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Old 12-12-2012, 10:48 AM
 
Location: Winterville
192 posts, read 279,374 times
Reputation: 66

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I've been here in Greenville for a few years and have struggle to find many quality health or healthy local businesses or groups that shy away from the orthodox medical model of drugs and surgery or fast food but instead are geared towards improving the health of a patient instead of reducing his/her symptoms as well as food based businesses that are not poor quality highly processed foods. I meet a lot of people who are very isolated in regards to their exposure to this type of worldview and it seems to be a great deal worse in this area as a result of the size and influence of the medical hospital and school here not to mention the insanely high amount of fast food restaurants in this area. I have, on more that one occasion had locals tell me that Greenville has the highest number of fast food places per capita than any other city in the country!
As a chiropractor my goal is to help my patients improve their health primarily by improving their nervous system function with chiropractic adjustments and then to use whole foods or whole food supplements to reduce any deficiencies they have. My greatest challenge in this area, as I'm sure it is in most, is that so many people are 1)Very uneducated about the concept of improving your health instead of using poison (drugs) and surgery to changes symptoms. 2)It is a significant struggle to try and find like minded people in the area to support them 3)As a result of this is is equally difficult to find vitalistic and whole food based businesses in the area.
My hope is to try and network a little bit here and see if I can find other people that what to be healthy and want to stay away from the standard medical care and highly processed food that is so damaging in this area. Here are a few businesses/groups that I've found in the area and what I know about them and I hope that some of you will help add to this list and share your support.

1. Tipsy Teapot: I've meet the owner and she is very nice and I love the atmosphere and the food. My only complaint is that the menu seems a little limited and I wish they would do more to expand their services. I know she works another job and doesn't either have the time or the incentive to focus on her business. I may just not realize what else they do their because I'm not downtown all the time but when I do come down their to eat I don't typically go their because it seems a bit more like a bookstore with an large empty bar in the other room than a place to go eat. I know they do other activities their from time to time but I'm not sure how often or how successful they are. I'm sure if it's 1.that I don't realize that they are doing well because I'm not their, 2. She doesn't have or make the time/money to improve the business or 3. If the local demographic doesn't allow a business like that to thrive. Bottom line they're nice but I wish more success and improvement for them

2.The Sojourner: Great selection of herbs and organic herbs. As a Christian I'm not crazy about the anti-Christian propaganda that seems to be litter throughout the entire store but let's be honest if I didn't buy anything from people or businesses that I didn't agree with I'd never buy a care, gas or any form of electronics so I'm more than happy to frequent their shop when I'm looking for some organic and hard to find herbs.

3. Dale's Indian Cuisine: Great Indian food restaurant. Great choice for something outside of the normal highly processed food realm. The food is of course not all raw and organic but it offers some better choices especially if you want to avoid meat. Very nice guys. The wife and I are regulars here.

4. Village Pointe Market: I LOVE their food but we aren't on this side of town very often and they are expensive. Not that it isn't worth it but for us we've been trying to budget a bit more that this place allows. But they are VERY nice. I locked my keys in my car one day over there and one of their employees (maybe an owner) called his AAA service for me!!!

5. Nature's Goodness Health Food: They have a lot of specialty items but their pretty expensive. The only things here that I would get, mostly because I'm familiar with the products are Young's Living Oils but I typically order them online or from a friend who is a distributor because they are very expensive.
Plus their hours make is hard to get over their.

6. Oakmont Health Food Store: Small selection and again very overpriced and poor hours making it hard to support them on a regular basis. The only thing I used to get here was GTs Kombucha but you can now find it cheaper at Fresh Market (which is a surprise because their usually way overpriced too) but now I'm trying to make my own kombucha tea.

7. Spring Run Markert: Is essentially like a local farmers market. They are great and are looking to grow their services. This is their website description "
Spring Run Market is a unique concept, different from your typical farmer’s market! We offer a variety of fresh, local and organic: meats and seafood, in-season produce, fresh and dried herbs, sprouted and whole grain baked items, canned items, plus an array of other locally raised and produced foods, and we are adding on every month! We offer year-round service and 2 locations, with pre-ordering at our website…and ordering has never been easier!" Spring Run Market | Greenville's original outlet for local organic, since 2008!

8. Sam and Mike's Munchies: is a small start from some recent ECU grads. They make homemade RAW and organic food. They are just starting up so they don't have a store front but they are utilizing the Fresh Run Market to sell their foods or for people to come pick up orders. EVERYTHING THEY HAVE MADE IS DELICIOUS! And they even gave me my kombucha baby to start my own kombucha tea. Check out their website and help support them. Again I can not emphasize enough their food is delicious! Home - Sam & Mike's Raw Munchies

9. Pita Pit: Is a great local healthy fast food option that is owned by a young ECU grad. They offer a lot of good options is you want to avoid meat and processed foods. Good prices and quick service. Location kind of sucks unless you're walking around downtown though.

