How Hydroponics changes the way you value food

Not a lot of people get into hydroponics to change the way they feel about their food, but that's often what ends up happening. When you start actually generating your own fruits and vegetables and producing some of the foods you consume, that consumption can start to take on a whole new dimension.

So how does growing a hydroponic garden change your attitude toward food? Well, it usually changes it for the better. Growers find they start to value food more, and make more deliberate choices about what they eat.

Panic at the Supermarket

Some of us assume that 100 years ago, the grocery store was the place to get food. In fact, that's not really true at all. In the past, more people raised livestock and grew crops on their properties. More people were agrarians or farmers, or had a bit of land to raise their own food. Throughout the last 50 years or so, people have become nearly entirely reliant on supermarket chains for the food that they need, and this has caused some issues.

In the last 10 or 20 years, people have started to look more critically at all the stuff that's being put into supermarket food. Fat, sodium, calories and sugar, not to mention a raft of preservatives and other chemicals - all of that is raising a lot of questions about our food supply.

The Power of Gardening

Against this kind of ominous backdrop, people are getting into gardening for various reasons. They start to realize that you can have fresh and natural food. You can grow a lot of the things that you need. Then they try a little bit of this fresh food, and they start to see the difference between eating junk and eating valuable whole foods.

People with vegetable gardens tend to make vegetables more of the center of a meal. They're less inclined to just chow down on hamburgers and hot dogs and pot roasts, and try things like beet and walnut patties, pesto, eggplant, or a variety of other protein-rich foods to replace meat. They'll spend more time cooking and preparing vegetable dishes. And they'll start to realize that gardening is really central to what their doctors have been telling them all along -- but if you want to eat healthy, producing your own food is a powerful incentive.

For more about hydroponics, how you do it, and how it changes you, take a look at Dealzer for more information on getting your own affordable grow box and gear to start your own hydro project.