Sometimes for the folks behind workout regimen CrossFit, things don’t exactly, um, work out so well. That was spotlighted by the backlash over CrossFit’s recent tweets about the best kinds of foods for people to eat — their suggestions included avoiding everything with a label or an expiration date. Farmers were, of course, stunned. We wouldn’t be surprised if even Food Babe herself rolled her eyes at the absurdity of these statements.
The most outlandish of the pair of tweets said: “If it has a food label on it, it is not food. You do not see that on the chicken. It is not on the tomatoes. But it is on the chips and cookies. / If it is not perishable, if it says ‘Best if used before 2019,’ it is not food.”
✅ If it has a food label on it, it is not food. You do not see that on the chicken. It is not on the tomatoes. But it is on the chips and cookies.
✅ If it is not perishable, if it says “Best if used before 2019,” it is not food.— CrossFit (@CrossFit) October 18, 2018
We know that food labels can sometimes be controversial, but to say that no label ever is warranted or that you should without exception eat unlabeled produce is baffling. It also smacks of entitlement to suggest that everything with a label or expiration date is bad for you or is “not food.” Packaged products help feed all socio-economic classes, and it is up to consumers to make the decisions that fit their needs and their families the best. CrossFit’s comments kick things like canned goods, frozen veggies, whole-grain products, packaged fish, and even bottled water (yes, it has a label!) to the curb.
The Twitter masses hit back hard, and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone defending the extreme comments from CrossFit.
Please help!
My pear has a label on it! Also, these brussel sprouts can’t be grown in my garden due to seasonality.Should I throw away?
Please advise. pic.twitter.com/7HzOqiCdTE
— Andrew Doherty, RDN (@adoherty625) October 18, 2018
Way to promote a mindset that creates eating disorders while simultaneously being ableist and classist by failing to recognize the very real barriers people have to healthy eating. Come on-you can do better than this.
— Megan Anderson, MPH, RD (@meganandersonRD) October 19, 2018
Also nothing wrong with chips cookies or fries. It’s called living a good life. Restriction is the problem, not food. And in most cases lack of access — money or geography is also a problem. Socioeconomic status. If we care about health we should care about that.
— Rebecca Scritchfield (she/her) (@ScritchfieldRD) October 19, 2018
Are you going to ban all protein shakes, sports drinks, supplements and pretty much anything except water then at all of your CrossFit games? Nah didn’t think so. #usualcrossfitfacepalm
— Ed Morris (@EdMorris6) October 19, 2018
The other tweet that CrossFit sent out at the same time said: “If you could not have harvested it out of your garden or farm and eaten it an hour later, it is not food. / Shop around the perimeter of the grocery store, and do not go down the aisles. …”
✅ If you could not have harvested it out of your garden or farm and eaten it an hour later, it is not food.
✅ Shop around the perimeter of the grocery store, and do not go down the aisles. …— CrossFit (@CrossFit) October 18, 2018
On this one, too, the comments were brutal against CrossFit, pointing out the seasonal limitations (some places do have a winter, ya know) of eating food within an hour after harvest as well as how there are plenty of healthful food options located away from a store’s walls.
I appear to be eating magazines and mixer. Rum is one along darnit
— Adela Terrell (@Adela_Terrell) October 19, 2018
You’re contradicting your misinformed self in this thread. And spreading the misinformation action around. Maybe stick to the crunches and let dietitians, farmers and producers handle the food ??♀️
— Kathryn Cayko (@CaykoSugar) October 19, 2018
We have this really cool thing called cold storage transportation now that it’s 2018?, most urban dwellers live more than an hour from the nearest farm, we don’t want our city friends going hungry.
— Farmer Renée (@cottonfarmgirl) October 19, 2018
What a crock of shite. Crossfit. You are not nutritionists so keep your food advice to yourself. Now look up the meaning of food in the dictionary. Secondly you always promote protein products which is contradicting your tweet. Unless you grew the protein powder in your garden?
— Peter O Halloran (@PeteroHalloran_) October 22, 2018
The running joke about CrossFit is that folks who do this workout have to tell everyone else about it — part of the “I’m better than you” mentality. Well, this is one instance where perhaps they should have chosen their words more carefully — or just stayed mum all together!
