Gardening Is Good

Is Gardening Worth The Work?

Gardening is an excellent start in improving your diet, mental health, and physical health. So often nowadays we are absorbed in technology, remaining indoors, and getting very little fresh air. If you are anything like me, when I am overwhelmed I turn towards nature and the beauty of God’s creation. Nature is a place where I am able to find peace, reground, and recenter. So, what is our fear in gardening? Is the work worth the reward? I will tell you 100% yes, and here is why.

1. Gardening Is Good for the Soul.

   Gardening is known to aide in decreasing anxiety, depression, and increase attentiveness. Removing yourself from from the hustle and bustle of our crazy lives can feel nearly impossible, but all I am asking you to do is take 10 minutes out of everyday to focus on yourself. Remove the stressors from your life, walk outside, feel the sun as it glistens off your arms, and form a connection with God’s beauty all around us. Did you know that the sun is one of our main sources of Vitamin D? Vitamin D activates the synthesis of Serotonin in our brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that controls and modulates our mood, cognition, memory, and several other health factors. Vitamin D also works to increase calcium levels in your body. Low Serotonin and Vitamin D levels have been linked with increased risk of depression, some cancers, bone loss, diabetes, and poor sleep to name a few. Your mental health will thank you for giving it the rest it needs.

2. Gardening Is Good for Your Physical Health.

   Gardening is versatile in what it provides you in terms of physical exercise. It works to improve your aerobic endurance, flexibility, dexterity, and strength. It is a great method of exercise for those who do not prefer the traditional ways. It feels purposeful. Not only are you able to see physical differences with yourself by improved stamina and weight loss, you are able to watch soil and a few seeds grow into a beautiful oasis with your help. It is rewarding because you are taking care of something, nurturing it, and in return it is able to provide some necessities of life for you. Think of your relationship with your garden as a symbiotic relationship where both of you benefit. The plant would have a hard time growing without you. You would have to source other avenues to maintain the same level of physical activity and return to buying all your produce at the grocery store without it. I find gardening an easy mode for physical activity because it is something that requires you. Your gym membership will still charge you whether you are there or not and benefit from you, but gardening is different. You are able to see it needs your help and so you provide it, so your motivation and purpose inadvertently contributes to your overall well-being.

3. Gardening Is Good for Your Diet

   Many fruits and vegetables sold in your local grocery store show a lack of nutrients compared to those grown garden-to-table. This is due to the need of farms to produce high yield, fast-growing plants. When you grow a home garden, you control your harvest and are able to provide the plants with the time they need to produce their adequate nutrients. You are also able to control what pesticides and fertilizers go into producing your diet. Not only are you able to control what goes into your body by producing garden-to-table fruits and vegetables, but you will also have a higher drive to eat what you harvest. In return, you will have the opportunity to improve your diet by giving your body more of the nutrients it needs. Diet is one of the most important if not the most important contributions to your health. Having a healthy diet along with the physical activity you can get from gardening, you are putting yourself on the right track to living a better, healthier lifestyle.

4. Gardening Is Good for Your Bank Account

   Today’s market makes it hard to afford anything. With gas prices rising, produce along with everything else is having a hard time making it to the grocery stores and their prices increase as a result. You may walk into your local store and see that many of the shelves are empty or products are sparse. Food insecurity is higher now than ever. You may also notice that your grocery store fruits and vegetables are not lasting as long because of the time it takes for them to reach the grocery stores from the time they are harvested. It may be hard to justify driving 30 minutes to the city to place a healthy meal on your table, so you turn to unhealthy meals with lots of preservatives. Having a garden within footsteps of your door allows you to feel in control, to feel safe. When you go to the grocery store you may notice you are spending $50-60 dollars just on produce for your family for a couple weeks. Imagine if you spent $5 on seeds and $10 on fertilizer to grow enough of the plants you chose to provide for your family for 6 months. That right there is a lot of savings. When you take care of your garden the cost to keep the plants thriving is much less and your plants yields grow. As your gardens harvest increases exponentially, you will be able to help out families around you who may be struggling with food insecurity as well.

Advice: Start small and grow plants you know you will eat. You do not need a large garden to receive these benefits of gardening.

If gardening is not something you feel you are able to incorporate into your life right now, that is okay. All I ask is for you to start by giving 10 minutes of yourself everyday to nature. Go outside, go for a walk, take the garbage cans to the end of the driveway, walk to get the mail, or begin by sitting and soaking its beauty in.

Let’s do this together! Plant a seed in your life, allow the roots to grow, and start your journey to a healthier you today.

