Straight From Your Garden

This photo above may be a bit creepy to some viewers but yes, these are all vegetables in this picture. If you look at it closely you can see a potato, cucumbers, peas, carrots, red peppers, oranges, tomatoes, spinach, celery, corn, etc. If someone handed this to you would you decide to eat it? I am not sure if I would, I suppose if I were really hungry.

Growing a garden isn't an easy task but it can be very rewarding, especially when you see all of the hard work you put into it. This can also be actual food for your table, even for a friend, family, or neighbor. My beloved father loved growing his garden. His garden was his pride and joy in life, but boy did he work hard to maintain it, and he sure got great benefits out of his hard work. He even shared the reapings of what he sowed with his family. Lucky us.

My parents were both very giving human beings. Even in my father's last days (he was so sick with prostate cancer), he had every reason to not have anything good to talk about because he was really suffering during that time. I remember him setting in his wheelchair, it was so devastating to me to witness him this way. I also remember that his eyes would light up when he began to tell me about his garden. I personally don't know the satisfaction of planting a garden, but by seeing my dad I knew that it had to be one of the most rewarding endeavours there is. It takes hard work and tender loving care to plant seeds and wait patiently for them to grow.

There is so much more to it than that, it is God's gift to us and the most organic way to eat and enjoy the fruit of our labor. Going to school and learning about healthy eating they said, "The closer you eat from the ground, the better the food is, and much healthier." The teachers also taught us that we should all go back to the days of old, and try to plant our own gardens. Because unfortunately today they put so many bad ingredients (and sometimes harmful) and chemicals on our fruit and vegetables, and we just don't know what we are eating and putting into our bodies.

I learned in school about the ways of eating healthy, and that the best food to eat was from the ground. But in today's society with the greed for large amounts of money, industry farmers are putting harmful products (sometimes even forced by government rules and regulations) on most of our vegetables so that they can grow bigger. There is a lot to be said about this. I am sure we are all familiar with all the sprays -(herbicides and pesticides) that are being put into the foods that we eat; one of them being Roundup to kill the weeds.

We were also taught that if we couldn't grow our own garden (which is the best way to go), then we should get our vegetables and fruit from a Farmers Market. It is these huge industries that are in it for the money, they don't really care about what happens to people who are putting all this poison into their bodies. Most but not all.

We were taught in school to eat mostly plant based foods in our diet. Especially leaves or greens. What is so good about eating plants? For one thing they are full of antioxidants, they have fiber and omega-3, etc. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of dying from all the Western diseases. In other countries where people eat mostly fruits and vegetables everyday (about a pound per day), the rate of cancer is about half the amount of what it is in the United States of America. Also by eating food that is more plant based you will be eating fewer calories. Consuming fewer calories protects you against many chronic diseases . Vegans and Vegetarians (also known as Plant Powered People) are healthier than their fellow carnivores, and they also live a longer life.

Easy tips on how to plant a garden can be helpful if you haven't planted one before, and ideal for one to start for healthier eating in their lives.

There are benefits to planting a garden and eating vegetables that are organic, and even in your very own home. In the book of Daniel we know of a man that knew how to always eat a proper meal, so much so that he refused the food that the king Nebuchadnezzar put before him, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

These men could have eaten what was considered the best food of the time, in the King's house assigned to them. Also eating next to the King, with the greatest food available, as well as fine wine. But they refused, not only because they only ate in what as known as today as plant powered or vegetarian, but because of their faithfulness in God and who they followed.

I don't know about you but if that kind of food (best available) was put before me, knowing myself, I am not sure if I would have the discipline to refuse it. Yet Daniel convinced the steward that was assigned to them to let them eat only vegetables and water for ten days, and see how they do within that time. While the other men that were chosen to be part of the test, ate all of the Kings luxurious food.

The four that refused to eat the King's food at the end of ten days looked much better in appearance, and fatter in flesh than all of the youth that ate the King's supposedly superior food. They had wisdom and great learning skills. I do believe that:

1. They obeyed God

2. They ate only healthy food which were vegetables

3. It made them look better in appearance

4. They had better minds and a healthy glow

Bottom Line is that God gave us this food to eat from the ground, and the trees to be our food. The reason why there are so many unhealthy people today (especially in our society) is because we have adapted to eating processed foods, and a lot of fatty meats. Also, all of the product the companies put onto our food is causing us a lot of sickness and unneeded pain. That is why the food closer to the ground is more healthier if it is grown within our own home gardens.