Why are home grown fruit and vegetables best?

Growing and eating your own fruits and vegetables can be one of the healthiest choices you can make. Vegetables going directly from the garden to your table are tasty, nutritious and support a varied healthy diet. A rule of thumb is that what we see in the plant is what will benefit us. A strong hydrated plant resilient to pests will be akin to the healthy properties that will be transferred to us! The vitamins and minerals assist in strengthening our systems, provide us with vitality and energy, and can help us to also resist stress.

Home grown vegetables can be superior nutritionally, because of how quickly they travel from being ‘live’ in the ground, to reaching our plate. All the healthy antioxidants, vitamins and minerals are available in bountiful amounts to help us look and feel great. Many of the original vitamins and enzymes lose their active properties once they are cut and stored. Fresh cut foods are still ‘live’ in that the mechanisms for that plant surviving and growing are relatively intact. The nutrients that ensure the plants development are equally beneficial for us. Most of us would be familiar with the idea that organic produce is better for us than commercial produce, but now that debate has progressed and shifted somewhat. Now the growing movement for eating locally ‘locovores’, suggest that it is what happens post harvest that reduces the nutrition of vegetables. What this means is, whatever growing method is used, the loss of nutrients due to travelling times, time spent in storage and then time on the shelf, greatly reduces the amount of active nutrients.

Growing our own vegetables encourages us to eat a variety of fresh seasonal produce. This increases the likelihood that we will eat a range of nutrients, rather than sticking to the same menu items due to the increased availability of imported commercially produced vegetables. We should aim for variety by way of color, type of vegetable and texture. With crop rotation and growing to suit the seasons, we introduce natural variety into our diet. We also learn with gardening to use targeted products to control pests, please see http://www.tuigarden.co.nz/insect-identifier rather than the blanket approach of chemical usage typical of commercial growing techniques.

The things we do to help our garden produce vegetables are the same things that contribute to the nutrition of the plant. For example, rotating crops and maintaining soil health leads to nutritious vegetables. Some research has shown that there can be just over 80 nutrients in home grown produce, compared to just over ten nutrients in the commercially produced equivalent. To demonstrate this, think about when you wash brassicas, I see silver reflects coming off the outside of my cabbages that will rub off in water. Some say this is the natural occurring silica of the cabbage that has formed in response to natural growing conditions. The cabbage has had the nutrients available to develop this natural defense mechanism. Its survival relied on being strong and resisting pests. The silica becomes available to us. Silica is essential for maintaining strong bones and healthy hair and nails. It also helps with calcium absorption and is said to help prevent Alzheimer’s. The accelerated growth of commercially produced vegetables does not require the same level of development from the plant. The vegetables I wash from the supermarket are not the same as what I take out of the garden!

The fruit and vegetables we grow are nearly always tastier and with more health crunch, they are full of natural hydration and are flavorsome to eat. Because they are so delicious fresh from the garden we are motivated to eat more of what is good for us. A plate bursting with home grown goodness becomes a source of pride and something to aspire to. This in turn demonstrating our commitment to our family’s nutrition.

Information supplied by Steph Askeur
Fresh-cut enthusiast