...hit the ground running Issue 4 / July 2013
Chris Barrow has been active as a consultant, trainer and coach to the UK dental profession for over 15 years.
The Twenty
coachbarrow. com
Is The Summer Bad For Business?
On The Flight Deck
Meet Dr. Caveman
The Twenty
Arguably not the best time to be thinking about our teeth
Enough of metaphors
This story is about me
the most important articles you will read this year
Letter From The Editor
The biggest lessons I have learned in 2013
For some reason I seem to have
found myself engaged in a lot of personal coaching recently.
1.
a legal contract isn’t worth the paper it is written on
The late, great Thomas Leonard said “we only ever coach our clients on the things we need to know ourselves”.
2.
a secret is something told to one person at a time
3.
words are cheap
4.
appearances are deceptive
5.
people with no conscience always appeal to your conscience
6.
litigation lawyers are prostitutes
7.
bad guys might win but are never truly happy in the quiet moments
8.
the people who shout the loudest that they don’t like you are always the people who don’t know you
9.
anonymity turns cowards into bravehearts
“The Universe” has definitely decided that 2013 is a year in which
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many clients are going to face some of their biggest challenge
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Chris Barrow is going to be tested, questions are going to asked about his strength of character, trials are going to be set to determine his determination.
A sage once said “you should never tell people about your problems - 90% don’t care and the other 10% are glad”. 2013 has been my toughest year in business in the last 20.
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Negative stuff
10. a bully with a cheque book is a brute
2013 has been one of my most fulfilling years in the last 20.
11. if it looks like a snake, moves like a snake and sounds like a snake - its probably a snake
Let me share with you what I have learned so far this year:
12. business is a game of snakes and ladders
written by Chris Barrow
A sage once said “you should never tell people about your problems - 90% don’t care and the other 10% are glad”.
Positive stuff 1.
Mr Weeble wobbles but he never falls down
2.
actions speak louder than words
3.
there is a huge difference between being wealthy in assets and rich in relationships
4.
less is always more
5.
focus and simplify
6.
good guys can always be happy in the quiet moments
7.
always ask yourself a question - “is what I’m about to do going to increase or decrease the level of confusion and complexity in my life?”
8.
we can all have true friends
9.
we can all have true success
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loving what we do
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loving when we do it
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loving the people we do it with
When you are beguiled by a serpent and hit that big fat snake at number 99, slithering all the way down to number 1, you can either get off the board or pick up the dice and roll again.
Contents
I’m rocking and I’m rolling.
05 - The Twenty
03 - Is The Summer Bad For Business? 04 - On The Flight Deck
07 - The Twenty 08 - Time Management In 60 Seconds 09 - Meet Dr. Caveman 12 - A Milestone For Bridge2Aid
02
Is The Summer Bad For Business?
written by Chris Barrow
The sun comes out, Murray wins Wimbledon and the BBQ smoke wafts over Britain.
In spite of Alex Salmond’s slam-dunk as pillock of the year, the nation is as euphoric as 12 months ago.
Why not:
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launch a summer campaign NOW for patients to have their teeth whitened before they go on holiday – hand out a free branded sun-hat for their future sunbathing
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offer children’s days during the holiday season – close the practice to adults for a day, have a themed fancy dress for the team (Cliff Richards – Summer Holiday), invite a children’s entertainer, put X-boxes in the lounge – give a free bucket and spade to all the little darlings while handing out cosmetic dental offers to their parents
Time now for open air rock, classical and revival concerts, lighter evenings, kids home and holidays! But where does that leave dentistry? Arguably not the best time to be thinking about our teeth and gums, about needles and drills, about being told that we are not brushing properly? The dangerous self-fulfilling prophecy would be to tell yourself that nobody will be buying dentistry for the next 8 weeks, until September bursts on the scene and we notice the nights drawing in, the leaves turning brown and the temperature dropping.
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(I know – 8 weeks – better make the most of it). Is “the summer” just another excuse for not asking people to do business with you?
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I have plenty of clients who enjoy record months in July and August. Because they adapt to whatever occasion presents itself.
