial flavors…

Preservatives…

Refined starches…

Added sugars…

Industrial seed oils…

Emulsifiers…

Stabilizers…

And sweeteners…

I began asking whether I was still eating food or whether I was eating a manufactured product assembled from dozens of industrial ingredients.

That question became impossible for me to ignore.

My Philosophy Became Simpler

I eventually realized I couldn’t memorize every ingredient ever approved by every regulatory agency around the world.

Nor did I want to live in fear of every chemical name I encountered.

Instead, I adopted a much simpler philosophy.

If I could buy foods with fewer ingredients…

I did.

If I could choose foods that my grandparents would recognize…

I did.

If I could prepare meals at home instead of relying on industrial formulations…

I usually did.

Cancer had already complicated my life enough.

I wanted my food to become simpler, not more complicated.

Curiosity is Better Than Fear

I don’t believe people should panic every time they see a long ingredient list.

Fear rarely leads to good decisions.

Curiosity does.

Read labels.

Ask questions.

Understand why ingredients are there.

Learn how different countries evaluate food safety.

The more informed we become, the better equipped we are to make decisions that align with our own values and health goals.

That approach has served me well throughout my cancer journey.

It has also reminded me that the best nutrition advice often isn’t the most complicated.

Eat more foods that come from nature.

Eat fewer foods that come from factories.

For me, that simple principle has been easier to follow than memorizing hundreds of ingredients.

Chronic Inflammation: The Fire That Many Diseases Share

When I was first diagnosed with cancer, I assumed the tumor was the disease.

Over time, I began to see things differently.

The tumor was certainly the immediate threat.

But I also started asking a deeper question.

What kind of environment allowed that tumor to grow in the first place?

The answer kept leading me back to one word.

Inflammation.

Not the kind you notice after twisting an ankle or cutting your finger.

The kind you don’t feel.

The kind that quietly smolders inside the body for years.

The kind that often goes unnoticed until chronic disease appears.

Inflammation Isn’t the Enemy

One of the biggest misconceptions about inflammation is that it’s always harmful.

It isn’t.

Inflammation is one of the body’s greatest survival tools.

If you cut your hand while cooking dinner, your immune system immediately goes to work.

Blood vessels expand.

White blood cells rush to the injury.

Damaged tissue begins repairing itself.

That’s inflammation doing exactly what it was designed to do.

Without it, even small injuries could become life threatening.

The problem isn’t inflammation.

The problem is when the body’s alarm system never turns off.

When the Fire Never Goes Out

Imagine lighting a campfire.

For one evening, it provides warmth.

Now imagine leaving that same fire burning for ten years.

Eventually it destroys everything around it.

Researchers increasingly recognize that chronic, low grade inflammation plays a role in many of today’s most common diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, fatty liver disease, arthritis, and several forms of cancer.

It doesn’t necessarily cause these diseases by itself.

But it may create conditions that make them more likely to develop or progress.

For me, this became one of the most important concepts I encountered during my cancer journey.

What Keeps the Fire Burning?

There isn’t one single cause.

There are many.

Researchers have identified numerous factors associated with chronic inflammation. Obesity. Insulin resistance. Physical inactivity. Smoking. Poor sleep. Chronic stress. Certain infections. Excess alcohol. Environmental pollution. Diets high in ultra processed foods.

No single factor tells the whole story.

Health is rarely that simple.

But when several of these occur together over many years, they can create an internal environment very different from one supported by regular exercise, adequate sleep, nutritious food, and a healthy body weight.

My Body Was Sending Signs

Looking back honestly, I can see signs that something wasn’t right long before cancer entered my life.

I carried far more weight than I should have.

I convinced myself I was simply a “big guy.”

Sometimes I was.

Other times I was simply overweight.

I often felt tired in the afternoon.

I accepted aches and pains as part of getting older.

I didn’t think much about blood sugar.

I didn’t think about inflammation.

I certainly didn’t think about metabolic health.

Like many Americans, I assumed that if I wasn’t seriously ill, I was probably healthy.

Cancer shattered that illusion.

Obesity Is More Than Extra Weight

One of the biggest lessons I learned is that body fat isn’t simply stored energy.

Fat tissue is biologically active.

It produces hormones.

It produces signaling molecules.

It communicates constantly with the immune system.

