Harvesting healthy habits
Published 3:27 pm Thursday, July 25, 2013
Consider a containers of tomatoes growing outside a kitchen. Contrast it with the convoluted congressional farm bill of Jack and the Beanstalkian proportions. In a country struggling with rampant obesity, the bloated farm bill is a sad metaphor of our inability to cut down, whether on subsidies or calories.
The “local” farm and food movement, on the other hand, shows how small steps can spur change. Michelle Obama’s White House garden and “Let’s Move” anti-obesity program (and similar local fitness programs) are good examples. Medical professionals are also trying to help people cultivate better health at the grassroots level — in the garden.
Providers at the Tulalip Karen I. Fryberg Health Clinic on the Tulalip Reservation now take patients outside to their vegetable garden and show them how they can grow good, healthy food for themselves, The Herald’s Bill Sheets reported this week. Leeks, kale, squash, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, parsley, tarragon, basil, lavender, rose hips and other food and medicinal herbs are growing in raised beds at the clinic.
“It’s about engaging with our patients. Instead of telling them what to do, it’s ‘Let’s work together,’” said Bryan Cooper, clinical lead at the health center.
Like the rest of the United States, the Tulalip Reservation has a high incidence of people with diabetes. The garden is especially geared toward helping diabetics manage their condition through their diet.
Growing and eating fresh food works wonders for not only diabetics, but for all people seeking to optimize their health. Gardening can be strenuous, or it can be as easy as maintaining a single container outside. The exercise, the fresh air, the sense of accomplishment add additional benefits to the nutritious and delicious food. (Many people find they like vegetables they think they didn’t, when they get a chance to taste them fresh.)
The Tulalip clinic garden is an extension of a program established two years ago with the opening of the Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve. Programs there include “Gardening Together as Families” and teaching young people traditional ways of harvesting and processing medicinal plants. Such innovative programs, and “we’re in this together” attitudes foster real change. (Group Health’s “The Walk and Talk With Your Health Care Team” program, giving seniors a chance to walk with each other and ask questions of a health professional is another excellent example of the successful “team” approach.)
On the other side of the country, New York City just announced it will offer The Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program, which allows medical providers to prescribe “Health Bucks” that low-income patients can redeem at farmers markets. We’re cultivating health, one community at a time.
