Many of you reading our blog know that PureFit bars are among the best-selling wheat- and gluten-free sports nutrition bars on the market (oh, and they’re dairy-free also). The reason we decided to make a crap-free bar was due to the simple fact that 3,000,000 Americans (and many millions more if you look to Canada and across the pond to the rest of the world) have a difficult time digesting wheat or gluten, ingredients commonly found in other nutrition bars.

With an estimated one in 130 people in the United States having celiac disease — most of whom are undiagnosed — it was clear to me that something needed to be done to provide a healthy alternative in the nutrition bar category. (If you are unfamiliar with celiac disease, please read my February 25, 2008 blog post “What is Celiac Disease?”) Eight years later and we’re still going strong, as are organizations like the Celiac Sprue Association — a nonprofit  dedicated to helping people with celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis through world-class education, research and support — and the Celiac Disease Foundation — a Studio City, California-based organization that strives to provide support, information and assistance for people affected by celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis (CD/DH).

You may not have noticed but October is “Celiac Awareness Month.” If you feel you might have celiac disease or simply do not do well on foods that contain wheat and gluten, everyone here at PureFit strongly suggests that you see your doctor and get tested.

If your doctor suspects you have Celiac Disease, they will probably order a simple celiac blood panel for gluten antibodies. If the results of the blood test show you or a loved one have a high level of antibodies to gluten and to certain other proteins in the intestinal lining — a sign that you could have celiac disease — your doctor may talk to you about conducting a small bowl biopsy to confirm the diagnosis (trust me, that sounds a lot worse than it really is).

In any event, get tested and be sure to tell your friends and loved ones that there’s no time like to present to start feeling better! October is Celiac Awareness Month… spread the word!

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Note: Celiac Disease is sometimes spelled “Coeliac Disease”

Another Note: If you’re wondering about the “g” symbol that appears at the top of this post, it comes from Trader Joe’s and is their way of displaying products in which no ingredients or sub-ingredients contain gluten.

After six months of conceptualizing, planning, and building, we are excited to announce the launch our new  corporate website (officially dubbed, PureFit 3.0).

PureFit 3.0 is our third–and by far best–website. The design process started in earnest a few months ago with this easy-to-navigate blog, and took off from there. Most notably, we re-engineered our shopping cart to make it more user friendly, and redesigned the rest of the site to make it more visually appealing. Even though you see one site when you visit PureFit.com, I like to think of it as three distinct sites:

• PureFit.com provides you with everything you need to know about choosing the right nutrition bar, how to purchase our award-winning nutrition bars, and why we do what we do.
• PureFitBlog.com provides up-to-date info on nutrition, what we are working on, and a plethora of cool and behind-the-scenes stuff that makes us tick (and laugh).
• PureFit.com/Store allows you to buy award-winning PureFit bars and clothing using our new state-of-the-art shopping cart.

We also worked closely these past few months with our good friend and the world’s leading authority on stretching, flexibility, and injury prevention—Kinesiologist, Brian Dorfman—to improve his site, BrianDorfman.com. Brian’s site is the place to go to learn more about simple exercises that can and will improve the quality of your life.

Please look around the new PureFit.com and let us know what you think (you can email me at robb at purefit dot com, or you can leave a comment below).

I am often asked how Brian Dorfman and I become friends, and ultimately, how PureFit become the exclusive supplier of Brian’s “Flexibility Training” and “Lower Back Basics” DVDs and travel books.

Brian and I met in a spin workout class in 1993, which was right around the time I found myself immersed in the sport of Duathlon. Despite being total opposites, we quickly realized that we shared at least one common interest: helping people get into shape and maintain healthier lifestyles. That very familiar characteristic propelled us to quickly appreciate and respect one another.

Around that same time, Brian taught what was probably the first “yoga for athletes” class in the nation. He called it “Stretching for Athletes,” and boy, did the athletes show up. Steve Scott and Paula Newby-Fraser were regulars, as were other nationally ranked runners, triathletes and others. What Brian was teaching was really yoga, but in 1993, people thought yoga was for weird guys from India. Personally, I hated every class… I thought it was a wasted workout. Why stretch when I could be out running or cycling? Even though I didn’t know it at the time, the answer was simple: Life in general is hard on the body. Regardless if you are a marathon runner or a soccer mom who is always on the go, life tightens the body. Yoga opens the body so it can move freely, without pain or injury.

