Sisters Darla Carrillo (left) and Donna Cheffield opened Georgia’s Naturals in 2013. Sisters Darla Carrillo (left) and Donna Cheffield opened Georgia’s Naturals in 2013.[/caption]

When Darla Carrillo sat down for lunch each day in the cafeteria of Georgetown High School, the spread she laid out often did not reflect the palate of the typical American teenager.


“I think I was always the weird kid that ordered the salads and took my vitamins to school with me,” she said. “Sure, sometimes I ate like a teenager, but at some point I had a shift to really paying attention to what I was doing.”


For Carrillo, being health-conscious
was a part of her childhood. During the first decade of her life she watched her mother care for Carrillo’s grandmother, Georgia, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer months before Carrillo was born. A doctor had given her six months to live, Carrillo said.   


Along with her grandmother’s conventional treatments, Carrillo’s mother turned to alternative medicine and holistic treatments such as supplements and a healthy diet. Carrillo got to spend nearly 12 years with her grandmother, who died in 1985—more than a decade after her doctor’s original prediction, Carrillo said.


When Carrillo and her sister Donna Cheffield launched a holistic health store in Georgetown two years ago, Carrillo said the name Georgia’s Naturals seemed like a natural fit.


“When it came down to picking a name, it just popped into my head,” she said. “[My grandmother] was a big influence for me.”


The sisters sell supplements, health food and offer consultations. Carrillo, a certified nutritionist, has a bachelor’s degree and has worked in the industry for nearly 15 years, and the store also brings in a nutritionist once a week for those looking for longer consultations. Carrillo and Cheffield also send out a monthly newsletter detailing new items available in the store, articles about specific herbs or nutrients, and a list of classes from local practitioners offering holistic-based treatments.


Since each customers’ response to the products could vary, Carrillo said the store does not make definitive claims to their effectiveness. What speaks volumes to her, she said, are the recommendations from her customers.


One customer is Judy Curtis, a Georgetown resident who has been visiting Carrillo since before she launched Georgia’s Naturals. She said Carrillo discovered she had an autoimmune disease called Sjogren’s syndrome. Curtis starting taking supplements, which she said have made a difference.


“She looked up every nutrient that would prove to be supportive of that condition to help strengthen me and help me,” she said. “It really was a result of her pointing me in the right direction; I went from feeling really bad and feeling worn out and tired all the time to being high-energy.”


Carrillo said customer needs will help determine the future of the store.


“I think right now the products that we bring in, any expansion that we do is going to be based on what the demand is,” she said. “We’ve tried a lot of things to see what the community would gravitate to, so we’re at a point where we’re seeing where we go next.”