by Kevin Hollis

Created on: September 18, 2009   Last Updated: September 22, 2009

I've often thought that the cure for obesity and diabetes is to grow your own garden and eat what you grow. I'm not alone in advocating activity along with a better diet, but it is extraordinary that a binary system such as this one, where the work and its dividends are both involved in the outcome, has not become a part of treatment plans in the modern health care system. I cannot think of many examples of such an efficacious system to battle a major human health issue, but there are some. Meditation in its many forms, yoga, and green architecture may be adequate examples.

Gardening, whether flowers or vegetables or both, is a healthy and rewarding passtime that invigorates both the body and the mind. Vegetables that one grows are better for the plate and palate than any mass-manufactured food purchased at the supermarket. Sun and exposure of the skin to it are necessary for any good garden to flourish and provide nutrition for us, and as we consume what we endeavour to produce from spring to autumn, we come into contact with an awareness of our bodies and minds that is a fundamental part of health. I would venture to say that a gardener cannot be overweight to a debilitating extent.

As the American population moves from the rural to the urban, gardens and gardening will become more communal. This is already apparent in progressive cities such as Portland and San Francisco. Less-affluent urban communities in the South have seen success in battling type 1 and 2 diabetes as well as juvenile obesity by instigating gardening initiatives at the grade school level in public education. Shared resources are more difficult to manage, but they provide the added benefit of social interaction in the pursuit of healthy food and its sustainable production.

We could all use a healthy hobby, and good habits die as hard as bad ones. Consequently, it seems like binary systems promoting health are not only doubly beneficial , but supremely capable of providing the framework for managing obesity in America. If we can re-institute a system of farm- and garden-based community activities and subsidize them for urban poor with commuting infrastructure and education, we will see and immediate decrease in the incidence of childhood obesity in our cities and suburban communities. Gardens in the suburbs help subsidize the higher cost of living and also promote a sense of community in the neighborhood. Even if peppers and tomatoes only become more acceptable as landscaping infrastructure, the added activity and increased level of engagement may spur other lifestyle choices that carry entire families towards more holistic and active approaches to managing mental and physical health. That is a step toward more than just a skinnier future for America.

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