So you know how people always want to return to those halcyon days of college? Well I just got the chance to, and, to be honest, it is shaping up to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional life to date.

The Center for Entrepreneurship at California State University, Fullerton, is part of that institution’s award-winning Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, and I was fortunate to recently be given the opportunity to mentor six seniors with their semester projects. These students are Julie Woods, Jeff Abraham, Maria Lizarraga, Jacob Poth, Jenn Angel, and Shawn Mermilliod.

So you’re probably wondering how this all works. The program accepts applications from Orange County businesses that are looking for assistance with improving six areas of their operations. The applicants range from small companies with revenues in the low six figures, all the way up to multi-million dollar companies. The business on which my students are focused must remain nameless for confidentiality reasons, but I can tell you it’s a successful salon with major expansion plans. Over the course of the project, each one of my students takes a part of the salon’s business and analyzes it. Our focus is on marketing, accounting, public relations, team building, and website development and optimization.

I am truly having a blast and will admit I’m probably more enthusiastic than the students — I think they just want to graduate! My own excitement for this project is rooted in my experience as an entrepreneur. I’m proud of where PureFit is today, and I’m eager to give back to others who dare to dream as big as I have dreamed.

For more information on Cal State University’s unique program, contact Michael Ames, director of the Small Business Institute, Center for Entrepreneurship at sbiames at fullerton dot edu.

At PureFit, we believe in going well beyond producing a nutritious, great-tasting nutrition bar. We believe in a holistic approach to health involving regular exercise and good nutrition. I guess you could say we also like to walk our talk.

Making a great nutrition bar is, well, great, but we strive to go beyond the product. PureFit is a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle about which my staff and I are passionate, and we are always eager to share that passion with you. Towards that end, we aim to pass on our knowledge based on experience to you, our customer, through providing healthful living tips or PureFit Tips, as we like to call them.

Today’s PureFit Tip is about hydration. Most people know that staying hydrated is important for overall health, but it is especially important for sports performance and body fat loss.

• The average person needs eight 8-ounce cups (64 ounces) of water a day without factoring in exercise or climate variables.
• During exercise (or other strenuous activity), be sure to consume even more water.
• We suggest people drink at least 16-ounces of water before exertion and that they consume an additional 32 ounces for every hour of exercise.

Don’t get us wrong, we believe PureFit bars are an important part of a healthy nutrition and fitness regiment, but be sure to not forget the simple basics of healthy living. Take full advantage of that which is free–clear, clean, cool water.

PureFit nutrition bars are all about what they do not contain in terms of potentially harmful ingredients or ingredients which may interfere with the bar’s ultimate nutritional value. For example, PureFit nutrition bars don’t contain any dairy, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, trans fats, or sugar alcohols. They also don’t contain gluten.

The fact that PureFit bars are gluten-free is important to many people but especially to those who suffer from Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease (also called celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, gluten-sensitive enteropathy, or, simply, CD) is a genetic, autoimmune, intestinal disorder triggered by gluten. It affects, on average, 1 out of every 133 people, and yet 97 percent of people who have Celiac Disease don’t even know they have it. As many as three million Americans are believed to have Celiac Disease, and, if left untreated, these people run the risk of additional complications including, but not limited to, osteoporosis, cancer and autoimmune diseases.

For somebody who has Celiac Disease, exposure to gluten (wheat products) damages the villi of his or her small intestine making it difficult for him or her to absorb essential nutrients from food. Currently, the only effective treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet.

PureFit has long been committed to making a product that is gluten-free, but we also feel it is vitally important to educate people about Celiac Disease. This is a topic to which we will continue to return over the coming months, and it is one that is core to the PureFit philosophy. In the meantime, for additional information on Celiac Disease, check out the following resources:

National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA)

Celiac Disease Foundation (CDF)

Celiac Sprue Association (CSA)

PureFit is a proud supporter of the Celiac Sprue Association (CSA).

