After moving away from family as a young adult, I had to figure out how to ‘adult’…particularly make my meals. Eating out was so much easier and convenient and usually the plan.
After a couple years of mainly eating fast food, I started experiencing gut issues. It was awful knowing the next time I ate, I would have gut pain, bloating, and indigestion. This would often last up to 3 days.
With the help from a close nutritionist friend, she helped me figure out the cause. Come to find out, I’m sensitive to certain foods, particularly gluten. Most of the foods I loved are made up with gluten, things like breads, pasta, pastries and most processed foods. 🍝🥪🍕
It took some time to believe that I was even sensitive to any type of food as I never had food allergies. When I finally accepted it, I had to figure out a way to make food healthy and most importantly, tasty! This started my food journey.
I researched foods that I could eat and discovered that it came down to eating simply prepared meals containing meats, veggies, fruits, and avoiding many processed foods. Have you ever really read all the ingredients on a box of cookies or cereal? 🍪 It’s unbelievable!! There’s so much ingredients that I’ve never heard of and a ton of preservatives.
In search for new foods, I’ve discovered that fruits and vegetables sold in stores are often grown using chemicals (pesticides and insecticides) if they weren’t grown organically. This inspired me to grow my own food because, seriously, fresh organic food is pricey! 💵
Fast forward, I now grow a variety of fruits and vegetables in my urban home garden. I have over 30 fruit trees/vines, perennial herbs and flowers, and grow the ever popular annual veggies, like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, beans, etc.. I especially love growing rare and unusual crops that are hard to find or expensive to purchase in stores. ✨
Growing food is a very rewarding experience, good for my soul, and having available fresh produce only steps away from my back door is invaluable for my health as well as my family. 💃🏽
I’m writing this blog as a way to record what I’ve learned growing my garden and making wholesome and delicious meals from the harvests. I hope you can find something that inspires you to grow your garden and eat from it too.
