Since I graduated from college a few years ago, my health and the food I put in my mouth have become increasingly important issues to me. I became a vegan over a year and a half ago for numerous reasons, including health. I started eating a lot of fruit, vegetables, and other non-processed food, and I preached the benefits of whole foods and organic/local produce.

I realized, however, upon reading Michael Pollen’s books, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food,” that what I was saying and what I was doing were not matching up. I often ended up grabbing the cheaper food rather than the organic food, opting for convenience rather than sustainability.

One of Pollen’s messages was that we spend less on food and more on healthcare, and I realized that I may be spending more on food at the moment, but in the long run, I would be benefiting myself, my community, and the world.

When a new Earth Fare opened up in my neighborhood, I started shopping there, and I’ve finally started living up to what I believe. I no longer say one thing and do another. I’ve been eating organic and as locally as possible for almost a year, and I have enjoyed every second.

I know my power as a consumer is having a positive effect on my community, and I continue to encourage my friends and neighbors to support whole foods movements, organic brands, and local farmers’ markets as a way to enrich their health and our community’s health!

You can share YOUR story with Earth Fare’s readers (and win a $50 gift card for yourself) by clicking here.
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More stories like this one:

Pat’s Fresh Start
Clean AND Healthy – Penny’s Story
Lisa’s Story: 100 Days of Real Food

Most “Wellness Starts Here” events will be held on Saturday, January 7th.
Earth Fare’s Knoxville – Bearden and Johnson City stores will host their events on Sunday, January 8th.
Times vary by store, so check your local Earth Fare for details.
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Back by popular demand, our “Wellness Starts Here” event brings together our knowledgeable Team, current trends and featured products, all aimed to improve your health!

Since we love our customers and you all love freebies, we’ll have free demos, free samples and we’ll raffle off 50+ gift baskets during the event! And, that’s not all. There is a new Phatcycle Sea Breeze street bike (estimated retail value $275) waiting for one lucky winner!

Get a sneak peak of all the great giveaway items on your store’s Facebook page. Entering the raffles are easy: simply attend YOUR stores Wellness Event!

If you are like most people who start off the year with good intentions of eating better, exercising more and getting healthier, be sure to join us this weekend and jumpstart your healthy resolutions with guidance from your helpful Wellness Team. Let’s make 2012 your healthiest year yet!

Congratulations to Jamison C. from Columbia who won the $50 Earth Fare gift card for answering the question: What are your 2011 highlights?

From serving dinner rolls at the soup station to Wellness events, the Idea Farm is home to over 1,000 ideas, all reviewed by CEO Jack Murphy.  When Jack gives an idea the “go,” the submitting Team Member gets a $100 BONUS for their idea.

Jack has given the “go” to 72 ideas, including:

• Barcode cards for the kids meals during Family Dinner Night
• Soy nuggets on the kids menu
• Polar Seltzer Water in the Grab ‘n Go
• Fire-extinguisher training and posters
• The “Cheese Passport” in Specialty
• Developing a missing-child safety program (Code Adam)
• A Heavy Weight Championship Belt for the department with the best weekly sales

As Team Earth Fare, we are all in this together and the Idea Farm is a testament to this culture.

To our customers, each day we strive to be better for you, and we will never settle. To our Team Members, keep those ideas coming!

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Check out these other Team Member posts:

South Asheville’s Crazy Hats
Ready, Set, GRILL!
Team Tomato’s High-Heels

Team Scott served the hungry judges first with a hearty plate of shrimp, turkey sliders, NY Strip with grilled hearts of romaine and pineapple. 

Team Frank followed with his local Sunburst Trout tacos.

The judges were full, but still needed to try Team Mike’s brisket, bacon-wrapped scallops and cinnamon-glazed grilled peaches.

During the judging, shoppers got to sample the grilled goods. Spectators were even able to pick up their favorite recipes to take home!

The competition was tough, and the judging was close. However, there could only be one Grill Master of Greensboro’s Grill-Off…Store Manager Mike!

Check out Mike’s menu here and don’t miss the pictures of the competition!

The chefs are already calling for a rematch. Mike is eager to defend his title. But where will the next throw-down be? A Chili-Off in Knoxville? Maybe a Burger-Off in Charlotte?  What challenge would you like to see in your store?

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More Team Member posts:

A Store Opening & A Power Outage
Highlights from Team Tomato’s Walk
An Extreme Team: Chattanooga

During his spring break, Steven gave several live performances throughout the Charleston store to film this video for you. Enjoy!

Thank you to all our Team Members that participated in the contest.

 Which song was your favorite? Watch the videos again and comment on your favorite!

1^st Prize Rock Hill

Runner-Up Chattanooga

There is no better way to debut a song than with a music video! Take a tour of the Chattanooga Earth Fare with Team Member and runner-up Will Martin, and meet some of the characters he works with along the way.

