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Carbohydrates…Are Carbohydrates Bad?

Posted by: Ed Scow, aka 'The Fit Dad' | Comments

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Carbohydrates – the most loved, yet reviled form of calories known to man…

…Sound a bit harsh?

After all, what have carbs done to you? Have they attacked your family? Have they stormed into your house, rifled through your junk drawer only to have stolen your long, lost stapler?

Are Carbohydrates bad? Are they really the devil?

is this on the same level as Satan himself?

Simply put, we eat way too many carbohydrates.

Why?

Because they’re so dad-gum tasty and they make great “comfort foods” (and food manufactures love to use added carbohydrates because they’re very cheap which makes for huge profit margins, while your waist line and quality of life go down the tubes).

That may be all fine and dandy, but consuming too many of the little devils gives you all that extra jiggly stuff sitting on your tummy, tush and triceps (back of your arms…I needed a third “t”).

So what are you supposed to do?

Go on a low carb diet?

You can, but you’d have to suffer the consequences of low energy, mood swings and being an all-around pain in the butt to everyone you come in contact with.

I’ve had lots of clients follow low carb diets and I would have locked the door before they could come in the studio, but I was too afraid they’d transform into the Incredible Hulk and tear me limb from limb because their mood changed with the wind!

On a serious note, low carb diets, for an extended period of time can really tweak your energy and give you some nasty mood swings.

Those carbs you simply removed from your diet (without increasing your vegetable intake) are necessary to keep your body and brain functioning.

Do you lose weight while following low carb diets? Absolutely…but they have drawbacks.

That’s why, for the past several months I’ve had an idea swirling around in my noggin.

You see about a year ago, I created an assignment for my boot campers involving Carb Rotation. It only lasted a week, and was simply an experiment, but that concept has always been swirling around in the giant wading pool that is my brain.

I wanted to expand it.

I wanted to make it into its own “thing.”

I wanted to create something incredibly simple to follow that would give all the benefits of following a low carb diet, minus the negatives.

I think I’ve finally done it and I want to share it with you.

I call this program “The Wave” and it’s a 30-day nutrition program revolving around Carb Rotation. All that means is that you rotate between days of low carb, medium carb and high carb to lose weight…lots of weight.

The program is brand spanking new (and all clients got it for free…) and I want to share it with you at a hugely discounted price.

I want to give it to you for the super-low price of $19 if you give my “Fit Parent Force Monthly” inner circle club a try.

~~Click here to grab your copy of “The Wave” at the promotional 50% off rate and get all the Fit Parent Force has to offer!~~

Why so low?

Because it’s brand new and I want to get as many people doing it as possible so that I can get results, and receive feedback for future revisions.

In short, I want your help.

I want you to give “The Wave” a try, lose fat, and give me feedback so I can make the program the best it can possibly be.

~~Click here to grab your copy of “The Wave” at the promotional 50% off rate and get all the Fit Parent Force has to offer!~~

Sorry, but the promotion for “The Wave” Carb Rotation is over, but you can still get in on the action with membership in The Fit Parent Force!

Talk to you soon!

P.S. – This special discounted rate will only last for the next couple days, then the program will be yanked and put into the vault, so if you want to give it a try and see just how far “The Wave” can go in helping you achieve your summer figure BEFORE summer actually arrives, click here

P.P.S. – As a “bonus” you also receive all the past issues and workouts of the The Fit Parent Force, including last month’s wildly popular “Challenge” workout series…just thought I’d throw that in there because I love ya so dang much!

Like I said, the promotion for The Wave is over, but you can still get in on the action with membership to The Fit Parent Force. Click here to join the fun and learn more, and get much, much more information and workouts (and videos) than just answering the question “Are carbohydrates bad?”

Categories : Fat Fighting Foods, Fat Loss for Men, fat loss for women, fat loss nutrition

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How To Get Your Kids To Eat Healthy Snacks

Posted by: Ed Scow, aka 'The Fit Dad' | Comments

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Howdy!

What’s goin’ down?

