Cupcakes with green frosting are NOT healthy snacks

If you’ve gone through raising a child, you know how difficult it is to get your kids to eat healthy snacks – it’s about as difficult as me getting you to eat healthy snacks.

They want the “sweet treats” as Maren calls them.  Or they want the Scoobie Snacks, or other cracker-esque snacks found at the grocery store (which is a good reason to keep the kids at home come shopping time, that way you don’t have to hear “I need that!”).

We try to keep Maren’s snacks as healthy as possible, and usually find that if we eat the same thing she does, she’s much more likely to eat healthy snacks – and to be quite honest, kids have fewer hang-ups about eating fruits than we think.  We come pre-programmed to enjoy real foods and we screw that up as we age.

Anyway, here’s a quick list of some of my favorite weight loss snack foods both for home and “on the go”.  They’re easy, nutritious and will help you lose fat and keep it off.

At home:

1.  Broccoli and hummus – This is actually a snack I was just eating with Maren at her tea party table.  Broccoli is one of the BEST foods you can eat, whether it’s a snack or an side-dish for lunch or dinner.  It’s loaded with fiber, “good” carbohydrates and vitamins and minerals.  You absolutely have to add broccoli to your daily diet if you want to lose weight and be healthy.

The hummus is loaded with healthy fats, protein and fiber, not to mention being loaded with vitamins and minerals.  It is a very powerful food and makes a great vegetable dip so the next time you’re thinking of adding ranch dressing to your veggie tray give hummus a try.

2.  Apple slices and natural peanut butter – The key to this one is the Natural Peanut Butter.  The kind of peanut butter you’re probably used to is

I guess there's a couple advantages to eating horribly...built in cupholders being one

loaded with sugar and has the healthy fats removed.  Natural peanut butter is a rich source of protein, healthy fats and vitamins and minerals – but be careful because it still packs a calorie punch…don’t go crazy with the dipping.

3.  Homemade granola (or a good store bought kind) and strawberries – I have told you countless times that I’m not a chef, so I won’t give you a granola recipe (Google is great for that), but Andrea has made it in the past and it’s quite tasty.

As a side note, if you’re looking for a healthy alternative to store-bought breakfast cereals, try a homemade granola recipe and mix it with some fruit slices and yogurt – it tastes awesome and is a great way to start your day.

If you find yourself constantly on the go and need to have a snack that’s a little more convenient, here are a few great snacks to have while at the office or in the car:

1.  Almonds and a Pear – Pears are pretty similar to apples in their vitamin content and they’re loaded with fiber – just like my favorite fruit (apple) and you should know by now the pedestal I put almonds on for a killer on-the-go snack (I eat them daily).

2.  Organic string cheese and carrots – Just like the natural peanut butter, the key here is organic cheese, or at the very least skim (no fat).

You probably know that carrots are loaded with Vitamin A, but they’ve also got lots of other vitamins plus they’re low in calories and have a decent amount of fiber.

3.  Low-fat, no sugar added Yogurt (although not so great in the car) and red grapes – Yogurt is a great on-the-go snack because it’s easy to transport, high in protein, low in sugar (if you get the no sugar added variety) and adding the red grapes gets you lots of vitamins and cancer-fighting phytonutrients (plus you can get rid of your excuse to have that daily bottle of vino…)

4.  Cashews and Green tea – Most people overlook the good ol’ cashew when it comes to adding healthy nuts to their snack list, but they’re a great nut.  I love cashews.  They’re high in healthy fats, protein and magnesium (which is important for bone health).  They don’t have as much fiber as almonds, but they’ve still got some, which is better than most snack foods.

If you’re afraid of eating cashews, or other nuts, because of their calorie punch (190 calories per ¼ cup), you should know that a recent study published in the journal Obesity showed that people who ate nuts at least twice a week were much less likely to gain weight than those who almost never ate nuts.

There you go.  There’s a great list of healthy, fat fighting snacks that are easy to make (if they take any preparation at all) and easy to take with you.

As usual, if you have any questions, comments or want to add your own healthy snack leave it in the comments below.

Have a great day!

Ed

If there’s one thing that really ticks me off it’s diet scams, supplement scams, or any other health/fitness scam.  They prey on your desires for weight loss or a quick and easy fix and laugh their way to the bank.

Like scams? You'll love this one.

The internet and TV infomercials are flooded with the things and they rake in billions every year.

I’ve been hearing more and more about a diet scam (HCG Diet) being sold by doctors that I thought went away long ago because it’s been shown – by the FTC no less – to be a scam and consumers have been warned about it for years.

