The resurgence of the Victory Garden has been discussed on multiple forums since Michelle Obama started her own home garden on the lawn of the White House in 2009.

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When considering the current state of our environment, climate and personal health, the Victory Garden becomes appealing, but perhaps an apt name is now, the Health Garden. If each of us grew a Health Garden, we could have large scale impacts on our bodies and our world. Here are 6 reasons for stating this:

1. Physical and Mental Health Benefits: According to an article in Biomed Central, people that were given an allotment garden (a small plot of land to grow vegetables) showed significantly improved life satisfaction and physical activity when compared to a control group without a garden. Most of the study respondents were living in urban (65-70%) or suburban (27-31%) settings. Other research published in the journal of Social Science and Medicine found that interaction with community gardens led urban gardeners to form emotional connections with their gardens  and stimulated learning, affirming and expressive experiences.  So many of us have low vitamin D these days. Vitamin D3, the active form of the vitamin that our body needs is only made through direct exposure of the skin to the sun. Getting outside to work in the garden will therefore offer the added benefit of increasing our Vitamin D3 levels, improving energy and boosting mood.

2. Fresh and (hopefully) Organic Food: One of the greatest benefits of growing your own food is that you will know where your food is coming from. Growing small scale lends itself to organic growing practices. Garden stores near you have organic soils to start you off, or if you are very motivated, you can start your own compost project.These days, food can be shipped all over the world. Often, produce is picked before it is ripe to ensure it will upstand travel, as in the case of bananas which decreases the overall health content of the food you consume. With a home garden, you will know when your food is harvested and harvesting right before cooking and or eating will lead to the highest vitamin and mineral content, boosting your health. These days with the known harmful effects of pesticides both on the environment and our bodies, we all should be making efforts to move towards organic food whenever possible. A home garden provides an affordable way to do this.

3. Decreases your Carbon Footprint: The more food you grow at home, the less you are relying on shipments fueled by carbon and the carbon emitted if you drive to and from and the grocery store. Further more, plants take carbon out of the air and convert it to Oxygen and carbohydrates with the help of the sun, reducing your carbon footprint further, making your own contribution to slowing climate change. Additionally, the more green we have covering the planet also combats climate change. It is lovely to think that by growing your own food you benefit yourself and your world through the use of star power. Need some motivation to get growing?  Calculate your carbon footprint here.

4. Exposure to diverse flora: One of the most interesting things I have learned in this past year is that just as we have specific bacteria (our microbiome) that live upon us symbiotically, so do plants. To learn more, listen to Biologist Jeanne Romero-Severson on Science Friday from October 2014. Just as different humans and animals have unique microbiomes, plants also have unique microbiomes. Diversity of plants then leads to a diversity of bacteria present in the soil of our gardens. As we work, live and eat in the presence of gardens, we are allowing our bodies to be exposed to a greater diversity of bacteria than we might otherwise be exposed to. While we have only begun to scratch the surface of understanding of the intriguing story of the microbiome, it is my thought that we will begin to uncover a multitude of benefits to the microbiome from local gardening of diverse produce.

5. Provides much needed habitat and food sources for pollinators (birds, bees, and butterflies): One of the greatest impacts that monocropping of corn, wheat and soy since the advent of farm subsidies has been the impact on our pollinators which ultimately stands to threatened our food sources further. This effect is growing, with the use of more pesticides with the relatively recent development Roundup resistant strains of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), which wipes out much of the weeds that pollinators feed on. Birds, bees, and butterflies benefit from home gardens very directly in that they provide food and shelter for these animals to survive in. This is particularly true in urban environments, but rural areas as well, as this will allow for more food sources as they migrate over great distances. Want to save the Monarch butterflies?  You will be contributing to their survival just by growing your own food organically, but for an added benefit, you could also throw some Milkweed in there while you’re at it.

