THE COLOR OF FOOD

We all know how important vitamins and minerals are for our health, but the sad fact is we don't get the recommended daily allowances that comes from eating a variety of foods.

Stop and think, how colorful was your last meal? Did you have all brown, or white plate or was your plate a variety of colors? The key to eating and staying healthy is variety. Don't get caught up in those fads that say eat one type of food all the time. This will lead to disaster and disappointment. Read below about the color of food and add some variety to your life.


THE COLOR OF FOOD

RED - Red foods generally help to promote heart health. They also have been shown to lower your cancer risk and improve your memory. So to play longer and remember more up your intake of;
Cranberries, beets, strawberries, tomatoes, radishes, red grapefruit and red onions.


WHITE-TAN-BROWN - Foods such as bananas, cauliflower potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, turnips and brown pears help to raise your good cholesterol. Don't believe the hype with the new fad diets that are out now. Adding any of these types of foods to your daily diet will put you on the right path to a healthier cholesterol level.


GREEN - Green foods rich in antioxidants and *lutein. Foods such as spinach, celery, cabbage, broccoli, peas, zucchini, okra and honeydew help your body build stronger bones and teeth as well as
improve your vision. You should have some type of green food at every meal. Especially as we get older and eye and bone strength decrease.


BLUE - PURPLE - The *anthocyanin in foods such as blueberries, raisins, figs, eggplant, red cabbage and purple grapes play an important role in improving memory and urinary tract health.


ORANGE - YELLOW- You will find some of the most powerful antioxidants that support your immune system and help to improve your vision in foods that are orange and yellow. Foods in this group are pumpkin, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, oranges, mangos and yellow squash.


To sum it all up remember to eat these foods, no over the counter veggie or fruit juices. Slowly start to incorporate some color into every meal and you will eventually notice that eating a well balanced diet comes easy.


If you do like the juices - buy a good juicer and make it from fresh produce. If you drink juice that you make at home you know that there aren't any added sugars or fructose which can negatively affect your immune system.

*Lutein is an antioxidant that concentrates in the eye’s macula and lens, as well as in the skin, breast and cervical tissues. It protects the eyes from oxidative stress.

*Anthocyanin is the pigment that gives blueberries their color. One of the serious diabetic complications is retinopathy, which in most cases can cause blindness.


This condition occurs when the body attempts to repair leaking, damaged capillaries, but does so by over producing abnormal proteins. The protection of anthocyanins may help prevent these capillaries from leaking and to help prevent abnormal protein proliferation.