Dr. Michael T. Compton is board-certified in psychiatry, preventive medicine, and lifestyle medicine—a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine, and a Member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. As a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, he has a deep understanding of what makes people feel secure, content, and happy; he also happens to have expertise in healthy lifestyle behaviors and nutrition. Having grown up on a dairy-farm-turned-beef-farm in rural southwestern Virginia, embracing a whole-foods, plant-predominant eating pattern might not have been in his genes. But creating a garden with his two green thumbs from Granny definitely was. Attending college at Mary Washington, medical school at the University of Virginia, and specialty training in psychiatry and preventive medicine at Emory University took this proverbial boy off the farm, but as all who know the old saying might suspect, the farm had not been taken out of him. In a mid-life burst of productivity, he built a compact, organic-certified vegetable farm and got smart about growing and savoring vegetables.

“In Veggie Smarts, Compton drills down on the psychology of our nation’s inherent food system issues and celebrates the pure joy of eating fresh, seasonal produce. He describes being magically drawn to the farmers market on his long journey from supermarket shopper to proud garden grower. We all need to eat more seasonal and local vegetables and appreciate the process of how they are cared for and tended to, and this book spells out the smart path to get there, whether you have space to grow your own veggies or just a few fresh herbs.”

Dr. Michael T. Compton is board-certified in psychiatry, preventive medicine, and lifestyle medicine—a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine, and a Member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. As a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, he has a deep understanding of what makes people feel secure, content, and happy; he also happens to have expertise in healthy lifestyle behaviors and nutrition. Having grown up on a dairy-farm-turned-beef-farm in rural southwestern Virginia, embracing a whole-foods, plant-predominant eating pattern might not have been in his genes. But creating a garden with his two green thumbs from Granny definitely was. Attending college at Mary Washington, medical school at the University of Virginia, and specialty training in psychiatry and preventive medicine at Emory University took this proverbial boy off the farm, but as all who know the old saying might suspect, the farm had not been taken out of him. In a mid-life burst of productivity, he built a compact, organic-certified vegetable farm and got smart about growing and savoring vegetables.

“In Veggie Smarts, Compton drills down on the psychology of our nation’s inherent food system issues and celebrates the pure joy of eating fresh, seasonal produce. He describes being magically drawn to the farmers market on his long journey from supermarket shopper to proud garden grower. We all need to eat more seasonal and local vegetables and appreciate the process of how they are cared for and tended to, and this book spells out the smart path to get there, whether you have space to grow your own veggies or just a few fresh herbs.”

Dr. Michael T. Compton is board-certified in psychiatry, preventive medicine, and lifestyle medicine—a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine, and a Member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. As a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, he has a deep understanding of what makes people feel secure, content, and happy; he also happens to have expertise in healthy lifestyle behaviors and nutrition. Having grown up on a dairy-farm-turned-beef-farm in rural southwestern Virginia, embracing a whole-foods, plant-predominant eating pattern might not have been in his genes. But creating a garden with his two green thumbs from Granny definitely was. Attending college at Mary Washington, medical school at the University of Virginia, and specialty training in psychiatry and preventive medicine at Emory University took this proverbial boy off the farm, but as all who know the old saying might suspect, the farm had not been taken out of him. In a mid-life burst of productivity, he built a compact, organic-certified vegetable farm and got smart about growing and savoring vegetables.

“In Veggie Smarts, Compton drills down on the psychology of our nation’s inherent food system issues and celebrates the pure joy of eating fresh, seasonal produce. He describes being magically drawn to the farmers market on his long journey from supermarket shopper to proud garden grower. We all need to eat more seasonal and local vegetables and appreciate the process of how they are cared for and tended to, and this book spells out the smart path to get there, whether you have space to grow your own veggies or just a few fresh herbs.”