He may be a household name thanks in no small part to his Emmy award-winning TV show, 50 ways to Kill your Mammy but when it comes to his kids, health, fitness, discipline and giving up the cigs, Baz Ashmawy is doing Nancy proud.
Baz’ other half is chef Tanya and together they have six children varying in ages from five to 21-years-of-age. He told us that he’s a big health and fitness fan but that he’s no whizz in the kitchen.
"My missus is a chef, she can whip you up anything in no amount of time. I am useless in the kitchen, absolutely useless.
"I can do what she does, actually, no that’s a lie, I can try to do what she does but it just takes me forever and I’ve no patience for that."
Baz, who is the new face of Green Farm meats, added: "I don’t like promoting stuff that is bull***t or doesn’t work for me," before speaking about his new partnership.
"I love it."
"I love it because I go to a gym, I need to pack a certain amount of protein a day. The way it is for a man is that if you are trying to build muscle, or maintain your muscle, I think it's for every kilo that you weigh is the grams of protein you have to take a day. Me, I’m a big lad, I think I’m 109 [kilos] so I’ve 109 grams of protein to eat a day which can be a lot.
"If you take one of their [servings packets] of chicken, there’s about 30g of protein in them. I would nearly eat them on their own or throw them in with a salad. Its only after I started using them, then the kids started. Literally, I’m throwing them into wraps, toasties, Niamh Kavanagh did all of these amazing recipes [check out her Roast Pumpkin, Peppered Turkey & Feta Salad].
"One or two I’ve used but they’re all really easy but for me, its that obsession with trying to get them to eat healthy things and to try to educate them on nutrition. I just didn’t have it when I was growing, I just didn’t have as much crap around me [as there is now]. We don’t have it in the house but its always around or when friends come, I get sent a lot of stuff its an endless conveyor belt of crap food and you’re trying to feed them well, especially the little ones.
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My youngest is 5, then 7, then 13 and 15, and then 18 and 21. The older ones, the boys, they’re fairly good, they chop it up [chicken] themselves and throw it into a sandwich or they’ll make it work for themselves. It’s always about educating them to be a little bit healthier in their food choices.
"It isn’t something I remember doing myself as a kid, I think it was just something that I was made for me by my own Mum.
"Nowadays it's cheaper to eat crap, they go down the road, they buy crap food in chippers, they buy this crap all the time. Maybe they just have more money than I had when I was their age. I don’t know what it is."
"I’m quite a healthy person as soon as you start to make healthier options for yourself and you’re educating yourself on it, you can’t help but want to do that for your kids.
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In this digital age, he added: "Its very rare that you look at their [kids] faces and its not illuminated by some blue light so I’m big into a greener energy, to get outside and to walk and to hike…to get outdoors and get air.
"The effect that air has on your head, on your mind, how it clears.
"It's not just the walk and the chat, it’s the air and the being outside, it's amazing how people don’t realise that. It’s the reason people get into running outdoors…it releases certain endorphins. The more outdoors you can get the better.
"I try to head out with the kids and I try to bring healthy stuff with me so we don’t get into situations where all I’m left with is treats or I have to buy them.
"Don’t get me wrong its nice to eat treats and I do treat them but we’re fairly strict on them, I’ll be honest. Just because anytime they’re away from you, they’ll bite your hand off for a slice of pizza so I’m sure they get it.
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Treats wise "…I do the weekend, the weekend they’re allowed treats. I’m really against sugar and salt…I don’t allow them to have it during the week.
He added: "They become unhappy. People are confused sometimes, they think kids need – I think as a Dad especially, you mistake sometimes thinking that the kids want a best mate and the truth is they don’t.
"I think kids thrive under rules and to a certain extent, give them structure and ‘this is the way it is’. It’s the same with study and sleep – these are things I never worried about growing up. I wasn’t staying on my phone in my bed until 10.30pm at night and not able to sleep until 1am in the morning and then getting up grumpy at 7 am.
"These are all real things that you’re trying to control. Again diet, you’re not eating well, you’re taking lumps of sugar and fizzy drinks, you’re killing your body with crap that will come out in another place.
"I know it’s a natural thing for kids to want to do that but you have to take responsibility as a parent, to say ‘I’m going to try my very best to try to steer them in the right way’. And they will be grateful for it."