03
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hold a BBQ for your longest serving patients (as a thank you for their loyalty) at your home and ask them to bring a friend or family member, play the soundtrack of Mamma Mia! all evening close the practice for the day and take the team on a day out to recognise their hard work, get outdoors and have a picnic – take an hour in the day for a CPD training session arrange some open evenings on shortterm ortho, in a Spanish bar, complete with Sangria and tapas
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organise an over 65′s evening in a local country pub to present on denture stabilisation, complete with beer and skittles
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broadcast a few “ladies who lunch” events in a local restaurant and invite some of your best “ladies” to bring a friend, complete with a glass of champers and some strawberries and ice cream
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hire a canal boat for an evening and invite all your 25-35 year old patients to a jazz evening, complete with information on smile design
and, of course:
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rent a room at the local tennis club and hold an Andy Murray celebration party, invite all your best smile design patients from the last 12 months to talk about their experiences over cream tea
In other words – get your brain in gear and do something DIFFERENT!
On The Flight Deck
written by Chris Barrow
I’ve used the “flying” metaphor before in posts and infographics – with “dental” jobs for the pilot, co-pilot, navigator and crew. On a modern flight deck we mortals
see a bewildering array of information that helps the crew take off, stay up in the air, stay on course, respond to change and land safely. Historically, dental practice owners have flown with a minimum of information – the equivalent of a small aircraft with the basic life-saving data. Let’s face it – 80% of dental principals are flying twin-engined Cessna’s and not long-haul cruisers – but times are changing. Enough of metaphors. I posted on Facebook yesterday my enthusiasm during my meeting with Mubbasher Khanzada from Welltime Limited, with whom I am working closely on the strategic development of their business. They currently offer on-line patient appointment systems, automated social media marketing for patients and other exciting innovations. Welltime is a company to watch and I have every expectation that their contribution to dental business profitability will be considerable in the next 5 years. The project we focused on yesterday was a new “business insights dashboard” that is due to launch around The Showcase later t his year.
Let me say first of all that, from the get go, the project has been “open source” at my recommendation – and we are inviting feedback and participation from other trainers, consultants and coaches to dentistry, as well as beginning beta testing with existing dental practices. The final product will carry a small monthly investment by the Principal – but will be available across the profession – the more data we collect, the more benchmarks we can create for the benefit of all. Imagine a pilot’s flight deck (sorry, I’m back there again) with a range of metrics and data that tell you:
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exactly where you are
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exactly where you are heading
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how to get back on course
all presented by a software package that can plug into the bag of your existing practice management software and present the data visually, highlighting areas where you are “off course” in real time.
All the Key Performance Indicators, compared with your budget and with benchmarks for the profession. All the productivity and profitability of individual fee-earners calculated and compared against operating costs per surgery. All the return on investment from individual marketing campaigns identified. All the conversion success of your Treatment Co-ordinators and fee-earners identified. All at the click of a mouse – in real time, anytime. Imagine the extra profit that can be generated by being that much in control of your business! I will be sharing further updates with you as we continue to evolve towards the finished product.
Frankly, its a god-send for a business coach or accountant as well as the savvy owner. Mubbasher demonstrated the latest version to me yesterday and I cannot wait to get it “out there” as a diagnostic device to use with 7connections clients.
04
The Twenty A very good Monday morning and welcome to July 2013! This is one of the most important
articles you will read this year – it has the capacity to accelerate your business growth more than any other decision you will make. I’m announcing from 1st September 2013, the expansion of an elite community of Chris Barrow/7connections clients: “The Twenty”:
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You already own either a established dental practice(s), a dental laboratory or a dental supply company
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You want to grow up to at least £10m in annual sales over the next 7 years (with a minimum target of at least £1.7m net profit per annum before tax)
There will be no more than 20 members of this community – after that the doors are closed. The exciting news is that I already have 10 “Champions League” dental businesses committed and ready to welcome you from 1st September – the objective of this article is to identify the remaining 10 in the next 2 months. (We currently have 9 dental practices and one Supply Company in the community – I am especially looking for one dental laboratory, one other Supply Company and 8 more dental practices) 2013 is my 20th year of coaching dental businesses and I celebrate my 60th birthday on September 9th. 7connections is 4 months old today, 1st July 2013 – and I’ve been taking the time to think carefully about how I want to spend my time in the years ahead.
