(Even Though I Dropped Out of High School)
I did not finish high school, yet somehow I spend Thanksgiving dinner talking about immune receptors, glucose metabolism, and why cells behave like rebellious teenagers. Why. Because my business partner wrote two books on molecular nutrition, that is why. While some families argue about football and politics, I sit there taking notes like a freshman in a bio class I technically never qualified for.
I am obsessed with this stuff. Black holes. Event horizons. Einstein field equations. Anything that reminds me how tiny I am and how confusing the universe is. Do I fully understand it. Not always. But I like trying. It keeps my brain from melting into a potato.
So now I write about food and science because I want people to stop getting nutrition advice from influencers who own a warehouse full of supplements. I want you to question anyone who says you can cure a lifetime of poor eating by swallowing gummies shaped like cartoon bears. If it sounds magical and convenient, it is probably nonsense with a price tag.
What is Keytruda and Why Scientists Love It
(Wow! The great Dr. Jeffrey Mechanick even covered some new drugs on the market. I am not sponsored by any pharm companies.)
Keytruda, also called pembrolizumab if you want to sound smart at a party, is a modern cancer drug. It belongs to a group of treatments called immune checkpoint inhibitors. These drugs do not shoot laser beams at cancer cells. They do something cooler. They help the immune system see the cancer. They basically yank off the camouflage and shout look at me, you little tumor.
Normally your immune system has checkpoints that tell T cells to calm down and not attack everything. Cancer, being sneaky, uses those checkpoints to hide. It produces proteins like PD L1, which sticks to the PD 1 receptor on immune cells and tells them to stand down like scared mall security guards. Keytruda steps in and blocks that handshake. Without the safety blanket, the immune system wakes up, cracks its knuckles, and says alright let us do some demolition.
Checkpoint drugs are a big shift in how cancer is treated. Instead of blasting everything in sight like chemotherapy, these medicines give the immune system its eyesight back. It is not brute force. It is strategy. It is like giving a blind guard a flashlight instead of a bazooka.
Why “Just Take Vitamins” Is Like Trying to Hit a Bullet With a Bullet
Some people hear the word cancer or inflammation and suddenly become experts because they watched three YouTube videos and took one online gut health quiz. They tell you to cut out all starch, all fruit, all carbs, and just load up on vitamins. The logic is something like this: If sugar is bad, and fruit has sugar, then fruit must be evil. It’s like deciding to never drink water again because your cousin once drowned at summer camp.
Here’s the problem. That plan assumes cancer cells eat sugar like teenagers at a gas station, with zero restraint. Yes, cancer cells use glucose. So do literally all the cells in your body. It’s their main fuel. Glucose runs through the bloodstream like UPS delivering energy packages. It fuels the brain, the muscles, the immune system, everything. Cutting out good carbs doesn’t starve cancer. It starves you.
Also, let’s be honest. If you’re cutting all fruit and whole grains and living on steak, supplements, and caffeine, you’re not healing, you’re crash dieting your way into confusion and probably constipation.
What Happens Without Carbs: Welcome to the Metabolic Circus
Let’s break this down like it’s biology class but with less crying. When you eat good carbohydrates, the ones from fruit, vegetables, beans, and grains, your body converts that stuff into glucose. That glucose goes through a party trick called glycolysis, then it hits the Krebs cycle, which is like the metabolic engine room. From there, it creates ATP, which is cellular energy. ATP is like the money your body spends to do anything: think, walk, digest, argue online.
When you cut carbs, the body panics and starts burning protein and fat. That sounds great until you realize it’s a last resort. Protein is for building things, like enzymes and muscle, not for powering your afternoon nap. Fat can be helpful, but breaking it down is a slower, messier process, and your brain still wants glucose like a toddler wants snacks.
Your body is adaptive, sure. But if you keep throwing it curveballs like cutting carbs while taking mega doses of vitamins, you’re not being strategic. You’re just making your metabolism feel like it’s being chased by bees.
Why Variety, Not Obsession, Wins Every Time
Real health is not about taking pills and crossing your fingers. It’s about giving the body the resources it needs, over time, in patterns that make sense. This means eating a range of colorful plants, real fiber, healthy fats, clean proteins, and yes, natural sugar from fruit, not Pop-Tarts disguised as health food.
The body loves rhythm and consistency. It wants to know that breakfast is coming, that nutrients will arrive, that it does not need to panic and store everything as belly fat because you’re suddenly living on butter coffee and conspiracy theories.
Science shows again and again that people do better when they eat whole foods, move their bodies, sleep, and avoid turning their diet into a religion. You do not need to be a monk. You just need to stop fighting your biology.