5 tips to increase your plate’s nutrient content

You may have heard that ‘eating the rainbow’ is good for your health.

Do you know why?

The more colour you get, the more variety of phytonutrients you’ll get.

Phytonutrients are chemicals produced by plants that have various beneficial effects on our health. Different colours contain different phytonutrients and therefore will give you different health benefits. You can adapt your diet and select them based on what you need the most! How powerful is that?!

A study of 1200 people showed that a variety of fruits and vegetables rather than quantity was associated with lower inflammation (1). 

So, what do you need to know about these colours? 

Orange foods like carrots contain beta-carotene which has been shown to not only keep our eyes healthy but also help us to make hormones. Orange foods also play a role in ovulation and fertility (2). 

Tip 1 = Increase the carotene content of carrots by cooking them with olive oil. A Spanish research shows that it increases the carotene content by 50%! (3)

Also, have you ever tried purple carrots? They have more polyphenols than the other colours so give them a try if you haven’t!

Red foods contain antioxidants such as lycopene found in tomatoes or anthocyanins found in red berries. Research shows that these may help protect against cardiovascular disease and support inflammation. Red food is also immune-modulating (2)

Tip 2 = You can get twice the lycopene if you store your tomatoes on the counter rather than in the fridge and be sure to eat all the skin as it is the most nutritious part (3).

Yellow foods such as lemon or yellow pepper contain carotenoids and are high in fibre. Fibre-rich foods help support your digestive system. 

Tip 3 = Don’t bin the white stuff on the inside of peppers. This is where the highest concentrations of antioxidants and polyphenols are found! (3) 

Also, cooking the peppers will increase their polyphenol content. 

Green foods such as broccoli or fresh parsley contain chlorophyll, another powerful phytochemical that you definitely don’t want to miss out from your diet! Chlorophyll can help control hunger but also promote cardiovascular health (2).

Tip 4 = To retain the most nutrients, the best way to cook broccoli is by steaming it for no more than 4 minutes (4). 

And why not eat your broccoli raw once in a while? It will give you up to twenty times more of the compound sulforaphane (which has anticancer properties) than cooked broccoli (4).

Blue-purple foods such as blueberries, aubergines or red cabbage are good for cognition. They are rich in phytonutrients including flavonoids which can help with mood. If you’re feeling anxious, this is the food you need to focus on (2).

Tip 5 = Blueberries are one of the most nutritious foods that you can eat. Frozen berries are almost as nutritious as fresh berries and they’re available all year-round so keep some in your freezer (4). However, remember that blueberries are highly contaminated with pesticide chemicals so try to choose organic as much as possible. 

To more colours on your plate!

References 

  1. Bhupathiraju, S. and Tucker, K., 2010. Greater variety in fruit and vegetable intake is associated with lower inflammation in Puerto Rican adults. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 93(1), pp.37-46.

  2. Minich, D., 2019. A Review of the Science of Colorful, Plant-Based Food and Practical Strategies for “Eating the Rainbow”. Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, 2019, pp.1-19.

  3. Wong, J., 2017. ‘How to eat better’ Hachette UK Company.

  4. Robinson, J., 2013 ‘Eating on the wild side’ Little, Brown and Company

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