Life is rockin’ and rollin’ here in the fantastic Midwest! Spring is in the air, which is my favorite time of year. We’re out of the cold and snow and muck and junk and into the sweet, sweet goodness.

Nolan is doing awesome. Growing like a new baby should. Maren is also doing awesome, although there’s always a bit of adjustment for a 4-year old when a new baby comes around.

One thing that’s always tough for parents with little kids is knowing what to eat for snacks – not only for them, but also for their kids.

It’s very easy to load up on “kid snacks” at the grocery store, but most of them aren’t good, even though the label may make it sound healthy. They’re loaded with poor quality added nutrients, some type of sugar and tons of artificial colors and sweeteners.

Not only is it bad for the kids, but us parents tend to eat them because they taste so darn good.

Categories : Fat Fighting Foods, fat loss nutrition, stress

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Essential Fatty Acids Myths, Dangers and BEST Sources

Posted by: Ed Scow, aka 'The Fit Dad' | Comments

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Hey!

What’s going down in your world?

Things are awesome around here. Spring’s coming, Andrea and the kids are awesome, which means I’m awesome.

How about a little nutrition juiciness today?

More specifically, let’s talk Essential Fatty Acids, their myths, dangers and BEST sources…

I’m sure you know by now the importance of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) in your diet.

They have a whole host of benefits ranging from help in weight loss, brain function, skin, hair and nail health as well as the development of babies (both unborn and newborns via breast milk or some formulas).

I’m sure you also know that you can get EFAs from different sources – fatty fish like salmon, ground flax seed or flax oil, free range eggs and beef are just a few sources. essential fatty acids omega-3 fatty acids

But do you know some of the myths and safety concerns associated with essential fatty acids, more commonly referred to as Omega-3 fatty acids?

One thing I’m quick to point out to my clients who ask which brand they should take, is you should do your research – both via the web as well as really scouring the label for the truth.

When I go through drug stores or big box stores like Target, I like to head for their supplement aisle to see what they have. Most of these stores have the same brands and it seems as though half the aisles are taken up by EFA’s, Omega-3 only, ALA, “fish oil”, etc. and many of them have deceptive claims on the front of the bottle.

Some have labels where it says “Fish Oil” in giant letters, which leads you to believe that it’s chock full of the good stuff…the essential fatty acids you’re looking for.

Below the giant letters it may say “3000 mg”, which is equal to 3 g, which is what’s recommended in some circles.

Fine and dandy, you say and pick up the bottle because the price is right and you feel good about yourself.

What you didn’t notice was that while each serving does in fact contain 3g of “fish oil” the actual amount of EFA is much, much lower – more around 750 mg.

What’s the rest? Fat.

So there’s one pointer – make sure you NEVER trust the front of the bottle of Essential Fatty Acids and Omega-3 Fatty Acids…

always turn it over and read the breakdown.

What you may also have never thought of is the soruce of the fish being used for the Omega-3 fatty acids. almonds are a good source of essential fatty acids

I’m a big believer that you should consume fatty fish on a regular basis (salmon, etc.) but there’s a HUGE difference between wild salmon and farm rasied salmon. One of the big differences being the little fishies’ diet. The farm raised fishies get fed like farm raised cattle which includes a lot of stuff they aren’t going to eat in the wild.

They feed them differently to get them to mature and fatten up quicker, which means less turn-around time and more profit.

What’s the big deal you ask?

Their fat content is different, which means you won’t get as much of the good stuff because it just isn’t there.

There are also safety concerns in eating too much of the fish.

I recommend a mixture of sources to make sure you have a balanced means of getting your EFAs.
I supplement with Prograde’s EFA Icon, which comes from a little shrimp-like creature called Krill.
I also throw a couple servings of ground flax seed in my smoothies every morning and try to get a serving or two of quality cold-water fish (salmon, halibut) on a weekly basis.
I also make sure I eat enough green veggies, which also have EFAs. Broccoli, spinach and cauliflower (while not green) are all great sources.
And of course there’s the nuts – walnuts and almonds, which are both awesome sources…just make sure they’re plain and not perverted with toppings.