Researchers have found that excess body fat, particularly around the abdomen, can contribute to chronic inflammation by releasing inflammatory molecules that circulate throughout the body.

That doesn’t mean every overweight person develops cancer.

Nor does it mean every person with cancer is overweight.

But obesity is now recognized as a significant risk factor for multiple cancers.

That realization hit me hard.

At my heaviest, I weighed approximately 255 pounds.

I wasn’t taking care of myself the way I should have been.

That was difficult to admit.

But it was necessary.

Because denial never heals anything.

The Weight I Lost Wasn’t My Only Victory

When I changed my lifestyle after my metastatic diagnosis, the scale certainly changed.

But something even more important changed.

I felt different.

My energy became more consistent.

My joints hurt less.

My thinking became clearer.

I slept better.

Physical therapy became easier.

Weight training became possible again.

For the first time in years, I felt like my body was working with me instead of against me.

Could all of those improvements be measured by a single laboratory test?

Probably not.

But I lived them.

Day after day.

Month after month.

They became part of my recovery.

Food and Inflammation

This is where nutrition enters the conversation.

Scientists continue studying exactly how different dietary patterns influence inflammation.

No single food determines someone’s health.

However, dietary patterns appear to matter.

Many researchers recommend diets emphasizing minimally processed foods, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, fish, and healthy fats because these patterns are consistently associated with lower rates of chronic disease.

Others continue exploring low carbohydrate, ketogenic, and even carnivore approaches for specific metabolic conditions.

The science is still evolving.

What seems increasingly clear is this:

The farther our diets move away from highly processed industrial foods…

The better many health markers tend to become.

Exactly why remains an active area of research.

Why I Chose a Different Path

When I received my stage 4 diagnosis, I wasn’t interested in eating the average American diet anymore.

I wanted to remove as many variables as I reasonably could.

I eliminated sugar.

I eliminated ultra processed foods.

I stopped eating foods with ingredient lists that filled half the package.

I simplified everything.

Meat.

Eggs.

Butter.

Salt.

Water.

My goal wasn’t to prove a scientific theory.

My goal was survival.

If reducing inflammation could possibly help create a healthier environment inside my body while I received immunotherapy, I wanted to give myself every reasonable advantage.

That decision was deeply personal.

I recognize it may not be the right approach for everyone.

But it became the right approach for me.

My Oncologist Treated the Cancer

I Worked to Improve the Terrain

One of the best ways I’ve found to describe my philosophy is this.

My oncologist focused on destroying the cancer.

I focused on improving the body that had to survive the treatment.

Those weren’t competing goals.

They were complementary.

I underwent surgery.

Radiation.

Chemotherapy.

Immunotherapy.

Physical therapy.

Speech therapy.

At the same time, I worked on the things I could control.

Sleep.

Nutrition.

Strength training.

Vitamin D.

Sunlight.

Stress reduction.

Faith.

Family.

Hope.

I couldn’t control every scan result.

But I could control many of the choices I made each day.

That realization gave me something cancer tries very hard to take away.

A sense of purpose.

Healing Is Bigger Than One Disease

One thing surprised me during this journey.

As my focus shifted toward improving my overall health, I stopped thinking only about cancer.

I started thinking about becoming healthier as a whole person.

Could I build more muscle?

Could I improve my balance?

Could I strengthen my immune system?

Could I become metabolically healthier than I had been ten years earlier?

Those goals extended beyond cancer.

They became goals for life.

Ironically, one of the greatest gifts cancer gave me was forcing me to ask questions I should have asked decades earlier.

The Fire I Wanted to Put Out

When people hear the word inflammation, they often imagine swollen joints or sore muscles.

I think about something different.

I think about the environment inside my body.

I wanted that environment to become as healthy as possible.

Not because I believed I could control everything.

But because I believed I should control everything I reasonably could.

Cancer taught me that healing isn’t only about removing disease.

It’s also about supporting health.

That simple change in perspective influenced every decision I made afterward.

Seed Oils: Science, Controversy, and Why I Chose to Eliminate Them

Few nutrition topics create more heated debate today than seed oils.

Depending on who you ask, they are either perfectly safe, one of the greatest public health mistakes of the last century, or something in between.

After my cancer diagnosis, I wasn’t interested in social media arguments.

I wanted evidence.

I wanted to understand why these oils had become so common, why respected scientists disagreed about them, and whether removing them from my own diet made sense.

