How my flower bed reflected my blossoming health

Week three of Follow the Fifty began in a very positive fashion.  With a rare burst of energy I took advantage of a beautiful spring day and began to work on my flower beds.  I'm embarrassed to say that I never so much as pulled a weed last year and they were a mess!  I have five areas in my yard with perrenials, and looking at the whole thing made my heart sink.  I felt overwhelmed!  How could I possibly clean up this mess and where do I start?  I decided to tackle one area and not focus on them all.  I began in the smaller bed on the side of the deck to our kitchen door.  This is the garden that I see most as I enter and exit the house.

There is something about playing in the dirt that is very therapeutic.  As I started tilling and pulling at weeds, I felt happy and ethusiastic.  I thinned out the lilies, and pruned my large perrenial plants.  I cut limbs off my lilac bush and ran an edger all around the perimeter to give it a fresh and clean line.  It took a little less than two hours, and when I was done it looked better than it had....well ....ever!  I was tired and glad that I had decided to only do one garden.  I had a lot more to do in the coming weeks, but this one was done!

After I took a shower and made a cup of peppermint tea,  I started to think about what I would blog.  While pondering on how my gardening activity  related to a heart health journey, I was struck by the metaphor of cleaning up the gardens.  Like my gardens, my health had been ignored and neglected.  It was no wonder that I was a mess when I started in October.  Fortunately for me, Dr. Monet and my nutritionist Kristen broke down what I needed to do in steps and stages.  Like pulling the weeds and tilling the soil, I had to remove the things that were toxic in my body.  Weeding and getting to the rich dirt underneath a garden bed is my least favorite job - detoxing was equally painful.  But in both cases it needed to be done to get to the rich dirt beneath.  Pruning, cutting, and edging result in a neater, more attractive area.  By trimming away the foods that had been the cause of ill health, I found a more attractive me!!

I still have four garden areas to work on in my yard, and I still have a lot of work to do to get to my ultimate goal of health.  I am confident that when I finish up, I will be very pleased with the results.