Life (And Food) Is Better In Colour!

One of the ways to encourage your picky lil’ eaters to eat more vegetables and fruits in their diet is to add colours on their plate. Seriously, food doesn’t have to be dull. Colourful food like tomatoes, carrots, spinach are not only pretty to look at but they are packed with nutrients too!

Along with maintaining good health, the nutrients in vegetables and fruits work together to protect against cancer, heart disease, vision loss, hypertension and other diseases.

Increasing fruits and vegetables in your diet is a great step to improve your health as it is full of vitamins and antioxidants with less calories. However, we still have to be wary of the amount of natural sugar in fruits, especially dried fruits as it has a higher percentage of sugar compared to fresh ones.

Red fruits and vegetables

• can protect our hearts as they contain antioxidants that reduce the risk of hypertension and high cholesterol
• lower the risk of developing different types of cancer
• improves brain function
• protect agains heart diseases.

Red Vegetables: tomatoes, red cabbage, beets, radishes

Red Fruits: strawberries, watermelon, cranberries, red apples, pomegranates, cherries

Blue and purple fruits and vegetables

• promotes healthy aging
• prevents heart disease, stroke, and cancer
• important for your memory.
• good to regulate healthy digestion
• protect urinary tract health.

Blue and Purple Vegetables: eggplant, purple cabbage, japanese sweet potatoes

Blue and Purple Fruits: blackberries, blueberries, plums, purple grapes

Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables

• protect your nervous system
• prevent heart diseases
• boosting your immune system
• promotes eye health
• maintain skin health.

Orange and Yellow Vegetables: carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, yellow bell peppers, sweet corn

Orange and Yellow Fruits: apricots, oranges, grapefruit, mangoes, papaya, peaches, pineapple

Green fruits and vegetables

• protect eye health, lowering the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.
• green leafy vegetables contain folic acid which can reduce the risk of birth defects in babies for pregnant women.
• protects from cancer
• regulate digestion
• improve immune system functions
• protect you from high levels of bad cholesterol
• lowering the risk of developing age-Green fruits and vegetables

Green Vegetables: broccoli, spinach, lettuce, zucchini, peas, green peppers, cabbage, Brussels sprouts.

Green Fruits: kiwi, green grapes, green apples, lime, avocado

White fruits and vegetables

• can lower the level of bad cholesterol in your body
• can lower high blood pressure
• great immune boosting effect on your body
• minimize risk of colon, breast and prostate cancer

White Vegetables: potatoes, mushrooms, onions, cauliflower, turnips

White Fruits: pears, bananas, white nectarines

Credit: www.winmedical.org