What I discovered was far more complicated than the headlines.

What Are Seed Oils?

Seed oils are vegetable oils extracted from crops such as soybeans, corn, canola, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, grapeseed, rice bran.

Unlike olive oil or avocado oil, which are pressed directly from the fruit, many seed oils require extensive industrial processing.

That process may include crushing, heating, chemical solvents such as hexane, refining, bleaching, and deodorizing before the finished oil reaches grocery store shelves.

These steps make the oils inexpensive, stable, and easy to manufacture on a large scale.

For food companies, that combination is hard to resist.

How Seed Oils Took Over America

When my parents cooked dinner, butter usually sat on the table.

Bacon grease might be saved after breakfast.

Roasts produced their own cooking fat.

Those fats had been used for generations.

Today, many restaurants cook almost exclusively with soybean oil or canola oil.

Most packaged foods contain one or more industrial seed oils.

Fast food restaurants often fry foods in them.

Frozen meals rely on them.

Salad dressings contain them.

Mayonnaise contains them.

Potato chips contain them.

Crackers contain them.

Even foods that don’t seem oily often contain seed oils somewhere in the ingredient list.

This change happened remarkably quickly.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Americans consumed very little soybean oil.

Today it represents one of the largest sources of dietary fat in the United States.

That alone made me wonder.

Whenever humans change something this dramatically in just a few generations, I think it’s worth asking what effects that change might have.

Why Some Scientists Believe Seed Oils Are Safe

Many nutrition organizations continue to recommend replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats, including certain seed oils.

Their position is based largely on evidence suggesting that replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat can lower LDL cholesterol, an established cardiovascular risk factor.

Clinical studies have generally not shown convincing evidence that moderate consumption of seed oils directly causes cancer.

For many researchers, that is an important point.

They argue that the greater health problem isn’t seed oils themselves.

It’s diets high in calories, refined carbohydrates, sugar, sodium, and ultra processed foods.

In other words, the oil may be receiving blame for problems created by an overall unhealthy diet.

That perspective deserves consideration.

Why Others Remain Concerned

Other researchers believe the discussion shouldn’t end there.

Their concerns generally focus on several issues.

Omega-6 Balance

Many seed oils contain large amounts of omega-6 fatty acids.

Omega-6 fats are essential.

Our bodies need them.

The concern isn’t that omega-6 is inherently harmful.

It’s that modern diets often contain far more omega-6 than omega-3 fats.

Some researchers believe this imbalance may contribute to inflammatory processes, although the extent of its clinical significance remains debated.

Oxidation

Polyunsaturated fats are chemically less stable than saturated fats.

When repeatedly heated to high temperatures, especially in commercial fryers, they can oxidize and form compounds such as aldehydes.

Researchers continue studying whether long term exposure to these oxidation products contributes to chronic disease.

Ultra Processes Foods

This may be the most overlooked point.

Seed oils rarely appear by themselves.

They usually accompany foods that are already high in refined flour, sugar, preservatives, sodium, and artificial additives.

That makes it difficult for researchers to isolate the specific effects of the oil itself.

Is the problem the oil?

Or the entire food?

Science continues to investigate that question.

Why I Chose to Eliminate Them

After reading both sides, I came to a personal decision.

I wasn’t trying to settle the scientific debate.

I was trying to improve my own health.

Removing seed oils accomplished something important for me.

It automatically eliminated many of the ultra processed foods I had already decided to avoid.

Potato chips disappeared.

Fast food disappeared.

Frozen dinners disappeared.

Commercial salad dressings disappeared.

Packaged snacks disappeared.

My grocery cart became much simpler.

Whether seed oils themselves deserve all the criticism they receive is something scientists will continue studying.

But removing them dramatically improved the overall quality of my diet.

That alone made the decision worthwhile.

The Bigger Lesson

One thing became clear to me.

Sometimes we spend so much time arguing about one ingredient that we overlook the bigger picture.

Most Americans aren’t consuming seed oils by dipping a spoon into a bottle.

They’re eating them inside foods that are already high in sugar, refined starches, preservatives, and excess calories.

If someone removes seed oils but continues eating candy, soda, pastries, cookies, and processed snacks, their overall diet may not improve very much.

Likewise, someone who eats a diet built around whole foods may consume modest amounts of seed oils while remaining metabolically healthy.

Context matters.