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I want to focus 80% of my energy on working closely with a very select community of clients to facilitate extraordinary business results, using “what” I know and “who” I know to help them get there. By 2020, I want to be working exclusively with 20 businesses enjoying combined sales of £200m and profits of over £30m per annum – I believe it can be done. I want “The Twenty” to be nationally recognized as some of the best businesses in European dentistry (already, one of “The Twenty” is located in Continental Europe). I want them individually to be hugely attractive as acquisition candidates, so that not only do we take them from “good to great” but also we facilitate an exit route for the owners. I have the full support of the 7connections team in this quest – and they will be supporting me in delivering results to “The Twenty”. We became clients of Chris in late 2007, at a crucial time in our business development. We had just won a National Award, we were on paper doing well, and we hoped we were delivering a very good service to our clients. And yet we knew that there was so much more to learn about running a successful private dental practice. Chris has helped us develop our business thinking in so many ways; our intentions were good, we had strong ideas about the type of practice we wanted to be, but we had no business training and no-one to help us focus our ideas in a meaningful way. Chris has been, and continues to be, an essential part of the team. He is relentlessly honest, thought provoking, and challenging, and we find it difficult to imagine a time when we won’t find his advice invaluable. James Hamill, Blueapple Dental and Implant Team – Belcoo, Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
written by Chris Barrow
Quick outline of how “The Twenty” will work:
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The best managers in the business – your financial, marketing, customer service, clinical and operational managers will achieve recognition as “best of breed” and will free you to do your best work
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The best growth plans in the business – whether you decide to grow organically or by acquisition, we will equip you with all the tools, models, funding connections and support necessary
Results
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The best financial systems in the business, giving you real time access to the key data that will maintain and grow profits The best marketing systems in the business, giving you a steady flow of
new patients/clients and new business
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The best CRM (customer relationship management) systems in the business, ensuring that your patients/clients become ambassadors for your brand
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The best sales management systems in the business, working with your feeearners and sales team to make sure they maintain activity and hit target
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The best treatment co-ordination systems in the business, training and mentoring your TCO team to achieve maximum conversion
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The best operational systems in the business, aimed at zero wastage in the utilization of facilities
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The best purchasing systems in the business, creating a purchasing group that can buy intelligently and competitively
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The best leadership and management systems in the business, empowering your people to realise their full potential
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The best recruitment systems in the business, to rapidly and successfully fill positions in the business as they become available
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The best personal systems in the business – as your personal coach I will use my 43 years work experience to help grow the most effective version of you that you have ever been
My career pathway has been influenced by Chris, for the better. I’m a Yorkshireman through and through- I don’t spend if I don’t see the benefit. Having Chris as our business coach (and Lifecoach at times!) is an absolute honour and a pleasure. Jack Cooke, Ashby Dental, Wetherby Time What is your time commitment to “The Twenty”? Daily
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A commitment from you to becoming an efficient owner and an effective personal time manager (with my help) – 30 minutes
In short – committed at all times to bringing “simply the best” of everything to the table.
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Incidentally, I’ll be choosing the next 10 members very carefully, to make sure that there is no competitive overlap and so that we can pool our strengths.
Real time access for your whole team to the 7connections support team and to our strategic alliance partners
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Access between members (and your managers) to share great ideas and solve problems
Through my career as a dentist, I have met and listened to many people talk about our profession. Many leave you with some interesting thoughts and ideas which you are able to take back to your business but only one is able to engage you and involve you in such a way that you actually MAKE those changes- Chris Barrow. An entertaining speaker- yes; Intuitive about the dental worldYes; a personal coach…..? Above all Chris’s personal approach to coaching us has made the difference. We have travelled an amazing journey over the last 5 years and are about to embark on our next chapter. Through Chris we have spoken and met many like minded Practices who have been a fabulous help in sharing their experiences and vision.
Weekly
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Sharing a weekly positive focus with “The Twenty”, with the 7connections team and with me on wins, losses and lessons learned – corrections to stay on course – 30 minutes
Monthly
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A monthly on-line business progress review with appropriate team members from 7connections, relevant to needs at the time – one hour
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A detailed on-line PPI (personal progress interview) with me as your personal coach to review progress against agreed targets – 30-45 minutes
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A monthly on-line meeting of members to share progress – one hour
Continued > 06
The Twenty Collaboration and Sharing
Quarterly
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Attendance at a Mastermind meeting (working dinner, overnight stay and all the following day) that will be hosted close to one of “The Twenty” and include a tour of their business – to incorporate
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Half-day session on progress reports from members and
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Pooling of knowledge, resources and connections
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A private on-line forum for owners
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A parallel forum for your managers
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Financial metrics to establish benchmarks
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Marketing initiatives and ideas – we trial ideas together
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Systems, Protocols, Brand-Standards for “everything”
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Training for teams by 7connections and guest trainers
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Productivity management of fee-earners
Half-day training on selected business and clinical topics
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Sales management of treatment coordinators and sales team
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Guest speakers on clinical, business and personal innovation
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Clinical skills development and product trials
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A separate full-day Mastermind Group for your managers to train them in new skills and create a support community
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The best deals with suppliers
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Cost savings via effective facilities management
Annually
Who will support you from 7connections?
