Obama Garden Watch: 10 Vegetables Worth A Fist Bump

"Hope won" took on new meaning for me when I found out that Michelle Obama was planning a 1,100 square-foot kitchen garden on the south grounds of the White House. Seriously, I see almost everything through a health and wellness lens. During the time of the inaugural balls and parties, I watched the Obamas dance together until the wee hours of the morning. My thoughts and concerns were: "Wow, can the President go to work a little later tomorrow? He'll need a good night's sleep and some time to recover from the excitement to be at his best. We need our President to be healthy in body, mind, and spirit."

President Obama may not be getting all the sleep he needs, but at least he's going to be eating his veggies.

I've lectured at schools over the past 20 years, attempting to inspire kids to make healthier choices when it comes to the dinner plate. I've found kids to be very receptive and interested in what foods are healthy for their growing bodies. They go home from the lectures asking their parents for more fruits and vegetables. Armed with knowledge and enthusiasm, they start incorporating healthy changes into their diet.

Although these changes often take place, the inspiration from lectures about fruits and vegetables can get steamrolled by Saturday morning cartoon commercials, and one of my main competitors - high fructose corn syrup. Childhood obesity and related health concerns have reached epidemic proportions, yet we still have junk food being heavily marketed to kids.

We need help, big time!... Enter Michelle Obama.

Thank you Mrs. Obama for giving hope to parents, educators, healthcare professionals, and others who try to inspire young and old with ideas for healthier ways of eating. Thank you Michael Pollan and Alice Waters for spreading the word about the necessity of growing our own food and supporting our local small farms.

In a recent interview with Oprah, Michelle Obama described her goals for the garden: "We want to use it as a point of education, to talk about health, and how delicious it is to eat fresh food, and how you can take that food and make it part of a healthy diet... And hopefully kids will be interested because there are kids living here." In addition to her two daughters, Mrs. Obama is involving students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, DC in the garden project.

Beyond the important issues regarding children, there are rewards for adults in following Michelle Obama's example. Planting a garden can give us hope and inspiration that we can be resourceful no matter what the state of the economy.

Hopefully the White House garden can be an example to all of us to listen to our grandmother's advice and "eat our vegetables." In general, vegetables are a great source of nutrients, especially antioxidants such as vitamins A (in the precursor form of betacarotene) and C, fiber, minerals, and water. An informative site from the Harvard School of Public Health discusses how these foods help prevent everything from heart disease, to some forms of cancer, to vision concerns. To calculate the daily amount of fruits and vegetables recommended for your age and activity level, visit a helpful webpage provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The 10 Power-Packed Veggies

It has been reported that the White House's edible organic garden will include 55 varieties of vegetables. Below are nutritional highlights of 10 that are included in the initial layout:

Kale: Delivers betacarotene, along with other eye-health supportive carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin. Its organosulfur compounds are thought to reduce the risk of some types of cancer. Also provides a good dose of vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, and fiber.

Spinach: Good source of betacarotene, magnesium, and folate. In addition, spinach offers nice amounts of vitamins C, E and K; calcium, potassium, iron, lutein, lipoic acid, and fiber. Studies show that the phytonutrients in spinach may aid in the prevention of heart disease, arthritis, and certain forms of cancer.

Broccoli: Considered a cancer risk reducer, partly due to its phytonutrient content (such as indoles and sulforaphane). An excellent source of vitamin C. Also delivers betacarotene, calcium, folate, and fiber.

Sugar Snap Peas: Provide insoluble fiber; may help lower cholesterol. Offers vitamins B1, B6, C and K, as well as iron, potassium, and lutein. New research shows promise for helping with high blood pressure and kidney disease.

Rhubarb: The stalks from rhubarb deliver vitamins C and K, fiber, potassium, and calcium. Rhubarb may benefit those with high cholesterol.

Romaine Lettuce: This salad green is packed with folate, vitamin C, and betacarotene. Other nutrients include vitamin K, manganese, chromium, and fiber.

Carrots: Good source of fiber, vitamins C and K, and the minerals potassium and manganese. Rich in antioxidants such as betacarotene, which can aid in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Collard Greens: Also has cancer-protective organosulfur compounds. Delivers betacarotene, vitamins B6 and C, calcium, zinc, and folate.

Swiss Chard: Provides vitamins B2, B6, C, K, and betacarotene, as well as the minerals iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and potassium.

Onions: Rich source of vitamin C, chromium, and quercetin. Studies indicate that onions may improve cardiovascular health and lower cancer risk.

Veggies: delicious and nutritious. An investment in your health with guaranteed dividends. What other kind of investment can really offer that in these challenging economic times?

OK, ready to dig in?

