Be Fit Fitness Blog

There’s nothing worse than winter tomatoes. They are tasteless! They lack the natural juiciness and flavor because they are picked green and allowed to ripen or try to ripen while in transport or on the supermarket shelves. For this reason, they are not and cannot be as nutrient rich as they should be. With the increased population demand for food and with the concretization of land and the decreasing amount of farmland, this is the end result. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about this in winter.

That is why I can’t wait for the warmer months and summer to return when I can again grow my own vegetables. Many people are used to store bought vegetables that they forget or don’t know what freshly ripened vegetables really taste like and even smell like!

Here are my reasons why one should grow their own vegetables, consider vegetable gardening:

- vegetables are more tasty, juicy because they are allowed to ripen naturally on the vine
- you don’t need to use pesticide, so you know your vegetables are pesticide free
- vegetables are more nutrient rich
- convenience, you just go outside and pick the ripe vegetables you need and when you need them
- extra vegetables can be frozen for the cold and winter months and used in cooking for example, tomatoes, peppers, beans….
- gardening is great exercise, a great full-body exercise workout outdoors without feeling like you are exercising
- gardening is relaxing and a great way to relieve stress. It brings you in tune with your environment and you learn to appreciate where your food comes from and how it grows.
- alleviates the strain of crop production on our existing farmland because you are maximizing land use.

Nowadays, even for people living in apartments or condos, you can still grow your own vegetables. Some apartments/condos have rooftop gardens and some cities also have community gardens. I remember while visiting Greece, I went to the rooftop of the hotel where I was staying at to get a better vantage point for picture taking and I noticed that they were growing vegetables for the hotel restaurant!

My article began with a discussion focused on how terrible tomatoes taste in winter and how through home gardening vegetables can be more nutritious, tasty and beneficial to your overall health and fitness.