The diet should be balanced, nutritionally rich, as natural as possible… everyone understands that. But what does a colorful diet mean? Sometimes also called a rainbow diet.
I love colors! Every time and everywhere.. I love a colorful life, colorful clothes, colorful accessories, a colorful garden.. and so I love colorful food! For me, colorful food is a pleasure. But it’s not just that I like it like that…
I always advise people that their food needs to be colorful. Now be careful, I don’t mean colored candies or colored ice cream, but naturally colored food 🙂
Colourful diet is mainly associated with a lot of fruits and vegetables, where each color means the content of different vitamins and minerals, and a bunch of other “abilities”. They get their coloring thanks to phytochemicals – natural bioactive compounds.
Colourful diet also means the use of spices. For example, yellow turmeric colors rice beautifully, enriches it with antioxidants and improves the digestion of the whole meal. Brown cinnamon can scent breakfast every morning and help lower blood sugar levels too.
Another reason is that we also eat with our eyes. Personally, I find grey-white food rather boring… But that doesn’t mean we should skip these colors! For example, representatives of the white color: garlic – our natural antibiotic, celery, parsley and cauliflower – amazing local vegetables that effectively strengthen our immunity.
And so we should combine all the colors in order to receive enough vitamins and nourish our body and, thus, our spirit as well as possible.
Yes, it is true that this beautiful fruit (dragon fruit – photographed on the island of La Gomera, Canary Islands) does not grow around us on most parts of Europe..
And of course, I am for local and seasonal food. But you can still eat “colorful” food, even in winter or early spring. What about root vegetables? What beautiful colors they have.. Ale i tak se dá jíst “barevné” jídlo a to i v zimě. Co třeba taková kořenová zelenina? Jaké krásné barvy má..
Most of the people, when we talk about vegetables, only see tomato and cucumber and maybe sometimes lettuce. There are so many types of vegetables, and we forget about many of them! For example, if you bake root vegetables in the oven, they became so delicious..
I have selected a few colorful representatives for you:
- Red to purple
Strawberries, raspberries, red grapes, cherries, red apples, tomatoes, rhubarb, red peppers, red lettuces and queen beetroot – these representatives are characterized by a large amount of vitamin C, and antioxidants, magnesium and potassium.
Their color resembles the color of the heart, so it is not surprising that these species protect it. Beetroot also cleanses the liver.
- Green
Leafy greens, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, celery and asparagus contain vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A and antioxidants, iron, magnesium, calcium and are very low in carbohydrates. These wonderful green vegetables are soothing for our soul (anti-stress) and also for our eyes (no wonder we like to surround ourselves with green).
- Yellow to orange
Carrots, Hokkaido pumpkins, yellow zucchini, yellow peppers, peaches, apricots – contain vitamin C, vitamin A – beta carotene, as well as many B vitamins, potassium and magnesium.
- Blue to purple
Eggplant, red cabbage, blueberries, plums, blackberries and grapes contain vitamin C, vitamin K, flavonoids, other antioxidants, magnesium and are also anti-inflammatory. Blueberries may improve vision by strengthening blood vessels.
Of course, this is only a brief list. Each vegetable and each fruit contain much more vitamins and minerals and has its own unique “skills” and benefits.
They are also an excellent source of fiber. However, it is better not to eat fruit too much, so I recommend consuming a maximum of two pieces per day and as a snack between meals.
So, even on a rainy gray day when there are no colours outside, you can make them on a plate, it will certainly put you in a pleasant mood, encourage you and, of course, nourish you.
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