Please support us! Makes You Healthier: The benefits of growing your own food with your kids could fill numerous books. For more Animal, Earth, Life, Vegan Food, Health, and Recipe content published daily, subscribe to the One Green Planet Newsletter! In fact, the latest EPA information on U.S. pesticide usage, from 2007, reports that over one billion tons of pesticides are used in the U.S. every year. I wrote recently about the 21 benefits to having an allotment and growing your own. The 5 main benefits of growing your own food; The nutritional factor; The different type of plants/seeds; Grow your own food even if you don't have much space; I look forward to sharing with you. Another factor to take into account is the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers on conventionally grown crops. Grow Your Own Food: The Top Health Benefits of Growing a Vegetable Garden Cultivating and nourishing your vegetable garden can undoubtedly do a lot than providing fresh vegetables. Environmental Impact. By spending a few dollars on seeds, plants, and supplies in the spring, you will produce vegetables that will yield pounds of produce in summer. Just ask the 42 million American households who already are growing their own fruits, herbs and vegetables. Check out our most recent cooking video! Involvement in gardening helps to improve cardiac health and immune system response, decrease heart rate and stress, improve fine and gross motor skills, flexibility and body strength. That tastes so delicious and fresh!” reaction. 1. For more Animal, Earth, Life, Vegan Food, Health, and Recipe content published daily, subscribe to the, Deck the Halls With These 30 Vegan Main Dishes for Christmas, How to Choose a Ripe Winter Squash (and Avoid the Bad Ones in the Bunch! There are many ways in which food may become contaminated, whether at the farm, the manufacturer or the transportation center. Food in its rawest, freshest form is not only the tastiest way to enjoy it, but also the most nutritional. Growing your own food can be a tasty way to cut costs on your monthly grocery bill. Building a vegetable garden is also a great way to teach your children about the importance of utilizing whatever bounty the earth has provided to its fullest and avoiding waste! Lines and paragraphs break automatically. To learn about 10 vegetables that you can grow all year round, click here. Get your favorite articles delivered right to your inbox! Starting to grow our own food is therefore best. Here are 5 of the most important benefits of “growing your own health food:” Get connected with Healthy UNH!HEALTHY.UNH@UNH.EDU, Copyright © 2021  •  TTY Users: 7-1-1 or 800-735-2964 (Relay NH)USNH Privacy Policies  •  USNH Terms of Use  •  ADA Acknowledgement. Whether you are growing a single tomato plant or have a large backyard garden, it is beneficial to your health, as well as the environments. In fact, it can be the driving force behind making better choices about what you put on your food, and will also help you take an interest in the origins of your food. Planting, weeding, watering, and caring for your plants will provide you with a workout that is meaningful. Gardening is a great way to absorb vitamin D, known as the sunshine vitamin. Fruits and vegetables in the grocery store are picked before ripening, so they can make the long journey via truck. The majority of produce sold in grocery stores go through a long process of being harvested, shipped and distributed to stores. You can purchase organic seeds and over time, save your own. Why go to the trouble of growing your own food when it’s so easily available from supermarkets? It is the new global battlefield. If you learn how to preserve your harvest, you will be able to stock your Pantry and feed your family even when the growing season is over. Getting regular exercise can relieve stress, anxiety and depression, while boosting energy. Sign up for daily news from OneGreenPlanet. What I failed to mention is that it’s … It is being presented as if it is the problem of the developed world. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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In addition to the tangible benefits of growing your own vegetables and fruits is the intangible benefit of a better quality of life. This common farming practice used in the United States, and in other countries, relies on government support for commodity crop production (including wheat, corn, and soy) through the use of government subsidies. This gives you a higher appreciation for the earth, your body, and your responsibility for taking care of them both. In order to help your crops flourish, you have the chance to learn about the weather and other environmental factors that may not have been relevant for you to be aware of before. The easiest way to imagine how growing your own food reduces your carbon footprint and benefits the planet is to think of food production and distribution in terms of an empty jar. Then there’s the concern of monocropping, or growing only one type of crop in a large area of land. Why is this bad? Growing your own produce is a simple solution to numerous health, environmental, and economic problems. To learn more about the benefits of what we like to call “eating the rainbow,” check this out. Health is the first and foremost topic we need to explore. This large-scale, long-distance transportation of food relies heavily on the energy from burning fossil fuels. You decide what kinds of fertilizers and pesticides come in contact with your food. Lastly, being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. And since you’re able to harvest and consume your produce at peak ripeness, it tastes better and offers greater nutrition than what you typically find in stores. Growing your own food has many health benefits: It helps you eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. This is a huge benefit for consumers who recognize the benefits of organic foods, but are wary of paying an added cost at the grocery market (Raab & Grobe, 2005). Because... 