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Chris Barrow – personal coaching, overall business strategy, sales management, connection with key industry leaders
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Tim Caudrelier – project management, intelligent purchasing, negotiation with suppliers
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Karl Taylor-Knight – training and mentoring of managers, implementation of systems
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Invitation to a 3-day business planning retreat to establish your strategy and tactics for the following year – attendance by members and the whole 7connections team as facilitators Joint attendance at one overseas dental conference to explore market innovation
Ongoing
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On-line access to the 7connections team
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On-line access to “The Twenty” members
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Sonia Rishi – implementation of marketing and sales systems
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On-line access to me
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Access to our strategic alliance partners on all aspects of business ownership, management and growth
07
I’m excited about investing my next 7 years as a business coach creating 20, £10m micro-corporates that can then either be sold by the owners or will generate stable profits. Sue and I have worked with Chris for about two years now. We have used coaches before who have helped us with designing the clinical and the business sides of the business, we felt that it was time to make a change and decided that we were looking for someone who would help us identify the strengths and weaknesses of The Smile Spa and to then take the practice further forwards. In the time that we have worked with Chris he has helped us in so many ways; He seems to have a real feel for what is happening in dentistry today, and that knowledge has enabled us to identify where opportunities for development exist. He asks relevant questions of ourselves and the team, that means we can focus in on what works and what doesn’t. He has helped us recruit dentists and is happy to advise and help with staff recruitment We are aiming this year to grow the practice substantially and despite the country’s financial situation, five months on, we are on target. I know we wouldn’t have been so successful without Chris’s help. Simon Andrews, The Smile Spa, Stockton on Tees – Private Dentistry Practice of the Year 2012
written by Chris Barrow
What will your investment be? My objective is to make membership of “The Twenty” self-financing. That’s right – it will pay for itself. How? By reducing your operating costs and by growing your profits by an amount at least equal to your membership fee. Your investment is £2,000 per month (plus VAT) for all 7connections and Chris Barrow time and results – the only additional expenses we will expect you to cover will be your travel, accommodation and delegate costs when we hold any meetings off-site. All off-site meetings will be held on a “not for profit” basis.
I will interview you personally for membership of this community and if I cannot identify at least £24,000 of clear bottom line savings and growth in the first 12 months (and more beyond) then I will not expect you to join us. I want to invite serious business owners only with ambitious goals to our existing community of 10. Next steps I am allocating time over the next 8 weeks to personally meet with and interview potential members of “The Twenty” – I want to be very selective as to who I coach in the coming years. I’m asking for 90 minutes of your time, no charge and no obligation – face to face. If we “click” as people, if our ideas fit your plans, if our philosophy of business and life is in harmony with yours, if we can agree there
We have worked with Chris for several years building a new management structure for our clinic. This has involved re drawing the ‘typical’ structure of a dental practice and implementing a different vision for our clinic. He has helped us define our roles as Managing Director and Clinical Director and taught us how to grow the perfect management team and support team. Part of this was learning how to create a preferred place of employment that had career opportunities for all of the team and then training them to become empowered individuals and ambassadors of our brand. Chris’ deep understanding of brand, systems, team, leadership and generally knowing “what makes people tick” has been an integral part of this clinic’s success. His unending enthusiasm and encouragement married with an ability to “give it to you straight” makes him the ultimate being in business coaching. A trustworthy, passionate individual who has unrivalled experience in dental business make him a wonderful asset to any business who wishes to improve the all round performance of their clinic. There is no better testament to this than winning awards for Best Patient Care and the prestigious Practice of the Year 2010 at the Private Dentistry Awards. These wonderful achievements are thanks to Chris Barrows vision, direction and support in making Spring Grove Clinic a leader in UK Dentistry. We have no hesitation in recommending Chris to any business owner. David & Dawn Cunningham, Spring Grove Dental, Glasgow – Private Dentistry Practice of the Year 2010
is mutual benefit and if I can demonstrate that membership will be self-financing, if you can work with the other members, if you can become as excited as we are – then we are good to go. If you would like to consider membership of “The Twenty” please email coachbarrow@ me.com
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Meet Dr. Caveman An article about Dr Arthur De Vaney a retired 73 year old statistician living in California (of course!). No one had ever told me about metabolic syndrome disease processes. I bought the book from Amazon. I couldn’t put it down. The wife said “I give you 10 days max !”
