By: Kristi Goode
Why You Should Eat the Rainbow...
Prioritize the produce section on your next visit to the grocery store. Purchasing in season produce is a great way to ensure you’re getting a variety of fruits and vegetables that also contain important micronutrients and antioxidants. One way to “Eat the Rainbow” is to vary the fruits and vegetable that you purchase each week. Maybe switch up broccoli for brussels sprouts or carrots for summer squashes. Grab purple radishes or red peppers. Fruits too! Possibly melons in place of apples, especially in the summer-time.
It’s important to consume a variety of fruit and vegetables. They have multiple benefits such as they are rich in antioxidants (which are known to prevent or slow damage to cells), vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They also have a high water content to help you stay hydrated. And most are high in volume with low caloric density that can help control fullness with meals. Basically, you can eat a lot of certain veggies and in turn take in less calories but still feel full!
Choosing fruits and vegetables helps to establish an overall healthy diet. Did you know that an overall higher consumption of a mix of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of multiple diseases. Most fruits and vegetables won’t significantly alter blood glucose and insulin levels. This can help with feeling full and body compositional changes.
"Diets with a foundation of fruits and vegetables tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol, and have higher levels of dietary fibre, magnesium and potassium, vitamins C and E, folate, carotenoids, flavonoids and other phytochemicals." (Precision Nutrition)
And if you don’t think you like certain vegetables, have you ever tried cooking them differently? Try roasted instead of steaming. Or air frying instead of baking?