I’ve never met anyone who has done more than four or five yoga classes and now hates it. It might take a couple of classes to find an instructor you like, but I strongly doubt it. Most yoga instructors are the nicest people you’ll ever met. They seriously care about your well being. For that hour to an hour-and-a half, they want you to escape from your crazy life and get in touch with your body and your very reason for being.

When Brian approached me several years ago to help him distribute his Flexibility DVD, I was flattered. Brian Dorfman is the nation’s leading authority on flexibility for athletes, and when he told me that he wanted to take stretching and flexibility to the masses, I said “Let’s do it!” To date, PureFit has sold thousands of Brian’s DVD’s and travel books, and with the launch of our new website and online store just days away, we’re excited to sell thousands more in the years to come.

If you’ve never watched one of Brain’s videos, check out a sample at BrianDorfman.com.

Turning 40 is a big deal. I don’t remember turning 20, but turning 30 feels like it was just yesterday.

Anyone who has spent more than a minute with me knows that I’m young at heart. It’s difficult to know when I’m being serious because I love to laugh so much, and more importantly, make other people laugh too. My mission in life is simple: Enjoy Life.

Most guys turn 40 and then run out and get a sports car. I sold mine. Maybe it’s my way of simplifying my life. Who knows? But what I do know is, I’m not getting any younger. My good friend, Darren Field, and I rode our bikes from Solana Beach to Irvine. It was a 70-mile ride that took us a little more than four hours. Not a century (i.e., 100 miles), but proof “I still got it going on.”

I may not be able to peel off five-minute mile repeats, or run the 400 in under 65 seconds, but I’ve never let myself go. I still jog, take spin, do yoga, and remain very active.I encourage anyone reading my blog to never forget to keep moving, literally. It’s important to continually push both the body and the spirit. I wanted to run a marathon, so I did. I wanted to break 33 minutes for 10K, so I did that too. I wanted to start a company, and I did. I also wanted to turn 40, but look younger than anyone I graduated from high-school with. I believe I’ve done that too.

We all need goals, and then we need to sincerely pursue them. Seriously… start a bucket list (things you want to do before you hit the bottom of the bucket) and make it happen. It’s a cliche but life is short. We can’t go backwards in time.

I’d really be curious to hear from you on what you wanted to do. Maybe you thought you couldn’t but against the odds, you did. To me the harder something is to achieve, the greater the reward.

Make it happen!

In honor of Robb’s 40th birthday–which is today–we stole the keys to the blog in order to post the following poem:

I know this guy named Robb who likes to jog,
Every day he goes to work and brings his dog.

He works at a company that sells the best nutrition bar,
Some days he does not bike there but drives his car.

But now that he is turning 40 that all may change,
Old and Traveling to work may rearrange.

Because he is older things are getting tough,
Just kidding with you as 40 is not that rough!

Happy Birthday and many more to enjoy!
Enjoy the day and go get yourself a nice toy!

Happy Birthday, Robby Boy!!

Today I would like to take a moment to sincerely thank everyone who makes PureFit the great company that it is. Needless to say, without our committed following of customers–those of you who actually buy and consume our award-winning, all natural nutrition bars–we wouldn’t be in business, but our team, which is made up of a very diverse and unique group of professionals who flat-out just make everything magically happen, also deserves a major pat on the back.

First and foremost, I want to thank Jenna Brien, our enthusiastic in-house sales associate. For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting Jenna, you know she’s a ball of energy whose true passion in life is teaching spin and being around her husband Will. Jenna and I laugh so much together that our office manger, Belinda Jordan, said we’d sell an additional million bars if we’d simply quit goofing off so much. From that moment on, I realized that Belinda, a 20-year-old college student, was the smartest employee I had! The problem is, she laughs at all of my jokes and impersonations, and that of course only fuels my antics. Regardless, Belinda’s a real gem and things just wouldn’t work around here with her.

This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Darcy Pendarvis. Darcy could be the CFO of a major corporation but prefers to help out Orange County, Calif., companies with their bookkeeping, payroll, and banking/financial strategy. As a QuickBooks Pro Advisor, Darcy is able to provide me with all of the financial info I need at a moments notice. Without her, I know we wouldn’t be around. She has saved me many times and I cannot thank her enough.