Nutrition is rarely about one ingredient.

It’s about patterns repeated every day.

Going Back to Simplicity

When I changed my diet after my stage 4 diagnosis, I wasn’t trying to create a perfect menu.

I was trying to simplify it.

Butter.

Eggs.

Beef.

Chicken.

Fish.

Salt.

Water.

Foods my grandparents would have recognized.

The more I simplified my diet, the less I found myself worrying about individual additives or industrial ingredients.

Many of them disappeared naturally because the foods that contained them disappeared from my plate.

That approach brought something I hadn’t expected.

Peace.

Instead of constantly asking whether one ingredient was safe enough, I began choosing foods that required almost no ingredient list at all.

Looking Beyond One Ingredient

One of the greatest lessons cancer taught me is that health is rarely determined by a single decision.

It is built from thousands of small choices.

One meal.

One walk.

One workout.

One night’s sleep.

One grocery trip.

One ingredient label.

Repeated over years, those small decisions become our lifestyle.

And our lifestyle becomes part of the environment our cells live in every day.

I don’t know whether removing seed oils changed the course of my cancer.

I do know it changed the way I ate.

It helped me move away from processed foods and back toward real food.

For me, that was reason enough.

Hospitals, Cancer, and the Food We Serve the Sick

One afternoon, while sitting in an infusion center receiving treatment, I looked around the waiting room.

Some patients were sleeping.

Some were reading.

Others were quietly talking with family members.

Every person there was fighting one of the hardest battles of their lives.

Then I looked at the snack table.

Cookies.

Crackers.

Fruit juice.

Candy.

Sugary pudding.

Jell O.

It struck me as odd.

Here we were, surrounded by some of the most advanced cancer treatments ever developed. Precision medicine. Immunotherapy. Genomic testing. PET scans capable of finding tiny tumors.

Yet many of the foods offered to patients looked remarkably similar to the foods that dominate the Standard American Diet.

I wasn’t angry.

I was confused.

The question stayed with me.

If nutrition matters enough to prevent disease, shouldn’t it also matter when someone is fighting one?

A Difficult Conversation

Before we go any further, I want to make something clear.

This section is not a criticism of oncologists, nurses, dietitians, or hospital staff.

Quite the opposite.

The doctors and nurses who treated me saved my life.

Their knowledge, compassion, and commitment gave me opportunities I would never have had otherwise.

Cancer treatment is extraordinarily complex.

Their primary mission is to diagnose disease, remove tumors when possible, administer chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, manage side effects, and keep patients alive.

Nutrition is only one part of that enormous responsibility.

But I do believe it deserves a larger place in the conversation.

Why Hospital Food Looks the Way It Does

When I first started asking why hospitals serve the foods they do, I assumed the answer would be simple.

It wasn’t.

Hospitals face challenges that most of us never think about.

Meals must often accommodate hundreds of different medical conditions.

Patients may have swallowing problems.

Kidney disease.

Heart failure.

Food allergies.

Diabetes.

Digestive disorders.

Some patients can barely tolerate eating because of chemotherapy.

Others simply need calories, regardless of where those calories come from.

Hospitals must also operate within strict budgets.

Many contract food services to large companies responsible for serving thousands of meals every day.

Food must be safe.

Affordable.

Consistent.

Easy to prepare.

Available year round.

When I understood those realities, I appreciated how difficult the challenge really is.

Still, one question remained.

Could we do better?

Calories Matter, But So Does Nutrition

One lesson I learned during treatment is that cancer patients often struggle to maintain their weight.

Radiation can make swallowing painful.

Chemotherapy can change taste.

Nausea destroys appetite.

Mouth sores make eating difficult.

Weight loss can become dangerous.

In those situations, doctors understandably focus on getting patients to eat enough.

Calories matter.

Protein matters.

Hydration matters.

Sometimes ice cream is exactly what a patient needs.

Sometimes a milkshake is far better than eating nothing at all.

Those realities deserve respect.

But they don’t eliminate another question.

Once patients are able to eat normally again…

Shouldn’t nutrition become part of long term recovery?

Food Is Rarely Discussed

Throughout my own treatment, I had countless conversations about scans.

Blood work.

Medications.

Radiation.

Immunotherapy.

Clinical decisions.

Those conversations were essential.

But nutrition rarely occupied more than a few minutes.