3. Growing your own food garden contributes to your food security by providing direct access to food that can be harvested, prepared and fed to your family daily during the growing season. Think growing your own food is a walk in the park? You know the seed types you selected and where they came from. Growing your own food allows you to enjoy delicious, inexpensive, convenient produce that is good for you and the environment. The fuller the jar is, the greater the environmental impact, and the more components involved in producing your food and bringing your food to your plate. First off, children whose parents have a garden more than double their overall fruit and vegetable consumption. Recently I have noticed a campus-wide discussion examining the pros and cons of the sale of energy... 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The Health Benefits of Growing Your Own Food March 13, 2019 Food Although the day may very well come when the members of our society are forced to grow their own food, there are so many health benefits to this practice that it makes sense to … Emma the 40-Year Old Elephant Who was Force-Fed Alcohol has Been Rescued! 10 Rich and Creamy Plant-Based Risotto Recipes, ‘Someone Heard I Went Plant-Based’ Says Kim Kardashian as She Instagrams Beyond Meat Products, Microplastics Found in Placentas of Pregnant Women, Petition: Shut Down Lab Where Monkeys are Electrically Shocked on Their Genitals. Truly organic – only by growing your own produce will you be able to control exactly what goes into the soil and on the food for it to grow. This can also be a fun, family task to take on to make an environmental impact together and to teach your children the importance of going green. It can also be argued that growing your own food yields better-tasting food with a higher nutritional value. Gardening can help you save money, improve your health, and even invigorate and revitalize one’s mood. Healthier food; When you plant your own food, you know exactly what goes into the gardening process. Now the EPA considers 60 percent of all herbicides, 90 percent of all fungicides, and 30 percent of all insecticides carcinogenic. Growing your own food is a great way to save money, eat healthily and live more sustainably. Additionally, growing your own food diversifies your palate and exposes your diet to healthier foods – especially if you choose to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Please consider supporting us by donating! ‘ On the other hand, food items brought in supermarkets and grocery stores may be exposed to toxic chemicals that may be harmful to one’s health. Growing food in the backyard garden could mean a healthier produce in terms of the fertilizers and pesticides used. Fresh, garden foods not only contain almost every essential vitamin and mineral but also the vital enzymes the body uses to prompt a host of chemical processes, such as those involved in cell metabolism and nutrient absorption. Please email me at melissa(at)melissaknorris(dot)com with questions or comments. Allowed HTML tags:
    1. . Can we suggest you spend a huge amount of money on vegetables? When you are growing your own food, you are less likely to take fruits and vegetables for granted. Despite fossil fuels containing large amounts of energy,  they are rarely found in a pure, untouched state. We are using organic fertilizers. Check out this recipe for my easy Vegetarian Chili! Saving Local Species: We can save a lot of wild and local biodiversity by increasing our own vegetables. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of many pesticides that were not yet extensively researched and were later linked to cancer and other diseases. Long-distance transportation of produce relies heavily on fossil fuels. There’s no need there. Additionally, growing your own food diversifies your palate and exposes your diet to healthier foods – especially if you choose to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. But we are using conventional methods by growing our own meat. Fuss Fish is by far our biggest garden pest. Buying food that is locally grown from your farmer’s market or local grocer is a great way to minimize your environmental impact, but growing your own food takes it to the next level. Psychological and Counseling Services (PACS), Sexual Harassment & Rape Prevention Program (SHARPP), Are My Doctors and Other Healthcare Providers in Network, Maintaining Preventive Care During Covid-19, Back to the Basics: Cooking With Your Family, 5 Reasons Why an Employee Meal Plan Is a Healthy Choice, Hamel Recreation Center Exercise on Demand. There is the taste pleasure of sampling the fruits of your labor, fresh off the plant, as you work. As Noble Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai states, “Climate change is life or death. Chocolate Peanut Butter Vegan Fudge [Vegan]. If you live in a part of the world that becomes cold and snowy during the winter, check out this post on inexpensive ways to grow food in the winter! 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