Turning the clock back.. meet Dr. Caveman I want to tell you a story. This story is
about me. That may seem a little vain, but I am hoping that this story will inspire some other colleagues. After being a reasonably successful GDP for twenty five years and running a successful private referral practice I was losing sight of a critical factor – my health! I was 48. Weighing in at a portly 189lbs . I’m only 5’8”. I didn’t even know what my body fat percentage was but it had to be over 30%. I had gotten to this point slowly but surely. It took me nearly 15 years to reach this milestone in life. I was so ashamed of what I had become. My wife didn’t have a clue that I had come close to being obese as I “looked” ok. Baggy t-shirts helped. I hid the BMI scale in the practice. I tried the crash diets and sporadic exercise. Sporadic exercise means I would ride my bike a little bit or go for a session on the treadmill at the gym while watching a movie after finishing at the Practice Nothing changed over the years. I grazed on snacks of chocolates/pastries to feed the stress at work. Like many a practice owner in the UK, I was becoming more and more stressed and unhappy. My team started to comment and I became very negative. I was in free fall. Then I came across a concept about eating as we did in pre-historic times. 09
I ate a strict paleo diet for 30 days. I dropped almost 6% bodyfat and lost 12 lbs. I can’t tell you how great I felt. Not just from losing weight, but the foods I ate made me feel good as well. I didn’t have heartburn anymore. I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night, feeling like I was dying because the heartburn was so bad. I could tie my shoes without getting winded. I could play with my teenage kids without getting exhausted. I used to get migraine headaches. Not anymore. I don’t take any medications at all. Ever. I never realized how sick I actually was until I got better. But then I hit a plateau. I stopped losing weight. But I was still losing inches. I was burning fat and putting on muscle. Now I look 10 years younger (according to my kids!) A flat stomach has returned after it went awol 29 years ago ! My stress levels have plummeted and everyone keeps saying I look so well. I usually attribute a lot of my success to exercise. But in truth, 90% of it is attributed to clean eating. I haven’t completely reached my goals yet. But I’m not so concerned about that anymore. I don’t weigh myself anymore. I go off my body fat percentage. Which continues to drop – muscle weighs more than fat ! Paleo has changed my life. It has literally saved my life.. One of my patients who I hadn’t seen for 6 months commented .“ Roy you look 10 years younger. Why?” I was 21lb lighter than the last time they’d seen me. But note they said younger, not just thinner.
