Work, work, work

Loyal readers may have noticed that I haven't posted regularly for over a year. The reason for this is simple. In June last year, Garry and I acquired Artiwood, a boutique toy importer and wholesaler with a strong eco-friendly philosophy. It took five months of intensive negotiations, starting in February, to finally do the deal. Since then we've been working crazy hours including most weekends.

It took us three years to find the company. I’d almost given up hope of ever finding a truly well-run small business that, (a) Garry and I could afford, (b) that we liked enough to buy and, (c) that played to our collective strengths and passions. Artiwood is probably about as close to ideal as we could have imagined.

In the three years before we acquired it, the company grew more than 40% annually. According to the previous owner, he wanted to sell simply because it had become too successful. As he tells the story, the rapid growth adversely impacted his laid-back, alternative lifestyle. At the time, he lived in a communal rainforest retreat in the hills near Byron Bay.

However, despite his remote location, he’d set the business up with a highly outsourced infrastructure.  The warehouse function was outsourced, as were marketing, IT and accounting activities. It could basically be operated from anywhere in Australia (or overseas). As a result, it was relatively easy for Garry and I to transfer its operations to Sydney. We now run it remotely from a home office in our apartment.

We also put the former owner on contract for a year to help get up to speed on the toy industry, transition existing business relationships and help source new suppliers. Hiring him part-time also enabled us to negotiate a better selling price and reduce our stamp duty. He ultimately decided to exit the business early, and left in March, thus saving us a few additional dollars.

It’s been an intense period, to say the least. In year to 30 June, we grew Artiwood another 29%, with record growth in nine of the previous 12 months. We’ve also launched a new CRM system, added a new accounting system, and introduced new product safety procedures. We're now hard at work developing a new, modern e-commerce website, and refreshing its corporate identity.

If that wasn't enough, we’ve also published a new catalogue, built in an entirely new application, (and added 20 pages to it), exhibited at three Melbourne trade shows, plus another in Sydney, kicked off a monthly email marketing program, added a new part-time salesperson, and done all of this while enduring the usual learning curve that comes with owning a new business.

UPDATE: 20 July 2017

Almost a year later than planned, we've finally launched our new website. The initial response from retailers, suppliers and industry colleagues has been overwhelmingly positive.

The vanishing man

I’ve been quietly transforming my health this year. In March I received an early-stage Type 2 Diabetes blood sugar test result. I’m sure regular readers of this blog have quietly noted the weight gain that Garry and I experienced while living in the UK. In time, this weight has taken a toll on my health including bouts of Gout. However, the early-stage diabetes diagnosis was still a shock. Grand illusions aside, it’s clear I’m no longer bulletproof.

I decided I wasn’t going to roll over and accept defeat. Instead, I began an intensive web search to map out my options. By chance, I stumbled across research recently published by Newcastle University in the UK. It was discovered that Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by an extreme low-calorie diet.

In an early-stage clinical trial of 11 people conducted in 2011, all reversed their diabetes by drastically cutting their food intake to just 600 calories daily for two months. And three months later, seven remained free of diabetes. In essence, participants who rapidly lost approximately 15% of their initial body weight restored their health.

Given these stunning results, I decided to undertake my own clinical trial. I was also encouraged to learn that my personal circumstances put me in a sweet spot for success. That is, my diagnosis was recent, the weight I needed to lose was within an ideal range and my age correlated with the best results reported by the Newcastle trial. In other words, my chances of successfully reversing my recent diagnosis appeared high.

I reviewed their research findings in detail and gathered as much information as possible about the diet program used in the clinical trial.  This included a helpful book based on the study's findings by Dr Michael Mosley published last December. However, I made one key change to my diet plan. In the study, participants substituted one daily meal for a weight-loss protein shake. I decided this wasn’t sustainable and reworked the diet to include three normal meals.

