Before I started, I wanted to check the dictionary, page 188 of Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus -- a handy book at the side of the computer. Drugstore: a store where drugs, medical supplies, and various items are sold and prescriptions are filled. Ah, the out! "Various items" is the can of worms. What else does a drugstore sell? Where do they really make their profit? It's all the anti-health items. It's the booze, cigarettes and junk food that keep the cash registers ringing, 24 hours a day. Drugs of choice, addictions that lead to drugs by prescription as beautiful healthy babies grow up to be sad reflections of a generation that they think they reject when really they are emulating their destructive behavior. Go back to the pharmacy (strategically placed at the rear of the store so that all the heavily advertised temptations on display call out), where you can check your blood pressure free (eating high sodium junk food?), pick up literature on preventing diabetes (ditto sugar), and pick up your prescribed medication ("drug"). I would assume that in an ideal society, the drug store would be the place to find the tools to support health. Let's keep looking!
So what about the health food store? To be fair, I check the dictionary again. Between heal and heap I found health food: food thought to be very healthful, as food grown with natural fertilizers and free of additives -- so far, so good. Thought to be? I can live with the skepticism implied there, and the positive implications, since I have my own disillusionment with the current state of "health foods."
When we started shopping in HF stores (1970's) they were in the hands of "health food nuts," people a little "holier-than-thou" (also in the dictionary), who lived as they spoke and did not hesitate to tell you how to live. Then in 1981 we were store owners ourselves, after years of living the life, but eager to teach by quiet example. Sodas were available, sweetened only with honey. Tofu was made by attractive as eggless-tofu salad and fried tofu sandwiches served in our deli, along with best selling tempeh reubens. Stoneyfield Yogurt started up locally. More and more products became available as delicious healthier alternatives to the white foods in the supermarket. Then the supermarkets caught on -- selling health foods makes profit. Then more replacement products until the stores filled up with Cocoa Puff look-alikes made with white organic flour and white organic sugar, and gummy vitamins, until the whole point had been lost.
So choose a source you can trust, no matter what they call themselves. Educate yourself with reliable information. Listen to your body -- it needs your best judgment, for the rest of your life!
Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips ♥
3 years ago
