Paint Your Plate with Color Summer is the time to take advantage of nature’s palette of color to enhance food’s eye appeal and health benefits. Your eyes tell your brain that great-tasting food is on the way when a variety of colors is on your plate. Also, research is uncovering the benefits of the pigment-related phytonutrients — and the colorful fruits and vegetables that supply them.
Add these colors to your plate to get great flavor and health benefits: · Green: fruit — avocado, apples, grapes, honeydew, kiwi, lime; vegetables — artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, green beans, green peppers, leafy greens. Their lutein and indoles have antioxidant potential and may help promote healthy vision and reduce cancer risks. · Orange and deep yellow: fruit — apricot, cantaloupe, grapefruit, mango, papaya, peach, pineapple; vegetables — carrots, yellow pepper, yellow corn, sweet potato. Carotenoids, bioflavonoid and the antioxidant vitamin C in these foods promote a healthy heat, vision, immunity and reduced risk for some cancers. The deeper the orange/yellow color, the more carotenoids they have. · Purple and blue: fruit — blackberries, blueberries, plums, raisins; vegetables — eggplant, purple cabbage, purple-fleshed potato. Anthocyanins, which give a blue-purple color and phenolics, may have antioxidant and anti-aging benefits and may help with memory, urinary tract health and reduced cancer risks. · Red: fruit — cherries, cranberries, pomegranate, red/pink grapefruit, red grapes, watermelon; vegetables — beets, red onions, red peppers, red potatoes, rhubarb, tomatoes. This color group delivers lycopene, a powerful carotenoid, as well as anthocyanins. They may help maintain a healthy heart, vision, immunity and may reduce cancer risks. · White, tan, brown: fruit — banana, brown pear, dates, white peaches; vegetables — cauliflower, jicama, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, turnips, white-fleshed potato, white corn. Allicin in onion (and garlic) and selenium in mushrooms may promote heart health and reduce cancer risks.
A rainbow of fruits and vegetables creates a palette of nutrients and phytonutrients on your plate, each with a different bundle of potential benefits in a healthful eating plan: from oxidizing free radicals that may damage healthy cells, to having anti-inflammatory qualities, to lowering LDL cholesterol. Enjoy foods this summer that are a treat for your eyes — and your body.
For more information on the nutrition of fruits and vegetables, consult a registered dietitian. |