08 September
I'm in withdrawal right now after having a constant supply of fresh herbs, greens and vegetables right outside the door in Phil's garden for quite a few weeks. The lettuce and parsley in the grocery store, even when it's organic and fairly fresh, just aren't quite the same. So this is a reminder that if you have some space for growing your own vegetables, greens and herbs, take advantage of it! It might not be the time to start planting right now, but you can always start planning and learning for next year.
Video Transcription
This transcription will have some mistakes because it is partially automated.
Hi guys. This is Heather from HealthyEatingStartsHere.com and I’m in a little bit of withdrawal today I’m feeling the separation from two things.
Number one fresh greens from the garden and number two Phil, he is in London at his parents place still filming in his garden and I had to head back to Ottawa for the start of the figure skating season, I’m trying out for a team here at Ottawa and if you guys are really good I might see if I can get a little video of being on the ice that is also if I am not too self conscious to pull out my camera while I am skating around. So we’ll see about that.
Anyway, when I got home I had to go to the grocery store and pick out some food of course and looking at the lettuce made me a little bit sad after having quite a bit of time with Phil’s parents and his garden and be able to walk up back and pick fresh lettuce, fresh char, fresh kale, fresh tomatoes, fresh cucumber. Everything! Just outside the door.
It is so amazing! So I did pick up this lettuce and it is an organic lettuce and it didn’t come too far away so it’s fairly fresh but just not quite the same so I wanted to mention this today to you guys to really emphasize the fact that growing food at home is so so good if you have space you should look into trying to this.
Now I’m totally not a gardener so I understand those of you who feel like you cannot do it but if you want help, Phil’s website is SmilingGardener.com and he has ton of videos on there to help you learn how to garden and how to grow really healthy and really delicious food at home.
Otherwise if you don’t have space like we don’t have space here in Ottawa or if you’re really not a gardener like I am not I’m lucky to have Phil but when I got home from the grocery store and picking out this lettuce I thought I need some sprouts so I’ve got some started and I have a video posted on my channel that you can check out if you want to grow some for yourself.
If you look up “growing alfalfa sprouts at home” you can find that, so really important it is the best way to get a lot of nutrients in your diet is to grow your own food whether it’s sprouting or whether it’s great veggies in your backyard. Look into it and give it a try even I can grow sprouts and like I said I’m not a gardener.
So that is, that’s how I’m dealing with my withdrawal from, from fresh garden, fresh products but withdrawal from Phil is pretty tough so luckily his website I can watch him by video and pretend that his talking to me but other than that I’m just trying to keep busy and heading to the skating tonight.
But if anyone has any tips or suggestion on ways to cheer myself up please let me know. Leave me a comment and don’t forget to check out Phil’s site SmilingGardener.com and my site for more info on nutrition, HealthyEatingStartsHere.com.
Thanks for listening guys! It’s good therapy.
Growing your own vegetables is the best way to get more nutrients in a healthy eating plan. That is, if you grow them properly. The health of the soil is directly related to the health of your plants, and consequently your own health. If you need help or want more information on how to get gardening, Phil has lots of great tips and videos on his site www.SmilingGardener.com.
How can you beat the flavor and nutrition from growing your own vegetables?
Nutrition data that you look up online doesn't take the health of the soil into account, and nutrient values of our foods have been sliding downhill over the years. In my last post I mentioned the higher nutrient values of organic food over "conventional" (don't get me started on that word...), and this article gives an overview of how nutrient values have fallen over the last century with the significant changes in agricultural methods, lower biodiversity and soil degradation - Is Conventional Produce Declining in Nutritional Value?.
A healthy vegan diet is great, but if our veggies don't have enough nutrients we're all going to be in trouble - vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters alike. That's why I generally recommend taking supplements, to make up for poor quality foods. I would much prefer that we all get nutrients from our foods, and growing your own vegetables to be really nutrient-dense is a great way to reduce your dependence on supplements.
If you don't have space to grow outside, or even if you do, you should try sprouting. Fun, easy and excellent for getting a high-quality source of nutrients year-round. Watch my video on growing alfalfa sprouts at home to see how easy it really is.
The other withdrawal I'm trying to cope with is from Phil, since he's still at his parents' place filming in his garden... feel free to leave me a comment to cheer me up! What do you do to keep yourself from missing someone too much?
© Heather Nauta . heather@healthyeatingstartshere.com
Disclaimer: This website is for educational purposes only, from the research, education and experience of Heather Nauta. It is not intended as medical advice.
Disclaimer: This website is for educational purposes only, from the research, education and experience of Heather Nauta. It is not intended as medical advice.