Every week I prepared a weekly menu spreadsheet, tracking the calories in every food item. I tried to average 750 calories daily as defined by the food labels on the products I bought (or calorie counts I found online). I also managed my intake to ensure I ate at least 67-70gm of protein daily - the recommended daily minimum for an adult male. My spreadsheet also charted my weight and Body Mass Index (BMI). I then officially weighed myself before breakfast every Sunday morning and recorded my weight for the week.

I trialled the diet for seven weeks, plus an additional three weeks transitioning back to normal eating. Over ten weeks I lost 18.6 kg, or more than 19% of my body weight. My BMI went from 30.2 (Obese) to 24.3 (Healthy). I lost 13cm (5 inches) around my waist (nothing fits in my wardrobe anymore). My blood sugar reading dropped from 7.3 mmol/L (7+ is considered diabetic) to 5.5 (the top end of normal). In other words, I’ve successfully reversed my early-stage diagnosis. I'm no longer diabetic.

In all honesty, if I’d known that a diet like this would be so effective and be so easy to do (I didn’t really feel all that hungry after the first 4-5 days) I’d have given it a go three years ago. My results were better than the Newcastle patients and six weeks after finishing my transition to normal eating my weight remains stable. This diet really works!

My weekly menu planning took several hours to prepare on a Sunday morning. However, it really kept me focused on the program and challenged me to identify creative substitutes for keeping meals interesting and varied. This exercise kept me honest and made last-minute changes to the diet plan easier. I could quickly work out how to shuffle my eating plan if the day got busy or a social event cropped up.

For example, I travelled to New Zealand in June but still managed to maintain my diet. Planning my menu also got easier as I went. Within a fortnight, I had a two-week eating plan that I could start to cut and paste daily menus, making it easier to build next week’s menu.

I also got very good at reading food labels and identifying substitute products or brands that allowed me to either have larger portions of the same food or use the calories I eliminated to add another tasty item to my weekly diet plan. For example, I found a whole grain bread with 8 calories less per slice. This meant I could increase the amount of avocado or yeast spread on my breakfast toast, or let me grate some parmesan cheese over my scrambled eggs.

Likewise, some types of fish have fewer calories than others. Choosing the lowest calorie fish (with a reasonably high protein count) let me increase the weight of steamed vegetables I could include in the same meal. I soon learned I could fill a plate with healthy vegetables and end up with a large meal of tasty food with surprisingly few calories.

I also discovered plenty of low-calorie meal ideas that stopped my food from feeling bland or monotonous. For example, I started roasting capsicum and asparagus at dinner time for a tasty addition to the plate (coated with sprayed oil to keep the calories down). I found a very low-fat Feta cheese to add to salads to give them a salty/savoury favour burst (and increase my protein count). I swapped real balsamic vinegar for a diet dressing version – same flavour but fewer calories (or more spoonfuls for the same calorie count making for a moister salad).  

Since ending the diet, I’ve continued avoiding white carbs (including white bread, pasta, potatoes etc); especially at dinner time. I'm not only keeping the weight off but it may be helping me lose a few more pounds. I weighed myself before breakfast today. I was shocked to see my weight at a new low since starting this whole exercise (76 kg). Five months ago, I was almost 95 kgs (and this was down from a peak of at least +100kg last year).

UPDATE: 7 December
Five months after completing the Newcastle Diet my blood sugar levels remain stable. My latest test results show a level of 5.6 mmol/L. They’re basically unchanged since my last test on 28 June.

UPDATE: 2 April 2017
I've done another round of the Blood Sugar Diet to strip off a little more fat. I repeated the diet for another three weeks in March. As of today, my weight has dropped to 73kg. I feel this gives me a little more margin for ongoing weight maintenance while maintaining a healthy BMI.

UPDATE: 17 May 2017
My blood sugar levels hit a new low this month. My latest test results show a level of 5.2 mmol/L. I've also stopped having gout attacks. I have more energy and I'm sleeping better at night. Garry says I've also stopped snoring. I’m living testament that the Newcastle Blood Sugar Diet really works. My doctor cannot believe the results I’ve achieved.