Rediscover nature through backyard gardening

One way to re-establish contact with nature while continuing to live in urban areas is to start gardening. Gardening is perhaps the easiest and the most convenient way to rediscover your connection with nature. You can plant a whole garden in your backyard or, if space is a constraint, you can start with your small balcony.

Although home gardening makes your house look beautiful and adds a different kind of charm to it, the benefits of gardening extend to your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Let’s find out how gardening can nourish your body and soul.

The health benefits of backyard gardening

1. Gardening is an excellent workout

Movement of the body is vital for good health and protects us from many diseases. Doctors and health experts recommend that for optimum health and fitness, one should exercise daily. However, running/walking outdoors or on a treadmill becomes monotonous and boring. Gyms too lose their attraction after a few days or weeks unless you are a fitness enthusiast.

The best thing about backyard gardening is that it doesn’t feel like a workout. It is an engaging activity that involves your body and mind. Plus, it not monotonous at all. Because it is done outdoors, you are inhaling fresher air. Almost your entire body gets a workout in the different aspects of gardening: tilling the soil, removing weeds, planting new seeds, watering the plants, plucking fruits, adding fertilisers, and so much more. Backyard gardening is a fun way to make your kids exercise as they don’t even realise that they are working out.

2. It encourages healthy eating

Backyard gardening offers you the opportunity to grow your own food. When you start eating food produced in your own little home garden, you will feel a different kind of satisfaction. Plus, Unlike commercially grown fruits and veggies, the food you grow in your backyard garden is free of harmful chemicals and pesticides. The effort you put into growing your own food will help you appreciate the value of nourishment which packaged foods are devoid of.

3. Your home garden is a source of fresh air

Plants and trees inhale carbon monoxide and exhale oxygen and are nature’s very own air purifiers. Fresh, clean air is becoming a rarity in urban areas, with pollution levels threatening to cause widespread disease. Along with plants that give fruits and vegetables, you can choose a few that are known for their air-purifying properties. Tulsi (basil) and snake plant are two popular options.

4. Gardening boosts your immunity

Studies have established that exposure to microbes present in soil boosts the immune system. The presence of certain organisms and environmental factors provides the immune system with information it needs to function. The exposure to sunlight helps the body produce vitamin-D, which too helps in improving your immune system besides a host of other benefits.

The benefits of backyard gardening on mental health

The benefits of home gardening extend beyond physical health; gardening is known to be great for your psychological health too. Here are a few ways in which backyard gardening can help boost your mental and emotional wellbeing.

1. Backyard gardening can help you combat everyday stress

We are facing a stress epidemic in the world today and gardening helps us combat this menace. A study conducted in The Netherlands established that gardening led to significant decrease in the stress hormone cortisol as compared to other leisure activities such as reading.

An hour tending to your garden is much better than watching a movie or taking a walk. Since gardening activities are mostly carried out outdoors during the day, you get exposure to sunlight, which helps ease Seasonal Affective Disorder [SAD], a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons. There is also evidence that soil contains a microbiome that works as an antidepressant.

2. Gardening cultivates a sense of responsibility and patience

We live in a fast-paced world with all the conveniences delivered right at our doorstep 24/7, 365 days a year. In an era of instant messengers and food delivery apps, we have forgotten that patience is a virtue. Gardening helps us rediscover the beauty of slow and steady. Because nurturing plants requires us to give all our attention—right from the moment we sow the seed—gardening cultivates in us a sense of responsibility and patience. These, in turn, help us cope with life’s challenges better.

3. It helps manage anger and lessens agitation

Gardening can help calm your nerves and release your anger or agitation. Physical activities such as digging, ploughing and de-weeding help discharge any negative emotional charge you might carry back from work or face at home due to any number of reasons. Bring out your shovel and get to work; cut a few buds or trim the grass. Attend to the needs of your garden and soon you will regain your composure which, in turn, will help you see your situation in a better light.

4. Gardening connects us to nature

Modern technologies have its advantages but one of its more serious drawbacks is that we have lost our connection to nature and that has had a detrimental effect on the human psyche. The life force that powers us is the same life force that flows through all of Nature. Backyard gardening can help reconnect us with Nature and recognise how intrinsically we are connected. When we start gardening, we feel a sense of oneness with the whole of existence, and that helps expand our perspectives of living and relating with everyone and everything.

The post 8 Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Gardening appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Sindhi khoya is not easily available in mithai shops; if you’re lucky you may get it in a shop that specialises in Sindhi foods. But there’s nothing like the homemade khoya. That’s why we are sharing the authentic Sindhi Khoya recipe with you.

Preparing Sindhi Khoya requires lots of patience and time, so make sure you have an abundance of these two on the day you’re making it. Sindhi khoya stays good in the refrigerator for up to a month, so you can make a large batch and just refrigerate it. To serve, just add 1-2 tbsp milk to the serving and heat on a stove.

