HEALTH.
As a nation we are working towards a healthier body, and that can be attributed in part to the impetus that is urban agriculture. More and more Americans are jumping on the health food bandwagon. This could possibly be contributed to national programs such as “Let’s Move!”, the First Lady’s push to encourage healthier eating habits and reduce obesity in the nation’s children announced back in 2010 [1], or the change of the complex food pyramid to a simpler-to-follow “nutrition plate” in 2011 [2]. According to programs like these, in order to be healthier, we need to eat healthier. Healthier eating starts in the soil. Urban agriculture in America allows for more consciousness as to from where our produce comes. In today’s day and age, community garden projects and farmer’s markets are sprouting--no pun intended--up all around the United States that are helping us become healthier.
Urban agriculture yields fresh fruits and vegetables. Explicitly, fresh fruits and veggies administer health benefits. Harvard’s School of Public Health states that produce can have the ability to lower one's blood pressure, prevent various types of cancer, and reduce risks of heart disease and stroke. Additionally, they state that compared to people who ate less than 1.5 servings of fruits and veggies a day, those who ate 8 or more servings were 30% less likely to suffer from a heart attack or a stroke [3].
Fruits and veggies produced from urban agriculture are perfect for snacking, and are more filling than packaged snacks such as potato chips or cookies. Children of our modern generation eat three times more snacks--resulting in an additional 200 calories on average--than children did three decades ago [4]. In Loveland, Ohio, school children are growing their own produce in a revolutionary program led by Roberta “Granny” Paolo [5]. By growing their own produce, they are not as daunted when it ends up on their plates, Paolo claims. They recognize from where it started, as a seedling, and watched it sprout day after day. According to Paolo, by the time it’s ready for harvest, the children are excited and anxious to eat it, and grow more produce.
Urban agriculture also serves as a form of exercise, both physically and mentally. Dr. Anne Bellows and other collaborative experts of Community Food Security Coalition’s North American Initiative on Urban Agriculture explain that while gardening may not seem as explicitly rigorous as running or playing a high-intensity sport, it is still excellent exercise. Gardening offers good opportunity to tone muscles and build endurance. It also encourages positive mental health. Gardening provides a sense of self-worth and efficacy. It makes one feel determined, and eventually accomplished. In the past, gardening has been used to remediate various mental illnesses [6].
Urban agriculture yields fresh fruits and vegetables. Explicitly, fresh fruits and veggies administer health benefits. Harvard’s School of Public Health states that produce can have the ability to lower one's blood pressure, prevent various types of cancer, and reduce risks of heart disease and stroke. Additionally, they state that compared to people who ate less than 1.5 servings of fruits and veggies a day, those who ate 8 or more servings were 30% less likely to suffer from a heart attack or a stroke [3].
Fruits and veggies produced from urban agriculture are perfect for snacking, and are more filling than packaged snacks such as potato chips or cookies. Children of our modern generation eat three times more snacks--resulting in an additional 200 calories on average--than children did three decades ago [4]. In Loveland, Ohio, school children are growing their own produce in a revolutionary program led by Roberta “Granny” Paolo [5]. By growing their own produce, they are not as daunted when it ends up on their plates, Paolo claims. They recognize from where it started, as a seedling, and watched it sprout day after day. According to Paolo, by the time it’s ready for harvest, the children are excited and anxious to eat it, and grow more produce.
Urban agriculture also serves as a form of exercise, both physically and mentally. Dr. Anne Bellows and other collaborative experts of Community Food Security Coalition’s North American Initiative on Urban Agriculture explain that while gardening may not seem as explicitly rigorous as running or playing a high-intensity sport, it is still excellent exercise. Gardening offers good opportunity to tone muscles and build endurance. It also encourages positive mental health. Gardening provides a sense of self-worth and efficacy. It makes one feel determined, and eventually accomplished. In the past, gardening has been used to remediate various mental illnesses [6].