A Bounty of Natural Resources

Supermarket shelves nowadays are full of products proclaiming to be whole, all-natural, fat-free and “lite.” Sometimes the label even refers to things that were never part of the product. Pretzels with no cholesterol? Was there a time when they had any? “Fresh” spaghetti sauce in a jar? Please.

However dubious, such labeling points to a growing concern with what’s in the foods we buy and eat. Many health-conscious consumers are heeding the advice of nutritional experts and avoiding sugar, bleached flour, chemical additives and processed meats. Some shoppers are seeking such items as soy-based meat and dairy substitutes, whole grain products and organically grown fruits and vegetables.

Finding these sorts of foods is not difficult if you know where to look. North County has long been home to natural foods producers and advocates. Many items can be found in traditional supermarkets and in gourmet shops, but the largest concentrations are in what have become known as health food stores. In the past few years, several specialized stores have joined older establishments, such as Community Market of Encinitas, giving North County shoppers a range of options, from small neighborhood convenience stores to full-size natural foods markets.

Here are some of North County’s natural foods markets:

BONEY’S MARKET PLACE 705 E. Vista Way, Vista, 758-7175;

510 W. 13th Ave, Escondido, 745-2141 It’s Saturday morning at Boney’s in Vista, and one of the cash registers is broken. The lines at the four remaining registers are growing longer, and shoppers are getting a little testy. Suddenly, store manager Norman Frazier is out of his office and in the checkout area, bagging groceries and moving quickly from one line to the next.

“Haven’t seen you in a while, Norm,” says a man in one line.

“Oh, I just got back from vacation,” says Frazier. He talks as he works, throwing groceries from hand to hand and quickly stuffing them in a bag. The checkers pick up the pace, and soon the lines are back to normal.

Frazier leaves the checkout area with this observation: If a cash register is going to break down, it will do so at the busiest possible time. Then he strides up and down the aisles of his store, straightening items as he talks.

“We carry a lot of things that you can’t find anywhere else,” he said. For instance, in the grains section, there’s amaranth flour, millet, barley flakes and at least a dozen other items.

“If it’s a grain, I’ve got it,” he said.

Since the late 1970s, the seven-store Boney’s chain has provided San Diego shoppers with an alternative to the major grocery stores. In North County, Boney’s has a 14,000-square-foot store in Vista and a 20,000-square-foot store in Escondido. Both carry a large variety of bulk foods, produce (mostly commercially grown), vitamins, herbs, spices, teas and frozen foods. Boney’s also has a meat department--in Vista, Mother Hubbard’s Meats, run by the third-generation Hubbard family.

Many Boney’s shoppers are looking for items used in gourmet cooking, Frazier said. Selling such things in bulk--walnuts by the half-cup, for instance--gives shoppers an option they don’t have in the supermarkets, he said.

Another major draw is the Boney’s-label bread, including a popular loaf topped with sunflower seeds, baked fresh daily at the Hillcrest store. Boney’s also brings customers in by presenting monthly seminars on health and nutrition.

Boney’s is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

CASADY’S WHOLE FOODS MARKET

284 N. El Camino Real, Encinitas, 436-3663

With its wide aisles and shiny, waxed floors, Casady’s looks and feels like a typical grocery store. It is--except for what’s on the shelves. For instance, only three items in the 10,000-square-foot store contain sugar: Pepperidge Farm cookies and ice cream by Haagen-Dazs and Alta Dena.

But those are exceptions. What you’ll find instead is ice cream made from rice and soybeans, mountains of produce, most of it organically grown, lots of bulk foods, including beans, nuts, seeds grains and flours, frozen foods, a large vitamin section, homeopathic remedies, and myriad tofu and soy-based products, including some designed to appeal to ex-carnivores, such as Fakin’ Bacon and Phony Baloney.

Derek and Nancy Casady opened the store in 1987. Their business steadily increased through last year, then leveled off some, which Derek attributes to the recession. Nonetheless, natural food is a growing business, he says.