No one ever sat down with me and asked,

“Wayne, tell me what you’ve been eating for the last twenty years.”

No one asked,

“How metabolically healthy were you before your diagnosis?”

No one discussed insulin resistance.

Ultra processed foods.

Inflammation.

Or how improving overall metabolic health might support recovery alongside conventional treatment.

That isn’t because my doctors didn’t care.

It’s because our healthcare system has traditionally emphasized treating disease after it develops.

Far less time is devoted to understanding the nutritional patterns that may contribute to chronic illness over decades.

What I Wanted From My Plate

When I left the infusion center, I couldn’t control what happened inside the chemotherapy suite.

But I could control what happened in my own kitchen.

That became incredibly important to me.

Instead of asking,

“What am I allowed to eat?”

I began asking,

“What gives my body the best opportunity to recover?”

For me, that meant prioritizing foods rich in protein, nutrients, and satiety while avoiding foods I believed promoted blood sugar spikes and excessive processing.

Someone else’s choices may look different.

The principle remains the same.

Intentional nutrition.

Not automatic eating.

Metabolic Health Deserves a Seat at the Table

Over the past decade, researchers have increasingly explored how obesity, insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction influence cancer risk and outcomes.

Entire fields of oncology are now investigating cancer metabolism.

Scientists are studying fasting.

Ketogenic therapies.

Exercise.

Muscle preservation.

Body composition.

Immune function.

Gut microbiome.

These are exciting developments.

None replace surgery.

Chemotherapy.

Radiation.

Or immunotherapy.

But they suggest that supporting the body’s overall health may become an increasingly important part of comprehensive cancer care.

That possibility gives me hope.

Every Patient Deserves the Conversation

One of the things I wish every newly diagnosed cancer patient received is not another pamphlet.

Not another prescription.

Not another appointment.

I wish they received a conversation.

A real conversation.

What does your current diet look like?

How physically active are you?

How much muscle have you lost?

How is your vitamin D level?

How is your sleep?

How is your stress?

How is your metabolic health?

Those questions may not change every treatment plan.

But they might change a patient’s future.

The Missing Partnership

Looking back, I don’t believe nutrition should compete with oncology.

I think they belong together.

Imagine a cancer center where every patient received:

Excellent oncologists.

Excellent surgeons.

Excellent radiation specialists.

Excellent physical therapists.

Excellent speech therapists.

And excellent nutritional counseling grounded in the latest evidence.

Not fad diets.

Not miracle cures.

Evidence based nutrition personalized to the patient’s medical condition, treatment goals, and preferences.

That seems like a future worth building.

Cancer Changed the Way I Thought About Food

Before cancer, food was mostly about enjoyment.

After cancer, food became something much larger.

It became one of the few things I could control.

I couldn’t decide what my next CT scan would show.

I couldn’t guarantee immunotherapy would work.

I couldn’t eliminate uncertainty.

But every morning I could decide what went onto my plate.

Those decisions gave me purpose.

They reminded me that although I couldn’t control everything…

I wasn’t powerless.

A Challenge Worth Considering

I’m not suggesting hospitals have all the answers.

Neither do I.

Nutrition science continues to evolve.

Researchers continue asking difficult questions.

But if we know that healthy eating helps reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and many other chronic illnesses…

Isn’t it reasonable to ask whether nutrition should play a larger role after those diseases develop?

I believe the answer is yes.

Not instead of modern medicine.

Alongside it.

That philosophy shaped every decision I made after my stage 4 diagnosis.

It continues to shape the way I live today.

What Changed When I Changed

June 9, 2025.

I can still remember the day.

A few days earlier, I had received the news no cancer patient wants to hear.

The cancer had spread to my lungs.

A biopsy confirmed metastatic HPV-positive squamous cell carcinoma.

Stage 4.

My oncologist explained the treatment options. We discussed chemotherapy and immunotherapy. We talked about survival statistics and the road ahead.

I listened carefully.

Then I went home and asked myself a different question.

If I wanted every possible advantage in this fight, what could I control?

I couldn’t control the biopsy.

I couldn’t control what the next CT scan would show.

I couldn’t control how my cancer would respond.

But I could control how I cared for the body that had to endure the fight.

That day changed my life.

I Didn’t Choose Between Medicine and Nutrition

One misconception I often hear is that people must choose between conventional medicine and nutrition.

I never saw it that way.