6. Increase the variety of the food you eat: When you grow your own vegetables you can grow diverse plant species in smaller quantities than larger growers may be limited to based on yields and marketability. Heirloom vegetables are more beautiful and the more variety you get in the foods you eat, the more likely you are benefitting your body with micronutrients you didn’t even know you needed. Furthermore, the more diversity in our ecosystems we create, the more likely we will support other living beings which leads to overall healthier ecosystems. I have found wonderful organic heirloom seeds from High Mowing Organic Farms out of Vermont. But there are many out there and you may even be able to get local seed suppliers with a visit to your local farmers market. Try it out for yourself, or if you grow enough specialty veggies and you can venture to make a farm to table deal with some of your local chefs who are always looking for trendy fruits and vegetables to help them stand out.

You may think: “I live in the city, I could never have a garden.” That might be true in some cases, but there are also opportunities for indoor gardens, and if you have even a small amount of land and light, like the rowhouses around DC have, you too can have an urban garden. In fact, I proport that the urban environment is where we should be encouraging home gardens the most. In urban environments, everyone benefits from the aesthetics of added greenery which have a relaxing and calming effect.

Here is a picture of a bathtub we repurposed for our herbs in our urban environment. Community gardens (ours is pictured on the right) are also a wonderful opportunity for those lacking light and green space to have a garden. If you don’t have a community garden near you, keep your eyes open for public space that might be converted to a community garden.  In our area, when a newly developed property was going in, the developers needed to give some of the land to the public to form a park. It was during this negotiation period that our community garden was formed.  Here is a link to an article by the American Community Gardening Association on starting a community garden. And here is a list of community gardens in Washington, DC. You can google community gardens in your area to find your local community gardens.

It’s Winter now, which is the perfect time to grab a cup of hot tea and stare out your window, contemplating your garden planting for Spring. Just the thought of it warms me right up.

© Regina Zopf MD 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Regina Zopf MD with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Accessing this site means you agree to the disclaimer that can be read here.

Living in urban environments has its rewards but finding nature while living in the “Big City” can be a challenge. A challenge that may be well worth pursuing. As urban world population grows (according to the World Health Organization in 2008 54% of the world population was urban compared with 34% in 1960) the separation between humans and nature also grows.

As we physically separate from nature, appreciation of nature and the healing power that it offers for our mind body health becomes something out of our purview. As we sit in planes, trains, automobiles, and at our computers we exist with a man made separation from nature. Over time, we develop conditions, such as depression, back pain, vitamin D deficiency, cardiovascular disease, stress related disorders and more. It is well publicized that the more time spent in commuting, the lower the happiness as published in original research from Sweden in The Scandinavian Journal of Economics . Inactivity and lack of sunlight of course take their own toll on our hearts, moods and immune systems.

 On the other hand, “going green” confers more benefits than just to the environment and indeed can improve not just the health and future sustainability of our natural environment, but also of our own health as individuals. A study published in the journal of Preventive Medicine found that active commuters, those that walked or biked to work in the great outdoors, was associated with an 11% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease. Indeed, nature as medicine is not a new concept. In the early 1900’s doctors often prescribed nature for urban dwellers for stress reduction and for improving mental outlook. As urbanization continued however, nature as a prescription fell out of favor, but has seen a recent resurgence.

More recently, a growing number of studies are showing the beneficial effects of nature itself on well-being and mind body health. Much of this data is eloquently presented in Drs. Selhub and Logans’ book, “Your Brain on Nature”. They note that studies about Japanese Forest Bathing have shown that “…spending time within a forest setting can reduce psychological stress, depressive symptoms, and hostility, while at the same time improving sleep and increasing both vigor and a feeling of liveliness.” A useful term to refer to is Biophilia, which is defined by Edward O. Wilson as the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.

