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Put
some color on your plate
February 6, 03
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Food
pyramids and dietary guidelines can get
confusing. But here's a simple way to
boost the nutrient punch of your diet:
Colorize your plate.
It just so happens that deeply pigmented
fruits and vegetables, as well as those
that are white, are packed with the
nutrients you and your family need. They
have high concentrations of
health-promoting substances -- including
beneficial phytochemicals -- that help to
protect against coronary artery disease
and some forms of cancer.
Colorizing your plate is an approach I
and other nutritionists have advocated
for years and is now the basis of a new
campaign of the national 5 A Day for
Better Health program. They're calling it
"5 a Day the Color Way."
The 5 A Day program is a collaboration
between the National Cancer Institute and
the Produce for Better Health Foundation.
Started in 1991, the goal was to urge
Americans to eat at least 5 servings of
fruits and vegetables each day.
Yes, those are standard serving sizes --
one medium banana, apple, or orange, a
half-cup of fruit salad or cooked
vegetables, or one cup of raw vegetables.
And take note: 5 servings is a minimum.
Depending upon your calorie needs, you
can up that figure to 8 or more.
Practically speaking, it's hard to overdo
it when it comes to fruits and
vegetables, especially when they're raw.
The new campaign adds a twist -- emphasis
on color, especially deep hues of red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and
white.
Picture a dinner plate filled with a
colorful mix of dark leafy greens topped
with red tomatoes, sliced onions, grated
carrots, and diced green peppers
alongside a black bean and sweet
potato-filled burrito topped with salsa
and a sprig of parsley.
The beauty of this approach is that it
works in a positive way. If you eat at
least five servings of nutrient-dense
fruits and vegetables each day, you'll
help ensure you get enough dietary fiber,
vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.
At the same time, all of those healthy
foods are going to (hopefully) displace
the junk from your diet, or at least a
lot of it. They'll also replace foods
rich in substances that most of us get in
excess, such as salt and sodium,
saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar, and
even protein.
The "5" in this approach covers
quantity. "Color" addresses
quality, or nutrient content.
Using color as a guide, it's easy to eat
a wide range of nutrient-dense foods:
For red, try tomatoes, watermelon,
strawberries, red bell peppers, beets,
red grapes, radishes, red onions.
For orange and yellow, try apricots,
peaches, cantaloupe, oranges, sweet
potatoes and yams, mangoes, papayas,
acorn and butternut squash
For green, try broccoli, green bell
peppers, green beans, kiwi, green grapes,
peas, avocados, and leafy greens such as
spinach, kale, Swiss chard.
For blue and purple, try blueberries and
blackberries, plums, raisins, purple and
black grapes, eggplant, purple endive.
For white, try bananas, daikon radishes,
onions, cauliflower, garlic, white
potatoes, leeks, turnips.
The simple message and focus on color in
this approach also makes it a great
learning tool for kids. Of course, blue
gelatin and multi-colored
marshmallows in the breakfast cereal
don't count.
Go for colorful foods in their natural
state, and you can't go wrong.
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