Over the past few years, there has been a trend where people get on a “Rainbow diet”. The concept is simple. You’ll eat fruits and veggies of various colors.
This can get a little complicated. So, we’ll look at it step-by-step. The first step is knowing the vegetables and fruits categorized by the colors.
Orange foods
Carrots, oranges, mangoes, apricots, papayas, guavas, star fruit, nectarines, sweet potatoes
Green foods
Broccoli, asparagus, peas, kiwi, spinach, green beans, lettuce, kale, Brussel sprouts, celery, cucumber, leek, cabbage
Red foods
Strawberries, pomegranates, raspberries, tomatoes, red grapes, red peppers, cherries
Blue/Purple foods
Blackberries, plums, figs, blueberries, cranberries, beetroots, aubergine (brinjal)
White/No color foods
Cauliflower, garlic, lychees, onion, parsnip, button mushrooms
Now that we’ve identified several foods based on their hue, the next thing to consider is how the various foods benefit your health.
Orange foods are generally rich in antioxidants. Most orange fruits and vegetables are also high in vitamin C, vitamin A, beta carotene, and potassium.
They’ll help keep the common colds at bay. These foods have anti-inflammatory properties and will help you maintain good vision and skin.
Green vegetables are high in antioxidants, which detoxify the body and enhance eye health. These foods are excellent for reducing your risk of cancer and other diseases. Magnesium, lutein, iron, calcium, potassium, folate, and vitamin K are commonly found in green vegetables.
Lycopene, a carotenoid, is commonly found in red foods. This antioxidant is effective in preventing cancer and macular degeneration. Because anthocyanins, which reduce inflammation, are present, they also have a pain-relieving effect.
Blue/purple foods are rich in anthocyanins too. That is, in fact, what gives these foods their color. They nourish the skin, enhance the immune system, and are high in antioxidants.
White foods, also known as colorless foods, contain many potent micronutrients such as sulforaphane, allium, and flavonoids. These meals are “purifiers,” meaning they assist the body decrease and repair free radical damage.
They also aid to boost your immune system and reduce your risk of heart disease and osteoporosis. White foods such as garlic are antibacterial and antiviral in nature. These will aid in the detoxification of the body as well as the reduction of blood cholesterol levels. So now you know what different colored foods are and how they might help your health. Of course, the information presented here is only the tip of the iceberg. Books might be written about the health benefits of these natural foods, but that is beyond the scope of this article.
Consuming rainbow foods
Consuming a plate or two of these rainbow foods at each meal is the best way to get the most out of them.
For example, on Mondays, you may have red and green foods. On Tuesdays, you may have white and purple foods. There’s no right or wrong answer here. You can experiment with different combinations of these items to find what you enjoy.
Keeping a food journal to record how you feel after a meal is a wonderful idea. Certain foods are more agreeable to some persons than others. It’s just a matter of trial and error.
Once you’ve figured out which foods from the rainbow spectrum make you feel good, you may eat them on a regular basis, and your health will noticeably improve over time.
A healthy outside starts from the inside.
Robert Urich