Background The diet is simplicity itself: eat well and lay off the booze or at least in moderation . All other dietary schemes struck me as overelaborations or, in many cases, cunning excuses to keep eating. Calories in, calories out was, I thought, the only rational basis on which to lose weight. The body is a bag that gets lighter if you take out more than you put in. This time, however, I had a more sophisticated plan and boy, did it work for me. I adopted the Arthur De Vaney plan because it seemed simple and do able. The first benefit is I never get ill anymore not a cold, nothing. I’m not on any medication. My insulin is unmeasurably low; insulin is the ageing hormone - it tells you to go ahead, reproduce and die. My HDL [good cholesterol] is enormously high, my triglycerides are way down, my blood pressure is perfect and I now have bags of energy Ah, you ‘re thinking, here we go the author of this ‘plan’ was a fitness freak no hinterland, no brain, all biceps; we may be slobs, but were smart. Sorry. Arthur De Vaney studied economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and now, in retirement, he is professor emeritus of economics at the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He has written the most important works on the economics of the movie industry and he worked out the best ways of privatising the electromagnetic spectrum: broadcast frequencies. This isnt just background, it is essential to an understanding of De Vaney’s approach to diet and fitness. It is very rigorous and thoughtful. The first point is that economics happens inside the body as well as outside. His work is all about the dynamics of complex, adaptive systems; he calls himself a complexity scientist. Central to this is the overthrow of old statistical models. Basically, we have all been taught that events human wealth, earthquakes, blockbuster movies cluster
written by Chris Barrow
round an average forming a graph in the shape of a bell curve. This is an illusion and the concept of the average leads to fatal errors. In reality, almost all events of significance follow what are known as power law. This means, to simplify, that what are thought of as rare events are, in fact, more important than any average. We think of bank crises, like the present one, as rare and the rest of the time the banks go on making money. In fact, they dont. Bank crashes are so devastating that they wipe out all the investment profits of the banking system. Look at the average and you dont see this; apply power laws and you do. The average, says Arthur, is always misleading and may not exist. The obsession with the bell curve and the average has corrupted us. We tend to think of stable models not just of the human world but also of the human body. Almost all dietary and fitness regimes are based on a homeostatic view of the body, meaning it is a self-regulating system that maintains itself in a continuous, stable condition. The average is the ideal. So we are told to eat regular meals consisting of a balance of the food groups and to take regular exercise, dominated by steady aerobic activity like cycling or jogging. This is all wrong. Arthur asked himself what was going on here and, basically, decided almost everything we thought we knew about diet and metabolism was wrong. There is a parallel with his work on the economics of movies. Hollywood producers sit around in meeting rooms telling each other stories about why a film succeeds or fails, the stars, the directors, the trailers, anything. Marketing men join them and tell them more tall tales. And everybody feels good about themselves. The stories give them the illusion of control, they reinforce prejudices and biases, and they all like to feel important. But the stories are all false. The reality, as Arthur discovered, is that 5% of movies pay for the other 95%, and success or failure is unpredictable. The movie industry was what Arthur loves best: complex, adaptive, decentralised system. Exactly like the human body.
The trick is to look at what happens in the real world and not listen to stories , tales or medical theories. Similarly false stories are told about diet and metabolism, the big two concerning homeostasis and the diet heavy in hydrates and low in saturated fats. It didnt matter what stories the producers told they went on making money. But, with homeostasis and high-carb/low-fat diets, the stories mattered because they affected the behaviour and health of ordinary people. Bombarded with the fat bad/carbs good (FBCG) advice, they just kept on getting fatter and sicker. But why are carbs such a problem? The very persuasive answer to this is why I went on the diet. Humans evolved over millions of years, probably on the African savannah. We
were, for almost all our existence, huntergatherers . Agriculture and settlement began only 10,000 years ago. Both sides of the dietary debate agree that this meant we were omnivorous hunter-gatherers and that because of our massive brains we have unusual energy requirements. Both sides also agree that settlement and civilisation changed our diet and living conditions radically. We may live longer because we are better protected from predatory beasts and all the other traumas that would have afflicted early man, but we also have new diseases, new miseries. Advocates of FBCG believed that the big dietary change behind our new miseries was increased consumption of animal fats on the basis that, for early man, there were lots of vegetables and fruit lying around, but a good kill would be rare. Recent research, however, suggests that kills could be very large and our ancestors did not, as we do, carve out the best bits; they ate the whole animal. Their fat intake was, in fact, much higher than we thought. The truth is that the big dietary change was not fat but carbohydrate consumption. Agricultural settlement resulted in the cultivation of cereals and root vegetables. Bread, potatoes and rice became the staffs of life. The FBCG people didnt think they were a problem: pound for pound, they contained fewer calories than meat. But what carbohydrates do is stop you burning fat, so the fat you do consume gets laid down in
your arteries and on your stomach. Its not the burger that bloats, its the bun. Furthermore, carbs become sugar in the body. In the case of refined carbs white flour or sugar the effect is instantaneous. Some of these starches, as soon as they hit the saliva in your mouth, become sugars. Pasta is a bowl of sugar, briefly deferred. This produces blood-sugar spikes that stress the pancreas and put millions in a prediabetic condition. They develop metabolic syndrome in which fat accumulates about the midriff and fundamentally alters body chemistry. This, it is thought, may well be either a primary or secondary cause of the diseases of modernity: cancers, heart attacks, strokes and, of course, all the woes that flow from obesity. Arthur is not alone in understanding the lethality of carbs. The whole FBCG ideology is now on the run. One very successful book, The Diet Delusion by Gary Taubes, exposed how threadbare the science behind the ideology actually was. A recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine seemed to show conclusively that a low-carb diet was a better way of losing weight than either a lowfat or a Mediterranean diet. It also showed it reduced bad cholesterol “a clear refutation of most orthodox dietary advice. The Palaeolithic diet, meanwhile, a regime based on the diet of early man, was first advocated in 1975. And, of course, there was the most famous low-carb regime of all: the Atkins diet. Secondly, he puts much more stress on vegetables, fruit and exercise than Atkins, and is convinced that, though carbs are the main problem, massive intakes of saturated fats are, at least, unwise. Thirdly, he is very smart. His reasoning is immaculate and he knows a lot more than your average doctor or nutritionist. Fourth, Evolutionary Fitness is not just a focus on weight. I feel better, not just lighter. And, fifth, as I say, he looks like Supermans fitter granddad.
