Grow your way to health T
“In spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
– Margaret Atwood.
he bloom of spring is an excellent time to con- template the gardens of summer. If you’ve ever thought about planting your own fruits and veg- etables, consider the many health benefits of growing your own food. Nurturing a tomato plant in a back- yard garden and watching it grow to become food on the table can be very gratifying. Eating a crisp cucumber or a sweet bell pepper picked the same day not only delights your taste buds, it
also nour-
Krystal Simpson Healthy Living
ishes your body like a store bought vegetable never could.
Fruits and vegetables are really nature’s gift to us. A joy to all the senses, from their wonderful smells to
their beautiful colours, fruits and vegetables not only look and taste delicious, they are packed with vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants. Beta carotene, the- red orange pigment found in fruits and vegetables, is a powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants protect the body from free radicals which can damage cell structures. Now here comes the big sell to eat your veggies (hopefully you won’t need it). Think back to high school biology class – remember polysaccharides? A polysaccharide is a carbohydrate found in plants. Non- starch polysaccharide (NSP) is the source dietary fibre in vegetables, otherwise known as roughage. Accord- ing to an article published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, NSPs aid a healthy digestive system because dietary fibre increases fecal water content and bulk, accelerating transit time in the intestine and in- creasing stool frequency. So what does all this mean for you? A healthier, hap- pier colon! Fibre can help prevent chronic constipation, hemorrhoids, and even cancer. According to the Cana- dian Cancer Society, eating foods high in dietary fibre can protect against colorectal cancer. As colon cancer risk increases with age, it’s a good idea to up your veg- etable intake with fibre-packed veggies like peas, brus- sel sprouts, broccoli and spinach.
And while eating fruits and vegetables from a gro-
cery store is great, eating them ripe from the vine is even better. Fruits and vegetables purchased from a su- permarket may have travelled thousands of miles from the farm to the store shelf. In order to make the long trip, produce is often harvested before it has a chance to naturally ripen on the vine. This premature harvesting can compromise the nutritional value. For example, a study from the Journal of Food Science showed that
Watching a tomato plant grow to become food can be very gratifying.
when tomatoes are picked green off the vine, they con- tain 30 per cent less vitamin C than those allowed to ripen. Ripened tomatoes also contain more beta caro- tene than those harvested early.
In the hustle and bustle of today’s world, it’s unrealis-
tic to expect people will have the time to grow all their own food, not to mention the limitations imposed by our Canadian climate. We are lucky to live in a coun- try where the food-distribution system provides a great selection of food year round. Canada itself is home to roughly 230,000 farms and we also import food from around the world. Bananas from Latin America are the top imported fruit and lettuce from the United States along with tomatoes and peppers from Mexico top the imported vegetable list.
However, incorporating a few home-grown staples into your diet can be quite manageable, even for begin- ners. And what an appreciation you’ll have for food af- ter eating a vegetable medley you grew yourself! Con- sider the other bountiful benefits of growing your own food: • Taste. Fresh food just tastes better. Bite into a strawberry picked right from the vine and the fresh food argument literally sells itself. • Improved health. Vitamin content is highest when eaten right from the vine, and people are more likely to eat up to five servings of fruits and vegetables a day when they are homegrown. Couple that with the time
spent outside in the fresh air weeding and watering the fruits of your labour and you’ll be on the path to im- proved health. • Helping others. Murray McNeill is a long-time Victoria Lifeline volunteer and avid gardener. How- ever, he gives away much of what he grows. Murray donates most of his produce to elderly neighbours as well as his fellow Lifeline volunteers and staff. “I find it very gratifying to give fresh food to people who can’t garden themselves. My father had a large vegetable gar- den on a farm and he’d fill up his half-ton truck with food and give it away to all our neighbours. I grew up with that tradition.” One gift was 80 pounds of fresh carrots to Winnipeg Harvest. “Gardening is what I live for – it gets me outside, keeps me busy and it feels good to help.” If you’re new to gardening, check out Gardening for Beginners in Manitoba Gardener, available online at lo-
calgardener.net https://www.localgardener.net/pages. php?lang=en&page=articles&action=view&vid=189 If you don’t have access to a yard, there are com- munity gardens throughout the city. Visit the city of Winnipeg’s website to find out more: http://www.win-
nipeg.ca/publicworks/parksOpenSpace/Community- Gardens/
default.stm#Allotmentgardens. Krystal Simpson is a communications officer at Victoria Lifeline, a community service of the Victoria General Hospi- tal Foundation. To volunteer, call 204-956-6773.
Connect with us online You are not alone. We are here to help.
Providing Programs and Services to individuals 55+ including:
• Fitness Classes • Educational Programs • Recreational Opportunities • Music Groups • And much more!
Meet new people, learn a new skill, stay healthy and active, and have fun!!
For more information,
visit our website at
www.gnalc.ca, call 204-669-1710, or drop by at 720 Henderson Highway.
6
www.lifestyles55.net April 2017
If you or someone you know has Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, visit
alzheimer.mb.ca or call 204-943-6622 for help.
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