Getting Involved

You can get great ideas for starting a garden, whether in your yard, on your porch, or on your windowsill from the Kitchen Gardeners International website. KGI is a non-profit network of 10,000 gardeners from 100 countries whose mission is to inspire and inform people to grow their own food. KGI gathered 100,000 signatures to petition the Obamas to support sustainable agriculture by growing an organic garden.

Check out their cool video that presents the history of gardening at the White House.

Abundance and hope. In a seed. Get some for free at onemilliongardens.com, and join the revolution of bringing power back to the people.

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Comments

[AProudRepublican]

I love that Michelle is bringing back the "Victory Gardens" movement from the 1940s! It's so much fun to see how more and more people are planting veggie gardens.... seems to be the "patriotic" thing to do these days... not to mention how much it helps the planet!!! This really inspires me to want to plant more veggies!!

[Tommygun264]

Spinach is hard to grow in abundance when you're restricted to a porch or balcony garden, but tomatoes and certain types of potato grow quickly with limited space. I'll pass on the collard greens and don't get me started on okra.

[hollybork]

I expect the White House garden will grow to include an orchard of various fruit trees which flourish in that region. The produce from the trees can be used on fruit plates, fruit salad, in sauces, pies, or dried for snacks. Excess can be given to charity food cupboards. One mature apple tree can produce enough apples to supply the whole white house and its guests. Nature's gifts in the garden are so abundant. I am very pleased about this development under the Obama administration. CB

[ibberoo2]

Love it. A gardening revolution. How... delicious. :)

[klondiker]

I would love to get more information about how to cook veggies. I've heard some contradictory information about whether nutrients are preserved or not, if you cook them. Other then salads, what other nutritious ways are there to serve veggies? Does stir-frying (for how long?) preserve nutrients? What about baking or barbequing them?

[poiuyty]

Even cooked vegis are good for you. Don't fear cooking.

[MrIncognito11]

The effect of cooking depends on the specific chemical you're talking about. In the case of something like lycopene in tomatos, cooking appears to dramatically increase levels. Some other substances are destroyed by heat.

The best approach is to eat lots of fruits and veggies in a way that tastes good to you. If you like them, you will eat more of them. Avoid fad diets and quackery and just stick to the basics.

[euthman]

Nutrition need not be as complicated as writers on HuffPo and elsewhere tend to make it. Eat lots of green leafy vegetables. Eat meat in moderation, concentrating on fatty fish like salmon. Nuts are good in fairly small doses but have too many calories to eat them as a staple. Starches and sugars need to be limited. Grains need to be whole. Try to keep salt consumption under control. Stay away from anything deep fried. Cook with olive oil.

Healthy people don't need supplements, with the possible exception of vitamin D (or even a short period of daily sun exposure). Women of childbearing age may want to take a folate supplement. Just about everything else written about supplements is without basis in science.

Don't worry about cooking, irradiation, or other processing. Just east a varied diet following the guidelines above and ignore 99% of the nonsense about nutrition that's on the Internet.

[eminent]

i was told first the process of steaming the veggies doesn't drain them of nutrients-them one can bake, au gratin, all one wants.

[dontvote4him]

I wonder what fashion crazed article we'll get now while she's bent over in the garden?

[FakeBertha]

i love greens esp. solanum aethiopicum (nakati) although i feel like a cow eating grass when i eat spinach, i still enjoy it though.

[nylaks]

Another week of informative but simple information. If we are lucky enough to have an area for planting a garden, what a healthy and rewarding product we will have. Putting great foods in our bodies and also finding peace while we plant and harvest and nurture our gardens!

[Trilby]

I am happy that Michelle is starting a garden at the White House but I must say I was annoyed when she announced that everyone would be required to weed it, even Barack. Now, I can weed a garden, YOU can weed a garden, Michelle can weed a garden, but seriously, the President has more important things to do.

[kareemachan]

Of course, he might consider it a nice way to decompress after dealing with everything he has to deal with...

[poiuyty]

God forbid Obama does a little work around the house when he gets off.

[idahoraghorn]

trilby must not know any thing about gardening. There is much more to the garden than the food and work? it takes. My family has grown our own food for over 30 years in our garden. We do it organically, in a small space. It produces almost all the veggies we eat. Our meat comes from the woods and waters. We can, dry, and freeze for the off season use. We buy very little of the poisoned chemically lace food sold in the stores. But, in addition to our food, the garden provides us with the chance to work in the ground, and the relaxing, quiet times only a garden can supply. I am sure working in the garden will help Barracks soul and mind deal with his lifes problems, and afford him the quiet time to reflect on things. The veggie garden feeds the body, but the flower garden feeds the mind. Michell, put in another 1100 sq. ft flower garden and have Barrack work in it also. Our country will be better for it.

[BCObserver]

Weeding a garden is a form of meditation, extremely necessary for people with a lot of weighty decisions to make. It's the best idea I've heard in a long time.

