Does A Garden Promote Healthier Choices

Carmelita Gardens is an off-grid community in Belize's Cayo District spread out over 98 acres. This quiet, naturally stunning area attracts wonderful, welcoming, and creative people…

It attracts the type of people who appreciate the simple things in life, above all. We capture the sun's heat and light to power our modest, modern life and harvest rainwater for drinking, cooking, and bathing.

I've lived in Carmelita Gardens for over a year, and there's nothing I lack. I've got everything I need, even after shedding 90% of my North American possessions to come to this beguiling country.

Unlike Ambergris Caye's white-sand beaches along the Caribbean Sea, the Cayo District is surrounded by lush greenery—greenery that plays a major part in my corner of paradise. Gardening has become one of my main pastimes here in Cayo…

Gardening in Cayo is like skiing in the Alps or enjoying the sun and water sports on Ambergris Caye. If Italy can be described as one immense museum, Belize can be described as an enormous botanical garden.

With gardening comes soil, and with soil comes a huge benefit of my lifestyle in Belize:Mycobacterium vaccae.

What In The World Am I Talking About?

Those of you who garden probably know all about this microscopic friend. If you're a gardener who doesn't, you know about its effects, whether consciously or not…

A session in the soil can leave you feeling great, euphoric even, but have you ever found yourself irritable or listless when you're unable to get your hands dirty?

Mycobacterium vaccae is why.

This dirt-bound bacteria is essentially an organic Prozac—a natural antidepressant—except it's free and lives in the soil.

Aside from boosting serotonin levels and decreasing anxiety, studies suggest the Mycobacterium vaccae vaccine might be the next-best alternative in treating allergic asthma, cancer, leprosy, psoriasis, eczema, tuberculosis, and depression. However, results remain inconclusive.

How does this work? How to get a dose? (No, you don't have to eat soil.)

All you have to do is breathe it in.

Simply tending your garden, working the soil, is enough to release the bacteria into the air. So plant some flowers or vegetables, dig around, take a deep breath… and relax…

A closeup of a healthy lawn garden — iStock/AKodisinghe

Aside from the hormonal boost, growing flowers or your own produce will leave you feeling accomplished. You'll have added some beauty to your world—not to mention the health benefits of the garden-to-table meal at your dinner table.

If you're thinking about Belize, you're probably the type of person that likes to get their hands dirty… even if you don't garden, you'll still breath in the calm throughout this country's wide-open spaces.

Maybe that's why people in Belize are always stress-free…

Tony Lauria
Belize Insider