Another quick tip is that I consume more EFA’s in the winter than the rest of the year. It’s wicked dry in Nebraska in the winter and consuming more Essential Fatty Acids keeps my skin and hair healthy. Nobody likes dry skin and hair! I just boost it about 1-2 grams per day.

Like I said, I don’t recommend you relying on any one source for your Essential Fatty Acids and I definitely recommend paying attention to the source.

If you’re going to get it from fish – make sure you pay attention to how the fish was raised and where it came from.

If you’re going to get it from flax – make sure you grind it up or get it from oil.

If you’re going to supplement (which I recommend) – make sure it’s from a reputable company and what’s in the bottle is the best and comes from a good source.

I use and recommend Prograde EFA Icon. Good company. Good source and good for you.

To learn more about Prograde EFA Icon, click here: Prograde EFA Icon

I hope you learned a bit more about the importance and safety concerns with essential fatty acids and Omega-3 fatty acids. There’s a lot to tell and I only scratched the surface here. I’m actually going to write an in-depth article on fatty acids so be on the lookout for that.

Talk to you soon and have an awesome day!

P.S. – Here’s the link for one of the BEST Essential Fatty Acids supplements – EFA Icon: Prograde EFA Icon

Categories : Fat Fighting Foods, Fat Loss for Men, fat loss for women, fat loss nutrition

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Need Some Fat-Blasting Healthy Recipes?

Posted by: Ed Scow, aka 'The Fit Dad' | Comments

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Hey!

How’s life in your neck of the woods?

Things are awesome here.

Nolan is just a hair over 2 weeks old and he’s doing what babies do – eat, sleep and poop! It’s a ton of fun having a baby in the house again, yet I forgot how much of a shake up your routine takes. Yowsa!

The great thing is he’s growing and he’s such a great little guy. Very chilled out…now let’s just hope he stays that way!

Anyway, my real reason for emailing today, besides bragging about the coolest little dude you’ve ever seen, is to share a couple healthy recipes with you that are just plain fantabulous and will help you lose weight.

Love ‘em, love ‘em, love ‘em!

One is a little twist on a granola recipe that you’ll love and the other is for dark chocolate muffins.

Those just sound awesome don’t they?

Both of these recipes come from my buddies over at Prograde Nutrition.

Here are the Fat-Blasting Healthy Recipes

First up we have the Vanilla Granola recipe.

Mix in a bowl:

• 1 -1/2 c. Old-Fashioned Oats

• 1/4 c. Pumpkin-100% pumpkin; used canned (not the pie blend) or, to get your own, take a two-pound pumpkin (seeded, halved, roasted until soft) and puree in a blender or food processor till smooth

• 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice mix (if you don’t have that, you can use just straight up cinnamon)

• 1 tbsp. vanilla protein powder? healthy recipes to lose weight

• 1/4 c. agave nectar (or maple syrup, or honey)

• Raisins, unsweetened cranberries, dried fruit (apples, berries) nuts, whatever you want, up to 1/4 c. per ingredient

Toss everything together very well in a bowl. Spread on a cookie sheet, and bake at 325 for about 15 minutes. Toss once with a spatula during cooking, and when dried out (careful not to burn), you’re done!

Nutrition Breakdown: Estimate based on using just cranberries as the fruit and 1/2 cup per serving
Calories: 259 ?Protein: 7 gms? Carbohydrates: 51 gms? Fat: 3 gms

I LOVE granola. There are days when I grab some all-natural vanilla yogurt and some homemade granola and eat it for lunch along with some blueberries or raspberries mixed in and it is phenemonal. It keeps my appetite in check, is loaded with protein and is an awesome source of “good” carbs.

You could also have it as breakfast cereal by adding some organic milk or almond milk.

The next on the list of healthy recipes is Dark Chocolate Muffin recipe.

Preheat your oven to 350, then mix:

• 2 eggs

• 1 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk

• 1 c. shredded zucchini (peeled before shredding)? healthy recipes in your diet

• 1 tsp. vanilla? • 3 tbsp. agave syrup

Whisk well then add:

• 1/2 c. Quinoa (uncooked, dry; preferably red)

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 1/2 c. gluten free pancake mix

• 1 tsp cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 scoops chocolate protein powder
Blend till smooth. If desired, add 1/2-3/4 Cup dark chocolate chips or chunks.