“About 15% of the population across the country is going to natural food stores now,” he said, and he suspects the percentage may be higher locally.

At least one local institution has taken advantage of the store--trainers from the La Costa Resort and Spa have brought clients through to show them how to shop for healthy foods.

“It’s not that hard, really,” Casady said. “We have all the categories of food that a regular store has.”

In fact, Casady’s is the kind of place that makes it a little easier for people to make a change in their eating habits, according to holistic health practitioner Betinna Yelman of Del Mar.

“Stores like Casady’s make it possible for the mainstream consumer to cross over,” she said. She tells her clients to shop near the corners of the store, where the produce and refrigerated products are, because these are items are usually unprocessed or closer to their natural state.

COMMUNITY MARKET

745 1st St., Encinitas, 753-4632 Trish Siscon has been shopping at Community Market for 15 years now. When the store first opened in Leucadia, she would stop in after driving up from North Park for a day at the beach. She kept coming after the market moved into an old gas station on Old Highway 101 in Encinitas, and from there across the street to the Lumberyard, where it’s been for the past seven years.

Now a Cardiff resident, Siscon doesn’t have to drive very far to get the organic produce and other natural food items she wants. But she would if necessary. She supports all health food stores, she said, and she has noticed a momentum at work in the past five years.

“More people are becoming aware of what they’re eating, and what causes what,” she said. Some are older people who are shopping more carefully for specific health reasons, like those avoiding salt to keep their blood pressure under control. Others are reacting to what they learn through news reports, such as the controversy a few years ago over the use of the chemical Alar on apples.

“All the warnings are making people more consciously aware,” Siscon said. She’s confident that by shopping at stores such as Community Market, she’ll avoid unwanted chemicals in her food.

“Here you really don’t have to read the labels,” she said.

Checking her list, Siscon heads for the vegetables. Her cart already holds several bottles of juice made from organically grown fruit, a carton of eggs and some organically grown grapes.

In the vegetable section, red potatoes are 49 cents a pound, comparable to what you might expect to pay for commercially grown potatoes in a supermarket. But this is not always the case. In fact, organically grown produce often costs more. But that doesn’t bother shoppers like Siscon.

“Why settle for less?” she said. “Your health is priceless.”

Clearly, many people in the Encinitas area agree. Over the past 16 years, owner Gary Bronsveld, 39, has nurtured the growth of Community Market into a local institution. The store is now a comprehensive source of natural food products and information.

The main attraction is the large selection of produce, which Bronsveld says is about 90% organically grown, much of it locally. The store also has a wide array of bulk foods, frozen and dairy sections, a small deli and juice bar, many shelves of vitamins, homeopathic remedies, cosmetics, juicers and a large bookshelf stocked with titles on health and nutrition.

Bronsveld, a surfer who came to North County from the East Coast, was involved with a food co-op that went out of business in the mid-1970s. He stepped in to revive it, and has been running Community Market ever since. He became interested in natural foods when he was in high school in the 1960s, he said. A shaggy 1960s atmosphere still lingers, from the old Volkswagen vans you’re likely to see in the parking lot to the rack of tie-dyed T-shirts in the back of the store.

CREAM OF THE CROP

2009 S. Hill St., Oceanside, 433-2757

Organic produce is the main draw at Cream of the Crop, according to Harry Najjar, who has owned and run the store since 1989. In addition to a large selection of fruits and vegetables, the 3,330-square-foot store has vitamins, herbs, homeopathic remedies, cosmetics, frozen foods and three aisles of what Najjar calls “clean-label” goods in cans and boxes.

“You ought to be able to read the label and understand everything that’s in there,” he said. “If I don’t know what’s in it, then I don’t want to sell it in here.”

Najjar has also made room for a table full of books about health and food. The store even carries organic wines and a few imported beers, and such environmentally correct items as biodegradable laundry detergent and recycled paper towels.

“Anything you can get in a grocery store you can get in here, closer to its natural state,” Najjar said. In the dairy section, for instance, there are range-free eggs, meaning the hens were not caged.

