The Retirement Wisdom Podcast The MasterChef Dentist’s Fight vs. Cancer: Food as Medicine – Chris Walinski
Our guest today, Dr. Chris Walinski, is a dentist, researcher, MasterChef contestant, and prostate cancer survivor. His story is an inspiring one of persistence, adaptation, reinvention and turning adversity into advocacy.
Chris shares how his childhood independence led to a lifelong passion for cooking, how his wife nudged him into the MasterChef spotlight, and how a life-altering cancer diagnosis reshaped his perspective on food, prevention, and living fully.
You’ll learn:
– What Chris learned from competing on MasterChef (and from Gordon Ramsay…)
– How his cancer journey shifted his mindset on prevention, nutrition, and resilience
– The role of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory foods, and gut health in longevity
– The top prostate-friendly foods
– The importance of cutting back on ultra-processed foods, red meat, alcohol, and sugar
– Chris’s lessons on reinvention in midlife and retirement
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Bio
Dr. Chris Walinski has been an author, inventor and trusted expert in dentistry for over 25 years and has authored a dental text that has been translated into 10 languages.
He is one of the earliest dentists to use lasers in dentistry, Dr. Walinski has been called upon to make presentations around the world at professional conferences and universities. Since 2004, he has taught thousands of doctors on the topics of cosmetics, minimally-invasive dentistry, technology and the use of lasers. His lectures have taken him to almost 50 countries at this point.
Dr. Walinski is the Executive Director of the World Clinical Laser Institute and the International Dental Laser Research Institute, and is a Founding member of the American Academy of Oral Systemic Health. He is a Diplomate and Past-President of the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Dentistry. He is a proud member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society, and his Fellowships include the International College of Dentists, The Royal Society of Medicine, The International Association for Laser Dentistry and the American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery.
Dr. Walinski’s lifelong love of cooking resulted in him competing on this season’s MasterChef on FOX. He also has three lovely children and is married to the love of his life and wife of six years. They live together with their English Springer Spaniel, Lacey.
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For More on Chris Walinski
3 recipes to try: ‘MasterChef’ alum’s cake, soup, rice – Ohio State Alumni Magazine
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Prostate Cancer Testing
Free Prostate Cancer Testing Near You
NFL Crucial Catch – FIND A CANCER SCREENING LOCATION NEAR YOU*
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Podcast Conversations You May Like
How Not to Age – Dr. Michael Greger
The Well-Lived Life – Dr. Gladys McGarey
Take Charge of Your Well-Being – John La Puma, MD
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About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast
There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.
About Retirement Wisdom
I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.
Schedule a call today to discuss how the Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one — on your own terms.
About Your Podcast Host
Joe Casey is an executive coach who helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a 26-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking.
Joe has earned Master’s degrees from the University of Southern California in Gerontology (at age 60), the University of Pennsylvania, and Middlesex University (UK), a BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and his coaching certification from Columbia University.
In addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, ranked in the top 1% globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.
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Wise Quotes
On Prevention
“…nobody wants to pay for prevention. I started writing some, some notes down because I do a lot of research and if I end up writing a book about how to prevent prostate cancer I might sell 10 copies, but if I write a book about how to treat it once you get it and how to extend your life and how to use food as medicine, that’s what people want to know. And so that’s where the hard part is – because once you get it, as they say the cow is out of the barn or the horse is out of the barn, now you’re chasing it versus trying to prevent it. Prevention is the big thing. And then there’s a lot of uncertainty when you’re diagnosed because when I was diagnosed, honestly, I didn’t know if I was going to make it until the end of the year.”
On Food as Medicine
“It just doesn’t come with a lot of warning signs. It really just eats you from inside out. And what I’ve found is that if you find a food that is good for you, chances are it’s because it’s an antioxidant and ultimately it will reduce your inflammation. So for like an anti-cancer plan, you really need to go with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. And those two things together, and actually I would add at this point because you’re reading more and more about it is having a healthy microbiome, gut microbiome. So, he beneficial bacteria that’s in your digestive system. And that’s another thing that we never really thought much about. But if you, there was a study that compared a group of men with advanced cancer versus those who didn’t, and they checked their microbiome and the ones with advanced cancer, they were missing all the beneficial bacteria that helped protect your body.”
On Reinventing Yourself
“…my message number one would be avoid paralysis by analysis. Just don’t just make a rash decision, but don’t spend all your time thinking about it. Because what I will tell you is that if you direct all your energy, the universe will make a way for you. And if it doesn’t, maybe that’s not the direction you should be going. That’s not your path. It took so many things to go right for me to change industries from one industry to another. And it took so many things when I moved from one location to another. If it’s not right for you, you’ll know. If it’s a struggle to get to where you want to be from one career to another, maybe that’s not your path. And as my wife Veronica tells me on repeat, just follow your bliss and do what makes you happy at this point. And so that would be my recommendation: do what makes you happy, but don’t force it.”
The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Retirement Wisdom Podcast are solely those of the guests and do not reflect the opinion of the host or Retirement Wisdom, LLC. The Retirement Wisdom Podcast primarily covers the non-financial aspects of retirement. From time to time we may invite guests who discuss other aspects of retirement planning, solely for educational purposes. Listeners are advised to consult qualified financial and/or medical professionals on those matters.