Continued > 10
Meet Dr. Caveman intensity are keys. Intensity means a little burn in the muscle, not heaving and straining. Brevity means you do not release stress hormones. So, you are favourably altering your hormone profile. I get by on no more than 45 minutes in the gym a week and only when I feel like it. Getting the food right is hard work. Shops only on the outer edges of the supermarket, where they keep the fresh stuff. And cutting carbs completely, as I did, results in a few days of hell , raging hunger and gloom. On the fourth day I woke up so depressed I could barely move. Then I ate a peach and I was fine and stayed fine, more or less, ever since. The trick he is trying to pull off is to find a way of combining the Palaeolithic and the modern lifestyles; to free us from being lab rats. People in the wild like isolated tribes do not get fat and neither do other omnivores and predators. But, of course, they die younger. We cant drop the comforts and protection of modernity. But we can fight its sugary seductions. So how do you live the De Vaney life? We are not made to eat regular meals or take regular exercise, nor are we meant to suffer chronic stress in a dental surgery. Our ancestors ate when they could and kept moving. Most of their life was stress-free, but occasionally they would be subject to acute stress in the form of an attack by a predator. Don’t eat three square meals a day. Skip meals now and then. Work towards an extended overnight period of no eating. This means eat sometime before you sleep and don’t be in a hurry to eat breakfast Do not fear hunger. Nothing but good will come of it, but it must be episodic, not chronic. Everybody over-trains. Dont do it. Dont trudge away on a treadmill, count sets or repetitions, or work out according to a top-down Soviet model. You will hate it and it does not produce results. You must let it happen. You must have a playful, intermittent form of exercise. You must exercise. The benefits are profound but make it fun, intense according to your own fitness and goals, and brief. The goal of an exercise session is to promote growth-hormone release, to build muscle, and to elevate insulin sensitivity. Brevity and
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I’d suffered an enormous drop in blood sugar,
written by Chris Barrow
Fruits Fresh fruits of all sorts are good; I focus on melon and red grapes. Fruit juice is out. I have one or two fruits with most breakfasts; now and then a piece with other meals. Vegetables Eat lots of freshraw, steamed, sauteed or grilled vegetables. I never use frozen, canned or packaged vegetables. Protein Eat plenty of meat, such as ribs, steak, bacon, pork loin, turkey and chicken, but trim fat from the edges. Fish, seafood and eggs are also good choices.
which the peach instantly corrected.
Breakfast
Breakfast is hell at first no cereals or bread but you can have almost everything else. An example of breakfast Four thin pork chops, well trimmed and browned in a bit of oil with rosemary and pieces of fresh apple. Some canteloupe melon with it. Trust me, after a month or so, the spectacle of toast or a bowl of cornflakes will revolt you.
I tend to eat last nights leftovers: turkey with jarlsberg cheese and fruit, bacon with red grapes, omelettes with rosemary, olives and spring onions.
The fundamentals of Arthur De Vany diet: bin the carbs and packaged food, and delight in lean meat and at least two veg meals Cook by colour and texture so that meals look beautiful. If busy, skip meals with little worry. You dont have to have three square meals a day. Snack on nuts or celery. Drink plenty of water. I also drink tea, coffee and a little wine. Carbs Avoid bread, muffins, bagels, pasta, rice, potatoes, cereals, vegetable oils, beans or anything “in a package” empty, high-calorie foods with a high carbohydrate content. Flavour Spice up your food with fresh ingredients such as basil, garlic, parsley, rosemary, spring onions, avocados and nuts, and use various oils, such as olive oil, for flavour. Celery adds texture (and is good for testosterone too).
