Eating colorfully is healthy. Sounds simple, but it is. We show you why your meal plan should be as colorful as the rainbow.
Actually, it's quite simple: Eat colorful = eat healthy. If you are eat healthy but don't want to spend a lot of time on nutrient analysis, calorie counting and so on, you've come to the right place.
Colorful is healthy is the motto you should follow from today on.
Quite simple or? It is and super tasty! :)
Eating colorful food is very healthy. The more colorful you eat, the more micronutrients you supply to your body. In addition, colorful food satiates without many calories.
You'll learn in this post,
- why eating colorfully is healthy,
- how important color variety is,
- Why you should avoid brown foods,
- how you manage to eat colorful all year round,
- how healthy red, yellow, purple, green, orange and white vegetables and fruits are,
- delicious recipe for your colorful meal,
- Why you should eat more vegetables than fruit.
Vegetables and fruit should be part of every diet. No matter whether you want to lose a little weight, build muscle or just want to eat healthy. Eat colorful is a true Medicine miracle.
Table of contents
Why eating colorful is healthy
No single medicine comes close to the good combination of vital substances found in plants.
An apple is said to contain up to 10,000 healthy substances. Provided you do not peel the apple!
With their colors, plants defend themselves against predators, sunlight, environmental influences and diseases. They do this with secondary plant substances.
What are antioxidants and why are they so important?
Known examples of these shades are Flavonoids, phytosterols, polyphenols and carotenoids. What harms predators is good for us. Researchers found this out only about 30 years ago.
A good example is the tomato. When the sun is too strong on our skin, we simply go into the shade. Tomatoes, of course, can't do that. So they defend themselves differently.
Tomatoes produce the pigment lycopene. This pigment is one of the carotenoids and protects the tomato from excessive sunlight. We are pleased. We pack the ripe tomatoes in homemade ketchup and thus absorb the lycopene when eating.
Variety is crucial for healthy eating
You don't have to eat huge amounts of fruits and vegetables every day, by the way. The point is that you offer a stomach a large and colorful variety.
In the meantime, 60,000 different secondary plant compounds have been identified. Of course, not all of them can be found in a single type of fruit or vegetable. That's why eating colorfully is so important. Only through variety can we consume many secondary plant compounds.
These phytochemicals are largely preserved by cooking, boiling and freezing.
When we eat colorful food, we automatically cover our vital substance content. We supply our body with vitamins, secondary plant substances and lots of micronutrients.
Eating colorful food, i.e. a healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, is said to be able to prevent many dangerous diseases of civilization.
The more color on your plate, the more micronutrients you provide your body. And vegetables also contain a lot of fiber. They help us to be full for a long time and stimulate digestion.
Avoid brown foods
A simple rule says: brown foods are unhealthy. Of course, you can't say it quite that simply. But there is some truth behind it.
By brown foods are meant chocolate, cola, cakes, meat, coffee and co. In other words, really unhealthy foods. Instead of healthy vital substances, they mainly provide sugar and a lot of fat. Vitamins will be very hard to find here.
That too much sugar is very unhealthy and a Sugar withdrawal can be very difficultis something most people are aware of.
Sugar, by the way, also hides in white flour products. At the very least, white flour products, like sugar, move very quickly into our blood. The blood sugar level is increased, which provides quick energy. But hunger returns at least as quickly.
We put on belly fat, hip fat and a high percentage of body fat. This is very unhealthy!
You can counteract the vicious circle with complex carbohydrates and colorful food.
Leave brown foods aside and make it really colorful for yourself. Put colorful foods at the center of your diet. This way, you automatically avoid the sugar and fat trap.
Eat colorful all year round
Especially in autumn and winter, we often find it difficult to eat a balanced diet. We reach for cookies, chocolate and Co. Yet especially in the cool season eat colorful so important!
Because just when it gets cool, we need to recharge our vitamin stores. So that we Prevent flu and colds can support us, a fit immune system.
The healthiest way to eat colorfully is to eat seasonal foods. In other words, everything that is in season. This is not always possible. But make sure that the food comes from the region if possible and is in season.
Strawberries in December may be delicious, but by the time you eat them, they contain hardly any vitamins or nutrients. It's the same with green salad, which is shipped halfway around the globe.
The longer fruits and vegetables were allowed to ripen before picking, the more secondary plant compounds were able to develop. Fruit that has been sent halfway around the world often has to be shipped halfway around the globe. At home, we let it ripen. But it never contains as many secondary plant compounds as fruit that has been allowed to ripen properly.
Eat colorful as a vegetable muffin
There are no more excuses for vegetable muffle. No time for vegetables, they often say. Yet are low calorie and healthy vegetable pans cooked much faster than a cutlet.
Vegetables are prepared very quickly. Simply cut them into small pieces, fry them on both sides and season to taste. You can also use frozen vegetables. This does not taste quite as good, but still contains a lot of nutrients. But hands off ready seasoned frozen vegetables. This is a calorie trap with lots of sugar and fat.
