With COPD, I harvest health from my raised garden bed
Growing my own fruits and vegetables provides numerous health benefits
Those of us with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are encouraged to eat an anti-inflammatory diet. I like to think that I harvest my health from a raised bed. I sit on the timbers of my garden bed with my legs tucked to the side and begin to harvest vegetables, which occupy a big portion of my prescribed diet.
The garden doesn’t ask me to stand tall. It just requires me to show up. In doing so, I quietly rebel against COPD when I reach to pick a tomato or pluck a weed. “Take that, COPD. I can still raise a garden despite you.”
In a world that often equates assistive devices, such as my portable oxygen concentrator, with weakness, I find peace in the fact that tomatoes do not feel shame in being picked by me, and squash spreads all over like it owns the place, unaware of my limitations. There is no stigma in the soil as it provides nutrients for growth.
My raised garden bed allows me to sit, breathe, and move more easily. COPD doesn’t vanish when I am in my garden, but its effects seem to soften.
As I reach to pick a tomato, I am performing a stretch. As I turn to pick another one, I’m doing a breathing exercise as I purse my lips to relieve a little strain. I am managing COPD constantly. Gardening is not only a place where my disease is softened, but it also gently aids in my treatment.
As I stand from my perch on the raised bed, I am strengthening the muscles necessary for me to perform a higher number of sit-to-stand movements in 60 seconds. I am increasing my flexibility as I bend to pick up the pail of tomatoes that I have just harvested. I bend my knees as I pick up the bucket so that I don’t strain my back. As I carry the bucket to the kitchen, switching hands in the process, I have done a farmer’s carry.
Once the tomatoes are in the house, I must prepare them for canning. I blanch them in boiling water and then cool them in ice water, or cold running water, so that the outer skin is more easily removed. Lifting the pan from the stove to the sink builds biceps. I perform more bicep curls as I place the filled jars in the canner and then remove them again once they have been processed.
The anti-inflammatory benefits of tomatoes largely come from lycopene, an antioxidant. The beans that I pick and preserve provide me with the same exercise benefits and also contain anti-inflammatory compounds, such as peptides and polyphenols. When the vegetables are fresh from the garden, they taste the best and are packed with the most nutrients.
I’ve begun sharing my harvest with neighbors, not just as produce but as proof that movement, nutrition, and breath can coexist with chronic illness. It’s proof that sitting on a timber edge is not giving up, but rather leaning in.
Note: COPD News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of COPD News Today or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
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David A Sylvester
Great article Caroline. Excellent way to keep moving-and-There's nothing better than garden tomatoes!!!!!!!
Rick Lowry
Thanks for your support really appreciate it.
Thomas Monks
That is a really lovely post - I feel your love for gardening and indeed for life
Picking tomatoes and beans and chilli peppers myself in recent days
Happy Gardening - Happy Life
Albert Daniel Bodine
Enjoyed your post, Carolyn! I've been on the COPD machine for almost 20 years. I live in El Paso, TX, in the northwest stretches of the Great Chihuahuan Desert in the U.S. To the Spanish, the "garden" is not just where you're cultivating plants to eat but instead is all the property surrounding your home, e.g., the trees, shrubs and flowers, too, that make up all of your landscape. Thus, I feel the minimum of 2-3 hours I spend daily in "my garden" -- including the sunshine I get from the work, too -- keeps me happy and my ol' beatup lungs pumpin' away as though they had good sense! Keep gardening!