Eating. Gardens, as well known, encourage healthy eating. Here are three ways that boost our dietary health. Gardens encourage us to eat fresher food. That means more nutritious food than the processed food we often buy boxed and packaged in the grocery store. Not only that, but vegetables and fruits gardens produce have significantly fewer calories than their processed cousins. Gardens produce food much higher in vitamins and fiber than your average grocery store snack. Not only do gardens encourage you to eat some fruits and veggies--they encourage you to eat a constant supply of fruits and veggies. You might run out of groceries early, but your gardens keep on producing.

Exercise. Gardens get us outside. The sun they shine on us gives us warmth and vitamin D. The bending and walking and lifting they require offers light exercise. The dirt and insects they expose us to can make us build up antibodies against different germs and bacteria, boosting our immune system. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." There is reason in the rhyme. The time you spend in your gardens means fewer hours sick and at the doctor's office.

Mind. Gardens remind us where our food comes from. Gardens reconnect us to the earth and remind us that we depend on the earth for our living. This perspective, often forgotten in busy life, reminds us, too, that we and other people share a special kind of life together. Not only do gardens encourage us to reevaluate ourselves and our relationships, but they invite others into our gardens, into our kitchens, and to our dinner tables.

 

 

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