In the spirit of my post earlier in the week (the one where I encouraged you to vote at MyStarbucksIdea.com for Starbucks to carry the award-winning line of PureFit Nutrition Bars), today I’m back to encourage you to vote for something much more important.

Next Tuesday is Election Day here in the United States (I make that distinction because of the fact that PureFit Bars are now being sold in Canada – shameless plug, I know). Here at PureFit World Headquarters, in Irvine, California, each of our employees receives one-hour off with pay to vote in the election. Related to this, have a look at the following video:

If you own or operate a business, regardless of your politics, do what I and so many other leading companies have done… give your employees paid time-off to vote. Supporting those who wish to participate in the democratic process is a worthwhile and noble cause.

Oh, and if you think your vote doesn’t count, just take a look at this (supplied by the good folks over at Patagonia):

• Governor: In the 2004 Washington state governor’s race, the pro-environment candidate won by approximately 130 votes out of 4 million cast.
• State Legislature: In a recent race for the state legislature in Montana, a candidate with a solid environmental record lost by two votes.
• National: In 2007, after months of negotiations, Congress was set to vote on renewable energy standards. Opponents of renewables fought back with a filibuster. Twice the Senate tried to break the filibuster, twice they were defeated; the first time by 7 votes, the second by only 1. Clean energy incentives were subsequently stripped from the bill.

Note: If you do not where the polling stations are for your area, please visit this map, which allows you to search for polling locations according to your address.

Thirsty for more business and committed to giving consumers more of what they want, Starbucks recently launched what I think is one of the best examples of a company using the Web to engage with its customers. Earlier this year, the Seattle-based barista launched MyStarbucksIdea.com, an online community where you and I can share our ideas, engage in conversations, and play a role in shaping Starbucks product offerings.

As a side note, a few months ago, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz publicly acknowledged that the company he co-founded in Seattle, Washington, back in 1971 had lost its edge after moving from a culture of entrepreneurship and creativity to one of bureaucracy (something I hope never happens to PureFit). With MyStarbucksIdea.com, Shultz and company are allowing us — the customers — to play a pivotal role in shaping the coffee giant’s future.

For years, Starbucks stores have served as the center of vibrant and up-and-coming communities, welcoming customers and encouraging creativity and dialogue. On MyStarbucksIdea.com, anyone who registers can share an idea for making Starbucks even better, and then vote and comment on ideas submitted by other people. So, for example, using the site, you could recommend Starbucks carry the award-winning line of wheat- and gluten-free PureFit Nutrition Bars, and then you could encourage your friends and family to support your idea by asking them register and vote in favor of the idea.

The last time I checked, hundreds of people had logged onto the site and recommended to Starbucks that they carry an assortment of gluten-free goodies, and six people in particular recommended they carry PureFit Nutrition Bars. With the possibility of Starbucks carrying our bars, I encourage anyone reading this blog entry to visit MyStarbucksIdea.com and participate in the conversation, especially if you’d like to see Starbucks carry the award-winning line of PureFit Bars. Registering is easy, as is making a recommendation or commenting on someone else’s idea.

Until recently, if you tried to find a PureFit Nutrition Bar north of the border, you were pretty much out of luck. While a lot of Canadian orders were processed through our website and over the phone, you’d have been hard-pressed to find one of our delicious and award-winning bars on the shelves of stores in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary or even Edmonton.

But thanks to a new distribution agreement with Puresource, Canada’s leading natural health products wholesaler and distributor, our retail customers to the north—who just so happen to occupy the largest country in the Western Hemisphere—now have a stable and enthusiastic means of acquiring our bars right in the own back yards (well, relatively speaking… Canada does have some big back yards).

Since its humble beginnings in 1989, Puresource has built a solid infrastructure of talented staff and loyal retail customers. Over time, they’ve become the leading full-service natural product distributor in Canada, with massive distribution centers in Calgary, Montreal and Guelph.

So, the next time you’re jonesin’ for tasty wheat- and gluten-free Nutrition Bars in Canada, don’t be too surprised if you find a PureFit Bar at your local supermarket! And if by chance you don’t, leave a comment here and be sure to include the names of the retail outlets where you’d like to see our bars sold.

Thanks to an astute customer, I recently learned Celiac Awareness Month is celebrated in October and May. Who knew!

As I shared in this post, for the last 21 years, the Celiac Sprue Association has designated October as “Celiac Disease Awareness Month.” What I didn’t know when I wrote and posted that blog entry is that a lot of other organizations, including the American Celiac Disease Alliance (ACDA)—a group comprised of college and university researchers, nonprofit foundations, pharmaceutical companies, food manufacturers, and celiac support groups—have, for the last half-dozen years or so, celebrated “National Celiac Disease Awareness Month” in May.