The important thing to remember is that this Sindhi khoya recipe must be cooked on a low flame to get the perfect taste and consistency. You can reduce or increase the proportion of nuts as you like. This is very calorie dense food, so a little goes a long way. It’s rich in healthy fats, but be sure to control your portion size.

Traditional Sindhi Khoya Recipe

Ingredients

• Milk 2.5 litres
• Dry dates [khaareek or chuara] 200 – 250g
• Poppy seeds [khuskhus] 100g
• Cardamom 25 – 30 [powdered]
• Nutmeg powder 1/2 tsp
• Sugar 300g [can be adjusted as per your taste preference]
• Ghee 200g
• Almonds 50g [chopped]
• Walnuts 25g [chopped]
• Cashews 25g [halved]
• Coriander seeds [dhaniya magaz] 3 – 4  tbsp [coarsely ground]

Method

1. Wash and pound the dry dates. Discard the seeds. The dates should be coarsely broken, not powdered.
2. Heat the milk. When it boils, lower the flame. Now rest of the cooking has to be done on low flame. Add the broken dry dates to the milk and let it cook till they soften. This will take about 15 – 20 mins.
3. Now turn off the flame and leave this overnight or for 6-7 hours. You may leave it outside or refrigerate. Letting this mixture stand for few hours helps the dry dates to soften completely and gives them a “melt in mouth” consistency, which is what makes the khoya so delicious.
4. The next day, heat some ghee [just enough for frying nuts] in a frying pan. Fry the almonds, cashews and walnuts and add them to the milk-date mixture. Take care to not brown/burn the nuts.
5. Also fry the poppy seeds, coriander seeds and cardamom powder in ghee, again being careful to not burn it. Add these ingredients too to the milk.
6. Now place the milk vessel on low flame and let it cook, stirring occasionally to make sure it does not burn at the bottom. Add the remaining ghee to the milk mixture. Keep cooking till the milk browns and only then add sugar. Stir till the sugar has melted in.
7. Keep cooking on low flame till the mixture dries up. Turn off the flame and add nutmeg [jaiphal] powder. Your sindhi khoya is ready.

The post Sindhi Khoya: a traditional winter delicacy appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

From fast food to slow food

Slow Food is defined by three interconnected principles:

1. Good food—Food that is of good quality, flavoursome and healthful
2. Clean food—Food production that is done in a way that it does not harm the environment and is clear of harmful chemicals
3. Fair food—Accessible prices of food for consumers and fair trade for producers.

Terra Madre was an amazing experience to know and feel how we are not alone in wanting change. Parallel sessions with lectures, discussions, film shows kept us busy; we home-stayed with local Turinites. Simultaneously Salon del Gusto was also being held in the same premises so that Terra Madre participants could get a taste of good, clean and fair food and also be able to purchase. Salon del Gusto, another Slow Food project, has become a popular international fair dedicated to artisanal, sustainable food and the small-scale producers that safeguard local traditions and grow high quality products.

The highlight of the Terra Madre event

Amidst music and dance at the finale event, the crowning moment was listening to Carlo Petrini speak with passion about the need for safeguarding our food supplies and the importance of saving biodiversity to save the planet. It is he who has been the heart of the Slow Food movement. He founded it with a group of activists in the 1980s and in his words, ‘Slow Food unites the pleasure of food with responsibility, sustainability and harmony with nature.’ In 2008 The Guardian named Carlo Petrini as one of the 50 people who could save the planet. In 2013 he received the highest UN environmental award, Champions of the Earth. It is an amazing story of what one man can achieve. Carlo Petrini is one of the key people responsible for upholding many important practices that promise us safe food. Many hold him in very high esteem, as do I. It is Slow Food that supported The Farmers’ Market, Mumbai, in its first few years for which we are very grateful. And today we are proud to be part of slow food’s global network of farmers’ markets called The Earth Markets which respects the slow food philosophy. (More details on www.earthmarkets.net and  www.farmersmarket.co.in)

 Some other projects of Slow Food are

1. 10,000 Gardens which creates good, clean, fair food gardens in African schools and communities.
2. Ark of Taste draws attention to delicious foods that are at a risk of extinction. Identifying these foods ensures that they stay in production.
3. Presidia sustains quality, protects unique ecosystems, safeguards native breeds and local plant varieties.
4. Chefs’ Alliance is a network of chefs defending food biodiversity across the world.
5. University of Gastronomic Sciences.

Slow Food represents a global movement involving thousands of projects and over 1,00,000 members in over 160 countries. Over 1500 Convivia [Slow Food chapters] exist all over the world and India is just beginning to have a few. It is very simple to become a member. Log onto www.slowfood.com to know more.

