Why you should eat a rainbow

You may have heard the phrase “eat the rainbow”, referring to eating fruits and vegetables of all colours, just like a rainbow. But do you know why it’s important for you?

Plants contain compounds called phytonutrients which give plants their colour, taste and aroma, also promote good health. Phytonutrients also protect plants from germs, bugs, the sun and other threats. When we eat plant food, those phytonutrients help to protect us from chronic diseases. Sounds pretty amazing right? But what has that to do with the rainbow?

Each colour indicates an abundance of specific nutrients which benefit different areas of our health. This is why it’s important to eat a variety of colours. Now, you might be tempted to find a few foods you or your kids like and focus on those, and it can be easy to fall into routines, but the truth is our bodies thrive on variety – a rainbow of nutrients. Advice to “eat the rainbow” is often used with kids, and while kids especially need diversity of food in their diets, so do adults.

The great thing about eating the rainbow is that it’s easy to do.

If you struggle to get the range of coloured fruit and veg into your diet, then Nutrient Rescue’s superfood powders could be part of the solution for you. For instance, our whole food powders cover the red, purple and green spectrum helping you to close the nutritional gap. Read on for a summary of the benefit of each colour, and some ideas around how to bring more colour into your diet.

How to do it?

Try to incorporate two to three different coloured fruits or vegetables at every meal and at least one snack. While you don’t have to eat every single colour every day, try to get them into your diet a few times a week.

Breakfast

• ➜ Add colourful veg to an omelette, such as mushrooms, red capsicum and spinach
• ➜ Add a few extra ingredients into your favourite smoothie. Check out this delish peanut butter smoothie recipe 
• ➜ Get on board with the trending breakfast bowls, full of yogurt, fruit, nuts and seeds
• ➜ Whip up a breakfast sandwich (or burrito like our American brothers), by adding some fresh plants in with egg

Lunch or dinner

• ➜ Spice up your usual mixed salad with some extra veg such as corn, carrot, kidney beans and chickpeas. There are heaps of recipes to be found online. Our current favourite whole food recipes are by Sophie Steevens
• ➜ Chicken with roasted sweet potatoes, green beans, peas and corn is normally a family favourite
• ➜ Make a pot of homemade soup with every kind of vegetable you have in the fridge
• ➜ Make up a delicious goat cheese salad with pickled beets, arugula, avocado and pecan nuts
• ➜ Pasta with tomato sauce loaded with veggies such as mushrooms, zucchini, grated carrot and onion
• ➜ Many dishes in Asian cuisine can be easily loaded up with veg, such as this Thai green curry

Snacks

• ➜ An apple with peanut butter
• ➜ Red capsicum slices with hummus
• ➜ Grapes and cheese
• ➜ Green smoothie or juice. Check out one of our favourite recipes here
• ➜ A banana
• ➜ Blueberries and yogurt
• ➜ Broccoli, carrot and dip
• ➜ Edamame pods

The opportunity to include fruits and veg into our diet are endless, it just takes a little bit of inspiration and planning. Make use of seasonal selections in store – not only do they tend to be more affordable, but they also tend to be fresher and last longer. And of course, if what you want isn’t in season then canned or frozen is a great option. If you’re looking to close any nutritional gaps quickly and effectively, then don’t forget our whole food powders which are simply dried and powdered so you get all the nutrient benefits of the whole plant including the fibre. It’s an easy and convenient solution to up your dose of greens, purples and reds.

If you’ve not tried our superfoods before then we recommend starting with our Double Shot Starter Pack which is the ultimate combination of red and green plant superfoods.

If you're a returning Shotster head over to the Online Store.

For more help refer to our FAQs or contact us.