Nutrition Energy's Guide to Eating a "Rainbow" of Fruits and Vegetables During Every Season!

Eating produce in every color throughout all four seasons is not always a simple task, especially with our shorter growing season in the northeast.  We often hear our clients say it is a real challenge, but as dietitians, don't want that to be an excuse for you to skip out on eating your colors during the winter, spring, summer, or fall.  So we put together a guide to help you find locally grown fruits and vegetables by color during each season.

Spring: 

·   Red Produce- Red Pears, Red Apples, Rhubarb, Red Onion, Red Potatoes, Radishes

·   Yellow/Orange Produce- Yellow Apples, Yellow Summer Squash, Yellow Onion, Golden Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes

·   Green Produce- Green Apples, Asparagus, Broccoli, Lettuce, Mesclun, Zucchini, Turnip Greens, Spinach

·   White Produce- White Onion, Potatoes, Parsnips

·   Blue/Purple Produce- Purple Potatoes, Purple Asparagus

Colorful Antioxidants!

One of the hot topics of nutrition throughout the last few years has been antioxidants and all of their health benefits. Whether from green tea or pomegranates, peoples seem to be looking for that one source that will give you the most antioxidants in the smallest serving size to prevent wrinkles, lose weight, prevent cancer or other harmful diseases - the list could continue for the rest of this page. To stick with the American Dietetic Association's National Nutrition Month theme of "Eat Right with Color," we have provided some of the health promoting compounds you may not have heard about yet organized by their color associations:

Red/Blue/Purple: The lycopene content in tomatoes and their effect on the protection against prostate cancer has become widely known as it is advertised on any tomato product from diced tomatoes to ketchup.  Red wine has also had its fair share of press lately due to its resveratrol content, which tends to help lower the risk of heart disease.  One compound that has not had the amount of attention it should is anthocyanin, a compound responsible for the dark red, blue and purple colors of the berries, grapes and wine that has been found to have multiple health benefits including anti-inflammatory effects, promotion of blood vessel health, improvement of eyesight and possibly even protection against neurological diseases.  The food with the highest concentration of this compound is actually purple corn but you can also find high concentrations in red grapes, black raspberries, and blueberries.

Orange/Yellow: Foods in this color spectrum tend to be associated with Vitamin C, beta-carotene and Vitamin A, but there are many other health-promoting compounds to be aware of.  Citrus fruits and carrots tend to get the most attention, due to their high levels of Vitamin C and Vitamin A respectively, but did you know that pumpkins are actually a very nutrient-dense food as well? Not only are they high in vitamins and minerals, but they have large amounts of the three pro-vitamin A compounds: beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin.  These three have been associated with protection against lung disease, tumor formation in the brain, liver and skin as well as an association with longer life!

Green: The creators of Popeye may not have been too far off in the portrayal of spinach as a "super food".  Not only does it include significantly high levels of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, folate, iron, Vitamin E, calcium and extremely high levels of Vitamin K, but it also contains some of the highest levels of important compounds such as luteolin, beta-carotene, myricetin, lutein and zeaxanthin.  Not only do these compounds have anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and anti-asthma effects but they are also known for their ability to increase the clearing of triglycerides from the blood and prevent eye disease such as macular degeneration.  Not a fan of spinach?  Try kale for very similar health benefits!

Has all of this sparked your interest about the amazing health benefits of "eating for color"?  We at Nutrition Energy pride ourselves in staying on top of all the cutting edge nutrition research that is constantly being discovered.  We do this not only because we find the healing and health power of foods very exciting, but also because we greatly enjoy being able to share this important information with you.  Please check back each month for more useful nutrition information in our newsletter, or schedule an individual consultation with one of our Registered Dietitians today and have all of YOUR burning nutrition and health questions answered!