Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

In this episode of the Better Than Before Breast Cancer podcast, Laura Lummer sits down with Chelsea Hassink to talk about her experience navigating a stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis and the path that led her to explore integrative cancer care.

Chelsea discovered a lump shortly after turning 40 and was quickly diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer that had metastasized to her liver. Within weeks, she began chemotherapy and entered the world that so many people with cancer know well.

As she moved through treatment, Chelsea began researching other approaches that might support her body and improve how she felt during therapy. That curiosity eventually led her to the Hope For Cancer treatment centers, where she explored non-invasive therapies such as hyperbaric oxygen, hyperthermia, ozone therapy, and nutrient infusions as part of an integrative program.

In this conversation, Laura and Chelsea discuss the fear many patients feel when considering integrative care, the importance of asking questions, and why finding a treatment path that aligns with your values and intuition can be an important part of the healing journey.

This episode shares Chelsea's story and the insights she gained along the way.

Resources Mentioned:

Work with Laura: https://www.thebreastcancerrecoverycoach.com/health

Follow Chelsea: https://www.instagram.com/hassink_health_bites/ Hope For Cancer Centers: https://hope4cancer.com/

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

💌 Join the Living Well After Breast Cancer Community → The Living Well After Breast Cancer Community

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

In this final episode of the Nutrition After Breast Cancer: Just the Facts series, we break down ketosis clearly and responsibly.

Ketosis is not a cure for cancer. It is not a replacement for chemotherapy or radiation.

But research, including the Keto-CARE trial at The Ohio State University and ongoing metabolic oncology work at Boston College, suggests that metabolic ketosis may influence insulin signaling, inflammation, and treatment response.

This is a grounded, research-based conversation designed to help you understand your options without fear or hype.

In this episode we cover:

-What metabolic health really means -The Warburg Effect explained simply -Ketosis vs ketoacidosis -How ketones influence inflammation -How therapeutic ketosis is being studied -Genetic variants that may affect fat burning -When ketosis may help -When caution is needed

Resources Mentioned:

Work with Laura: https://www.thebreastcancerrecoverycoach.com/health

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

💌 Join the Living Well After Breast Cancer Community → The Living Well After Breast Cancer Community

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

In this week's podcast episode in the Nutrition After Breast Cancer: Just the Facts series, I bring up the study that sparked that concern. I don't ignore things like this. I don't pretend they don't exist. If there's research being talked about, I want you to know about it.

But here are the actual facts.

The study was done in mice. The mice were made to consume about 40% of their diet in olive oil.

And the rest of their diet was an obesogenic, high-carbohydrate diet designed to promote weight gain and metabolic dysfunction.

That is not a Mediterranean diet. That is not olive oil drizzled over vegetables and salmon. That is not real life.

It was a laboratory model designed to stress metabolism.

Context matters. Deeply.

Resources Mentioned:

Guide to Essential Fatty Acids: https://www.thebreastcancerrecoverycoach.com/oil Episode #326 Simplifying Seed Oils and Fatty Acids After Breast Cancer https://www.thebreastcancerrecoverycoach.com/326 Work with Laura: https://www.thebreastcancerrecoverycoach.com/health REFERENCES:

Obesity and Low-Fat Diet History

Trends in Obesity Among Adults in the United States, 2005 to 2014 (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6001a15.htm

• Documents obesity prevalence: 15.0% (1976-1980), 23.3% (1988-1994)

Adult Obesity Prevalence Maps (CDC) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9611578/

• 30.9% obesity prevalence (1999-2000)

Adult Obesity Prevalence, 2021-2023 (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db508.htm

• Current obesity prevalence: 40.3%

How the Ideology of Low Fat Conquered America https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18296750/

• Historical analysis of the low-fat movement

Heart Disease Mortality

Explaining the Decrease in U.S. Deaths from Coronary Disease, 1980–2000 (Ford et al., NEJM 2007) https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa053935

• ~51% decline in men, ~49% decline in women
• 47% from medical treatments, 44% from risk factor changes
• Obesity and diabetes offset gains by 8% and 10%

Heart Disease Mortality in the United States, 1970 to 2022 https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.124.038644

• 89% decrease in heart attack deaths
• 81% increase in heart failure and other heart disease deaths

Omega-3s, Inflammation, and Cancer

Omega-6/Omega-3 Ratios and Modern Diets

• Ancestral ratios: 1:1 to 4:1
• Modern Western diet: 15:1 to 20:1
• Impact on eicosanoid metabolism and cellular inflammation

DHA and Triple Negative Breast Cancer (Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 2019)

• DHA induced cell death in TNBC cells
• Mechanism: altered membrane composition, increased oxidative stress in cancer cells

High-Fat Diets and TNBC Metastasis (Preclinical Studies)

• CD36-mediated fatty acid uptake in TNBC
• Oleic acid-rich diets promoting metastasis in mouse models
• Importance of tumor phenotype and metabolic flexibility

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

💌 Join the Living Well After Breast Cancer Community → The Living Well After Breast Cancer Community

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

Dairy is one of the most misunderstood foods in wellness.

Is it inflammatory? Does it increase mucus? Does it raise IGF-1 and breast cancer risk? Or is that fear-based messaging?

