4 Health Benefits Of Growing Your Own Food

One of the most important health choices you make on a day-to-day basis is what types of food you’re going to eat. Though the content of this food is important, to be sure, where the food comes from is important, as well. One great option to ensure you know exactly what you’re eating is to grow your own food. Though you’re likely not a farmer, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a thriving garden full of delicious food that is healthy and nutritious. To provide extra motivation to get your garden started, here are four health benefits of growing your own food.

Exercise

Though walking around a grocery store to pick out your food is technically exercise, it doesn’t rate very high on the intensity meter. Growing your own food, however, can provide a great workout that you can do several days a week. Whether it’s getting the soil ready, pulling weeds, carrying water, or some other gardening activity, the exercise you get while growing your own food is an impressive fringe benefit of eating food you grow yourself.

It's Your Call

Unlike commercially-farmed food that can be grown using any legally-acceptable method, food you grow yourself can be grown in the way you want food to be grown. This means leaving out potentially harmful chemicals and replacing it with organic compost, nutrient-rich soil, and other organic commercial fertilizer. This means you can also leave out pesticides, opting instead for beneficial bugs such as ladybugs, praying mantises, and other insects that prey on insects that only want a free meal.

You’re More Likely To Eat Healthy

The only investment you have in store-bought food is the money you gave to have the right to bring it home. When it comes to food you grow yourself, though, you have time, money, sweat, and patience invested in each tomato, cucumber, and strawberry that you harvest. This extra investment makes you much more likely to eat these foods, instead of letting them go to waste. Since you’re eating more fruits and vegetables, your diet will be healthier, as you’ll replace less-healthy foods with the foods you’ve proudly nurtured.

Clears The Air And Water

The pollution created from growing, packing, transporting, and selling commercially-grown food can lower the quality of the air and water in the surrounding areas considerably. If you live in one of these areas, you’ve likely experienced the negative health effects that this pollution brings. When you grow your own food, though, everything is self-contained, meaning you minimize your carbon footprint with every veggie you pick. Plus, the live plants you’re growing will help purify the air, providing even further health benefits.

Just Get Started

If you’ve never tried to grow your own food before, it may be because you’re intimidated by the prospect of tending to a large vegetable garden. The good news is, though, that to enjoy the health benefits of growing your own food, you don’t have to start large. A small garden or even a potted vegetable plant will still reap rewards, allowing you to gain experience as you decide if you want to expand. This will ensure your future success as you help yourself and your planet by growing your own food.

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Written By:

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan

Reviewed By:

Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.