538: How A Solo Kayak Trip Around Greenland Led to Weight Loss, Resilience and a New Take on Nourishment with Mike Keen

Wise Traditions

Weston A. Price Foundation

Wellness, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health, Nutrition, Diet, Health

4.7 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mike Keen came up with the idea of a kayak expedition off the coast of Greenland before he had any clue about how transformative it would be for his life and health and worldview! Today, he dives into what went down—what it was like eating the traditional Inuit diet (including fermented seal!), how his body responded to the kayaking and change in diet, and insights gathered by the microbiologists examining his stool samples (yes, his poop).

Now, he has planned to explore more remote places and to continue diving into traditional diets to see how his body responds.

A former chef, Mike now admits that he learned more from this experience kayaking around Greenland than from the many decades prior, when he was purchasing and preparing overly processed foods.

Visit Mike's website: eatyourenvironment.com

Check out our sponsors: Paleovalley and Optimal Carnivore

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	first time I saw myself in the mirror, which was three weeks in, wow. And then checking the
0:05.0	scale, 75 kilo. And I was actually a little bit worried for a while because I thought I must
0:09.8	be using all my energy and fat reserves. And at some point, yeah, probably when I'm 10 kilometers
0:15.5	out to sea, I'm going to crash and keel over and drown or freeze to death. But, and this is the beauty of being immersed in your environment. And that's going to, I'm going to crash and kill over and drown or freeze to death. But,
0:25.7	and this is the beauty of being immersed in your environment and natural environment,
0:31.0	is that it went down to 75 kilo and stayed exactly the same through the next three months.
0:36.7	It was incredible. And I think it's only when you, like, totallyse yourself in your environment. You've got no
0:37.8	petrol or fumes or diesel going on. You're eating what's only been caught within 10 kilometres
0:43.7	of where you are. You're sleeping outside. Yeah, when you've beached a kayak, you're barefoot or
0:49.0	you're in a tent and the winds on your face and you're sleeping within your circadian rhythm.
0:55.7	So you're totally in touch with everything.
1:00.9	You can't be closer to nature, which is, after all, what we've done for millions of years.
1:14.5	From the Weston A. Price Foundation, welcome to the Wise Traditions Podcast for wise traditions in food, farming, and the healing arts.
1:20.0	We are your source for scientific knowledge and traditional wisdom to help you achieve optimal health.
1:28.2	And now here is our host and producer Hilda Labrata Gore.
1:31.4	Hey, Hilda here.
1:39.2	A man dreams up a kayaking expedition around the coast of Greenland, over a couple of beers with some friends.
1:45.2	What he didn't realize is that moment would turn his world upside down.
1:48.6	His unexpected lessons are told today.
1:54.3	This is episode 538, and our guest today is Mike Keen.
2:03.5	Mike was a chef for nearly four decades, but he gained a new appreciation for his relationship to food and the most nourishing food on the planet as he undertook this solo expedition kayaking. He calls himself
2:10.8	a regular guy and yet he was able to push through some extreme conditions thanks to the
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 24 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Weston A. Price Foundation, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Weston A. Price Foundation and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.