The more rich colors in the food, the better the nutrition.
Add color to your day with fruits and vegetables. Eating a variety of colors – red, orange, yellow, dark green, blue, purple, and white – not only adds eye candy to your plate, but also provides your body with a broad range of nutrients.
Try these 7 tips to add colorful food to your plate:
- Make fruit popsicles. Puree fruit such as pineapples, peaches, bananas and/or berries with any variety of 100 percent fruit juice. Freeze in popsicle molds for a refreshing treat.
- Mix up a spinach salad with red onions, canned mandarin oranges, dried cranberries and your favorite vinaigrette dressing.
- Try adding different veggie toppings to your pizza, like eggplant, black olives, fresh tomatoes, spinach, artichokes, broccoli, green and red peppers, onions or mushrooms.
- Steam a bag of frozen vegetables in the microwave for a healthy side dish. Frozen veggies can also be used to create a quick stir fry, vegetable soup or frittata.
- Assemble a Greek salad by combining romaine lettuce, red onion, tomatoes, chickpeas, black olives, artichoke hearts and reduced-fat feta cheese.
- Steam edamame for an easy, high-protein snack.
- Make a Mexican pizza: Mash black beans on a tortilla and top with low-fat shredded cheese. Bake and add salsa.
For the veggie-phobic, there are creative ways to add vegetables to your diet. Even children who are picky eaters can learn to eat vegetables (a few — maybe one — which is better than none) with these strategies. Similarly, if you’re feeling unmotivated to drink water instead of soft drinks, adding some colorful fruit to your water can dress it up and add flavor.
Source: Health Plus, which provides resources to support the health of Vanderbilt faculty and staff.
