Community Spotlight: Earth Foods
by Linda Sechrist
Philip Pappas, Ph.D., is nearly as much of a fixture in the Bucks County natural health community as is his store, Earth Foods, which first opened in 1988. A certified nutritionist with 20 years of experience in natural health, Pappas has an additional 25 years of experience in the field of traditional health care. His diverse background, which includes directing a stress management program at a major teaching hospital as well as a cutting-edge ADD/ADHD treatment and training center, provides the foundation of his knowledge about the complex problem of masking symptoms with prescribed pharmaceuticals rather than getting to the root cause of a health problem.Pappas’ background in medicine and understanding of health issues from a natural healing perspective affords him the opportunity to provide valuable information regarding lifestyle conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease and obesity. “These health problems can only be corrected with lifestyle changes and do not require prescription drugs taken long term. In fact, there is no prescription cure for these conditions, regardless of what all the TV advertising implies,” notes Pappas, who is adamant that drugs don’t cure anything. “Doctors can’t use the word ‘cure’ when they hand you a prescription. They can tell you that you’ll be fine if you take them daily as directed but they can’t say you’ll be cured because you won’t be.”
After tiring of conventional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry’s non-cures and long lists of cautionary instructions about side effects, Pappas was ready to move on and explore a different territory—natural health. “My lifestyle is natural based so it wasn’t a stretch. When the local independent health food store, which had been in business in the community since 1988, went up for sale in 2007, I thought it was a natural fit and the right place for me to offer nutritional counseling, weight management seminars, therapy for stress-induced conditions such as anxiety, panic attack, high blood pressure, and Raynaud’s disease as well as digestive solutions for post-surgical and post-cancer treatment.”
Pappas, who works with individuals in their post-cancer treatment phase, emphasizes that it’s particularly important after chemotherapy or radiation to get the immune system back into good working order, resolve any acid-reflux or other digestive problems and take care of the skin.
A proponent of educating the public on what they can do to achieve and maintain optimal health, Pappas articulated his depth of knowledge and simple philosophy on health care every week from 2000 to 2005 during his radio show. Today, he still shares it occasionally as a talk show guest. “The focus of health should be about prevention and what we can do in the areas of diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management. We need to supplement our diet with vitamins and minerals because our soil in the U.S. no longer contains them. We also need to detoxify the body regularly because we are subjected to more toxins in our environment than ever before,” advises Pappas.
Service means a lot to Pappas, who makes sure that store employees can knowledgeably help customers. “One of our staff is always involved in some type of training program to insure that they are knowledgeable not just on the products we sell but also on how to answer the customer’s questions about how to maintain their health. That’s really why we are all here—to educate people about how they can take care of themselves,” he says.
Earth Foods is a Community Health Education Center, certified by the Dr. Rath Health Foundation, a organization dedicated to the promotion of natural health and education and research in the U.S. as well as worldwide.
Earth Foods, 4950 York Rd. (Buckingham Green Shopping Center), Holicong, 215-794-5311, EarthFoods.us, February 2013
