When you’re trying to eat healthier and lose weight, I’m sure you’ve heard the gamut of dietary theories like Paleo, Mediterranean, low-carb, and so-on. As you learn about the benefits of those dietary principles, like weight loss and reduced inflammation, you may feel motivated and even excited. But you may still find yourself wondering “ok great, but what’s for dinner?”
One simple idea can help make mealtime choices super easy: go for color.
Fruits and vegetables come in all colors of the rainbow, and when you make your plate as colorful as you can, you’re following my top strategy for fat-burning, health-promoting meals.
Which colors? Any of them! The more varied, the better. That’s because each color pigment actually represents different healing properties. Pretty amazing, right?
A Rainbow of Healing
So let’s take a closer look at what each color represents:
- Orange colored fruits and vegetables contain beta-carotene, a carotenoid that reduces inflammation and the risk of cancer while promoting healthy eyes. Examples of orange foods are turmeric (the quintessential anti-inflammatory orange!) as well as carrots, apricots, cantaloupe melon, butternut squash, and yams.
- Red occurs because of lycopene, which promotes cardiovascular health (that’s an easy association – that red equals heart health!) Examples of red foods are tomatoes, beets, red peppers, red-skinned potatoes, pomegranates, and rhubarb.
- Green is detoxifying and cleansing because chlorophyll helps remove toxins from the body. Dark leafy greens are of course your number one go-to, like kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, and arugula. Of course, other green veggies include broccoli, green beans, asparagus, and countless others.
- Yellow foods help build and repair tissues and help boost the immune system. Lutein is one antioxidant carotenoid that gives some foods their yellow color, including corn, and squash. Other yellow foods include yellow peppers, yellow onions, and peaches.
- Purple foods are high in antioxidants that fight aging. Purple foods include eggplant, plums, purple cabbage, and purple carrots.
- White foods can also be beneficial, as long as you’re not talking about nutrient-void ones like russet potatoes and white rice! Some white foods like garlic, onion, and mushrooms have potent anti-cancer and antimicrobial properties.
- Blue doesn’t occur as often in nature, though blueberries are of course the best example. Anthocyanins are the antioxidant flavonoids that show up as red, purple and blue in many berries and grapes.
As you can see, simply choosing your foods as an array of color will help boost your heart health, reduce inflammation and oxidation, detoxify, ward off cancer, repair tissues, and fight aging.
A Few Point to Remember
Just a few final points to keep in mind when filling your plate with color:
- The beneficial pigments in vegetables are fat soluble. This means you should always aim to have healthy fats like olive oil, coconut oil, or grass-fed butter with your veggies so your body absorbs the beneficial compounds.
- Fruits and vegetables are loaded with fiber, which will help you feel more satisfied so you can lose weight and make your gut flora happy too.
- You can have unlimited quantities of vegetables, especially the non-starchy ones, but you should limit fruits to a couple servings per day since they do contain natural sugars.
- Always choose organic produce over conventionally grown produce, whenever possible. That’s especially true for some of the most commonly sprayed produce, such as strawberries, cherries, and tomatoes.
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be complicated! Aiming for a variety of color on your plate is one of the easiest and most effective ways to get important nutrients and fiber into your diet so that you can lose weight and enjoy vibrant health.
Speaking of easy, downloaded your Healing Foods Checklist and Shopping Guide here!
In health,
Joe Tatta, DPT, CCN
References
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24596385
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10691066
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25323011
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25523417
