BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

A SINGAPOREAN health consultant has advised family households to practice growing homegrown crops because it can be done without the need to have a backyard.

 Nazli Anwari told The Brunei Times recently that family members can benefit from homegrown crops because it can be grown in pot containers the size of an adult’s arm. With a Diploma in Horticulture and Garden Design - Singapore Botanic Gardens, Nazli said Bruneians who are living in the National Housing Scheme should start their own homegrown crops for its therapeutic health benefit and low cost maintenance.

 “Gardening is very therapeutic. There should be more movement of the people to be in touch with the environment; to be near to earth. Brunei has a very beautiful sky and the surrounding is lovely. It would be a shame to let this beautiful environment to waste,” said the health consultant of Medicine Woman Asia at the Bio-Innovation Corridor. 

Unlike other countries, people are stressed from their daily work and frustrated over the polluted air, said Nazli, adding that Bruneians should be grateful to live in such a beautiful country.

“You don’t need a lot of space to start your homegrown crops. You can start by planting Kangkong (swamp cabbage in South East Asia) in a small pot container – style foam.

“Buy the seeds and water them for two weeks. Over few months, you can harvest the top and you can feed your family with healthy vegetables,” she added.  

Nazli shared that colon cancer is the number one killer in Singapore, followed by women’s breast cancer.  

“Processed foods should be avoided and Bruneians can start today. Go back to your roots. Eat the old way and give up western food,” she said.

 She said the fried foods served in the restaurants are commercial palm oil which if taken a lot, can poison the tissue-body, forming toxins in the cells of the body.

 Nazli was invited to Brunei for four days last week and presented a talk on ‘How to include salads, herbs and spices in a family’s daily diet’.

 The Brunei Times