[JustLucky]

Yes - weeding gives you a concrete reason to spend time in the garden and get intimate with it, notice things, watch the plants grow, dig into the soil, and be with nature. Heaven on earth.

[euthman]

Mhandas Gandhi ran a spinning wheel and is fairly well regarded in political history, I understand.

[Mr Grey]

Raised beds and growing in pots and planters make growing easier. You'd be surprised how much you can grow in a small space. I'm surprised to find tomatoes are not in the initial garden plan. The difference in taste between a store tomato and and fresh grown is like night and day. There are tons of books about growing in small spaces. If your really lucky there may be a community garden in your area. If you haven't grown anything before, do a little reading and start small. Good luck and bon appetite!

[kareemachan]

Exactly! All my gardening is done on our deck, as we live in the forest with many, many deer, all of whom are willing to eat anything. Last year I raised spinach, tomatoes, onions, artichokes, cardoon, salad greens, radishes, potatoes, carrots, beets, edamame, green beans, snow peas, various herbs, shiso, shallots, and cucumbers - all in containers. Granted, it was a little crowded on the deck, but well worth the effort - and the plants attracted hummingbirds, butterflies, and frogs (!!!) to the deck.

[poiuyty]

Maybe they don't like tomatoes?

Personally they are the focal point of my garden. I grow a ton of them and can them.

I don't grow half the stuff they are growing because I don't like eating it. To each thier own.

[JustLucky]

Tomatoes are the main reason for my gardens. But maybe there's some especially good source for them there that makes them prefer to concentrate on other things. Hard to imagine, though...

[Formeralaskangal]

With food prices so high and a tight family budget, we are planning to grow our own veggies this summer. We bought a plot at the local "community garden" site. At $15 for our 10x20 patch it seemed to be a reasonable deal, since the soil will be tilled and the water supplied. I'm looking forward to the work, and reward of this. We thought it would be a great teaching tool for my young daughter, and nutritious for all of us. Even better, the guy at the program gave us a plot in an area that has never been used before, so there won't be any chemicals in the ground...hoping we can do this organically.

[Judyisacutie]

Most people I talk to think gardening is so difficult they can't do it, but anyone can grow anything if they just stop watering everyday! Even roses can cope getting watered once every two weeks.

[2morrowKnight]

Cute post. Thanks.

[DonsBlog]

I don't think the good Dr. has ever actually eaten rhubarb. i used to eat lemons but skipped the rhubarb.

I just ordered lambs quarter seeds. My neighbors may hate me but it's delicious, super nutritious, and grows almost anywhere.

[joycehelene]

Strawberry/Rhubarb pie is really delicious.

[justafarmer]

lambs quarter seed are great, but rhubarb has a bad rep. Rhubarb makes a great pie.

[Cunningham]

Your neighbors WILL hate you for planting lambs quarter on purpose. Once you have pigweed established, it seeds itself everywhere. Good luck fighting off the angry hoards.

[blueskybigstar]

There is much evidence that too much betacarotene such as found in carrots can cause cancer especially in smokers.

Look it up on sciencedaily.com

[milo h minderbinder]

Misleading.

The "too much" you mention was a study done on people taking SUPPLEMENTS, not eating carrots, and they were taking ten times the recommended daily amount.

And that study ONLY found the increase in cancer risk in smokers. The beta carotene didn't CAUSE cancer in those people, that was a group already at risk for it because of smoking - it just increased the risk in that group, a group that already was at high risk. I wasn't able to find any studies that have shown any risk at all from nonsmokers, or from amounts you'd get from eating carrots and other vegetables, if there are any I'd like to see them.

So don't avoid carrots because of that study (you just probably don't need a mega supplement of beta carotene). And if you're a smoker, the thing to do is to quit smoking, not to stop eating carrots.

[justafarmer]

agree with you Milo, but also have to mention that anything that is "good for you" is only good in moderation (like most things in life).
Obviously, eating noting but carrots can't be good for a person, much like any other extremes in life.
That said, I like carrots, sweet potatoes, wild rice, and all sorts of other things (including the occasional greasy cheeseburger & fries).
As I said, all things in moderation.

[weatherwaxx]

That study also used synthetic beta-carotene - not beta carotene in carrots with the other synergistic micronutrients that come in a whole vegetable rather than a fake version of Mama Nature's real medicine. Think about it -- would you say eating a piece of synthetic cheese was identical to the real thing?

It would take something like 50# of carrots per day to achieve dangerous levels of beta-carotene. That's the great thing about veggies -- it's almost impossible to overdose.

And organic carrots have much higher, balanced levels of all nutrients.

[AProudRepublican]

blueskybigstar,
"Isolated beta-carotene" is what's bad - like the kind found in supplements. BC from food, however, is fine. Have no fear of those carrots! :) For a more detailed explanation, see the "vitamin a" section here: http://www.drfuhrman.com/shop/GCF.aspx