Colour My Food

Now, just by the use of colours you can balance your diet! Sounds exciting, doesn't it? No, you don't have to be artistically inclined! All you need to do is pay a little attention to the food you consume on an every-day basis. People often don't pay attention to their diet, ignorant that it lacks fruits and vegetables. But nutrition experts strongly recommend adding colour to your diet. Fruits and vegetables are low in fat and loaded with fibre and natural chemicals that help protect your body against heart disease, cancer, cataracts and macular degeneration.

Fruits and veggies can be divided into four broad color groups that are red, orange-yellow, green and blue-purple. Food products falling in the four prescribed color groups are found to be beneficial. Each colour group offers a different set of beneficial phytonutrients.

Tomatoes, watermelons and other red fruits and vegetables are rich in carotenoid lycopene that protect your body against prostate cancer. In addition, it helps prevent heart and lung diseases.

Orange foods like carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash and mangoes are richly endowed with cancer-fighting alpha carotene. Beta-carotene is also present in these foods that help protect the skin against free radical damage. It also promotes repair of damaged DNA.

Spinach, green peas, honeydew and avocado are yellow-green foods that contain carotenoids and zeaxanthin. These strongly help reduce risk of cataracts and macular degeneration.

Greens on the other hand are rich in chemicals like sulforaphane, isocyanate and indoles that help cancer patients.

You may argue saying that sweets and candy bars are often colourful, but remember they are not natural or healthy. They often contain tonnes of preservatives and chemicals that harm your body. So, stop splurging on artificially coloured and flavoured foods; opt for natural ones instead! "Pigment power is what it is all about!"