Color Me Beautiful Series

Introduction (Today’s Dietitian http:// www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/110308p34.shtml)

In November 2008 Vol. 10 No. 11 P.34 of Today’s Dietitian, entitled Color Me Healthy — Eating for a Rainbow of Benefits By Juliann Schaeffer, we read that according to Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD, a lecturer in the department of food science and nutrition at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and coauthor of What Color Is Your Diet? Susan states “We eat foods primarily based on their taste, their cost, and how convenient they are,” she notes. “The food manufacturers have done a great job of creating many foods that are easy to eat, inexpensive, and rich in sugar, fat, and salt so that they taste good. Starches, fats, and sweets are the least expensive foods in the diet, so it’s easy to see why we lean toward these ‘brown/beige’ foods. They fill us up for very little monetary cost, but there are significant health costs to a diet that is so high in refined carbohydrates and devoid of the vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals that are so abundant in plant foods.”

Kathy Hoy, EdD, RD, nutrition research manager for the PBH, says eating a variety of foods helps ensure the intake of an assortment of nutrients and other healthful substances in food, such as phytochemicals (plant chemicals), noting that color can be a helpful guide for consumers. (emphasis mine)

It is widely known that nutritionists and dietitians encourage us to consume a diet based on a rainbow of foods. Green leafy vegetables, yellow peppers and squash, orange carrots, red apples, purple cabbage, and so on.

Each of the colors represents a different nutrient or compound that work with your body to keep it healthy. These colors make the food visually appealing. Since we eat with our eyes before anything goes into our mouths, we strive to keep our food attractive.

In the age of processed foods, however, food coloring is added to create that fresh, attractive look. Bright red strawberry fillings in cereal bars and multi-hued candy coated shells dazzle our eyes and make our stomachs rumble in anticipation. Read More…

Moreover, colors stimulate certain feelings and moods. Did you know that the color pigments in food affect the different parts of the body? I think this sounds amazing. Join me in following the rainbow of beautiful colors offered in the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables and discover that “gold”.

I will call this adventure the Color Me Beautiful series. The concept that the color’s in our fruits and vegetables have a powerful impact on our health intrigued me. In this series, I will be sharing about what is behind these colors in our foods and what these beautiful colors of the rainbow mean for your health. Once people are aware of this dietary color concept, we are encouraged to creatively including fruits and vegetables at meals that will help them to include a wide range of different foods.