Lunches Usually salads, with red cabbage, romaine lettuce, spring onions, garlic, kale, broccoli or cauliflower, with salmon, tuna, turkey, chicken, pork or steak. Dinners I sometimes eat a whole rack of ribs with salad and vegetables. Or a large steak, trimmed of fat. Almost always there is a beautiful salad and vegetables. In the end, I am not qualified to say that Arthur De Vaney is right. But I am qualified to say that it works for me 21lb lighter at the time of writing. Carbs, not fats, are modernities most deadly assassins. And, even if they dont kill you, they make you feel worse. I sleep better without them and I seem to have become a nicer person; what with that and the weight loss, my friends or were they enemies(?) barely recognise me. Also and most importantly , I now really enjoy my work again. I have more zest for the challenges that lie ahead in my life.. Thank you Mr De Vaney.
A Milestone For Bridge2Aid Dental charity Bridge2Aid celebrates a milestone as it simultaneously hosts 2 dental volunteer programmes (DVP) in TWO East African countries! Previously only working
in Tanzania, June saw the first ever DVP outside of the country – a pilot programme in Rwanda. It is reported that there are currently only 11 Dentists living and working in Rwanda – equating to approximately 1 Dentist for every 800,000 people. Excitingly, the pilot programme in Rwanda ran alongside a DVP taking place in Dodoma, Tanzania, making the event a real milestone for the charity. 4 healthcare workers participated in the training in Rwanda, whilst 6 healthcare workers successfully completed the dental training in Tanzania. Bridge2Aid Founder, Dr Ian Wilson, and Operations Manager Jo Topley both attended the pilot programme. Commenting on the programme, Ops Manager Jo commented: “We’re just so excited to be hosting a pilot programme in a second country. The team has worked exceptionally hard to make this happen and we hope it leads to many more in the future.” In the next 3 years, Bridge2Aid aims to train another 366 healthcare workers in East Africa which will ultimately provide over three and a half million people with safe access to emergency dental care, where otherwise there is none.
The charity is currently recruiting dental professionals to volunteer two weeks of their time during 2014 in East Africa, treating patients whilst training healthcare workers. For more information about taking part in DVP please contact Bridge2Aid’s Visits Team via email: visits@bridge2aid.org or by telephone: 0845 8509877 Editor’s notes Dental charity Bridge2Aid provide emergency dentistry to those who need it most and make a lasting change through training. Founded in Tanzania, Africa, and now working in other East African countries, Bridge2Aid’s Dental Volunteer Programme allows dental professionals to pass on their skills to local healthcare workers in East Arica’s rural communities, providing safe and sustainable access to dental pain relief where otherwise there is none. Bridge2Aid has trained over 250 local healthcare workers, providing access to safe emergency dental care to over 2.5million people in East Africa’s rural communities. More information at www. bridge2aid.org | Tweet @Bridge2aid | Facebook.com/Bridge2Aid
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UGANDA
For every £500 raised, 2500 people in East Africa’s rural communities will be provided with ongoing access to dental pain relief
75%
of the world’s population has no access to a dentist
Kampala
Is your practice ready for the
Vic-Tri Challenge? 1 team • 4828km • 4 months
Jinja
UGANDA
KENYA
LAKE VICTORIA
Ruma National Park
KENYA
LAKE VICTORIA
Bukoba Musoma
Rubondo Island National Park
TANZANIA
Mwanza
TANZANIA
Are you ready for the Challenge?
Ask patients, clients and colleagues to sponsor your team!
This summer you can help us make a real difference to the lives of thousands of people living in dental pain with our all new challenge app! Your team is challenged to run, walk, cycle or swim 4828km around a virtual Lake Victoria, crossing the boundaries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania using the app to track your miles as you exercise. Challenge other teams and with the help of our live app map, track teams’ real-time positioning around the lake!
AFRICA
Register your team and download fundraising resources here or visit www.victrichallenge.co.uk
For details please contact our Fundraising Coordinator: fundraising@bridge2aid.org | 0845 8509877 | www.victrichallenge.co.uk @Bridge2Aid
facebook.com/bridge2aid www.bridge2aid.org
Bridge2Aid is a UK registered charity No. 1092481