How To Eat Healthy As A VC

It’s not easy staying healthy as a VC. But you can do it if you try. Here’s how.

Just last week I had breakfast twice at Buck’s, once at Cafe Barrone and twice at the Sundeck. Café Barrone was at 7:30 one morning followed by the Sundeck at 8:30. Why only have three lunches when I can have two breakfasts as well?

One thing I’ve learned eating all these meals is not to order off the menu. You got that right – peruse the menu and then order what you want. That scrambled egg plate with four pieces of toast, a slice of ham, and bacon may sound appealing on paper.

But eat five of those in a week and you’ll be looking for a new wardrobe. No thanks – just scrambled egg whites, a cup of fresh fruit, some unbuttered toast, and a large glass of water, please. That keeps me going till— you guessed — my 12pm lunch.

Lunch is a tough one. Order the half plate, order a salad, don’t eat the bread, and drink a whole lot of water. Stick to that plan and you can get through lunch (even two or three of them).

Before becoming an investor, I rarely if ever ate dessert at lunch. But the reality is, if a conversation is going really well, it may be good to eat dessert because it gives you time to wrap things up. The fresh baked cookie and vanilla ice cream sound great, but it’ll add a belt size faster than you can ask whether Microsoft is going to acquire Yahoo. Instead, ask for a bowl of fresh fruit or a single scoop of sorbet. It’s still calories, but a lot fewer of them.

Dinner is the real danger in the VC diet plan because a good dinner can last an hour and a half or three. A Monday night dinner, for example, after starting with a 7:30 breakfast and a partner meeting stretching into the late afternoon can really put me over the edge.

The real enemy is dehydration. That’s why a good sized plate of fresh fruit or a banana, and a whole lot of water mid way through the afternoon can go a long way toward making sure I don’t over-indulge at dinner.

Do I ever over-indulge?

As Monty Python said… Oh no, no, no … yes! But only occasionally. I can’t fund every deal I see no matter how appealing it looks, and I can’t eat every meal I’m presented with no matter how good it might taste.

But there was this one time up in the city when…

A couple of weeks ago, for example, I hosted a dinner up in the city with a group of Stanford CS graduates. What a wonderful way to indulge for a night “and I don’t mean in the food” I mean in the topics of conversation. From discussing the latest hot deals, to sharing past startup stories, to talking technical details, it was a blast. I brought with me an angel investor who is in several deals with us. For him it was a great way to meet a number of entrepreneurs all at once, the entrepreneurs were able to meet him, and everyone had a fun time.

Exercise is also important, but the fact remains that you are what you eat. I’d love to write more on the subject, but I’ve got to run.

Dinner is waiting.