Digging a little deeper, I learned May is also National Digestive Disease Awareness Month, so it seems fitting many celiac-focused organizations are interested in acknowledging the fifth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar as “National Celiac Disease Awareness Month.”

Personally, I think the estimated 1 in 130 Americans who suffer from wheat and gluten intolerance are lucky so many organizations care enough about Celiac Disease that they actually disagree over when its official “awareness” month should be observed.

For PureFit, the confusion simply means we have two designated and widely recognized opportunities to raise awareness about solutions to managing this awful disease (that is, until Congress gets off its lazy you-know-what and does something about H. CON. RES. 70: a Congressional resolution introduced by U.S. Congresswoman Nita Lowey of New York’s 18th Congressional District, calling for Congressional support and acknowledgement of the goals and ideals of National Celiac Awareness Month in May only).

As some of you may know, I’m the self-proclaimed Hardest Working Guy in Sports Nutrition. Seriously, I challenge any CEO in the industry to try to do what I do (i.e., travel to nearly every major industry trade show and marathon and be 100% present 100% of the time).

The truth is, I’d rather be shaking hands and cutting samples at an industry trade show — like I am right now at Natural Products Expo East at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center — or visiting with customers at a consumer health expo, then sitting at my desk. It’s so important to our customers and product line that I be aware of what is going on in the real world. As a result, I don’t need to just read trade magazines to learn what the “so-called” experts believe is the next big trend; I ask you — our customers — what you are looking for and why.

Case in Point: In Saint Paul, several people approached me to suggest we market PureFit bars as being a great way to combat Insulin Resistance, a disorder affecting a whopping one out of three Americans and a strongly linked precursor to Type 2 Diabetes. PureFit Nutrition Bars’ perfect balance of carbohydrates to protein helps the body control its natural insulin production — something not conducive to consistent energy and fat metabolism. In short, because of your suggestions, we are going to look into the possibility of informing the public about PureFit’s natural ability to combat insulin resistance.

Another aspect I love about traveling to expos and trade shows is the opportunity to meet industry leaders, spokespersons, and celebrities. Seriously, I’m a bit of a celebrity geek. Sure, I know they’re human just like all of us but I enjoy meeting them nonetheless.

Case in Point: Some people may not consider Alberto Salazar a celebrity, but trust me, in the 1980’s, he was hands-down the greatest distance runner in the world. His workouts were so insanely difficult, they are now the stuff of legends. Alberto was world-class from 5,000-meters all the way up to the marathon. Even today, most professional runners focus on one or two specific distances. Not Salazar. He was a true phenomenon. It didn’t matter if it was a 5K, 10K, 10 miler, ½ marathon or marathon — Alberto Salazar was always a threat to win.

Alberto ran the 10-miler in Saint Paul, and I had a chance to meet with him the day before. He recently turned 50 and still looks great. Due to heart problems unrelated to being a world-class runner, he now calls himself a “jogger,” not a runner. I’d say any 50-year-old “jogging” sub 7-minute miles is a runner!

Despite the grueling hours of expo’s and tradeshows, it sure does beat the daily grind of working exclusively in the office. Thank you Saint Paul (and Virginia Brophy Achman, Executive Director of Twin Cities Marathon, Inc.) and all of the staff and volunteers for producing an excellent health and fitness expo, along with one of the top marathons and road races of our time.

A couple of weeks ago, PureFit accomplished something it had never done before: We exhibited at two marathons at the same time. I flew to Minneapolis for the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on Friday, October 3rd, while Jenna Brien in our Sales & Marketing Department flew to Portland for the 37th Annual (and MP3-friendly) Portland Marathon.

Unfortunately, we sold out of all of the bars went sent to Portland hours before the marathon’s Sports Authority Sports & Fitness Expo ended. To those of you who didn’t get to try our bars, I sincerely apologize. The show, despite my colossal mistake in sending the correct number of bars, was well managed by Jenna, who heads up sales for our Health Food Store Division, and specializes in promotions.

As for my trip to Saint Paul, what a beautiful city, and don’t get me started about the marathon: The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon is one of the best produced races in the country. The show was a major success for us and we’re already making plans to return in 2009.

Check back tomorrow for Part II of this post when I’ll unveil who I think is the hardest working person in the sports nutrition industry, and share my thoughts on running legend Alberto Salazar.

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.