Seven days post-chemo and I'm starting strict keto. Not because I'm a wellness evangelist. Not because someone told me it would cure cancer. But because the logic is simple enough: cancer cells love glucose. My body is full of glucose. So maybe if I stop feeding them, they'll struggle a bit more.
Is that science? Partially. The Warburg effect is real—cancer cells do preferentially use glucose for energy. Does a ketogenic diet cure cancer? No. Absolutely not. But if it gives me even a marginal edge, and the side effects are just... not eating bread... that's a trade I'll take.
The Numbers
I'm targeting 20g carbs, 70g protein, 260g fat. That's roughly 2,400 calories, 70% from fat. It's strict. It's not a diet I'd recommend to anyone not dealing with cancer, because it's annoying and restrictive.
But annoying and restrictive is manageable. What's not manageable is sitting still whilst cancer grows.
The plan is to track it religiously for the first month. Every meal logged in my custom ChatGPT. Not for the algorithm—for me. So I can see patterns. So I can understand if I'm actually hitting ketosis or just eating a lot of cheese and calling it science.
The Reality
Day one was fine. Eggs, bacon, avocado. I could do this.
Day three, I was at my mate's place and they ordered pizza. I didn't have it, but I thought about it for two hours.
Day five, I realised carbs are in literally everything. The sausage has binders. The broth has sugar. The vegetables I'm meant to eat as "free foods" aren't actually free if they're above 5g carbs per 100g.
Day seven, I got 99% of the way through the day hitting my macros perfectly, and then someone brought brownies to my house, and I had one, and I spent the rest of the night wondering if I'd just ruined a week of work.
Here's the thing though: I didn't quit. I just got back to it the next day. That's the game—not perfection, but consistency. Hitting 90% of my macros, nine days out of ten, is better than hitting 50% all month because I was too rigid.
Why This Matters
Chemo beat me down. My body's exhausted. My blood markers are recovering slowly. I can't exercise aggressively yet. What I can do is control what I eat.
And more importantly, I can stack small advantages. Keto doesn't cure cancer. But keto + chemo + the right supportive medications + good sleep + exercise when I can manage it—that's an approach. Not because any single element is magical, but because I'm attacking this from multiple angles simultaneously.
The diet is just one. But it's one I can control.
People keep asking if keto works for cancer. The honest answer: we don't know. The evidence is mixed and mostly in petri dishes or mice. But in a situation where I'm facing an incurable disease, "maybe" is good enough. Give me anything with even a theoretical edge, and I'll take it.
So I'm sticking with it. Not perfectly. But deliberately. And tracking the hell out of it so I can actually know whether it's making a difference.
If nothing else, I'll have lost some weight and my cholesterol will probably be fine. And if it does help? That's a conversation worth having.