In case you’ve never heard of it, here’s the rundown on the HCG diet.

Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG) is a hormone that’s only found in the urine of pregnant women.  Read that again – a hormone found in the URINE of pregnant women.

Around 50 years ago a British doctor came up with the idea that HCG injections would allow dieters to get by on a 500-calorie a day diet.

Yes, you read that right…500 calories a day.

He claimed that the HCG would rid your body of unwanted fat, suppress your appetite and move the fat around your body, thus getting it away from your hips, stomach and thighs.

Let’s look at this from a monetary standpoint from the doctor’s point of view.  If someone wants to go on this diet, they have to see a physician because it’s injected and the government doesn’t allow Biff The Muscleman down at GNC to give injections (thank God).

Not only that, but they have to come in regularly – monthly or weekly – to get their injections and, more often than not, there are meetings, either private or group, for the social support of going on this ridiculous diet.

Cha-ching!!! Very smart from a business standpoint, especially given that there are no insurance papers to fill out, not having to worry if Medicare or Medicaid will reimburse, etc. because it’s all a cash business.

The only problem is that this diet has no basis in reality.  I take that back…losing weight on a 500-calorie a day diet is very real.

If you only consume 500 calories a day it is impossible for you NOT to lose weight – you’ll lose so much weight that you’ll look skeletal, lose muscle mass, be tired all the time, mess up your hormones, mess up your menstrual cycle (or stop it completely), get a little dumber (the brain runs off carbohydrates and needs a lot of ‘em to function) and just be a pain in the a$$ to everyone around you.

Back in 1976 (yes, 1976), the FTC ordered a bunch of medical clinics to stop claiming their HCG programs were safe and/or effective.

They could still sell it and inject folks, but they had to give their patients the following statement:

“These weight reduction treatments include the injection of HCG, a drug which has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as safe and effective in the treatment of obesity or weight control.  There is no substantial evidence that HCG increases weight loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction, that it causes a more attractive or “normal” distribution of fat, or that it decreases the hunger and discomfort associated with calorie restrictive diets.”

She must've been on the HCG Diet

To boil that down to “normal people speak”, that said these docs are giving you a compound that has no basis in reality and is not proven to do a damn thing for you in the arena of weight loss and will not help you lose weight in any form other than via the whacked out super-restrictive 500 calorie diet they put you on.

Luckily the use of HCG-based diets is not widespread here in Lincoln, but there are a couple docs advertising it.

So to sum up…

HCG-based diets are ridiculous.  They’re not based in reality and the only reason anyone loses weight with one is that they stick you on a 500-calorie a day diet – but ANYONE who consumes that amount of calories WILL lose weight.  It’s impossible not to.

It’s silly and it’s dangerous and these doctors should be ashamed of themselves for preying on people’s emotions and desires like this.  They are stealing money and could be doing some major harm to their patients – all in the name of weight loss.

It sickens me actually.

I feel dirty just having had to do research on that stupid diet.  I need to go eat an apple and film some videos – and lucky for me I’m not on that diet otherwise I couldn’t eat anymore than my normal 6 pieces of fruit a day (that’s roughly 500 calories).

I hope you have a great day…and remember this article anytime you hear your friends say they’re going to give this whacked out diet a try.

Talk to you soon!

Ed

For months, upon months people have been asking when I was going to add a Friday morning boot camp.

They’ve been asking, no demanding, that I add one.

That’s a good demand.  It’s better than someone telling me I suck and should stop doing these boot camps, right?

Well, it finally happened!

Starting this Friday, June 25, I’m adding a 5:45am boot camp to the rotation.  That means that I have boot camps all 5 days a week, and there’s a Monday, Wednesday, Friday offering at 5:45am!

And I’m not rigid in my scheduling, so if you normally come at 6:45 on Monday/Wednesday, you are more than welcome to come in at 5:45 on Fridays…if I have the space.  Remember that I only allow a maximum of 12 ladies per class, and I’m feel pretty safe in saying that this class WILL fill up fast, so don’t dilly-dally.

So if you’re ready to step it up a notch and give the best boot camps in Lincoln a try, give me a call at 304-7858 or email me by clicking the “Talk To Me” tab on the menu and I’ll let you know if there’s still space.

This is also the perfect time to give boot camps a try because I just changed up the class format.  The ladies are loving it and have been getting even better results just by switching up the way I run the boot camps.

How cool is that?  A couple minor changes and the results get even better!