In Part 4 of the Nutrition Just the Facts series, Laura breaks down the science behind dairy and separates cultural belief from biological evidence.

This episode covers:

• Dairy and inflammatory biomarkers • The mucus myth • IGF-1 and growth signaling in breast cancer • Lactose intolerance versus milk allergy • A1 versus A2 milk • Grass-fed versus conventional dairy • The influence of marketing and dietary policy

This is a calm, research-grounded conversation designed to help you make confident, personalized nutrition decisions.

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

💌 Join the Living Well After Breast Cancer Community → The Living Well After Breast Cancer Community

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

Why are so many women told to avoid animal foods after breast cancer? And what does the science behind that advice actually show?

In this episode of Better Than Before Breast Cancer, Laura Lummer explores plant-based versus animal-based eating through a clear, grounded lens. She explains why large observational studies like the Nurses' Health Study became so influential, how The China Study was over-interpreted, and where correlation was treated as causation.

This episode is not about choosing a diet. It is about understanding how nutrition messaging is formed, where its limitations lie, and how to apply science in a way that respects bioindividuality, metabolic health, digestion, and recovery after cancer.

If you have ever felt confused, pressured, or fearful around food, this episode offers clarity without rules.

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

💌 Join the Living Well After Breast Cancer Community → The Living Well After Breast Cancer Community

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

Carbohydrates are often blamed, feared, or oversimplified, especially after breast cancer.

In this episode, Laura continues her Nutrition Myths and Truths series with an evidence-based conversation about carbohydrates. This is not about food rules. It is about understanding how carbohydrates function in the body, how they interact with metabolism, inflammation, and genetics, and what lab markers can tell us about individual response.

If you missed part one of this series on red meat and understanding scientific studies, that episode provides helpful context for today's discussion.

Episode highlights:

• Carbohydrates include vegetables, fruits, and legumes, not just bread and sugar

• Why blood sugar numbers alone do not reflect metabolic health

• How refined carbohydrates influence inflammation and gut health

• What research suggests about carbohydrates and cancer

• Why genetics and SNPs affect carbohydrate tolerance

• The role of insulin, triglycerides, and inflammation markers

• Whether grains are nutritionally essential

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

💌 Join the Living Well After Breast Cancer Community → The Living Well After Breast Cancer Community

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

What does the science actually say about red meat after breast cancer?

In this episode, Laura Lummer begins a new series focused on separating nutrition myths from facts. The conversation was sparked by hearing a physician recommend a low-fat, high-fiber diet with no red meat to an entire room of cancer patients.

Laura explains why that kind of advice ignores bio individuality and why nutrition science is far more nuanced than headlines suggest.

This episode breaks down how observational studies work, what statistically significant means, and why one of the most cited red meat studies cannot be used to create universal food rules.

Topics include:

• Observational studies vs randomized trials

• Self-reported diet recall and its limitations

• What statistically significant really means

• The Stanford SWAP-MEAT trial explained

• Why one diet does not fit everybody

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

Diet plans. Supplements. Protocols. Podcasts. Advice from well-meaning people. At some point, all of that support can stop feeling helpful and start feeling overwhelming.

In this episode, Laura shares a real-life story that highlights how stress and unresolved trauma can impact metabolic health, even when diet and exercise look "right." She explains why consistency, tracking data, and self-honesty matter so much when making changes, and how constantly switching approaches can keep us stuck.

This episode offers permission to slow down, turn down the noise, and focus on what truly supports healing after breast cancer.

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

At the beginning of the year, affirmations are everywhere. But if you have ever felt frustrated, tense, or discouraged while trying to use affirmations, this episode explains why.

In Episode 446, Laura shares why affirmations that are not believable often create internal pushback, self-judgment, and cognitive dissonance, and why this is not a personal failure.

You will learn how the brain responds to thoughts that feel untrue, how glimmers signal safety to the nervous system, and how to choose words that gently move you forward in healing, relationships, business, and lifestyle change.

This episode offers a realistic and compassionate approach to mindset work that works with your brain instead of against it.

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer

Have you ever wondered why the new year brings so much pressure to move faster, even when your body feels tired and out of sync?

In this episode, Laura shares a perspective that reframes fatigue, resistance, and the urge to slow down through the lens of evolutionary mismatch and seasonal rhythm. Rather than pushing harder, this conversation invites curiosity, compassion, and a deeper understanding of what your body may be asking for right now.

This episode is especially supportive for women navigating life after breast cancer who want to build health and healing without forcing themselves into timelines that do not fit their biology.

Resources:

Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine https://amzn.to/499dt2p The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease https://amzn.to/49aBrdJ

Let's Connect! If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, please share it with a friend or leave a review. Every share helps spread this message of hope, healing, and whole-person wellness.

💌 Join my email list for weekly wellness tips & podcast updates → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

💌 Join the Better Than Before Breast Cancer Life Coaching Membership → Life Coaching

👩‍💻 Follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration → @thebreastcancerrecoverycoach

👩‍💻 Follow me on Facebook → The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎙 Subscribe & leave a review on Apple Podcasts → Better Than Before Breast Cancer with The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach

🎥 Watch on YouTube → @BetterThanBeforeBreastCancer