A palette for your palate

You may be familiar with the phrase ‘eat the rainbow’; a clever — and much more pleasant — way of saying that a diet requires an eclectic palette
A palette for your palate
A palette for your palate

You may be familiar with the phrase ‘eat the rainbow’; a clever — and much more pleasant — way of saying that a diet requires an eclectic palette. “An apple a day is definitely not enough to keep the doctor away...we should eat in combinations,” explains  Preeti Raj, nutritionist and founder of Wootu Nutrition, encouraging a plate full of orange, yellow, red, blue, green and white food.

We need to consume at least three coloured vegetables or better yet, five, she says. Adults must have 300-400 grams of three types of fruits and 350-450 grams of vegetables and children must consume 150 grams of fruits and 100-150 grams of vegetables.

But how can the colours of your foods contribute to better health? Vitamins, antioxidants and phytonutrient compounds (natural chemicals) lend foods their colour, aroma, distinct taste, and at the end of the day, their health benefits. Hence, ingesting certain foods allow us to intake these nutrients.

“We eat food for health benefits. It’s a preventive medicine; that is the whole point of it. A colourful diet would take care of preventive health. It can prevent all inflammatory diseases, non-communicable diseases and even some communicable ones,” she shares.

Any food that has colour also has antioxidants, and this differs between colours as well. Hence, red foods benefit our body in a different way than yellows, and those have an effect non-identical to that of purple foods, she elaborates.     

White

Some of the most commonly eaten foods fall into this category, such as bananas, coconuts, cauliflower, mushrooms, ginger, garlic, white onions, mushrooms, and nuts. These white foods will contribute beta-glucans, selenium, EGCG, lignans, allyl sulfides potassium and allicin to your body. Those, in turn, activate natural killer B and T cells, balance hormone levels, reduce the risk of hormone-related cancers, maintain cholesterol levels and provide immune-boosting activity.

Red

Foods with red or a pinkish exterior such as beetroots, cherries, raspberries, red bell peppers, strawberries, tomatoes, and watermelon contain antioxidants and phytochemicals such as lycopene, anthocyanins, flavonoids, quercetin, hesperidin and ellagic acid. They contribute to many health benefits, including lowering BP and LDL cholesterol and reducing tumour growths and risk of prostate cancer. They are also known to protect against heart diseases and scavenge harmful free radicals.

Green

For chlorophyll, fibre, vitamin C, iron, calcium, lutein, isothiocyanates, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene and folate, green foods are your ideal option. These nutrients not only boost your immune system but also support retinal health, normalise digestion time and reduce blood pressure and LDL cholesterol levels. They also fight free radicals in your body. Try artichokes, broccoli, celery, avocados, lettuce, green apples, kiwi, green grapes, cabbage, beans, for instance.

Yellow and Orange

When you consume apricots, gooseberries, lemon, mangoes, pumpkins, sweet corn, tangerines, sweet potatoes and other yellow and orange foods, you intake beta-carotene, flavonoids, lycopene, zeaxanthin, potassium and vitamin C. With magnesium and calcium, they enable you to build healthy bones. They also help with LDL cholesterol, blood pressure, and collagen formation.

Blue and Purple

When it comes to memory and healthy ageing, it is foods with blue and purple exteriors — grapes, plums, blueberries, brinjal, prunes, raisins, purple cabbage, black currants — that provide you with vitamin C, lutein, resveratrol, fibre, ellagic acid, anthocyanins, zeaxanthin, quercetin and flavonoids for the same. These antioxidants and phytochemicals also aid with boosting immune system activity, retinal health, inflammation, calcium and other mineral absorption, urinary tract health, reducing tumour growth, as an anticarcinogenic in the digestive tract and more.

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