Note: Your batter will be very wet. Pour the batter into muffin tins; bake ’till they spring when you touch them, about 15-20 minutes.

Let them rest on a counter for 10-15 minutes to cool. The quinoa becomes nutty and delicious within the muffins. These are best served cooled.

Makes 1 dozen.

Each muffin is roughly 85 calories with 4 grams protein, 13 grams carbs and 2 grams fat.

The protein powder I use in both of these recipes comes from Prograde. I am biased, but I think their protein is the best and I trust those guys immensely.

There are people in the supplement industry who say that “protein is protein” but I don’t believe that to be true. Unfortunately, the supplement industry is still like the wild west with companies lying about what’s in the bottle or using poor-quality fillers to make the bucket bigger or even using poor quality carbohydrate sources for their post-workout products

Prograde isn’t that way.

I know them and I trust them and if you buy protein powder, I think you should give them a shot at your business.

I usually buy chocolate as I’m a bit of a chocolate fiend, and their chocolate protein powder is awesome.

To try their protein powder out, head to: http://elswellness.getprograde.com/protein-powder.html

That’s all I have for you today!

I hope you have an awesome day!

P.S. – If you’re not ready to try Prograde’s protein powder yet, you should definitely grab a copy of their recipe book. It’s only $4.95 and is LOADED with healthy, fat fighting healthy recipes (197 to be exact) and is a good introduction to the company. We use that recipe book quite often and it is awesome.

To grab your copy for only $4.95, head to: http://elswellness.getprograde.com/prograderecipebook.html

Categories : Fat Fighting Foods, Fat Loss for Men, fat loss for women, fat loss nutrition

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More Baby Pictures and A Diet Tip…quite the weird combo

Posted by: Ed Scow, aka 'The Fit Dad' | Comments

Friday, February 25th, 2011

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Hey!

Okay, I’m keeping this puppy short.

Why?

Because yesterday was the day we headed home from the hospital with Nolan! Yep, we finally got to head home and the next couple days are going to be a bit busy (along with all the new hospital bills!)…and I’m sure “busy” is an understatement!

Again, I’m overwhelmed by the amount of feedback and congratulations I’m getting from everyone. It’s always an awesome feeling to get words of encouragement from awesome folks like you.

I wanted to share a very quick diet tip with you today.

What kind of diet tip?

Nothing fancy.

It’s actually something I went over in the December issue of The Fit Parent Force Monthly and its’ about the importance of adding something called Probiotics to your diet.

I dove into the world of Probiotics – what are they, why they’re important and how to get them – in the December issue and the people who took my suggestions and started adding them have really noticed positive changes in the way they feel and even weight loss.

Again, this is a very abbreviated version of that article – it was approximately 15 pages or so… Read More→

Categories : Fat Fighting Foods, Fat Loss for Men, fat loss for women

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Baby Pictures, Circuit Workouts and Smoothie Recipes!

Posted by: Ed Scow, aka 'The Fit Dad' | Comments

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

Nolan and the Proud Papa

Well, our first couple of days with Nolan has been pretty awesome. Nolan is pretty awesome and the amount of emails, texts and phone calls we’ve received from folks congratulating us and telling us how cute he is are greatly appreciated.

I always love hearing from you and the fact that you take the time out of your day to send me a congratulatory email is awesome. I am flattered, humbled and couldn’t feel more loved and I hope you know that that love gets sent right back to you from me.

I know yesterday’s email was a long one, but I had a LOT of stuff to get out because the launch of Fit Parent Force Monthly is full of good stuff.

There’s so much value and incredible information being thrown in (with more each month) that it warranted the longer than usual post.

So today, I thought that rather than telling you all the benefits and value involved with the Fit Parent Force Monthly, I’d actually share a couple pieces to it.