I chose both.

I trusted my oncologist.

I accepted immunotherapy.

I followed my treatment plan.

At the very same time, I began improving every area of my health that I reasonably could.

I viewed those decisions as teammates rather than competitors.

Modern medicine would attack the cancer.

My responsibility was to support the body fighting alongside it.

My Health Transformation

Beginning in June 2025, I made changes that were far more comprehensive than simply changing what I ate.

I completely changed my lifestyle.

Among the changes I made were these.

I adopted a carnivore diet centered around minimally processed animal foods. I eliminated added sugar. I removed ultra processed foods from my diet. I stopped consuming industrial seed oils. I prioritized high quality protein to preserve muscle during treatment. I began strength training regularly as my body allowed. I participated in physical therapy. I continued speech therapy to recover my voice. I optimized my vitamin D level under medical supervision. I supplemented nutrients after discussing them with my healthcare providers. I spent time outdoors in natural sunlight. I focused on improving my sleep. I worked to reduce unnecessary stress. I leaned heavily on my Christian faith. And I surrounded myself with the love of my wife, family, friends, and an incredible community that prayed for me every day.

Looking at that list now, one thing becomes obvious.

I didn’t change one variable.

I changed dozens.

That matters.

Why I’m Careful About My Conclusions

People sometimes ask me a question that sounds simple.

“Which one worked?”

The honest answer is…

I don’t know.

And anyone who claims to know with certainty probably knows more than the evidence allows.

Was it Keytruda?

Almost certainly, it played an important role.

Was it the dramatic improvement in my nutrition?

Possibly.

Did reducing body fat improve my metabolic health?

I believe so.

Did strength training help preserve muscle?

Almost certainly.

Did improving my sleep matter?

I think it did.

Did reducing chronic inflammation help?

Perhaps.

Did thousands of people praying for me make a difference?

Without question, I believe they did.

Healing is rarely one thing.

More often, it’s many things working together.

The Results I Experienced

Over the months that followed, remarkable things began happening.

I lost approximately fifty pounds.

Not because I was starving myself.

Because I was intentionally changing my body composition.

I became leaner.

Stronger.

More physically capable.

My blood work improved.

My energy became more consistent.

Brain fog lifted.

My afternoon crashes largely disappeared.

My recovery from exercise improved.

Physical therapy became easier.

Eventually, something happened that I had almost stopped believing was possible.

My voice began coming back.

After months of wondering whether I would ever speak normally again, I slowly regained the ability to communicate with people throughout much of the day.

That alone felt like a miracle.

Then came the CT scans.

Two lung tumors eventually became undetectable.

The remaining tumors continued shrinking and remained stable.

Every scan brought hope.

Every appointment reminded me how grateful I was for another opportunity to keep living.

Cancer Changed My Definition of Success

Before cancer, success usually meant accomplishing more.

Building another business.

Finishing another project.

Making more money.

Checking another goal off the list.

Cancer changed that.

Now success looked different.

Walking another mile.

Lifting another weight.

Sleeping through the night.

Eating another healthy meal.

Laughing with my wife.

Watching another sunset.

Helping another cancer patient.

Success became less about achievement.

It became about gratitude.

Food Became an Acy of Hope

One of the biggest changes wasn’t physical.

It was emotional.

Before cancer, meals were often automatic.

After cancer, every meal became intentional.

Instead of asking,

“What sounds good?”

I started asking,

“What gives my body the best opportunity to heal today?”

That simple question changed my relationship with food forever.

Every healthy choice became an investment in tomorrow.

Not because I believed food alone could defeat cancer.

Because I wanted every part of my life moving in the same direction.

Toward healing.

Toward strength.

Toward hope.

I No Longer Chase Perfection

One lesson cancer taught me is that perfection is impossible.

Life happens.

Stress happens.

Celebrations happen.

Nobody eats perfectly forever.

I certainly don’t.

Instead, I try to be consistent.

Most healthy outcomes are built from consistent habits, not perfect days.

That realization lifted an enormous burden from my shoulders.

I wasn’t trying to win every meal.

I was trying to change the direction of my life.

What I Hope Readers Take Away

If there’s one thing I hope you remember from my story, it’s this.

You may not be able to control your diagnosis.

You may not be able to control your genetics.

You may not be able to control every scan result.

But you probably have more influence over your daily habits than you realize.

