Conscious Choice Seattle: In Harmony with Nutritional Healing

May 2004 | Evergreen Citizen

In Harmony with Nutritional Healing

By Andrew Mulholland

Jazz was Jerry Armour’s first passion. After serving in World War II, Armour became a promoter for record companies. During the 1960s and early ’70s, Armour was touting new jazz and rock songs by Chuck Mangione, the group 10cc and Rod Stewart (just breaking onto the pop charts with his first hit, “Maggie May”).

Then Armour’s son was born with autism. Armour poured his passion into nutritional healing. He collaborated with open-minded doctors who worked with Armour’s ideas about supplementation and diet. The therapy helped Armour’s son progress from “a vegetable” at birth to “close to normal” by age 4.

While Armour’s love of jazz music has never waned, his life’s work morphed into nutritional counseling. He earned a C.N. (clinical nutritionist) designation and immersed himself in nutrition information and education. He served as product information officer for the large supplement company, Twin Labs, from 1985 to 1990. He moved to the Seattle area in the early 1990s to help his daughter overcome oral cancer, which she beat through surgery and follow-up supplementation and dietary changes.

Armour started working at Good Health Pantry in Bellevue in 1994 and bought the business in 1996. He is in the process of selling the store by summer, a few months before his 80th birthday in September. He will continue to formulate vitamin and supplement products for Oregon Health, a Phoenix-based company for which he has consulted for years. His plans are to move outside San Diego to be near his daughter.

Before the Puget Sound region—and many loyal customers in Bellevue—loses him, here are some bits of wisdom he has imparted over the years:

What every health store needs: “No health food store should open its doors without a certified nutritionist or naturopath on staff. You need someone with a biochemical background.”

Body shop: “Most of us wouldn’t dream of maintaining or fixing our own cars. We trust it to the mechanics. But then we decide we know all there is to know about the fuel that goes in our bodies. We don’t ask for help. We take care of our automobiles better than our bodies.”

Food for thought: “You cannot differentiate as a layperson what vitamins to take. We can get all of our vitamins and minerals from food. Unfortunately, food companies make the situation no better [with all the processed food on market].”

Down on the pharm: “Scores of supplement products from pharmaceutical companies are worthless. These companies have no inkling what the body is about.”

Super-sized about big discount competition for independent health food stores: “People go for price only when buying vitamins at a big-chain discount store. They forget about what’s best for the body.”

Energy management: “Most multiple vitamins are not blended to conform to your body’s needs. If a multiple works, you should feel some boost of energy after the first three days of using it.”

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