The thing that most are excited about is the Workout Of The Month where I design a new workout for you each and every month, film follow-along videos and allow you to download the high quality videos to your computer if you choose.

Like I said yesterday, this month’s WOM is called The Puzzle and it’s all based on quick circuit workouts. Read More→

Categories : Fat Fighting Foods, Fat Loss for Men, fat loss for women

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The Twinkie Diet Is As Stupid As It Sounds

Posted by: Ed Scow, aka 'The Fit Dad' | Comments

Monday, January 31st, 2011

(Side Note…yes I know the Twinkie Diet rage is old news. It took me forever to post because I was waiting to hear if a publication was going to use it…and they did not. Jerks.)

Sometimes smart people do stupid things.

I, for one, have done MANY stupid things, but I guess no one has ever accused me of being very smart so I guess I don’t fit that line of thinking.

However, I recently read about a human nutrition professor way down south at Kansas State University (as in like 3 hours from my studio) that really fits the “smart people doing stupid things” category.

What is The Twinkie Diet?

Not appropriate diet food...no matter what the Stupid Smart Man says.

In case you haven’t heard, Professor Mark Haub, performed a little experiment on himself where for 10 weeks he ate some type of snack cake (Twinkies, Nutty bars, powdered donuts, Ho-Ho’s) every 3 hours to prove that when it comes to weight loss WHAT you eat doesn’t matter – it’s how much that takes the cake (my pun) and it has been dubbed “The Twinkie Diet.”

His total calorie consumption went from 2,600 per day to 1,800 per day on his “convenience store” diet.

You know what?

He was right!

Wow there’s a shocker! I could’ve told him that before undergoing this silly experiment. If all you care about is how much you eat in your effort to lose weight, then it doesn’t matter what you eat. Just ask an anorexic to prove that point.

I understand where he was coming from. He wanted to prove a point, albeit a stupid point.

In a world where far too many people are overweight or obese, telling them what they eat doesn’t matter is stupid.

In a world where diabetes is skyrocketing, telling people what they eat doesn’t matter is reckless.

In a world where cancer is ravaging people’s lives, giving any thought to the notion that what you eat doesn’t matter is just plain silly.

In his defense, his BMI and body fat percentage decreased, his cholesterol and triglycerides were improved.

That’s not a shocker either as that’s normally what happens when you lose weight – although I’d be curious to see the numbers after say 26 weeks rather than just 10.

Also in his defense, he ate a serving of vegetables, took a multi-vitamin and had a protein shake per day because, ya know, protein shakes are pretty magical.

Regardless of his results or his rationale, doing a “scientific” experiment and dubbing it The Twinkie Diet is a reckless position to take and completely misses the point all of us in the fitness/diet industry are trying to make – the legit ones at least.

As a society we are too focused on “weight loss” in general and don’t put enough focus on real food. Real food matters more than this experiment lets on. Real food should not be poo-poo’d because it spoils before you eat it or because it costs more than a box of Mac ‘n Cheese. Instead of worrying about it spoiling, how about eating it, or buying less at a time, or buying frozen?

As a society we already eat too much of processed junk the good doctor ate in his “diet” and we’re paying a high price for it in any number of different areas. That cannot be argued regardless of what this 10-week (which is a very small time frame) experiment showed.

There’s not a week that goes by where I don’t have to tell someone that eating fruit will not make them fat, and this guy had on his Facebook page that he was disappointed he couldn’t eat Frosted Flakes as dinner so he had a Kit Kat instead.

the twinkie diet is stupid and so is Kansas State

Nothing I could say would make this picture any better

Stupid smart guy.

Yes, how much you eat is more important than what you eat if weight loss is the goal, but that’s short sighted because what you eat has a great deal of importance in your health, energy levels, immunity and whether you can run a block without getting winded because all you eat are Twinkies.

What you eat is important.

What you don’t eat is important and as a society we need to eat less of that junk. It’s okay to have it on occasion, and no one is disputing that.

So please take Mr. Haub’s silly little experiment with a grain of salt, although not too much salt because the city of New York may fine you.

Have an awesome day!

