The Magic Behind the Rainbow: Vegetables and Fruits Edition

Rainbows are images that kids love and everyone gets amazed by all the beautiful colors. There is just a sense of magic, excitement, and interest when we think of rainbows. Rainbows exist in our day to day lives. They can happen with the vegetables and fruits we chose to eat!

You may not realize how amazing and how equally beautiful the colors of vegetables and fruits look together. You may not even realize that there is magic in this kind of rainbow as well. The magic in this rainbow comes from what each color means and how they can benefit you after you eat them.

When you are little, you were taught that the rainbow consists of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet or commonly known as “ROYGBV”. This stays true for vegetables and fruits. With each color, there is a “magical power” in the  vegetables and fruits that make up the rainbow. Let’s see what those “magical powers” are!

Red

These vegetables and fruits contain a pigment called lycopene. This is an antioxidant which can help keep your heart healthy and reduce cancer risk. The deeper the color, the more lycopene!

Orange

Beta carotene is what these vegetables and fruits have. This is an antioxidant that can turn into vitamin A and helps our mucous membranes and eyes to be healthy! It even helps our body to fight off the flu, colds, and skin problems.

Yellow

Lutein is what is in yellow foods. These two help us maintain our eyesight and overall eye health.

Green

Foods this color have a range of phytochemicals which all give you anti-cancer properties and protect your eyes from damage. Dark leafy greens are a good source of folate.

Blue /Violet

These foods have anthocyanin, which has properties that protect cells from damage and help lower the risk of cancer, heart disease, and stroke.

Now that you know how important the rainbow of vegetables and fruits are, go out and add these colors to your plate everyday!

This task can seem harder than it actually is. Some ways you can try this are by using frozen or canned  vegetables and fruits (insert link to frozen foods post), dried fruit, and even including one serving of fruit juice a day. You can do a glass of orange juice with breakfast, some lettuce/leafy green with your lunch, and red kidney beans with dinner. The possibilities are endless! A great way to get kids to try the “rainbow” would be to challenge them on how many colors they can eat in one day or during the week. You can also make it fun by turning healthy snacks into art so you can be creative and add a lot of colors!

Let us know how you added a “rainbow” to your diet!