And if you still have excuses now, you should know that vegetables like carrots or cabbage can be kept in the refrigerator for a very long time. So you can buy them and store them.
In the form of delicious smoothies, you can simply puree vegetables and fruits. You've eaten - or in this case, drunk - another serving without even realizing it :)
You want to become a vegetarian? Here comes the instruction!
Eat colorful and healthy with these botanicals
Red for a strong cardiovascular system
You can find lycopene in red fruits and vegetables. The red plant substance helps the body fight clogged arteries. Lycopene is a good protection against cardiovascular diseases and is also said to prevent prostate cancer.
The special thing about this plant substance: cooking and processing does not harm lycopene at all. We can even absorb lycopene from tomato sauce better than from uncooked tomatoes.
You can find lycopene in tomatoes, guava, pink grapefruits, rosehip, watermelon, strawberries, cherries, rhubarb, blood oranges, raspberries and other red fruits.
How about delicious Strawberry rhubarb jam? So you can keep lycopene in the jar and enjoy it longer.
Another lycopene supplier is our homemade ketchup with fresh tomatoes!
Green for strong eyes and cells
Chlorophyll is not one of the secondary plant substances, but it is still very healthy. You can find it in green fruits and vegetables.
Besides the classic green lettuce and spinach, chlorophyll is also found in green beans, Brussels sprouts, kale, peas, green zucchini, broccoli, avocado, kiwi fruit, green apples and pears. But wild herbs are also full of chlorophyll.
Chlorophyll enables plants to carry out photosynthesis. That is, the use of sunlight for their own growth. Green foods strengthen our eyes and are involved in cell structure. The green pigment is considered a blood builder and strength donor.
Green vegetables also provide many minerals such as calcium and magnesium.
White vegetables are an all-rounder
If you want to eat colorful, you can not forget about white. Color-wise, they may look a bit boring, but they've got some neat stuff. White vegetables protect the vessels.
In white vegetables you will find the pigment allicin. It has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and circulation-enhancing properties.
It's also healthy because the dye often appears with mustard oils - as in onion, garlic or radish.
You can also find allicin in asparagus, cauliflower, cabbage, lychees, fennel.
White vegetables also lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. It promotes digestion and has a diuretic effect.
Purple against inflammation
Bring on the blackberries, blueberries, eggplant and Co! Purple pigments, anthocyanins, is said to slow skin aging, mitigate cancer and inhibit inflammation.
Not for nothing are blueberries at the top of the List of the healthiest foods.
You can also find anthocyanins in red beets, black currants, figs, red onions, red cabbage or radicchio salad.
Yellow and orange for the immune system
You will find many carotenoids in yellow and orange fruits and vegetables. These antioxidants strengthen the immune system and the boost the metabolism.
Carrots, pumpkin, peaches and apricots have a beautiful orange glow. This luminous color is formed from several carotenoids, one of which is beta-carotene.
Our body converts it into vitamin A after eating. The vital substance is good for our eyes, strengthens connective tissue, is healthy for hair and skin. In addition, beta-carotene stimulates cell growth.
In yellow to orange fruits such as citrus, papaya, mango, physalis or sea buckthorn. is very much vitamin C.
Yellow and orange vegetables are full of flavonoids. These are plant compounds with antimicrobial activity. You can find flavonoids in potatoes, turnips, corn, celery and green olives.
Eat colorful recipes
Here's a little inspiration for delicious and colorful food. Meal! :)
A combination of lots of fruit you can have with this watermelon pizza. :) Top a piece of watermelon with yogurt and fruit of your choice. Done!
Or how about a delicious Buddha Bowl? Simply put a mix of colorful vegetables together in a bowl. What you need to pay attention to your Buddha Bowl, so that it's really delicious, we have recorded in a separate post: "Buddha Bowl Tutorial: It's That Simple".
Are you a pizza fan? Then try it with a colorful pizza! The recipe is in our Low carb pizza base collection.
Wraps can also contain much more than just meat. Build really colorful wraps for lots of variety. In the photo you can see adzuki beans, carrots, corn, red cabbage, mushrooms, lettuce and cucumber :)
As a salad fan, you can simply put your salad in a jar and mix different vegetables. This not only tastes better, but is also healthier than regular green salad.
Have a look at our delicious lentil salad in a jar by!
Healthy diet = more vegetables than fruit
Hardly anyone manages to comply with the guideline of the German Nutrition Society. 5 portions of fruit and vegetables should be eaten every day. And much more vegetables than fruit.
Fruit contains a lot of fructose. This is bad for the body in very large quantities. Vegetables, on the other hand, do not contain fructose. So you can eat a lot of them.
To make sure you succeed, eat a big colorful salad and vegetables with every main meal.
Our conclusion
Eating colorful food is healthy and tastes so much better than just one-size-fits-all porridge. Make sure you eat enough fruits and vegetables every day. More important than the quantity is a colorful mix of all colors! So let's make our plates nice and colorful together :)
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