Have a great day!

Ed

Yep, I'm in L again.

Be sure to read my newest column in L Magazine!

If you didn’t get a copy in your paper, head to www.LMagazineLincoln.com and read it there.

I go over my worst best fad diets and why they’re so unbelievably silly.

Last month for my “L” column I did an article on how push-ups are a great core exercise.

Not many people think of Push-ups as anything other than something they were forced to do (either by me in boot camp, or in their nightmares from gym class). Nobody thinks of them as working anything else but their arms, chest and shoulders, but they are a great core exercise.

It is one of the reasons I include them in all our boot camp classes. Plus I love to see your faces when I tell you what variation of the dreaded push-up we’re doing.

Before I get into my rationale, I figured I’d let you see a video of me describing my “why”.

Make sense?

If you have any questions, leave a comment below.

Have an awesome day and I’ll talk to you soon!

Ed

The ladies had an awesome boot camp workout today.

If you’re reading this ladies, you did an awesome job!  You worked hard, sweated profusely, cussed me out and had a great time.  What more can you ask for?

All the ladies were more than good today...they were great!

Today’s boot camp workout focused mainly on the upper body, with the core, shoulders and chest getting most of the attention.

Actually the theme to today’s workout was “You Don’t Really Need To Use Your Shoulders Today, Do You?”

I started theming the boot camp workouts a few weeks ago, but never told anyone or had any way to share it with the ladies when they came in other tham my screaming it from the mountain tops when they walked in the door.

So, now there’s a nice little chalkboard thing-a-majig on the front window that lets you know what you’re getting yourself into each day.

Nobody has turned around and walked out upon seeing the theme of the day, but I’m sure it’s coming…

Anyway, back to today’s boot camp.

We split the workout up into 2 phases, each phase having 4 stations with 2 exercises per station.

Here was the rundown on the first phase.

#1 – Push-ups/Bodyweight Squats

#2 – DB Rear Flies/Squat Hold – Got a lot of laughs on this one because of what it looked like.  I’ll let you use your imagination.

#3 – DB Curl-Press/Double Mountain Climber – No one liked this one, but it was a great way to hit the abs and get you breathing hard.

#4 – Tube Row/Tube Hatchet – Partnered up with the tubes to give it a little more tension/shoulder stability/core work

Phase 2 looked like this:

#1 – Push-up/Medicine Ball Slams

#2 – Spiderman Climb/Double Crunch

#3 – Rollout/Plank Extension – This is one of my favorite combos to really hit the abs and make you groan and cuss me out!

#4 – Tube Lunge/Tube Hatchet – Partnered up again to hit the core/stability a little harder

That was it.  The workout went a little long in both classes and for the most part I think the ladies loved it.  I love this new format and I’m having a lot of fun coming up with new themes and new ways to torture work all the ladies in these awesome boot camp workouts!

Have a great day and I’ll talk to you soon!

Ed Scow

Last Saturday night Andrea and I left The Munchkin at home with my niece so we could head out for some good times.

By good times I mean eating dinner, having ice cream, shopping for underwear, then being so bored we just go home and watch a movie.

Yes, we are quite boring and yes we should have gone golfing instead.

I made up my mind earlier in the day to have a salad for dinner and that’s exactly what I did.

Salads at restaurants are never as healthy or waist-line friendly as they seem, but the one I decided on seemed OK from the description.

To put it bluntly, it was just plain gross.

I had a bad salad...but not quite this bad

Loaded with dressing, the chicken was mostly the “throw backs” and I have no idea if the greens were good because the dressing weighed everything down and gave me “Bitter Beer Face” with every bite.

So how do you know if the salad you’re getting at a restaurant is going to be okay?

First, do what I overlooked and always ask for the dressing on the side.

Now that I got that formality out of the way, let’s move on to the real tips.

Look at the type of meat listed.

I would steer clear of the words “chunks of …” because that can mean they used the “throw back” chunks that get discarded from other entrees.  They’re usually all gristle and fat, but disguised to seem healthy.

Look for the words “strips” or “whole” in terms of chicken, steak or fish.

If it’s a big chunk, they can’t hide anything because it’s staring you in the face.

Always make sure the salad includes other greens, fruits and/or veggies.  Things like tomato, cucumber, green beans, broccoli, peas, apples, etc.  If there are a lot of things like croutons, garlic bread, or other processed foods in it, don’t get it.

Avoid any variation of the word “creamy.”

Creamy means you might as well slap the thing to your sides because that’s where it’s going.