P.S. – I think it’s also fair to note that as a die hard Husker fan, anything K-State does, even if it’s remotely stupid, is pounced on because any die hard Husker fan hates K-State. You have to. My neighbor is a K-State fan and I don’t talk to him for 3 months out of the year. He tries to wave and I flip him the bird and yell “Wildcats suck!” Okay, so that doesn’t really happen because he’s a nice fella. But you get my point. Oh and the Twinkie Diet is stupid on so many different levels…okay, rant over.

Categories : Fat Fighting Foods, Fat Loss for Men, fat loss for women, fat loss nutrition

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Good Nutrition Habits To Implement NOW!

Posted by: Ed Scow, aka 'The Fit Dad' | Comments

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Yo Yo Yo!

Fa good nutrition habits to lose weight b Five Eddie back again for another hot one.

Sorry. I don’t know if you ever watched the show Yo! MTV Raps! back in the early 90’s, but I was channeling my younger hip-hop loving self. There was a guy on the show who went by the name Fab Five Freddy and my name is Ed…so I went with it.

Sorry. Sometimes I’m an idiot.

Anyway, today I have a quickie nutrition tip for you.

It doesn’t really have to do with a magical food that helps you burn 50,000 fat calories in one sitting – though that would be pretty cool.

Nor does it have anything to do with any magical meal timing secret that will put your body into full blown fat burning AND muscle building mode at the same time so you can simultaneously, and instantly, lose 10 pounds of flubber and gain 10 pounds of solid muscle.

All of nutrition is habit, as is pretty much every aspect of our lives. We live by habits – some good and some bad.

Hopefully you have more good than bad. One of my bad habits is…you know what? I don’t have one bad habit. I’m full of goodness. I’m also full of something else as I’m sure I will hear pretty often for saying I have no bad habits.

Feel free to tell me so!

Back to the habits.

Like I said, all of nutrition is habit and to achieve your desired weight loss results, you have to have more good nutrition habits than bad diet habits.

Simple enough concept, right?

Simple ain’t always easy.

Here’s a quick good nutrition habit I use and you are more than welcome to steal and use for yourself.

I make sure that I get at least 1 serving of broccoli with lunch AND dinner.

Simple enough, right? It’s incredibly simple and incredibly easy to implement. eating broccoli is a good nutrition habit

You don’t have to use broccoli, although I can’t recommend it highly enough. Broccoli is a true power food and we need more of it. You can throw in whatever your vegetable of choice is – spinach, cauliflower, etc. or even a high protein food that’s lower in calories and high in nutrition.

But that’s a habit I am developing. Sure some days I don’t get it in with both lunch and dinner, but most days I do and pretty soon it will be shoved so far down into my brain that I’ll get those feelings of guilt if I skip out on it – just like the feelings of guilt I get if I skip my morning smoothie (which is another of my diet habits).

Another one of my good nutrition habits – which hasn’t been used as often lately – is my old standby of eating pineapple chunks in the evening to curb my craving for sweets.

The plan is that if I get a craving for something sweet, which I normally do after we put Maren to bed, I must eat some chunks of pineapple and then wait a couple minutes, before I even think about reaching for something sweet and junkie.

Does it work all the time? No. Does it work most of the time? Yep and even on the times it doesn’t work, the amount of junkiness I grab is much, much smaller than I would have had I not had the pineapple.

There you have it. Two incredibly easy to implement good nutrition habits for your healthy lifestyle.

Remember what I said – ALL of nutrition is habit. If you constantly work on developing new and good habits, the bad ones won’t have a place in your life anymore.

If the good habits flourish, the weight will literally fall off and you will be amazed how quickly it happens.

So…what habits can you come up with RIGHT NOW and start implementing today?

Remember that habits are not made, nor broken, immediately. They take time. So if you decide to create a new habit and then forget for a couple days, don’t freak out. Just start up again and vow to do better. Before too long it will become second nature and you will have created a new and healthy nutrition habit and within a matter of a few weeks you’ll have more good nutrition habits than bad and the fat will drop off your stomach!

Talk to you soon!