“The idea is if a chicken is not stressed, it will produce a better egg,” Najjar said. “And believe it or not, it does.”

The store has nutritionists available who can offer personalized dietary advice.

Cream of the Crop is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.

North County is also served by many smaller natural foods stores, including the following:

BETTER LIFE HEALTH FOODS

451 Sante Fe Drive, Encinitas, 753-7728

Chuck Culp, the third owner of Better Life Foods, has run the shop since 1980. The store specializes in sports supplements and sports nutrition products, and also carries books, cosmetics, juices and natural foods, including snacks, grains and teas. Free body fat testing is offered once a month, next on Nov. 23.

Better Life Health Foods is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays.

COUNTRY GIRL NUTRITION SHOPPE

12222 Poway Road, Poway, 748-9012

Country Girl Nutrition Shoppe, which owner and manager Jean Morgan calls “the health food store with pizazz,” has served Poway for eight years. The shop sells vitamins and supplements; books; herbs; natural and hypoallergenic cosmetics; appliances, including juicers, water filters and massagers, and homeopathic remedies.

The shop has built a loyal following, Morgan said, and ships many products to customers who have moved to other parts of the country.

Country Girl Nutrition Shoppe is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

FLOWER HILL NATURAL FOODS

2650 Via de la Valle, Suite C-120, Del Mar, 755-7504

Flower Hill Natural Foods is tucked in a downstairs corner of the Flower Hill Mall, next to the latest of Gerry Kirk’s giant sandcastle creations. Kirk, who is now in Russia building another sandcastle, opened the store in August, manager Kevin Schugar said.

With its low black ceiling and track lighting overhead, soft green carpeting underfoot and workout-pace music in the background, it’s a natural foods store for the 1990s. The store’s selection of vitamins and supplements have the needs of North County’s endurance athletes in mind.

“This is jock city,” Schugar said. “This is the post-collegiate, self-motivated athletic center of the world.”

There are also boxed and canned goods, frozen foods, cosmetics and homeopathic remedies. By late November, the store will have a juice bar, bulk foods and a selection of organically grown products, Schugar said.

Flower Hill Natural Foods is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.

HEALTH AND LIFE

363 W. Felicita Ave., Escondido, 743-0181

New owners Darlene Reynolds and Allen Beygi opened Health and Life, formerly Health Express, on Oct. 3. The small shop carries a selection of vitamins, homeopathic remedies and natural beauty care products.

Health and Life is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.

NUTRITION MART

178 S. Rancho Sante Fe Road, San Marcos, 727-3846

Nutrition Mart carries vitamins, minerals, vegetarian packaged foods, nuts, seeds, beauty care, frozen foods, homeopathic remedies, herbs “and good conversation and friendly people,” said owner Glen Goulding. The 1,600-square-foot store has been in business for 16 years, and he has run it for the past six.

Nutrition Mart is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.

OCEANSIDE NUTRITION CENTER

18 N. Freeman, Oceanside, 722-5445

The Oceanside Nutrition Center carries a selection of vitamins, bodybuilding supplements, herbs, teas, skin and hair care products, vegetarian groceries, grains, organic breads and deli items, said owner Jean De Galzain, who runs the store with his wife, Nadine.

More than half his customers are regulars, and many come in every day, de Galzain said.

The store is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.

VILLAGE NATURAL FOODS

2972 State St., Carlsbad, 729-3580

Opened in June in the older part of downtown Carlsbad, Village Natural Foods has groceries, including organically grown produce, vitamins, sports nutrition products and a small deli.

“We get a lot of people who walk by, and people who work in the area,” said Louise Manganelli, who runs the shop with her son and daughter-in-law, Joe and Karen Manganelli.

Village Natural Foods is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.

YOUR NATURAL GROCER

124 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach, 481-7244 “We’re a full-service, small-scale store,” said Claud Bery, who has squeezed bulk foods, cosmetics, vitamins, produce, frozen foods, a dairy case and deli items into his 1,000-square-foot store in Solana Beach Plaza. Your Natural Grocer is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.