Page 30 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2020

What does healthy look like post-Covid?
RAYMOND HIGGINS FNVS
Probably an understatement to say that our world has been rocked over the past few months. Flights grounded, events cancelled, panic-buying in supermarkets and sadly, we are witnessing a great number of deaths.
As everyone has descended on the
home, pleasing people through food is a priority. Cooking has become a focal point
of households’ day in a way that hasn’t
been the case for many years. Cooking is especially important to make the day exciting and interesting.
Grocery stockpiling is a well-documented outplaying of the need to protect ourselves that has been seen across the world, serving as a means of comfort, control and reassurance for consumers. However, there’s also more subtle manifestations of this with consumers seeking reassurances regarding food safety, something that for many was taken for granted.
With this background, it is interesting to see many people go back to basics and are trying to grow their own food during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Window boxes are appearing on balconies. Seeds are sprouting in repurposed plastic containers. For some of us, this is a familiar ritual. For others, who consider themselves “Covid gardeners” the practice of growing food is brand new territory.
Whether your outdoor space is big
or small, there are many health, social
and environmental benefits to gardening Cultivating and nourishing your vegetable garden can undoubtedly do a lot more than providing fresh vegetables. Gardening can help you save money, improve your health, and even invigorate and revitalize one’s mood.
Health benefits of gardening:
Lower blood pressure – The human eye can perceive more shades of green than of any other colour. Green triggers a response in the sympathetic nervous system to relieve tension in the blood vessels and lowers the blood pressure.
Fitness – As an activity it is a means of aerobic, isometric and isotonic exercise, the combination of which benefits general health but specifically enhances strength, endurance and flexibility; thus increasing fitness levels as well as boosting the immune, respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
The garden is a green gym – Mowing
a lawn with a push mower for 1⁄2 hour duration burns approximately 243 calories in exertion – that is the equivalent quantity to the strenuous activity of chopping wood for a 1⁄2 hour. Turning a compost pile for approximately 15mins exertion can burn in excess of 100 calories. Lifting a gallon watering can, full of water in each hand is equivalent to 8-pound dumbbells.
Relieve Stress – The physicality of gardening not only benefits muscles, bones and organs but actually releases endorphins which help to alleviate stress and its side effects. A healthy portion
of gardening will stimulate appetite and foster a good night’s sleep. It is a positive and healthy activity for all age groups from children to senior citizens.
Breathe better air – Gardening is a great provider of fresh air which revitalizes
body and mind. Invigorating activity allows the lungs to fully avail of the better air quality of a garden. Remember that the garden is an oxygen-making machine. Photosynthesis is the process by which
a plant makes food, part of the process entails plants removing co2 and other environmental gasses and pollutants from the air and releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere.
Sensible sun exposure – The garden can provide the healthy benefits of SENSIBLE sun exposure: vitamin D ‘the sunshine vitamin’ is a hormone made by skin exposed to sunlight, which has been shown to act as a powerful inhibitor of abnormal cell growth.
Eat healthier – Gardeners are more likely to eat a wider range of fruit, vegetables, salads and herbs than non-gardeners with resulting health benefits.
Improve self esteem – Gardening enables a sense of accomplishment.
It involves all the senses and engages the intellect and the physical body. It provides a pleasant pastime filled with opportunities for reward where reaping what you sow is an immense positive.
Connect with nature – Gardening offers a relationship with nature which provides a sense of psychological wellbeing. It can engender a spiritual and metaphysical connection that offers solace or serenity; further boosting both physiological and physical health.
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30 Simply Vegetables