10. The Scullery: Excellent homemade healthy food options. The owner is a great, hard working guy. I even met one of his employees rock climbing at ECU and over heard his singing his bosses praises. As a business owner I know how rare it is to find good employees but you must have good owners for them to be saying such great things about the place they work and who they work for without even being asked. Love this place.

I'm sure I'm missing a few but I hope that you guys/gals with post some more. The biggest thing is I'd love to find a group of people that are more active in the area meeting together and doing things to promote a healthier lifestyle that is so needed in this area. I'm sure there are some out there, maybe even that I listed but not being from here I have had a hard time meeting and finding these types of groups.

Please ignore what I'm sure are a mass of typos.
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Old 12-18-2012, 04:39 AM
 
Location: Greenville, NC
2,309 posts, read 6,078,424 times
Reputation: 1430
I strike a balance between poisons, diet and exercise to maintain as healthy a lifestyle as I'm looking for. There is a reason the local heath facilities tend to want to med people up rather than seeking less invasive alternatives. It's not the medical staffing that is to blame, it's 100% on the patients.

The huge majority of patients are medically ignorant of even the most basic knowledge. When I was pre-oping for a endoscopy recently the resident asked me if I had trouble "making water". I was like "Huh?" Do you mean urinate? He said yes. He explained that he asked that question because most of the people that are from this area didn't know what urinate meant and that they always called it making water.

Then on the day of the endoscopy the attending was explaining the risks to me. He got to the word perforation and thought he had to explain what that big word meant. Seriously.

I'm constantly surprising doctors. Really folks, this is just basic stuff that you learn in school when you pay attention.

The medical community here also has a very hard time getting people to change their habits. A lot of these folks have been consuming high fat, low fiber diets for their whole lives. They add salt to their food before they even taste it. And they think that because their grand daddy ate this way and lived to 100 years old, that they can do it too. They just don't realize just how lucky their grand daddy was.

I wouldn't be too harsh on the medical community, they're just trying to help out their patients any way that they can. When you give a person a year to lower their blood pressure through diet and exercise, and they come in a year later with higher blood pressure than they had to begin with, what is a doctor supposed to do?
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Old 12-18-2012, 07:15 AM
 
Location: Winterville
192 posts, read 279,374 times
Reputation: 66
Richard I totally understand what you mean! I've had patients say things like "My meat be hurtin'!" And my favorite is "I didn't know your spine could move." I definitely don't intend to be overly harsh on the medical community as a whole. You're right on point when you say that a lot of the people in this area (and likely disproportionally compared to many other areas) are ignorant of basic health information. I disagree though that the responsibility is 100% on the patient because a lot of times it's the medical doctors who are ignorant of how to get patients healthy too. Like you said they are ignorant, they aren't all just stupid. That's why we need to educate them.

Medicine is great for and designed for emergencies, not to fix chronic health problems like high blood pressure. Just telling a patient to eat better and exercise rarely works. After all most of them know that and have tried to "eat right and exercise" before but have failed to get the results because no one educated them on how to do it properly and this is often a result of the medical community because of their ignorance. And drugs and surgery are supposed to be a last resort but unfortunately those options are relied on too often by MDs or sought out by patients because they are taught that is how to obtain health.

I'm not trying to de rude but am just stating the reality that is medical doctors are taught how to prescribed drugs based on symptoms not how to improve the overall health and function of their patients because that's not what medicine is designed for. There's nothing wrong with that until they refuse to refer patients out to other professionals who are trained to help these patients become healthier without drugs or surgery. This is where I tend to become harsh towards the medical profession because I constantly have patients come in being told by their medical doctor that they have to be on drugs for the rest of their life or they "need" surgery because they don't know how to do anything for them without drugs or surgery and won't send them to someone else who can.

Don't get me wrong if I have a major accident, cut off m y finger, have second or third degree burns, etc. I'm going to the hospital. But if someone is suffering from a chronic and often lifestyle related disease they need to go to a doctor who can help them make those changes in their lifestyle all the while helping them to improve the function of their body. This is rarely a medical doctor because that's not what they are trained to do.

So in response to your question about what they should do when you tell them to exercise and eat right and they don't listen. Refer them to me and I can adjust them to improve their nervous system function and health and help educate them so they know how to make those changes. Then when they don't listen, and some of them still won't, it will be on the patient and not the medical community.
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Old 12-26-2012, 01:46 PM
 
Location: Winterville
192 posts, read 279,374 times
Reputation: 66
Are there at least any other people in the area that appreciate organic and locally produce food that is grown without chemicals, pesticides, hormones or antibiotics. I feel like I'm alone here... Does everyone really think that the health in our area is good or that an increase of drugs and surgery with more hospitals is actually going to make us healthier?
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Old 12-26-2012, 04:33 PM
 
3,353 posts, read 6,417,701 times
Reputation: 1128
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Bret Wickstrom View Post
Are there at least any other people in the area that appreciate organic and locally produce food that is grown without chemicals, pesticides, hormones or antibiotics. I feel like I'm alone here... Does everyone really think that the health in our area is good or that an increase of drugs and surgery with more hospitals is actually going to make us healthier?
Because of the lack of time I have at the moment, I'm not able to read all of your post but I understand what you mean. Greenville is a community where it has excellent health services but at the same time the average lifestyle presented isn't the best. Some Greenville residents, businesses, etc. have the capital to create healthier eating options but the sad reality is they won't work. Many of times on this site I've stated that I wanted to open a health foods store downtown and while the demographics are there, Greenville wouldnt support it. Where I live now (Washington DC, in a very urban environment), the road has many healthy food options because its actually "cool" to eat well/healthy here, and the residents can afford to pay more for quality/healthy food. Greenville is more of a city of quantity, people would rather go to Golden Carrol or to be nice Cheddar's and get enough food to serve two (of course eat it all themselves) than to say Panera Bread and get a nice healthy sandwich and soup.