What you eat.

How you move.

How you sleep.

How you respond to stress.

How you care for your body.

Those decisions matter.

Not because they guarantee a particular outcome.

Because they help shape the environment in which your body lives every single day.

Cancer reminded me that hope isn’t passive.

Hope can look like preparing a healthy meal.

Hope can look like taking a walk.

Hope can look like lifting a weight.

Hope can look like choosing not to give up.

And sometimes, hope looks like believing that even small decisions, repeated faithfully over time, are worth making.

The Food That Built America Is Not the Food We Eat Today

When I started writing this article, I didn’t set out to criticize farmers.

Or doctors.

Or nurses.

Or scientists.

Or even the food industry.

I simply wanted to understand one question.

What happened to America’s food?

The more I researched, the more I realized that the answer isn’t simple.

America’s food supply didn’t become unhealthy overnight.

It changed gradually.

One ingredient.

One marketing campaign.

One government recommendation.

One convenience product.

One processed meal.

One sugary drink.

One fast food restaurant.

One generation at a time.

Most of us never noticed the change because we were living through it.

We Have More Food Than Ever Before

Ironically, America has solved one of history’s greatest problems.

Food is abundant.

Our grocery stores are filled with choices that previous generations could never have imagined.

Fresh produce arrives from around the world.

Meat is available year round.

Frozen foods make life easier.

Technology has dramatically improved food safety.

These are genuine achievements.

Yet despite this abundance, Americans are becoming sicker.

Obesity has reached historic levels.

Type 2 diabetes continues to rise.

Fatty liver disease affects millions.

Metabolic syndrome has become increasingly common.

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death.

No single ingredient explains all of that.

No single diet will solve it.

But I believe it’s reasonable to ask whether the food environment we’ve created deserves far more attention than it receives.

My Cancer Changed My Questions

Before cancer, I rarely asked where my food came from.

I trusted the label.

I trusted the marketing.

I assumed that if something was sold in a grocery store, it must be reasonably healthy.

Cancer challenged every one of those assumptions.

It forced me to slow down.

To read labels.

To ask questions.

To think critically.

To become an active participant in my own health instead of simply assuming someone else had already figured everything out.

That may be one of the greatest gifts cancer gave me.

Curiosity.

I Don’t Have All the Answers

One thing I’ve learned over the past several years is that nutrition is rarely black and white.

Scientists continue debating many important questions.

How should we eat?

How much protein is ideal?

What role do carbohydrates play?

Are seed oils harmful?

Can metabolic therapies improve cancer treatment?

How should hospitals incorporate nutrition into patient care?

Many of those questions remain actively researched.

I don’t pretend to have the final answer.

What I do have is my own experience.

And that experience changed my life.

What I Believe Today

After everything I’ve learned, these are the principles I personally live by.

Eat foods that look like food.

Read ingredient labels.

Limit ultra processed foods.

Reduce added sugar.

Prioritize protein.

Build and maintain muscle.

Spend time outdoors.

Exercise regularly.

Get enough sleep.

Reduce unnecessary stress.

Protect your metabolic health.

Work closely with qualified healthcare professionals.

And never stop asking questions.

Those principles aren’t built on fear.

They’re built on intention.

The Body Wants to Heal

One of the most encouraging lessons I’ve learned is that the human body is remarkably resilient.

Even after years of poor habits…

Years of processed foods…

Years of carrying excess weight…

Years of neglect…

The body often begins responding surprisingly quickly when we start treating it differently.

We sleep better.

Move easier.

Think more clearly.

Gain strength.

Lose excess body fat.

Improve blood sugar.

Improve blood pressure.

Improve quality of life.

Those changes don’t guarantee freedom from disease.

But they remind us that our bodies are constantly adapting to the choices we make.

That’s incredibly hopeful.

My Story Is Not Your Prescription

I want to be very clear about something.

I am not suggesting that everyone should eat exactly as I do.

I am not claiming the carnivore diet cures cancer.

I am not suggesting anyone stop conventional medical treatment.

My treatment included surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and the expertise of outstanding physicians.

I believe those treatments helped save my life.

At the same time, I chose to improve every aspect of my health that I could control.

Nutrition became one part of that larger commitment.

My story is not a prescription.

It is an invitation to ask better questions.

The Question I Hope You Never Stop Asking

Every time you pick up a package at the grocery store…

Pause for a moment.