Creamy means fat plain and simple.

And this one shouldn’t have to be said, but I know it does…

…don’t get a salad with chunks of fried chicken in it.  Just because it’s chicken and just because it’s a salad doesn’t negate the fact that you’re eating something deep-fried.

If you do decide to poo-poo anything I just told you, at least remember this.  Get a half-order.  Some salads at restaurants can be over 1000 calories – I’m not kidding, I’ve seen the numbers.

Have a great day!

Ed

Do you have any other salad survival tips?  Don’t keep them to yourself.  Share them with everyone by leaving a comment.

I decided to kick this new boot camp blog off with a little video I made last week.

It’s not a workout video, nor am I showing you how to do any of the exercises we do in boot camp.

This video shows you an exercise that really helps your posture and helps “straighten out” your shoulders and loosen up your chest, upper back/neck.

Most of us spend way too much time sitting behind a desk or driving and that kills our shoulders.  It gives us rounded shoulders, leads to muscle imbalances, makes our chest tight, upper back weak and will make you look like the Hunchback From Notre Dame if you don’t nip it in the bud.

This exercise is ridiculously simple and can be done anywhere you find a wall.

If you have problems with your upper back, neck, or sit too much do this exercise 1-3 times per day for 30-45 seconds each time.

Lincoln Boot Camp Posture Exercise from Ed Scow on Vimeo.

Have a great day!

Ed

Unfortunately, I won't be wearing spandex and shimmery shirts anytime soon

We had a great boot camp workout today.  I’m really loving this new style of class I’ve come up with and so far everyone else is too…although they seem to hate it just as much as they like it!

Not only does it provide something fresh and new for everybody, but it allows me to give more personalized attention where it’s needed and help tweak form and tempo.  I do a lot more running around and it’s a ton of fun for me.

My next project now that I’m done designing this blog, re-designing my Fit Dad Says blog, and filming all those damn workouts, is to transform my boot camp system into some sort of take-home program.

I understand that ladies can’t keep coming to boot camp forever either because they don’t have the time, can’t afford it, or just get sick of me (which I’m sure never happens ) and I want to be able to give them a similar system to do from home that keeps all the same principles and workout ideals I keep in the actual boot camp class.

It will most likely be a big binder with lots of workout options, nutrition goodies, assignments similar to the ones you already receive and maybe even some DVD’s of the workouts done in a “follow-along style” (that I’m not looking forward to filming).

I’m actually trying to come up with some sort of “modular workout design” system for all my boot camps so I can write a bunch at once, then plug and play to mix things up.

Did you like the phrase “modular workout design”?  I’m working on something catchy and that’s the first thing that came to mind for this post, but it’s not “the” phrase I’ll be using.

Be sure to keep an eye out for that, and until that’s completed there’s always my Fat Loss To Go program.  10-minute workouts loaded with add-on workouts that hit the trouble spots (legs, butt, arms and abs), nutrition information, plus every workout is on video so you can see how everything should be done.  Check that out at www.FatLossToGo.com

Good times they are ahead for all of my loyal boot campers!

What was my point with this post?  Oh yeah…today’s workout!

Today’s boot camp workout was split into 2 phases, each phase had 4 stations and each station had 2 exercises and everything was done for time.

It was a good mix of upper body, lower body and metabolic exercises, although it was mostly upper body and the exercises were paired in such a way that really amped up the intensity – no matter the skill or fitness level of who was doing it.

Lots of push-ups, did some hopping, stability ball rollouts, mountain climbers, used resistance tubing, all sorts of goodies.

One of the stations paired push-ups with DB chest press.  It might sound like an odd pairing given that they both are meant to work the chest, but the weight of the chest press and the way they’re done made for that portion to be a “recovery time” for your chest and shoulders and didn’t really work them that much.

Another station paired Stationary Lunges w/Shoulder Press and Butt Raises.  So that really kicked in the legs/butt, but the shoulders got a huge workout as well and of course, the ever popular lower abs.

Good times…good times.

I hope you have a great day and don’t forget that if you have any questions don’t hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an email.

I thought I’d start this new blog by showing you the video I made to show all the ladies of Lincoln a quick “What are your boot camps about and who the hell are you?” video.

Nothing special…just some benefits and a few of the finer points of training at Lincoln’s top boot camp.

By the way, one thing I hate about YouTube is they don’t give you many options when it comes to the “slide” they use for the picture you see before you hit the Play button.  Goober-boy…yes, that’s me.

Have a great day!

Ed Scow