Why the need for Slow Food

Slow Food is a watch dog for us as far as our food history goes. Every consumer cannot be expected to know details of what goes into his food. And even though we may take the time to read labels, we all, in our hearts, want to believe that what is available is good for our body, mind and soul. Organisations like Slow Food assist us in ensuring this. For instance one of Slow Food’s projects is “Say NO to powdered milk in cheese” which we may not even be aware of. Similarly there is “Save the Bees”, “No GMO”, “Save Seeds” and many other projects demanding that we safeguard our food chain for ourselves and our future. Slow Food celebrates food and demands that it remains delicious as it is meant to be.

Slow Food recognises the strong connections between the plate, planet, people, politics and culture. Our lives are interconnected with the life of the planet we live on. For too long we have relied on businesses to give us our daily bread without questioning its impact on our health or on that of the earth or on that of the farmer who produces the raw material or his agricultural wisdom that will be lost to us if we are unable to attract his children to the field. If we do not do something quick, our inheritance and traditions will be forever lost and we will have no food on our plates and certainly no food that is nourishing. For too long profit has overtaken ethics. We need to understand the urgent need to go back to our roots and the wisdom of food sanity that is essential to feed the world in a wholesome way.

Slow Food in daily life

Living with full awareness of how our food choices affect the lives of our children is what Slow Food is all about. So, in real terms, what is a Slow Food way of eating and what are its benefits? Being conscious of what one consumes, buying as local as possible [eat the Indian millets as opposed to quinoa, eat sabza seeds instead of chia], seeking out small producers [artisans if you please], knowing the company or people one buys from [at least some research to know the motive behind the company], choosing variety of traditional foods, opting for organic, cooking slowly and eating slowly are some of the ways of ensuring that all is not lost on the food front.

Slow Food began to counteract the influx of Fast Food in our lives. So if we want to taste life in its fullness, we need to slow down to savour it before it is too late.

I have been saying since over three decades, eat according to your taste buds but choose the organic versions of whatever it is you decide to favour [hoping, at least, it isn’t going to be a bunch of refined foods!]. Slow food is saying the same thing, choose whatever, no restrictions, just buy local, buy fair, buy good, buy clean, buy small, buy traditional, buy variety, use some intelligence. This will ensure good life for all and for the future too. So the benefit of understanding the slow food philosophy goes beyond just personal health benefit, it also takes care of the earth in which we reside and all its guardians. Not asking for much, just some common sense.

* Slow Food is a global NGO that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet.

The post Embrace Slow Food appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

I was at lunch with a group of friends when Tanya said this to Priya.

Priya’s meal had just arrived and she had ordered a cheese pav bhaji. This was after she had wiped off a plate of French fries all by herself while the rest of us waited for our main courses to arrive.

Priya, who had made the apparently “unhealthy” meal choice flushed on hearing the remark. From the change in her expression, one could tell that she was wishing she could disappear into invisibility, just like the dollop of butter that was fast melting to become invisible in her food. Not knowing how else to respond, she looked down at her food and nibbled in silence till the end of our lunch.

Sadly, Tanya was oblivious of the damage she had done and went on to brag about her latest diet changes and why she had banished certain foods from her diet forever. So obsessed was she with driving home her point that our forlorn faces were lost on her. Possibly my other friends were now wondering how Miss ‘Health Freak’ would react when their orders were brought to the table and whether she would approve of their choices. Sigh! There went another potentially fun lunch meeting, thanks to one person’s unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.

Wrong words at the wrong time

Even though Tanya only had Priya’s best interests in mind [like we all have for our loved ones], her timing and tone were both wrong. Very wrong. Her harsh words and insensitivity would have harmed her friend more than any of the ‘unhealthy’ food she thought she was eating.

Let’s first get this out of the way. Sharing our knowledge and experiences is not wrong. In fact, it must be done as that’s what empowers us to make better choices. But we should be conscious of doing it in a sensible and sensitive way.

But don’t we all have that one friend, colleague or relative who goes into nutritionist- or crusader-mode at every opportunity they find and mostly it is during meal times? When I see these people giving advice that is not asked for, I’m left wondering whether they’re still trying to convince their own selves about their choices.

Food does much more than providing us with calories and nutrition. Each of us has a unique relationship with food. For some this relationship is sorted, while for others it’s complicated or still evolving. Add to it the information overload from the field of nutrition and changing trends in the health industry and things can get pretty convoluted.

The least we can do to maintain some sanity in these times of information overload is to keep our meal-times sacred and devoid of nutrition gyaan.

Eat and let others eat

Food is big deal for most of us, yet meal times are the most ignored events, mostly done mindlessly. If you have to discuss the food, let it be about the taste, the flavour, the ingredients, the recipes… but keep all talk of nutrition, calories and food choices out! Once the food is on the table and you have decided you’re going to eat it, just shut up, enjoy your food and let others do the same. Resist the temptation of asking the vegan where he is getting his protein from or snidely reminding the non-vegetarian about the inhuman practices at factory farms. One of the most important thing food does is bringing people together. It gives us a chance to celebrate our similarities and differences. Let’s not use it as an opportunity to convert the other and bring them on “our side”.

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