Turn it over.

Read the ingredients.

Ask yourself:

Would my grandparents recognize this as food?

If the answer is yes, you’re probably moving in the right direction.

If the answer is no, maybe it’s worth asking why.

That single habit changed the way I eat.

It may change the way you eat too.

Cancer Didn’t Just Change My Life

It Changed My Mission

There was a time when my goals centered around career, promotions, business success, and financial security.

Those things still matter.

But today, they matter less than helping one more person ask a better question about their health.

If my journey encourages someone to cook one more meal at home…

Read one more ingredient label…

Take one more walk…

Lose one more pound…

Or begin one conversation with their physician about nutrition…

Then sharing my story has been worth it.

Sometimes changing one life begins with changing one habit.

Continue the Journey

If you’ve read this far, thank you.

Whether you’re a cancer patient, a caregiver, or someone simply trying to live a healthier life, I hope this article challenged you to think differently about the food we eat and the choices we make every day.

My journey is still unfolding.

I continue to receive scans.

I continue to learn.

I continue to celebrate victories, face setbacks, and trust God one day at a time.

If you’d like to follow that journey, I invite you to explore the rest of Wayne’s Cancer Journey.

There you’ll find my complete stage 4 cancer story. The treatments I chose and why. Articles about scanxiety, immunotherapy, nutrition, and metabolic health. Resources for cancer patients and caregivers. And honest updates from someone who is still walking this road.

My hope is simple.

That through my experience, your journey becomes a little less frightening, a little more informed, and a little more hopeful.

Because no one should have to face cancer alone.

Your Next Step Starts Here

Cancer changed my life, but it also changed my perspective on faith, food, family, and the power of hope. If this article encouraged you, challenged your thinking, or gave you questions worth exploring, I invite you to continue the journey with me.

Read my personal story of battling stage 4 cancer, explore the Cancer Resource Center, and discover the lessons I’ve learned along the way. My prayer is that the information you find there helps you make informed decisions, ask better questions, and face your own journey with greater confidence.

Citations

American Cancer Society. (2020). American Cancer Society Guideline for Diet and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 70(4), 245–271. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21591

American Cancer Society. Processed Foods and Cancer Risk.https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/diet-physical-activity/how-diet-and-physical-activity-impact-cancer-risk/processed-food-and-cancer.html

American Cancer Society. Diet and Physical Activity Guidelines for Cancer Prevention.https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/diet-physical-activity/acs-guidelines-nutrition-physical-activity-cancer-prevention.html

National Cancer Institute. Diet and Cancer.https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet

National Cancer Institute. Obesity and Cancer Fact Sheet.https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/obesity

World Health Organization. Healthy Diet Fact Sheet.https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Red Meat and Processed Meat.https://www.iarc.who.int

Fiolet, T., Srour, B., Sellem, L., et al. (2018). Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods and Cancer Risk: Results from NutriNet-Santé Prospective Cohort. BMJ, 360, k322. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k322

Lane, M. M., et al. (2024). Ultra-Processed Food Exposure and Adverse Health Outcomes: Umbrella Review. The BMJ.

Monteiro, C. A., Cannon, G., Levy, R. B., et al. (2019). Ultra-Processed Foods: What They Are and How to Identify Them. Public Health Nutrition, 22(5), 936–941.

Debras, C., Chazelas, E., Srour, B., et al. (2020). Total and Added Sugar Intakes and Cancer Risk in the NutriNet-Santé Prospective Cohort.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 112(5), 1267–1279. American Heart Association. Added Sugars.https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/sugar

Warburg, O. (1956). On the Origin of Cancer Cells. Science, 123(3191), 309–314.

Hanahan, D. (2022). Hallmarks of Cancer: New Dimensions. Cancer Discovery, 12(1), 31–46.

Hanahan, D., & Weinberg, R. A. (2011). Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation. Cell, 144(5), 646–674.

World Cancer Research Fund International. Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer.https://www.wcrf.org

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adult Obesity Facts.https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

Medzhitov, R. (2008). Origin and Physiological Roles of Inflammation. Nature, 454(7203), 428–435.

Hotamisligil, G. S. (2006). Inflammation and Metabolic Disorders. Nature, 444(7121), 860–867.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). NCCN Guidelines for Supportive Care: Survivorship and Nutrition Resources.https://www.nccn.org