Living, Not Just Investing, Health and Wellness

This is a longer post than usual, but it took a long time to make happen, so I had to tell the story.

Over the past few years, through CEI Community Ventures, I've been an active investor in the Health & Wellness space. Our fund has led deals in four natural products companies: Be Products Co. (Be Fine Food Skin Care), The Rustic Crust, Putney Pasta and Bar Harbor Foods (Look's Gourmet Food Co).

Part of the thesis in investing in these companies is that Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of what they put in and on their bodies. America has an obesity epidemic.  We eat junk and too much of it; a diet of high fructose corn syrup, processed foods, salt, sugar, candy, sweets, trans fats, artificial colors, preservatives and pesticides have become the norm. As a nation, we are too fat and too sick; we exercise too little; we're addicted to medications to alleviate symptoms and fail to address the root cause. Diabetes is on the rise. And all of this means that we pay more than ever for "health care" -- really "sick care" and fail to see the results we should. And we should know better. A health care system would be linked and incentivized to address prevention, not treatment.  Follow the money.  The dollars are in drugs, doctor visits, cheap food with low-quality ingredients.  

What is interesting though is that while things are getting bad on the health side of the house, awareness of what needs to happen to change things is also increasing.  Natural/organic food and personal care consumption and use continues to grow.  The movement is real.  "Buying green" is a long-term trend that is here to stay.

My problem: I know all abut the but was failing to fully live up to it.  I eat natural/organic when I can, but with my job, I spend a of of time on the road – literally on the road driving from company to company and other travel, meaning hotels, restaurants and C-stores.  As a result, I eat out a lot – a difficult thing to do healthily.  When the late-afternoon meeting organizer brings out the ubiquitous cookie tray, it's hard to say no to the sugar rush.  Fizzy juice (sugar) drinks or VitaminWater taste a lot better than water.  But they are sugar.  Not god for you....  So each year, it seems that another two-to-three pounds were added to my frame.  Over the course of five years or so, this added up to some pretty unattractive numbers.  But the “wake up” moment for me came this past June when I saw a doctor for an annual physical and had my cholesterol checked.  Up until this time, I’d never had a problem so while I was not happy with the extra pounds, it did not feel threatening.  But this time my cholesterol came back at a number where the doctor said it was time to monitor it and if it got worse, we’d talk medication.  WHAT?  Medication?  No way.  Give me a foreign substance to deal with a symptom, not address the cause and lead to other side effects?  It was time to get real -- and I knew it. 

Every six months or so for the past few years, I get on a health kick talk.  Talk was the problem though. No action.  I go running a few times, eat some fruit…and then forget about it.  No more.  It was time to walk (perhaps run) the talk.

So I devised a program.  It was simple.  I had rules.  I had to follow them.  I have three kids and want to be around for a very, very long time – and be fit and active for those years.  The call from the doctor with the cholesterol number was on June 30, 2008.  That day, the changes began.

Over time, we all pick up tidbits of advice and information from many sources.  From those, we create something that can work for us.  Here’s what I decided to do to lose around 15 pounds (or whatever was needed to get my cholesterol down):

·         No food after dinner, ever: Snacking after dinner kills.  You don’t really need it.

·         No sweets, ever: Cookies kill.  When I have one, I want another.  Sugar is bad for us.  It depresses the immune system.  Sugar should be avoided at all costs.

·         Smaller portions: My wife always says I that no matter what, I eat what’s on my plate.  The problem is that’s usually way to much – esp. if you are eating out at a restaurant.  Size does matter.

·         Salads every day for lunch: Lettuce, veggies and a protein like chicken or herring (yes, I ate Bar Harbor herring a lot…)

·         Get real with vitamins: Vitamin D and Cor-Omega (omega 3) every morning.  I just put an outlook reminder in my calendar every day for 8am.  I don’t dismiss it until I take the vitamins.  Yes, I am a person that needs to check off lists and write things down.

·         Drink green tea – a lot of it:  Green tea is catching on and the benefits seem to be immense.  I brew around three cups a day with a little honey.  When on the road, I buy water and green tea only.  My personal favorite is Honest Tea.  But even Lipton and Snapple have green teas.  But while the Lipton/Snapple versions have no high fructose corn syrup, they are still way to sweet with to much sugar.  Fuze also has a god green tea.  No more coffee means no more cream.  I'm sure this adds up...

·         No baked goods.  It’s very easy to get a scone or muffin at the coffee shop.  Not a good idea.  I never eat any baked goods besides bread for a sandwich.  They’re not necessary.

