Vegetables - Grow Your Own

I stress to my clients the need to up the amount of veggies in their diet. Most people have their fruit favorites so it's not hard to get them to eat more, it's the vegetables they need to be sold on. According to clinical nutritionists there are about 40ish essential nutrients that the human body needs. The trouble is nutrition is still a young science. It's estimated that some vegetables may contain up to a thousand phytochemicals. Broccoli, for example, contains a chemical called sulforaphane that has been shown clinically to exhibit anti-cancer, anti-diabetes properties.* But one researcher said that broccoli probably contains hundreds of additional phytochemicals that have not been discovered yet. Eating fresh vegetables is a way to ensure that you're getting all these as yet unknown natural super heroes, and growing some of your own can be a great way to do that. In my book, I pointed out that we have a 'cozy' apartment and a like sized balcony and on that I'm not able to put a lot. Some patio furniture and a few pots where I try to grow all I can. But even we can grow tomatoes, herbs, some lettuce, and delicious shallots. (Click the picture to enlarge). If we can do it, anyone can. If you have a backyard of any size you should be able to put a sizable garden out there. There is nothing like the freshest vegetables. Now is the time, it's spring all over. Start growing some today!
*John D. Clarke, et al. Differential effects of sulforaphane on histone deacetylases, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in normal prostate cells versus hyperplastic and cancerous prostate cells. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 2011.