If you haven’t joined the SANE and ECCENTRIC Forum over on Facebook, you might want to hop over there. Apart from the lovely *SANE community making you feel right at home in the world of *SANE living, and the endless tips and tricks, you’ll also bump into Dr. Mike Keen. Dr. Mike is one of the doctors on the forum, and he is a really, really good egg. Mike also appeared on our CreativeLive Course, all the way from sunny England, although given it was November it might not have been that sunny. You can watch him talk about his journey here.
Now retired from his medical practice he freely devotes a portion of his days to spreading the word about how to eat and exercise smarter, volunteers for The Samaritans – a British organization that provides a 24*7 helpline for people in crisis, and supports his wife, Wendy, and his daughter, Jessica, in their respective creative pursuits. He’s a busy bloke! Mike’s wife, Wendy, makes amazing stuff out of glass, while Jessica is busy launching her career as a music artist – she has an incredible voice and released her first song – Wolf Cry – late last year. They sure are a talented family, those Keens.
Dr. Mike is doing great work in England helping others start their *SANE journey. Why is he so committed to his *SANE lifestyle? Read on. Here’s his own journey to eating smarter, exercising smarter, and living better.
“As a Family Doctor (British General Practitioner) for 32 years I also worked in diet clinics in the 1970’s. Their income came not from their successes, but from the failures who kept re-attending. In the back of my mind I knew there had to be another way to lose weight and maintain the weight loss.
Fast forward to 2013 – I had not been attending to my own weight which had ballooned to 255 lbs. I felt fat, unfit, and lethargic. I started Googling ‘weight loss’ and ‘maintaining lost weight’ rather than yoyo dieting, which I had done for over 40 years. I landed at Jonathan Bailor’s website and it made perfect sense. So I embarked upon a journey that involved not dieting, but eating MORE in a smarter, evidence based way.
The weight started to come off. I wasn’t hungry – strange that I could eat more and lose more – it defied conventional weight-loss wisdom. I also found links to Carrie Brown’s metabolically balanced, fat-burning recipes including ice cream and soups. I bought myself an ice cream churner, the book ‘Eat Smarter! Ice Creams’, along with the new-to-me ingredients and made the most delicious SANE chocolate ice cream I had ever eaten in my life. And I love ice cream! I ate this 3 times per week and continued to lose weight. So I bought Carrie’s soup cookbook next, ‘Eat Smarter! Soups’ and started to eat the most delicious, taste bud teasing concoctions – and I continued to lose weight whilst feeling fully satisfied. I am never hungry after a SANE meal.
I started spreading the word amongst my overweight, unhealthy, pre-diabetic friends. They had been told that if they lost 15kg (at least 30 lbs) that their decline and slide into full Type 2 Diabetes would be halted, and may even reverse. So far we have had amazing success with their blood work reverting to normal, along with fat being lost safely and them, like me, feeling energised and no longer having the spectre of Diabetes looming over their heads.
All this time I continue to lose weight and so far I have lost 47 lbs using Jonathan’s website and Carrie Brown’s amazing food ideas. I am very proud to say that I am now on the SSoS / Calorie Myth team as a medical advisor – a very challenging and stimulating position. We all do what we do for free because we want to change the lives of as many who will listen and try the new way of eating and exercising.
I must admit that when I first started my *SANE journey in April 2013 I was as sceptical as could be – but the spectacular results are plain to see and feel. I have lost 47lbs, my body fat has gone from 40% to 16%, my waist from 42″ to 35″, and my clothes size from XXL to M. I am now 60, do my eccentric exercises every week and eat an abundance of healthy foods. I wholeheartedly endorse this smarter approach to eating and exercise – the proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating! Welcome to much healthier living!”
Mike Keen MB BS LRCP MRCS
SANEitizing the UK
Family Doctor for 32 years, yoyo dieter for 40 years, *SANE success story in only 7 months, 47 pounds lost and counting!
GO, Mike! What an inspiration! And THANK YOU for all you do for the Sane and Eccentric Community and The Samaritans. You ROCK.