Growing up in the sprawling suburbs east of Los Angeles, as a child, I didn’t know there were places where lights and sidewalks did not exist. Yet, finding nature was instinctive, even in that environment. In the winter the rains would come and the river beds, which were covered in cement and surrounded almost completely by highways, houses and pavement, would be awash with the water, and with the water, dirt and earth would deposit and the river beds would sprout into life.  Chasing frogs and capturing tadpoles became a favorite after school activity. Places where cars would drag race illegally in the Summers would be transformed to natural landscapes covered in grasses, moss and vegetation. While Disney Land and Knott’s Berry Farm were magical in their own right, even now, as I think back to those moments in the river beds, there was something that was so deeply satisfying and integral about the nature that flooded in. Slightly later in my life, but still as a child, I was fortunate I was exposed to big nature, visiting places like the Joshua Tree National Park with a college astronomy class, the painted dessert in Arizona, Sequoia National Park and many more places. Although I did not know it at the time, as I whined and complained on long hikes with my parents, this was the beginning of my relationship with and love of nature, my own biophilia.

My pursuit of higher education, a career and also love of city life has kept me in the city for much of my adult life, but my deep rooted love of nature and awareness of the impacts of the grating stress from the city, inevitably sends me in search of Urban Oases, those natural places that exist in our cities. For some of us they are in our own gardens, but for others, living deep in the city, we have to try a little harder. Luckily, in the United States we have our wonderful National Park Service to provide us with Urban Oases even in the city.

Want to find Nature or inspire others to do so? Try these links and apps:

Oh, Ranger! Park Finder App 

National Park Service: find a park

Here is a recent photo taken in the heart of Southeast Washington DC at my favorite “Urban Oasis” on a cold Autumn afternoon.

1.  Caffeine + L-theanine– It is well known that Black, Green and White Teas have caffeine for that quick boost that some of us crave in the morning, but it is less well known that tea also provides L-theanine. According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, L-theanine crosses the blood brain barrier and increases the amount of alpha waves in the brain. The overall effect of caffeine+L-theanine results in improved cognition. Think of it as a relaxed, but alert state. Sounds pretty ideal, doesn’t it? Switching to tea is great for folks who need to cut back on caffeine intake but don’t want the withdrawal repercussions, such as pregnant women, because some caffeine is still provided, but not at the levels found in coffee.

2. Tea is “GREEN”. With a smaller “water footprint”, Tea uses 1/10th the water as coffee to produce per cup. I’m not talking about the water used just to make the cup in your home or favorite coffee shop, but rather the water used to grow and produce the coffee. The amount of water used to create one 125 mL cup of coffee is actually 1,120 Liters. The amount used for tea? only 120 Liters. Check out this bar graph from the Economist that compares the water used for producing everyday products like coffee, tea….and beer!

3. Healing benefits of herbal teas. Not only are they tasty, they are a nearly zero calorie way to rejuvenate. Pop on by a local tea shop near you and I am sure you will be able to find a tasty blend that serves itself up as a guilt free indulgence. Some of these teas can even have healing benefits depending on what ails you. For example, chamomile has long served as a calming tea that can aid in digestion. I love Mind & Body Tea from our local tea shop here in DC called Teaism.

4.  Easy to grow your own. If you tried to grow a coffee tree in your backyard, you would probably not be very successful. Tea on the other hand can be grown quite easily as an attractive potted plant on your patio that you bring in for the winter (if you live in a cold climate). Growing your own tea not only decreases your carbon footprint related to caffeine consumption, it also gives you the benefits of having green plants around your home, and offers air cleaning benefits in your home. We had our tea plant shipped to us from the Camelia Forest Nursery.

5. It’s beautiful -The ritual of tea spans histories. Full ceramics and spice trades have been based on the plant. But I’m not even talking about that. Simply taking the time out of your day, boiling water and pouring the water over your favorite tea to steep, and then seeing, hearing the water hit your cup, as you pick it up to feel the warmth in your palms, and the aromatic steam is inhaled through your nose as you instinctively draw a long soft warm breath. Even if only for a few minutes, you are able to live in mindful splendor and fully embrace the beauty in the moment. In this way, the drinking of tea, before you even ingest it, is healing you and building your resilience in the simplest of ways.

© Regina Zopf MD 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Regina Zopf MD with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Accessing this site means you agree to the disclaimer that can be read here.