If You Watch What You Eat, You’ll Like What You See At Sunwheel

By Kaaren Valenta

Tucked behind Dr Mike’s Ice Cream at the intersection of Main Street (Route 25) and Route 59 is Sunwheel Health Foods, a business that has served the northern Fairfield County area for three decades.

Jody Chittem, who operates the health food store with the help of her husband Matt, has owned it for the past eight years. Prior to that, she worked for years in health food stores in Stratford and Westport.

Sunwheel Health Foods sells not only vitamins and other supplements, but also food and products for diets free of gluten, wheat, or dairy as well as low-fat, vegan and vegetarian, low carbohydrate and other restricted diets.

“We’re knowledgeable about these products and these diets,” Ms Chittem said. “If we aren’t sure, we will call the manufacturer to double check.”

Immediately inside the front door is the store’s library: books for sale on a variety of topics, racks of free information, a free monthly magazine, and a large file cabinet with reference material. Soothing, relaxing music drifts through the store from a CD player that allows the shopper to preview an album before making a purchase.

Shelves, bins, refrigerated cases, and freezers are filled with fresh and prepared foods, health and beauty products, and environmentally friendly cleaning products.

“A lot of people think that health food stores are all tofu and whole wheat bread, but we have much more than that to offer,” Ms Chittem said. “For example, we have an Aegean olive oil that is made from the first pressing and has an acidity that is only 0.4 percent, less than half of the 1 percent that can be called extra virgin. We fill the bottles here, and if you save the bottle, you can save $3 on a refill.”

Barlean’s flax oil is popular because it is pressed to order, she said, which makes it very fresh. “You can put it into yogurt, cottage cheese, drizzle on bread, make salad dressing, or just take it straight,” Ms Chittem said. “It provides essential Omega-3 fatty acids.”

With Thanksgiving coming, the freezer case offers Tofurky, a vegan stuffed tofu roast with cranberry apple stuffing, potato dumplings, gravy and even “wishstixs.” There are juices, canned and frozen vegetables, dried fruits and nuts, cereals, frozen breads (many wheat- and gluten-free), condiments.

“We have just about everything except fresh produce,” Ms Chittem said. “For baking, for example, we have chocolate chips that are dairy-free and gluten-free, and also organic chocolate chips, and carob chips for people that can’t have chocolate — something for everyone.”

“Gluten-free is really big now because of its connection with celiac disease, autism, and allergies,” she said.

There is also an extensive supply of Atkins, Keto, and other low-carbohydrate foods. The “ice cream” case holds rice and soy-based nondairy frozen desserts and is accompanied by wheat-free and gluten-free ice cream cones and cookies. Organic milk, $2.99 for a half gallon, not only contains no synthetic hormones, but the pastures and water source for the cows must be pesticide-free. Ditto with the butter, eggs, and other dairy products.

There are Connecticut-made products as well, such as pasta sauce, soaps, and even greeting cards and hand-knit scarves. “I try to support local business,” Ms Chittem said.

A rack of organic teas sits adjacent to a display case with organic herbs and spices. Nearby are Aubrey organic beauty products. “These are truly all natural with no preservatives or emulsifiers,” Ms Chittem said. “The company has been around since 1967.”

It was her experience with her own health issues and those of her sons that got Ms Chittem interested in health foods and supplements.

“I got interested in diet because of health problems that developed when I was a teenager,” she said. “I have Crohn’s disease, which at the time was only treated with prednisone and surgery. I started exploring with alternatives in my diet and that got me interested in what health food stores had to offer.”

She took a job at Nature’s Way in Stratford and stayed there for more than ten years, then worked at the Fountain of Youth in Westport for several years before learning that the health food store in Monroe was for sale.

Almost five years ago she married Matt Chittem.

“We met singing karaoke,” she said. “He started helping me at the store until I found someone else, but we got along so well that he never left. Our wedding was on December 31, 1999 — the millennium New Year — and our reception was combined with a New Year’s Eve party. We thought it was a great idea, but everyone was so worried about what would happen that night, that the guests all left by about 9:30!”

Sunwheel Health Foods, 444 Main Street, Monroe, is open Monday through Friday 10 am to 6 pm and Saturday 10 to 5. Closed Sundays. Major credit cards are accepted. For more information, call 268-2688.