Eddie’s Energy Bars Blog

Happy, over at Hikeu Adventure Guides brought some of our energy bars down to her sister who is hiking the Long Trail with a handful of boy scouts this week. They are taking a 75 mile trek up to Camel’s Hump–an incredible feat!

It is pretty sweet to know that our energy bars are being consumed for the exact reason we had intended: hikers, cyclists, or even intense walkers. I wish the Boy Scouts the best of luck on their trek!

Happy sent me a picture of some of the scouts holding their Eddie’s Bars at the start of their trek. They certainly look happy to have an Eddie’s Energy Bar in their hand! If you are interested in powering yourself to hike the long-trail one day Hikeu Adventure Guides is doing an end-to-end long trail backpacking trip sometime in September. Look at it as a great way to get outdoors, meet some great people, and eat Eddie’s Energy Bars!
Michael Adams, Owner
Eddie’s Energy Bars

Good Morning,

These next few days are going to showcase all that summer has to offer: hazy, hot, and humid weather, with temperatures getting up into the 90’s.  I personally despise ridiculously hot weather, but others “thrive” in it.

Regardless of the weather, it is still important to get outside and exercise, preferably in the early morning hours when it is still cool outside, and you won’t suffer from dehydration or heat exhaustion.

Today, I found this nifty little calorie burner calculator that tells you how many calories you burned for the exercise you did, according to weight and duration: Calorie burner calculator.

I don’t know what I’m going to do today, but it’s either going to be walk, run, or bike.  What are you going to do today?  I should start a calorie-burn challenge to get everyone hyped to go outside…maybe I will even post the results…any ideas?

Michael, Owner
Eddie’s Energy Bars

If the title isn’t enough acronyms for you, then I don’t know what is.  Anywho, Eddie’s Energy Bars (EEB) is proud to announce the sponsorship of the Green Mountain Adventure Racing Association (GMARA)

I stumbled upon this great group a few weeks ago, and decided to see if they would pull me on as a sponsor, and they most certainly did!  I sent them some bars to try and like that we became a sponsor.  They really liked our homemade energy bars!  We will be at The Bitter Pill Adventure Race coming up in August, giving out free samples to volunteers and participants.

Adventure Racing is an interesting concept.  According to the GMARA website, adventure racing is a multi-day, non-stop, multi-sport, mixed gender event. It has been called ‘an expedition with a stopwatch.’ The goal is to be the first group to cross the finish line as a team. Courses typically take place in remote wilderness where teams may not see race officials or other teams for hours at a time. Navigation decisions are left to the team; they simply have a map and directions telling them where the next checkpoint is.

This sounds pretty crazy to me, but exciting at the same time, and the people that are signed up for the race are perfect for an Eddie’s Energy Bar.  With high protein and fiber, our bars are sure to keep them full for a good part of the race–they are very filling.

Before I leave to start my weekend activities, I just want to point out that this is a local organization, and local comes first, here at Eddie’s Energy Bars.  Supporting local groups and athletes is what we’re all about.

To find out more about the the GMARA, visit their website here.

Have a great weekend!

Michael
Eddie’s Energy Bars

I don’t really think I can remember the last time that I wrote about nutrition and fitness on this blog. There have been so many exciting personal stories that I thought I should share. Today, I thought I would get back to business (no pun intended) and write on a topic you readers probably would want to read about, seeing as I own a healthy energy bar company. Here goes:

Everyone sees those ads on TV for weight-loss pills and all that associated junk. It’s time for you to realize that it is not the right way to maintain a healthy lifestyle. To keep your heart running strong, and those pounds of fat off your body, the key, as many educated doctors will tell you, is diet and exercise. They are completely right (no surprise there)!

Diet
Would you rather have a bowl of fruit salad or a McD’s double cheeseburger. I would hope that if you are reading this entry, you would opt for the fruit salad, however, there still could be a few of you that are just now realizing the difference between good and bad food. Now this is not to say, you have to always eat food that is good for you. Every once in a while. you can splurge on the pint of delicious, Vermont-made, Ben and Jerry’s, but it is important to balance all that fat out with fruits, vegetables, grains, and, well…basically follow the food pyramid. In my opinion, not only does good food taste better, but it is also more nutritionally beneficial. If you keep on eating McD’s multiple times a day, you are essentially killing your heart, which leads me to why you need to keep that heart pumping, and engage in exercise a couple times a week.

Exercise
Ahh, exercise. Although it sounds like the devil-word to most people in this increasingly obese country, it is the most important thing you can do to create that healthy lifestyle you have always wanted. Exercising not only keeps your heart pumping, but it releases endorphins in your brain that make you feel better, and who doesn’t want to feel better? It makes one wonder why the morbidly obese people are so sad…they don’t exercise, and eat food to overcome the depression. Any exercise is good for you, so try and at least walk for twenty to thirty minutes during the day. Can’t fit in exercise everyday? Read my article on fitting walking into your work day.

Throwing the time-tested combination of diet and exercise together will put you on the right path to a new, healthier lifestyle.

Thanks for reading. Now go walk and eat strawberries.

Michael, Owner
Eddie’s Energy Bars

The drive home was great yesterday, and I didn’t have the time to open up the laptop and write an entry, because an hour after I got home I went to a lecture at UVM (yes, school wasn’t quite over for me) as part of the Community Medical Shool, a free lecture series that happens once a week, throughout the school’s semester.  Now, I can only make two of these in the spring, but they are worth it.

The lecture yesterday was on exercise, given by Dr. Phil Ades, a leader in the field in terms of cardio rehibilitation.  He gave a great talk, and I learned a couple of things.

-You can exercise anytime of the day, just exercise–that is half the battle.
-Walking actually burns the most calories/time, because it is one of the only activities where you are holding up your own weight.
-Strength training doesn’t burn a lot of calories itself, however, as you strength train, it boosts your Resting Metabolic Rate, which is how many calories you burn at rest.

There was so much more that I learned at the lecture.  Next weeks lecture is on Genes and Disease.  Here is more information on the Community Medical School.

Happy education,

Michael Adams,
Eddie’s Energy Bars