Benefits of Eating Multicolored Fruits And Vegetables is something we have heard about, but many of us are unaware of the colors of the fruits and vegetables and the benefits they provide our health. So how does one go about choosing the right fruits and vegetables? Read on...
Is there more to colourful veggies and fruit, than just adding a splash of colour to your meal? Why are fruits and vegetables coloured so vibrantly?
Different colors are usually indicators of a variety of nutrient profiles. Containing very low levels of cholesterol, fat and sodium and higher in their concentration of carbohydrates, fibre and nutrients, fruits and veggies are highly recommended. The presence of natural sugars as opposed to refined sugars, means your body will assimilate them much more healthily. So they really should constitute the bulk of every meal, but also make every meal as colourful as it can possibly be, to get a maximum variety or a spectrum of essential nutrients.
With the summer on its way, it is a time for the red, yellow and orange spectrum of colours in fruits and vegetables which are rich in antioxidants whose primary benefit is the soaking up of free radicals. Anthocyanins, also abundantly found in these fruits and veggies, help manage high blood pressure at optimum levels and protect the body from diabetes-related circulatory problems. So here’s why you should keep the intake of coloured fruits and veggies high, and more specifically what you can eat with them.
See Red in the Market - Grab It!
It’s the season for red fruits and a good time to make the most of it as they are chock full of antioxidants, and carotenoids called lycopene and anthocyanin that help the body make adequate amounts of Vitamin A. A single raw tomato can provide up to 3.2 micrograms of lycopene and the Mayo Clinic recommends 2 to 30 milligrams per day as the required amount.
The summer range of red fruits and vegetables include: strawberries, cherries, pomegranates, plums, ripe guavas, watermelons, tomatoes and beetroots.
Summer sunshine
With summer arriving slowly but surely it’s also a time for the yellow and orange fruit and veggies, rich in beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A – a critical nutrient in maintaining night vision, and general health of you skin, teeth and bones.
Yellow and orange fruits and veggies are also a great source of folate, an antioxidant. A cup of sliced musk melon provides about 270 micrograms of vitamin A, which half the recommended daily intake of 500 micrograms and 67 of the 320 micrograms of folate you need per day.
Some commonly available orange and yellow fruits and vegetables are: oranges, sweet limes, lemons, mangoes, muskmelons, pumpkins, carrots.
Red, yellow and orange fruits and vegetables are packed with healthful nutrients that do pretty much everything from fighting heart disease and prostate cancer to reducing your risk of developing a stroke or macular degeneration (which causes blindness in old age).
