Julie Shaffley has been on a lifelong mission of helping people live longer and live better through better eating an a happier outlook on life. The owner of Good Health Nutrition Center on Harrison Avenue in Centralia, Shaffley says living a better life is easy. It just takes discipline.
“You’re in charge of you and what you put in your body and everything you do can work for you,” she explains.
She grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota, and first got into the health food business in high school when she visited the area during summers and worked for a health food store in Olympia.
mall. Photo credit: D. Frank DeLong
After she graduated from college, she came west and continued to work in the industry, becoming the manager of the store in Olympia. The industry was still in its infancy, but Shaffley said she saw a bright future.
“I used to dream of the time when healthy food would become mainstream products,” she says.
And little by little, that is the case as super markets and restaurants continue to add healthier foods to their product lineups and menus. Of course, Shaffley is way ahead of the curve and says it takes a commitment to healthy eating, drinking, acting and thinking healthy to actually achieve desired results.
So successful is the Good Nutrition store that it’s into a third version — lead by expansions — in the same mall that used to host Safeway.
Shaffley and her late husband, Curt, bought the store on July 1, 1990. Coupled with its previous 14-year run, Good Health Nutrition Center has been operating in that mall for 40 years. Looking for a key to success, she proudly points to her nine-member staff, which she says is “an honor” to work with every day of the week. If that sounds corny, it’s not. Small businesses often succeed or fail depending on how the firm’s employees view the business and treat the public.
Many of the customers are regulars and Shaffley and her staff know them and talk casually about their families and well, their health.
chemical. Photo credit: D. Frank DeLong
Shaffley believes there are five basic things you can do to live better and live longer.
She believes in having a positive attitude. “I believe you should go through your day, every day, with a smile on your face,” she says. “If you smile, you will feel better and that’s a great start to living better. Remember, life is not a number, but how you’re living it.”
She puts a focus on drinking water. Coffee and other beverages have their place, but Shaffley firmly believes that water is much more beneficial. “Think about your body. It is made up of cells and they reproduce. When you injure a cell by eating or drinking wrong, it will divide into two damaged cells. Drinking a lot of water is like giving your cells a shower. Would you take a coffee shower?”
everyone else on the nine-person staff. Photo credit: D. Frank DeLong
Shaffley hearkens back to history and believes getting up on your feet is key. Remember the poor people who probably would have outlived us all with today’s medicines? One of the important parts of their existence was walking, often for long distances, every day of their lives. “You should start walking. Go to the store and park in the most distant part of the parking lot. Get up and get moving.”
She believes in choosing wisely. Eating is one of the true enjoyments of life. Problem is huge amounts of money are spent on advertising to compel consumers to eat the wrong things. Cereals are full of sugar, many dishes are fat filled and topped off with unholy levels of sodium. “Educate yourself, know what’s good — good for your body and tastes good,” Shaffley says. By the way, she does not always eat perfectly. She listed some of her favorite restaurants around the Twin Cities, some of which that serve a decidedly less-than-healthy menu. “The key is moderation,” she says.
Julie Shaffley takes great care in stocking her shelves. Photo credit: D. Frank DeLong
She’s also got some things to say about supplements. There has been a lot of press about the use of supplemental pills in a diet. And not all good. But as Shaffley points out, she doesn’t carry one product that she would not put into her own body. Also, the secret with supplements is in the label. It says straight away what it’s all about.
The most important advice Shaffley has for anyone who might be thinking about living a better life is to start now.
“The sooner you start, the better you will feel and the more you will want to do,” she explains.
But she warns not to go out and make a conversion overnight. That’s not real and will not work.
“Start slowly,” she says. “Then it becomes more comfortable and you add to your new diet.”
Oh, there is one thing she thinks you don’t have to hold back on. Smile. It can change your life for the good almost instantly.
Good Health Nutrition Center
503 Harrison Avenue
Centralia, WA
360-736-3830
