Grow your own food – from garden to table
Learning how to grow our own food can improve our physical and mental health as well as the health of the environment.
Growing our own produce is a simple solution for numerous health benefits, environment and economic problems. Whether we are growing a single plant or have large backyard garden, it is beneficial for our health as well as the environment.
Growing food plants gives us fresh food which keeps us healthy. Growing flowering plants on the other hand keeps our mind fresh. Just imagine your small balcony garden or backyard with full of different colours of flowering plants, how warm, fresh and peaceful it is. Gardening in any way keeps both our body and mind fresh and energetic.
When growing our own food, our diet is more diverse and healthier, packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Food in its rawest, freshest form is not only the tastiest way to enjoy it, but also the most nutritional. The majority of the produce sold in grocery stores go through a long process of being harvested, shipped, distributed to the stores. Once distributed the produce end up staying in storage on shelf for an extended period of time before being purchased thus losing its nutritional value.
By growing our own food, we are not using chemicals or pesticides that can harm the environment or to our own health. Instead, we get fresh produce everyday increasing our immunity and overall health.
Gardening is a fun way to go outside for some fresh air and breath along with the plants. The physical activity done during gardening has proven to promote good physical and stress-free mental health. Involvement in gardening can improve cardiac health, immune system response, stress, decreased oxygen supply, motor skills, flexibility and body strength. It helps abundantly in relieving anxiety and depression while boosting energy overall. The touch of the fresh soil is a great antidepressant because of the bacteria found in the soil.
Gardening is a great way to get some everyday vitamin D dose naturally. Its crucial to get vitamin D through our diets since most of the vitamin D is absorbed only through the sun. Gardening helps in getting some sunshine.
Lastly gardening is easy, fun and healthy. You don’t even necessarily need a garden to grow your own food, you can easily grow a few of the staple edible indoors.
Involving kids in gardening improves their brain development , motor skills, imagination and discipline towards food. It attracts them towards the variety of food choices which they might have averted before. Gardening helps kids in exploring different kinds of foods as well as its a fun way to teach them about cooking too. In this way kids learn about importance of their health as well as their environment. It’s a great way to teach them to plant more trees and save the environment.