From Garden to Table

Growing your own ingredients and incorporating those ingredients into dishes allows people to reconnect with food. Many people who struggle with disordered eating have fears around certain foods and ingredients within dishes. Gardening and getting back to nature helps people get back to basics and can be influential in breaking down food fears. Gardening can be an important tool for eating disorder recovery. Gardening allows them to engage in an activity, feeling dirt in their fingers while planting and nourishing crops. It brings a sense of joy to plant a seed and watch it grow full circle, from the seed to the plate. I believe that by allowing residents to see the hard work that comes with nurturing foods gives them perspective on how they need to also nurture their bodies. No one can grow a garden in a day and similarly, eating disorder recovery doesn't happen over night. It helps people see that nourishing plants and their bodies takes time. My focus is to incorporate gardening into eating disorder recovery. In the eating disorder recovery program, we are able to grow and pick our ingredients and then incorporate those same ingredients into dishes that may limit food focused fears. Gardening and creating meals from the foods sourced allows people to have a more positive relationship with food, as individuals are more invested in the process knowing that they had a hand in growing these crops. https://www.diigo.com/user/emackirdy https://www.instagram.com/garden2recipe2table/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-mackirdy-b40643221/