·         Eat whole foods.  I used to eat a lot of organic, processed “energy bars” for snacks.  They are organic, right?  So they are healthy.  Not necessarily.  Like cookies, when I had one, I wanted another.  They did not fill me up.  An organic chocolate chip/peanut butter bar is really a mid-day dessert.  I switched to a new bar called Kind that is essentially nuts and fruit.  Whole Foods.  I eat less and feel full.  I also snack on nuts a lot – almonds are one of my best friend now.  Walnuts are also good.  Raw and no salt.  Just a handful.  For breakfast, I eat whole oat outmeal with blueberries, cinammon and a little maple syrup (no brown sugar).  I soak the oatmeal the night before in some yogurt -- it tastes better, is easier to cook and healthier.

·         Exercise:  You can’t get really healthy with either all diet changes or all exercise changes.  I started running around three times a week. I also started doing pushups.  I had not done these for years and was disgusted that I tired out at around 20-25.  That number was a lot higher in high school and college…

·         Measure it.  I always tell my companies that metrics matter.  If you don’t record it and show it graphically, it isn’t real.  So I decided to weigh myself consistently on the same scale at the same time of the day over time.  I created a spreadsheet (geek, yes  I know – I was a Consultant atBain & Co., what do you expect?) to record, by date, my weight, the exercise I did and the number of pushups I did.  I then graphed the weight numbers (the graphic at the top of this post).

Results: I lost a half a pound in the first five days.  A little disappointing as I like results, and quickly.  A typical VC perhaps.  Then I lost two pounds in the next three days -- this was more like it!  Now we’re talking.  Measuring the numbers and and writing them down makes it very real – and mad me want to keep going.  Eighteen days later (the end of July) I had dropped another five pounds.  Now it was getting addictive.  You know what I learned?  This isn’t that hard.  Actions add up.  By the end of August I had lost another seven pounds.  I was now 16 pounds lighter than I had been just two months prior, had theoretically reached my goal and was only five pounds away from my high school weight when I worked out all the time and had two-a-days with football.  And now I could easily do 50-60 pushups at a time.  Amazing.  No time to stop there.  The Fall was coming up and I was afraid the winter would lead to no more running and put me back up, so I signed up for a SPIN class.  This was one of the best things I ever did – I started spinning on Sept. 9 – by the end of Sept. I was at that high school weight, which had been a distant goal (pipe dream, more likely) of mine for over 10 years, and I could do sets of pushups back-to-back that added up to about 100 pushups.  I now SPIN twice a week at a 6am class.  I love it.

But the real goal remained unknown: what had happened to my cholesterol?  The results came back in early September…and they were awesome.  My cholesterol had fallen 57 points.  My HDL (good cholesterol) had gone up five points.  My doctor said he was amazed by this HDL change in such a short period of time.  He called my a “poster child.”  I liked that.  My LDL fell 54 points.  My jeans went from a 38 waist to a 34.  I had a ton more energy.  This is great.  

Today's diet:  My doctor worried about my ability to sustain my strict plan.  I said (and believe) that this is really now a long-term lifestyle change.  I really don’t need cookies and ice cream.  I'm very aware of what I eat and the consequences of everything that goes into your body.  And once you stop eating junk, you honestly don’t really want it.  My doctor suggested I try and have a dessert as a reward one time/week.  Feels dangerous to me... but now that I've reached a good weight, I have put a few things back in my diet that I completely removed before:  I had originally had no dairy or peanut butter.  Now I occasionally have some cheese and peanut butter.  I have salads a few times a week for lunch and usually with dinner, but I eat a larger variety of foods.  I’ll even have a small dessert once and a while.  But I strictly monitor my weight.  If it goes up, time to get back to strict.  I’ve reached a goal and I’m not letting go of it.  My diet still has fundamentally changed and some rules remain, such as no food after dinner, smaller portions, more whole foods, etc...  I don't think I'll ever eat ice cream again as long as I live and I'm actually quite happy about it.  Odd, I know.

A new way of living:  I’ve now settled in, more or less, around my high school weight.  I’d like to lose five pounds or so more, but that’s it.  And I don't feel in a rush to get there.  This is a long-term lifestyle change.  My wife bought me a heart rate monitor watch for my birthday and my resting heart rate is 41.  Websites say that the resting heart rate of a well-trained athlete is under 50.  I can certainly say that’s not how I felt six months ago in June.  Lance Armstrong had his down to 31-32.  I'm not there yet, but feeling good...  

And I continue to learn about what I should eat and why.  Last week I saw a study that green tea can help lead to weight loss.  I guess I agree.  I also think the nut-based energy bars are a big deal in this overall equation.

I’m now living what I know and have somewhat preached.  Life is much better this way.  I just turned 39 but feel younger than I did at 30.  I'm not afraid of 40 - bring it on!