Lately I've been pressing for bike lanes in the downtown area of Greenville for I see how well they work here in DC, but people probably still wouldn't use them. If I had the capital on hand, personally I'd buy 1,000 bikes for city residents if the city council agreed to spend $100,000 on bike lanes. I know this thread is about health, but Greenville really needs to have more density in the city center because on average a healthier lifestyle is found in dense areas rather than suburban. But that's just my two cents.
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Old 01-04-2013, 02:10 PM
 
Location: Winterville
192 posts, read 279,374 times
Reputation: 66
Is anyone here familiar with the Spring Run Market that is done every Saturday in Greenville?
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Old 01-06-2013, 07:50 AM
 
Location: Greenville, NC
2,309 posts, read 6,078,424 times
Reputation: 1430
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMOREBOY View Post
I know this thread is about health, but Greenville really needs to have more density in the city center because on average a healthier lifestyle is found in dense areas rather than suburban. But that's just my two cents.
You have to build up to have density. Greenville and Pitt County seem to rather prefer to build out. The denser Greenville Metro is about 9 miles East to West and about 7.5 miles North to South. That's a lot of area for only a hundred thousand people.
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Old 01-07-2013, 11:40 AM
 
132 posts, read 143,266 times
Reputation: 262
Sorry, just had to add my two cents as I read this thread, but Panera is hardly healthy, and it's definitley not organic. It's not the worst, but you have to be really careful of what you order there. Just because they add lettuce and tomato, and bake their breads fresh, does not make them healthy. I mean, it's better than some places, but their food on average has a high amount of calories, fat and sodium. Some of their sandwiches, will add almost 1000 calories and 1000mg of sodium to your diet just for lunch! Half of their salads have close to 40 grams or more of fat. I rarely eat at Panera for that reason, and when I do, I check apps on my phone that list the healthier choices there before i order.

See the attached nutritional information:

http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/nutr-guide.pdf
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Old 01-07-2013, 11:54 AM
 
Location: Winterville
192 posts, read 279,374 times
Reputation: 66
Quote:
Originally Posted by afk05 View Post
Sorry, just had to add my two cents as I read this thread, but Panera is hardly healthy, and it's definitley not organic. It's not the worst, but you have to be really careful of what you order there. Just because they add lettuce and tomato, and bake their breads fresh, does not make them healthy. I mean, it's better than some places, but their food on average has a high amount of calories, fat and sodium. Some of their sandwiches, will add almost 1000 calories and 1000mg of sodium to your diet just for lunch! Half of their salads have close to 40 grams or more of fat. I rarely eat at Panera for that reason, and when I do, I check apps on my phone that list the healthier choices there before i order.

See the attached nutritional information:

http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/nutr-guide.pdf

Agreed. Panera is like the Fresh Market of fast food. There may be some healthier options there than McDonald's but it is really just trying to appease to those with money who want to be healthier but don't understand that eating unprocessed, farm fresh, organic, and local food is what's healthy not just more appealingly package/prepared food. Better than most fast food but not really "healthy" overall. And when you really take a closer look they have some pretty poor options if you're really looking for real food not real processed food. Same as Fresh Market, some good options hidden with the majority of S.A.D. "quality" foods.
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Old 01-07-2013, 12:13 PM
 
Location: Winterville
192 posts, read 279,374 times
Reputation: 66
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Martin View Post
You have to build up to have density. Greenville and Pitt County seem to rather prefer to build out. The denser Greenville Metro is about 9 miles East to West and about 7.5 miles North to South. That's a lot of area for only a hundred thousand people.
I would have to disagree. Lived in a college town in Northern Michigan where the population density is 1,874.9 inhabitants per square mile vs. Greenville, NC of 2,364.6 people per square mile and the quality and selection of organic local and farm fresh foods was much better solely because of a very well run Co-Op that was about 50-100% bigger than the Oakmont Health Food Store but they had a WAY better variety as well as a selection of organic produce that was as good if not better than Fresh Markets but the prices were much better.

There are also a great deal more local small business restaurants that offer good quality homemade food (not southern style homemade; food that is fried, canned or smothered in butter/gravy). There were probably three times as many TRULY healthy restaurant options in this town of 21,355 compared to Greenville, NC who has 86,017 just in the city.

I just don't see how a denser population is going to automatically encourage healthier options.
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