At the end of the video, you may wonder Who is Gracie? Gracie is Chattanooga’s Assistant Store Manager. She was training at a different store the week we filmed. Even though she couldn’t be in the music video, Will wanted to give her a special shout-out!

Rock Hill’s winning video debuts next Thursday, so stay tuned!

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More Team Member Music Videos:

Charleston’s winning video
Team Tomato ”Walks a Mile” in Her Shoes
The Team Behind the Scenes

Click here for a printable B&W copy.

Merry Christmas from Earth Fare! We’ll be updating our 12 Days of Christmas coupon every day, so be sure to stay tuned on facebook, twitter, and our web site to get the newest deal each day!

I am a 30 year old, married woman with 2 kids & am pretty good looking. But I wasn’t always so wonderful. I grew up having no idea about healthy food. We ate what my dad cooked, and with 5 kids at the table, you ate it all or someone would take it from you. There were no leftovers.

I was bigger than the other kids in my class and bigger than my siblings, but I kept hearing, well she’ll grow out of it. Once, while I was in 8th grade I tried on some jeans & they didn’t fit, they were 18s. I realized then that I had a problem, but I had no idea what to do about it.

For the rest of my school days I was the funny one. I had smart comments, a huge smile & I would do anything people dared, or asked me to. I got used by boys, I got in trouble for listening to mean girls & I didn’t tell anybody how bad I felt about myself. I was looking for acceptance.

When I met my husband he too was overweight. We got together & got bigger, together. Looking back we had the worst diet ever! We would go through McDonalds on the way to his parents’ house for dinner. I had no idea that drinks had calories in them, I mean really how terrible is that, to DRINK your calories! That just seems wrong on so many levels. I enjoy food way to much to drink away my calories, but I was. I was consuming over 4000 calories a day without realizing it.

Once we got engaged, we got on track to losing weight, but the weight was our only focus, so I took the easy way out & decided diet pills would be the cure. I did lose weight, but learned nothing about eating healthy. I exercised because I simply had so much energy I didn’t know what to do with it. We did lose weight for our goal, the wedding. Of course 2 years later, we were just as big as we had been before.

It is only in the last year that we have learned how to eat healthy and what exercise really is. We now have 2 children that we are training to avoid obesity & stay fit. Our kids will know what healthy food is. We enjoy your store, the options are great & we shop there often. Our largest weights were, 314 for me, a 5’7″ woman and my husband 395 6’3″ man. Currently we are 165 and 270.

We eat at home, mostly south beach diet type foods, we lift weights and get 30-45 minutes of cardio a day. Our children love to run and bike! My story really is simply about the “you can do it!” kinda attitude. It is hard and you have to retrain your palette, but everyone can do it!

You can share your story with Earth Fare’s readers by clicking here.

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More posts like this:

Your Health: Learning Healthy Lessons with Laura

Your Health: Keeping the Family Healthy with Christy

Your Health: Keeping Healthy Food in the Family with Mary

I’ve always believed in and practiced a healthy lifestyle including diet and physical activity. In July 2006, coming out of the shower, I dropped something on the floor. When I bent down to pick it up, I felt a sharp pain under my arm and when I reached for it, my hand felt a lump – I froze! Then, hesitantly I slowly moved my hand down my breast and felt a lump number two, then three!

 Although I did self-breast exams, had clinical breast exams perform and mammograms, I truly believe those lumps just suddenly appeared. They were right on the surface of the breast tissue, 4 cm each! I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. After the bombshell was dropped, the surgery was scheduled 7 days later.

 That week before surgery we did several things to prepare me for that grand day. My husband Curtis purchased a twenty-five pound bag of organic carrots and juiced them for me to drink to enhance my immunity. Also, I made sure I went to bed by 9:30p.

 Furthermore, we continued our walking program up until the day before surgery. One morning Curtis asked me if I wanted the neighbor’s dog we called “Brownie” to pray for my surgery. I smiled and said, “Sure, why not.”

 When I asked Brownie to pray, she quietly got down on her front legs in a praying position, what a comfort!

 A few weeks later August 11th I had major surgery, Praise God my surgery was a success. I was discharged on the very next day. That very evening I went grocery shopping and the following morning, Curtis and I resumed our 8-10,000 step walking program without any pain!

 Talking to my oncologist and after discovering the potential side effects from chemotherapy followed by radiation and hormone therapy, we were lead to utilized alternative medicine. That included a total plant based diet, herbal medicine and juicing.

 During this course of time there was a steady improvement based on CT scans and lab work which lead our oncologist to declare me cancer free in 11 months later. August 2010 I will be a 4 year Breast Cancer Survivor/Conqueror. I feel blessed to be surrounded by my husband, so many family members and close caring friends, who cheered me on my journey. In addition, I truly believe that my positive attitude and spiritual walk also assisted in the healing process.