I’m Robb Dorf, founder and CEO of PureFit. PureFit is truly a product of my own personal passion for living a healthy lifestyle rooted in fitness and good nutrition. As a student, I studied exercise physiology, and I followed my studies with more than a decade of experience in the health and nutrition industry. Fitness and nutrition is more than just head-knowledge for me. It’s also more than just a business proposition.

I am an athlete who, like anyone who has had the satisfaction of achieving personal goals, is proud of my own athletic accomplishments. More importantly for my customers, however, the first-hand knowledge I have gained in the process of training and competition has been invaluable in my pursuit of the ideal nutrition bar.

PureFit is, for me and my team, truly a way of life. We are constantly aware of how much misinformation is out there when it comes to nutrition and fitness. Educating people on what it takes to achieve maximum health and fitness is as much a part of what we do at PureFit as deciding what ingredients should go into our next nutrition bar.

My vision has always been to take a holistic approach to one’s health, and like I’ve always said, I like to keep it simple. Life is too short to not do what you enjoy, and regular exercise and good nutrition make doing what you enjoy even more enjoyable.

While a bowl full of PureFit nutrition bars may be a popular addition to your Superbowl party on Sunday, chances are you probably are not willing to fund your football-loving friends’ insatiable appetite for Almond Crunch or Chocolate Brownie PureFit nutrition bars throughout all four quarters.

As a healthy alternative, check out Enjoy Life Foods’ recipes for Sunbutter® Puppy Chow and Clusters-O-Crunch. These are hard-hitting crowd-pleasers that are easy to make and easy on the wallet. And of course they are, like PureFit bars, gluten-free, good for you and infinitely snackable.

Click Herefor the recipes, and enjoy the big game!

Welcome (and finally) to the PureFit Blog. I know, I know…we’re a bit behind the times with launching a blog, but it’s only because we’ve been so busy over the past seven years pursuing the best nutrition bar we can make.

Let’s pretend for a moment that we had been blogging since our establishment in July of 2000. If you had been following our blog, you would certainly remember the excitement we shared with you when:

1. We were chosen as Bike Magazine’s Nutrition Bar of the Year in 2004.
2. You would also recall the pride we expressed when we announced we were donating 20,000 PureFit Nutrition Bars to U.S. troops in Iraq through Operation Gratitude in August of 2007.
3. No doubt you would recall our enthusiastic support of the Best Friends Animal Society, Challenged Athletes Foundation, Celiac Sprue Association, and City of Hope.
4. You would have also read about new flavors, new reviews, new packaging, and wider distribution–we would have written about it all.

Many of you know that instead of writing blog entries, we were traveling. You saw us at more than 100 events around the country, but had we been blogging, many more of you would remember our blog entries chronicling the PureFit Team’s relentless travel schedule intended to get our bars into the hands of fitness enthusiasts, athletes, and the people who need them most, like celiacs and diabetics. We are, after all, happiest when we can be face-to-face with any individual committed to good health through nutrition and exercise.

You would of course also remember reading numerous blog entries about the exploits of Kilee and Pikachu (don’t worry, there will be much more to come about these canine PureFit pundits-they really do run the show!) and the rest of the PureFit Team.

In short, if we had been blogging over the past seven years, you would recall seven years worth of stories about bringing the best bar to market. Seven years of blood, sweat and tears in pursuit of the most nutritious energy bar available. Seven years of overwhelming pride in our product (and you would know we’re most proud of what our bars DON’T contain-no dairy, wheat, gluten, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, trans fats or sugar alcohols). Seven years of passion for educating you about how to achieve optimum health and fitness through nutrition and exercise.

In the final equation, while we are a company that makes a very competitive, award-winning product, which has traveled the world with some of the top performing athletes of the 21st century, we are really just people (and two dogs) who care about the well-being of other people (and dogs). That’s where our company began, and that’s what our blog is really all about. It is an opportunity to connect on a more personal level with you, for you are way more than just customers to us.

Welcome to the PureFit Blog-welcome to the PureFit family. The next seven years are going to be incredible.