Diabetes and Obesity: An Epidemic

Type 2 diabetes and obesity are running rampant throughout our cities, towns, and rural communities, and there is major lack of resources and prevention plans available to those who live in underserved areas.

Let’s begin by understanding both diseases.

What is Diabetes? There are two types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2.

Type 1 diabetes is often referred to as juvenile diabetes because it often presents in childhood. Type 1 diabetes has no cure and it is unable to be prevented. In this type your body is unable to produce insulin, so you become insulin-dependent. It is a chronic disease in which you must monitor and modulate your blood sugar levels with insulin, and maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle to reduce risks of complications. Around 5-10% of those with diabetes are type 1.

Type 2 diabetes is known as insulin-resistant diabetes. In this type your body’s cells become unable to effectively use the insulin it produces. Type 2 diabetes typically presents later in life; however, nowadays we are seeing rates rise within our school systems. It is often caused by lifestyle choices, but genetics can place you at higher risk for the disease. Obesity is a major risk factor for the disease. An interesting fact is those with pear shape body fat distribution are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who are apple shape. Unlike type 1, type 2 is able to be prevented or at least delayed by healthy lifestyle choices such as a healthy diet, exercising, and reducing your weight to healthier levels. Around 90-95% of those with diabetes are type 2.

Do we just accept that 1 in every 10 Americans have diabetes, and 1 in every 5 of those do not even know they have it? More than 60% of rural populations do not have programs in place for the community to learn and prevent type 2 diabetes. What can you and I do? We can start here by talking about it, bringing awareness to the disease, and taking actions to create a healthier you. Below is a 2017 demographic that depicts the disease prevalence in every county based off of the percentage of population that has diabetes.

Chart was retrieved from RHI Hub in conjunction with the CDC.

Chart was retrieved from RHI Hub in conjunction with the CDC.

Above is a demographic depicting obesity prevalence in the United States. There are only 6 counties in the entire country that only have 10-16% of the county’s population being obese. Over 40% of our country’s population is termed obese. That is an extremely high number. Once again while obesity is rampant throughout urban and rural communities, there is an extreme growth in numbers in rural countries as of late. Obesity prevalence in nonmetropolitan communities is more than 5.5% higher than its metropolitan counterparts. These statistics are not talked about enough.

So what is obesity?

WHO terms obesity as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that poses higher health risks to an individual. Obesity is often defined in terms of categorization based on BMI score. A healthy BMI score falls between 18.5 < X < 25. Overweight is considered 25 < x < 30. Obesity is designated to those whose BMI score is 30 or above.

The correlation between obesity and type 2 diabetes is high. This is because those who are obese have a higher amount of fat cells that require more nutrients than the body can produce. These cells trigger a stress response which activates a protein called cytokine. When cytokine proteins are released, insulin receptors are blocked on the cells. Eventually due to lack of entry of insulin, our cells become insulin-resistant. As you can remember type 2 diabetes is often referred to as insulin resistant, because your body is not able to adequately use the insulin it produces to breakdown glucose in your body. Since more glucose is circulating in the blood, your blood glucose levels will become higher.

4 ways to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes:

• If you are overweight or obese, set goals to lose weight.

  • It is hard to see losing 100 lbs as an attainable goal. It is important to set a big goal but focus on smaller goals.

  • For instance, you may want to lose 50 lbs in a year, which would be your big goal. To keep motivation set smaller goals as well. If you lost 1 lb a week you will have met and exceeded your goal by a little over 2 pounds. This makes your goal more attainable.

  • Do not set unrealistic goals for yourself, in which you hinder your health by not giving your body the nutrients it needs.

• Increase your physical activity levels

  • Exercise is related to increased insulin sensitivity, weight loss, and lower blood sugar.

  • It is recommended that each person should incorporate 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity at least 3 times a week.

• Eat Healthy fiber-rich foods

  • These foods can be grown in your garden or found in grocery stores. They help to slow down the absorption of sugar and are very filling.

  • Examples: Leafy greens, broccoli, tomatoes, fruits from trees, chickpeas, lintels, and whole-grains.

  • What to avoid: Foods with high sugar and little fiber or nutrients. For example, white bread, white-flour pasta, processed food with high sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup.

• Eat Healthier Fats

  • Unsaturated fats encourage healthier blood cholesterol levels and are linked to improved cardiac and vascular health.

  • Examples: Olive oil, avocados, flaxseeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds, tuna, and salmon.

  • What to avoid: excess amounts of butter, high fat dairy foods (sour cream, whole milk, ice cream), dark meats, fatty cut meats, processed food.

I am excited to break down each, discuss home exercise programs, and how to cook healthier.