Natural Choices — Health Food, Organic Produce, Gluten Free, Vitamins, Supplements — Columbus, Bartholomew County, Indiana

Archive for the ‘Healthful thoughts’ Category

Summer produce is so yummy.

This is a great time of year to get fresh, local produce. I truly enjoy buying a boat-load of green beans and strawberries and adding them to every meal. They just taste so much better. I like to buy locally grown produce because I know it hasn’t been picked green and ripened during a multi-day trip to my area. That’s the first step to healthier living. The next is to find local organically-grown produce, which is a bit more difficult.

What makes it easier in Columbus, Indiana is that Natural Choices stocks locally grown, organic produce every day of the week. Fresh from the fields, delivered right away and replenished as the supply runs low. Great for the farmers, for Natural Choices and especially for us, the consumer.

Let Natural Choices know if you have a special request.

Carolyn Behrman, the owner, has a sign up at the store that asks for requests. She means if you want a particular vegetable or fruit, ask her and she will do her best to find it and stock it. All her produce is fresh and organically grown. At Natural Choices it’s an ever-changing, colorful display that you will feel good about putting on the table for your family.

Olive oil is healthy for you and tasty, too!

Now is the time to stock up on the fresh vegetables and fruits. As you purchase too many to eat in the course of regular meals, do a little planning for the rest of the year. Prepare the excess produce for the freezer or can them so you can have a tasty supply through fall and over the winter. There’s nothing better than a little taste of summer when the winter winds and snow begins to fly. Just the thought makes me take the time to fill my freezer. Don’t delay and miss the window of opportunity.

While you’re at it, check out the selection of organic olive oils at Natural Choices to go with the fresh produce. Healthy for you and good to eat, too.

Isn’t summer just grand?

–Ellie of the Natural Choices Blog Team

I like the drive from Indianapolis to Columbus and when I get there, I am rewarded with a visit to Natural Choices, the healthy living store. Without even trying, I always learn something new or find something to make my life healthier when I walk through the door of Natural Choices.

Essential oils come in small, potent quantities.

The last trip I learned about essential oils. I knew people who purchased essential oils, but I had no idea what they did with them. The first thing I learned is that, for the most part, essential oils are not for ingestion. That’s a big one for me because I thought they were used in cooking which is not usually true.

Essential oils are the “essence” of a plant, the scent and vitality of a plant distilled into a very potent, useful bit of oil. The oils are used in aromatherapy for one thing. But for novices like me, I have to learn a little bit at a time.

Pure and natural oils are the best. Consumers have to be aware that there are synthetic products out there. Pay attention to ingredients (you don’t want to see the word ‘fragrance’ as an ingredient) and buy oils from “people who know” rather than from the big box store manned by workers trained in emptying boxes onto shelves despite the contents.

Lavender oil smells wonderful and is healthful, too.

For summer, one of the big finds is that specific essential oils like citronella, peppermint and lavender can be used as a natural bug repellent. Simply sprinkle a few drops onto a cotton ball and place it near doorways and windows! Keep the bugs out and freshen the air at the same time! What a great idea.

Another important bit of information gleaned was that because the oils are so potent, care must be exercised in using them around pets and children. You know how they like to put things in their mouths – and ingested full-strength essential oil would not be a good thing.

What started this whole new adventure in essential oils was a huge display of them at Natural Choices. You can trust that they will be pure and healthful if they are on the shelves there and the staff can help you explore the scents and choose those that will benefit you.

Go on in, explore, learn and take home an essential oil to freshen your home and boost your health at the same time!

–Ellie of the Natural Choices Blog Team

Natural Choices is nearby no matter where you live. Call, place an order and it will be shipped directly to you.

I spent most of yesterday and all day today creating a new flower bed- in the clay the builder left me for a yard. It was hard work but I know in a few weeks and for years to come I will enjoy the flowers, ground covers and plants. When I have worked really hard and am very thirsty, I want water, or better yet, tea to drink. For some reason, ice cold brewed tea is what seems to revive me.

So after a hard two days in the yard, a glass of tea in hand, I started surfing to find out if I am the only one who thinks tea is the perfect cold drink in summer as well as hot drink in the fall and winter.

Natural Choices has a wide selection of teas for good health.

I found the Tea Association of the United States online. There is a section on tea and health that I found very interesting about tea and cardiovascular health – cholesterol in particular:

Researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) studied the effect of tea on 15 mildly hypercholesterolemic adult participants following a “Step I” type diet moderately low in fat and cholesterol, as described by the American Heart Association and the National Cholesterol Education Program. After three weeks, researchers found that five servings of Black Tea per day reduced LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by 11.1 percent and total cholesterol (TC) by 6.5 percent compared to placebo beverages.

Woo-hoo! That is terrific news for me and everyone else who has to think about cholesterol levels. I think I will eliminate drinking soda pop for a month and replace it with tea. That means I will have to probably make it myself and carry it with me in a mug. But that’s okay because I can go to Natural Choices in Columbus, Indiana. The owner, Carolyn, has a tremendous variety of teas there. Many list organic ingredients.

Sometimes it just happens that the things you really like and enjoy can be the things that can be really good for your body, mood and overall health. Tea, apparently, is one of them!!

–Ellie of the Natural Choices Blog Team

Check out the selection of Alvita, TAZO, Yogi, Good Earth and other teas on the shelves at Natural Choices.