Let us reflect on our childhood for a moment. The healthiest cereal that many of us can remember came packaged in a yellow box. It tasted bland but we would dump sugar on it (or honey if our parents were a little health savvy). We would eat it and then our parents would reward us for a good job because we stomached the healthiest, most wholesome cereal ever. And that cereal was going to help us stay healthy.


Cheerios, the well-known cereal brand, is a food-like substance. The label touts five whole grains and because of that we felt privileged to purchase such a "natural", yet conveniently-edible packaged product. The General Mills (GM) marketing team has branded quite the feat of food-engineering. Cheerios is a wholesome food and a self-professed "clinically proven drug." GM was recently ordered to remove these words from their packaging: 


Did you know that in just 6 weeks Cheerios can reduce bad cholesterol by an average of 4 percent? Cheerios is ... clinically proven to lower cholesterol. A clinical study showed that eating two 1 1/2 cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

For many in the fitness blogosphere, we don't see things the same way anymore. Food enthusiasts, or "foodies", have long since debunked the myth of nutrition-by-whole grains. Side note: Cheerios' grains aren't really whole; you cannot naturally manipulate whole grains into small, spongy circles.


Cal Berkeley Professor Michael Pollan recently wrote, "avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients." How many people can go one whole day eating groceries that meet this standard? It is difficult. When this principle is applied to the nutritional table on a Cheerios box (read here), the seventh ingredient should raise a red flag.  Trisodium Phosphate is a heralded, industrially powerful, toxic cleanser. In a world stock-full of refined carbohydrates and other processed food-like substances, these ingredients are common place. What's worse is that they often go undetected. For decades, America maintained a blind trust in our cherished and historic food brands. 


Food doctrine is influenced by the best marketing agencies, which wouldn't be a negative had their intentions remained genuine.  America follows trends: pop-cultural, political, religious and dietary. Trends are all about impact and momentum. Impact is often influenced by marketing. My first post on this topic, Re-Branding The Paleo-Lifestyle, touched on this assertion.  Darya Pino, in an effort to sway people back to traditional macro nutrient balance, recently argued that the Paleo Diet's exclusion of grains and legumes "demands considerable sacrifice". She went on to say that "there is also a lot of logical leaps and baseless assumptions." In defense of her favorite foods, she added that cultures known for their consumption of grains and legumes "are generally healthy" and may find it "possible to thrive." 


America is "not generally healthy" and by the consumption of the typical American diet, it is unlikely that a young child can thrive. The problem is that childhood obesity rates continue to rise and the power of food marketing has stricken younger and younger people. Many don't see the differences between the types of bread that Darya Pino loves and the high fructose-laden loafs of chemically-darkened, white flour and toaster strudels that populate our grocery aisles. The distinction between kidney beans and Boston Baked Beans are just as murky to most. The good news is that we can begin fixing misconceptions with a powerful tool that many readers of this blog possess.

Logo designed with the help of "The Label Says Paleo".

Social networking has become the most powerful tool available for the perpetuation of news, future events and important messages. The most prolific of these tools is Twitter.   A great example of social media use is by Houston's "We Support Local, Grow Together" (#SLGT) movement spear-headed by J.R. Cohen and friends. This movement encompasses a passionate following of people who care tremendously for sustainability and fortifying their surrounding communities. Get Real is an event, planned for April 2010, that a group of us will be opening to those who would like to help shape the often-eccentric perception of the Paleo-way of eating and its benefits.


Get Real is a double-entendre that is both a call to action and a means to address our obesity and failing-health epidemics. When it comes to the severity of our national addiction to processed foods and refined sugars, we have to get real about the solution. Recently, several McDonald's meals became Weight Watcher's approved. This is an epic failure in both logic and judgment. Families will be healthier, happier and more capable when they choose to get real rather than buying food made with metabolic, homeostatic and hormone-altering chemical substances. Many of which no one can pronounce.  The novelty of the Paleo Diet will eventually fade but the message can and should be carried forward. We can do without the foods that have led to a national insurgence of: fatigue, chronic illness, and physical incapability. 


Lindsey and I began eating this way, nearly a year ago, after heeding the advice of Kris and Carey Kepler. We did so just to improve our athletic performances in CrossFit competition. For years, I battled fatigue and symptoms of Type II Diabetes, a disease that is prominent on both sides of my extended family. Lindsey fought frightening kidney issues that crept up while we dated in college. Now, we watch our daughter achieve physical and intellectual benchmarks that we were incapable of as young children, much less two year olds. By her mimicking the way we eat now, she is better-equipped than we were then. Who wouldn't want that the same for their children?

Visit SICFIT.com for more videos, photos and blogs

Since 2001, people continue to log on to ".com" and view, in awe, the methodical, random daily prescription aimed to increase work, power and endurance. This has spurred an enthusiastic community of people that just want to be better at whatever it is that they do. SICFIT brings us closer by allowing us to upload content that an affiliate would like seen on an international stage. Sometimes we will see an intriguing blog post from a  affiliate owner, a photo of a new facility, words of wisdom from a seasoned professional, or video of a personal record/world record performance. By the nature of the business before, this content may have gone unseen. With SICFIT, we might see an athlete test their abilities against Mikko Salo in Finland, Tanya Wagner in Pennsylvania, "Commando" Steve Willis in Australia or Annie Thorisdottir in Iceland (see: "Crossing the Divide").

Lately, I have been working pretty hard on maximizing the site's potential. As a father and a husband, I am appreciative of Lindsey and Alexis dealings with my bouts of prolonged absence (in the house's "cave", as Lindsey calls it).  I just know that this can be such a pivotal tool, for a defining moment in the sport of CrossFit. In an era where web 2.0 technology aims to make the world smaller and the community stronger, SICFIT was built to help accomplish just that. Early this morning, it gave me reason to chat with athletes and affiliate owners in New South Wales, before they retired for their night.

In a recent conversation with Tony Budding, CrossFit, Inc.'s media-extraordinaire, he related the growth of a project like this to an old Chinese anecdote of the bamboo tree. The bamboo tree is a biological marvel.  For four years, it appears that no significant progress is being made. The tree's roots grow thick and strong underground. After year one, you see nothing. Through the fourth year,still no progress, though the farmer still treats the plant with the same care as the visibly beautiful. It is then, at year five, that the plant explodes upward to 85 feet.  It sprouts so dramatically because its deep, strong roots have taken hold. The farmer was patient enough to await this feat.

That is the patience that many good businesses exhibit when they await something great to take root. Greg Glassman exhibited this masterfully with CrossFit, Inc. and that is the same course that we are prepared to travel. If you have any questions, you can contact: info@sicfit.com. I would love your feedback.