Dannie Cade

When Cancer Makes Your Body Reject Food: What It Actually Feels Like

Starving With Cancer? How Zinc Impacts Appetite Signals and Taste

Starving with cancer isn’t just “not eating enough.” Often, taste changes happen first — metallic, bitter, or just off — and appetite follows because your brain isn’t getting the usual hunger signals.

Zinc plays a key role in how taste and appetite signals work, and low zinc can be one contributor to the struggle.

Labs don’t always tell the full story, and forcing calories doesn’t fix the signal.

For those who can still eat, foods like pumpkin seeds, oats, lentils, mushrooms, and miso broth may help support zinc. But when eating becomes impossible, the conversation needs to shift — sometimes the body needs support for the signal first.

This isn’t about blame. It’s about understanding the signal, supporting your body, and taking one step at a time.

Comment FUEL for my guide showing how I supported my body when eating was impossible.

Baking Soda and Cancer – What the Research Actually Shows (Supportive Care That Works)

Category: Appetite Loss Solutions

Baking soda and cancer. I’m going to tell you what the research actually shows, what it’s useful for, and why you’ll never hear this from your oncologist. Tumors create an acidic environment around themselves, and researchers at the University of Arizona Cancer Center found that baking soda can raise the pH around tumors in mice. In some cases, that slowed metastasis or made chemotherapy work better. Where baking soda is actually useful is supportive care—mouth sores, dry mouth, thick saliva, and metallic taste. A simple baking soda rinse can make food tolerable again when everything tastes like metal or your mouth feels raw.

What to Do When a Cancer Patient Won’t Eat

Category: Appetite Loss Solutions

As a cancer survivor who lost 100 pounds in 3 months to cachexia (wasting syndrome), I know exactly how terrifying this is—for both the patient and the caregiver.

This guide is for caregivers watching someone they love waste away. I’m sharing what’s actually happening in their body, the 5 things every caregiver needs to know right now, and what finally saved my life when I was days away from a feeding tube.

If traditional food isn’t working anymore, there’s still hope. Let me show you what doctors don’t explain.