I have been casually wondering about the quality of fruits and vegetables that my family and I eat. The FDA informs us that five servings a day of fruits and veggies are required in maintaining our health, due to the produce’s numerous vitamins, minerals and soluble/insoluble fiber. What has begun to make me wonder (worry?) is that we also hear this: much of the produce bought in grocery stores have lost a significant portion of their nutrients, as they have traveled a long distance or have been sitting for a while on the shelf.

I have decided to try my hand at gardening. I was hoping to find some motivation as to the health benefits of gardening! Such things like: calories expended as a form of exercise, mood enhancement with gardening as a hobby...and also the benefits of eating vegetables grown yourself (without pesticides).

Are there any good online sources of gardening health benefits, for Gardening 101?

Do you grow your own herbs and vegetables? If so, I would love to learn more!

thanks!

I paid for my college education by working in a hospital cancer floor. Since then, I've been doing my own personal research on the causes, amongst the standard known items such as tobacco.

Here are some interesting articles I'd like to share with you. I hope it helps you, your friends and family.

Feel free to forward these links.

Healthy lifestyle triggers genetic changes: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNew...

Vegan Diet and Yoga Fight Cancer

Some of my "mom friends" have been talking about making recipes from one of two books (I'm sure there are more out there): The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious. The premise of these books is to get your picky eater to eat more veggies, by adding them (read: sneak them or deceptively and inconspicuously add them) unknowingly into recipes that your kids eat.

My question: is this the start of kids NOT eating vegetables throughout their life (since they are hidden in the recipe), or is it just a helpful tool to get them through their "picky" phase?

A salmonella outbreak linked to raw tomatoes serves as a reminder to take extra care with summer fruits and vegetables.

More than 20 people have been hospitalized as the government investigates the source of the tomatoes responsible for the illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read more

So we've long heard about the benefits of shopping locally. Now a university has been given the go ahead (and funding) to study whether it's actually healthier. Here's the thought process ...

"By definition, locally farmed food is not going to come from large commercial food companies, so people who eat locally aren’t going to consume as much processed food, which typically contains lots of refined carbohydrates, sugar, fat and preservatives.

Eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and drinking black or green tea may help reduce smokers' lung cancer risk, suggests a University of California, Los Angeles study.

By Steven Reinberg
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- Flavonoids, compounds found in many fruits and vegetables, may be able to battle the ravages of Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests.

By Amanda Gardner
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) -- Cancer survivors who eat more fruits and vegetables, stay physically active and avoid tobacco have a higher quality of life than those who don't do these things.

The bad news is that many cancer survivors aren't eating right and aren't exercising enough, although a good three-quarters do follow recommendations not to light up.