Nutrition: Color Your Diet this Summer

By Judy Donnelly, RDN, LD| Nutrition Program Manager, Dempsey Center

There’s a lot to like about summer: warm temperatures, single layers of clothing, outdoor gatherings and my favorite, farm fresh produce! Sure, we can access fresh produce all year, but can we agree that it’s hard to replicate the flavor, aroma and texture of the summertime tomato? As we approach one of the best seasons of the year, it’s a great time to start making colorful food a staple part of your diet.

Naturally colorful foods offer numerous compounds that support good health. Nutrients, such as vitamins C and K, calcium, potassium, magnesium and others are concentrated in these foods. Fruits and vegetables are also rich sources of fiber, which helps maintain a heathy environment in our intestines.

When it comes to the health benefits of produce, there’s more! When we eat fruits and vegetables, we also take in a host of nutrients called “phytochemicals” or plant chemicals, that also support good health and are associated with cancer risk reduction. Some examples of phytochemicals include beta carotene from orange and yellow produce, lycopene from red produce and allicin from white produce, such as onions and garlic. There are hundreds of phytochemicals that play important roles in helping our internal organs and systems function at their best and we get many of them by eating fruits and vegetables.

Nutrition information can sometimes be confusing, but let’s make this easy! One of the best ways to ensure that you get wide variety of nutrients from fruits and vegetables is to focus on eating a variety of different colored plants. That’s because the pigments that make blueberries blue, carrots orange, and spinach green are different phytochemicals. So, as you place produce (fresh or frozen) into your grocery cart, try to include a variety of colors. And, keep your local farmers in mind. Shopping at the Farmers Market or selecting locally grown produce at the store helps ensure you that are eating the freshest, most nutrient dense produce possible!

The Dempsey Center has two community gardens that support our nutrition and cooking programs. Our Celebrate the Harvest programs, offered in both Lewiston and South Portland, feature quick and easy recipes using seasonal produce, fresh from the gardens. You can find information about these and other programs in our Digital Program Guide, and a recipe from the Dempsey Nutrition program follows on the next page. The evidence is clear- a diet that includes an abundance of fruits and vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of many chronic diseases, including cancer. Think of your refrigerator as a culinary medicine chest and stock it with plenty of fruits and vegetables.