‍Eating the Rainbow

Aside from looking beautiful on our plates, why should we ‘eat the rainbow’ anyway?

Despite being wildly cliche… it does help to simplify a complex topic in health. Enter: The Phytonutrient Spectrum. Phytonutrients (‘phyto’ means ‘plant’) are naturally occurring chemicals in plants that have healing properties when we consume them regularly. There are >10,000 phytonutrients that have been identified. I’ve been singing their praises this month on social media, yet barely scratching the surface.

Bang for your Buck

Did you know that when you drink green tea, you’re drinking epigallocatechin gallate? EGCG is a potent antioxidant which is inherently anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous, protects cognition, boosts metabolism, and so much more. This is just one example.

All dark, rich, deeply pigmented colorful plant foods will have a vast array of health benefits, each unique to the phytonutrients within, which is why we recommend getting lots of color, to get the whole spectrum of nutrients in daily or weekly.

Keep it Simple

We could go deep into the science, talking about individual phytonutrients- anthocyanins, astaxanthin, catechins, ellagic acid, glucosinolates, isoflavones, luteolin, quercetin, resveratrol, and sulforaphanes and how each of them helps the body (I’d love to do that personally), but we’d be here all year.

Or, we could accomplish the same benefit, if we simply focused on adding a variety of colors of plant foods to our plates each day. It really is that simple. You add color to your plate, then your body and mind reap the benefits. Boom. Done.

Phytonutrient Foods and Benefits

Whole grains (or gluten-free grains), legumes, nuts, seeds, spices, herbs, and teas, in addition to fruits and vegetables all contain these powerful healing chemicals.

Eating the rainbow will simultaneously provide the following benefits:

• Anti-inflammatory effects, anti-cancerous effects, support digestion, balance hormones, promote improved metabolic health, support detox pathways and liver health, boosts heart health, provide cellular protection, support strong bones, aid in blood vessel health, and boost brain health.

The Color Challenge (I’m pointing at you!!)

Most Americans eat less than 2-4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. We should aim for at least 9 servings per day to prevent chronic disease. The goal is to eat at least one serving of each color each day. This can be achieved with an unlimited amount of options, making small tweaks, to serve up great benefit. If you only eat from two color groups daily, work up to three, and build from there. Just start somewhere! Some color is better than no color.

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Plate the rainbow

• Red: apples, cherries, kidney beans, pomegranate, radishes, strawberries, red bell peppers, tomatoes
• Orange: apricots, orange bell peppers, butternut squash, cantaloupe, carrots, mango, nectarines, oranges, sweet potates
• Yellow: yellow bell peppers, corn, lemon, spaghetti squash, popcorn, yellow squash, bananas
• Green: asparagus, avocado, bean sprouts, green bell peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, swiss chard, cucumbers, green beans, green peas, salad greens, olives, snow peas
• Blue/Purple/Black: blackberries, blueberries, purple cabbage, purple carrots, dates, eggplant, purple grapes, purple kale, plums, purple potatoes, raisins, forbidden rice
• Tan/White/Brown: bean dips, garlic, hummus, legumes, nuts, onions, refried beans, seeds, shallots, tahini

My personal favorites for quick and easy ways to add phytonutrients on the daily:

• Morning smoothie with frozen spinach added (can’t taste it!)
• A daily lunch salad (one recipe prepped at start of the week)
• Soups and stir fry often for dinner
• Swaps- instead of regular pasta, I’ll buy lentil pasta. Instead of regular rice, I’ll buy wild rice, or add riced cauliflower to rice
• Adding frozen peas, black olives, and arugula to pasta dishes
• Adding fresh herbs for some next level flavor and phytonutrient boost
• Adding spices, onion, garlic and kimchi to my weekend eggs
• Drinking herbal teas for a nightcap
• Big spoonful of kimchi or sauerkraut from the jar before or after dinner

If you need more ideas for how to incorporate more color onto your plate, I’ve been posting all month on social media about ideas how to easily get more color into your diet, and how I’ve been doing it myself. I’d love to help you level up your colorful plate this spring

Be Well,

Sara