Christian Riggs is one of our freelance graphic designers. He’s outrageously under-priced, lives in Utah with his wife Amy and their four gorgeous kids, and is one wickedly cool guy. Check out his work at www.riggscreative.com. Christian is responsible for our new logo and packaging (thanks to Becky Nelson for giving us the original concept), and he also does a great job on our print ads, eNewsletters, and many of the other collateral materials that keep us in business. Thanks, Christian!

No one laughs more at me or my jokes than my publicist/business consultant, Stan (last name withheld for fear that he’d come to my home and waterboard me for getting his name indexed by Google or some other search engine). Stan’s more than just my publicist and business consultant… he’s a true friend and a brilliant business tactician. Thanks, Stan!

Here at PureFit, we work with so many nutritionists and Celiac specialists that it’s hard to thank them all. Nevertheless, I’d like to mention Kim Brown, Danna Korn (author of Gluten-Free Living For Dummies), Dr. Bari Rooney, and Melinda Dennis. Thank you–each and everyone of you–for all of your sage advice and referrals!

Needless to say, if you’ve made it this far in today’s post, you must be wondering who I owe the utmost thanks too, and that of course would be my wife Traci, who in 2000 encouraged me to “go for it.” She allowed me to take what little money we had and start PureFit, and now, some eight years later, we’re still here, kicking the nutrition bar industry’s butt. Thanks, Traci… you truly are the best!

Thanks to everyone else who make us great (and yes, that includes you Kilee, and you too Pikachu… the two of you may act like dogs, eat dog food, beg for treats and table scraps, and even walk around the office on all fours, but I know that you know that I know that you guys can read!)

Well, not really, but we are down in San Diego today and tomorrow for the 11th Annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. As we do for a select number of races across the country, my staff and I make ourselves available during packet pickup to talk with the runners and answer questions about race day nutrition, stretching, and more.

Here in San Diego, you can find us today (until 7:00 p.m.) and tomorrow (from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Health & Fitness Expo Hall, which is located inside the San Diego Convention Center (Halls A & B). Stop by, say hello, grab some of our bars for the race (PureFit Nutrition Bars will not melt in their packaging), and remember to get some quality rest before Sunday’s big race.

One of the joys of the job here at PureFit is receiving email messages like this:

May 21, 2008

Robb,

Attached is a pic of my son, Luke. He’s four and LOVES the PureFit sweatshirt!

~ Lisa C… Little Rock, Arkansas

Thanks, Lisa. On behalf of everyone here in the office, we LOVE Luke right back!

A customer recently left a comment/question here on the blog that I think is worth highlighting for the benefit of anyone else who may be wondering the same thing. Kristin wrote (in-part):

“…do you ship to APO addresses?”

Indeed, we do ship PureFit Nutrition bars–along with everything else in our online store–to APO addresses. In fact, in addition to shipping orders to our troops and other military personnel all over the world via APO (Army Post Office) and FPO (Fleet Post Office) addresses, last August, we donated 20,000 of our award-winning nutrition bars to U.S. troops in Iraq via Operation Gratitude.

If you’re unfamiliar with Operation Gratitude, it’s a California-based nonprofit organization that seeks to raise the morale and bring a smile to the faces of our troops by sending care packages to individual service members overseas. Operation Gratitude care packages often contain food (like PureFit Nutrition Bars) along with toiletries, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation, all wrapped with good wishes of love and support.

So yes, PureFit ships to APO addresses, and as you can see, we also go above and beyond to support our troops overseas. If you’d like to learn more about shipping options, contact our office. For more information about supporting our troops overseas, visit Operation Gratitude.

A new study suggests athletes should drink antioxidant-rich green tea to counter the effects of resistance exercise. From FoodNavigator-USA.com:

“The inadequate intake of dietary antioxidants among the physically active populations must be considered,” says Vilma Simoes Pereira Panza (a researcher at Brazil’s Federal University of Santa Catarinathe and lead author on the paper about the study). “This study suggests that green tea intake may offer a protective effect against oxidative damaged induced by resistance exercise.”

For more information, read Green tea for sports nutrition?.