Spring is the perfect time to refresh your meals with the vibrant colors—and nutrients—of the season. Adding a rainbow of fruits and vegetables to your diet not only makes your plate more appealing, but also delivers a wide range of health benefits unique to each color or shade.
Read on for simple and smart ways to bring in the colors of spring into your diet:
1. Shop Seasonal, Eat Fresh
Spring produce is bursting with flavor and nutrition. Look for fruits and vegetables that are at their peak right now such as strawberries, spinach, citrus fruits, peas, asparagus, artichokes, and mushrooms.
2. Add Color and Nutrients to Every Meal
Try to make every meal colorful by aiming for two to three different-colored fruits or veggies at every meal. Think of your plate as a palette—each color brings its own set of vitamins, antioxidants, and benefits.
3. Select Fruits and Vegetables By Color
Try red for instance with tomatoes, red apples, cherries, red bell peppers, orange or yellow with mangoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, yellow or orange peppers, or green with broccoli, spinach, kale, peas, asparagus, lettuce, blue or purple with blueberries, grapes, purple cabbage or even white with cauliflower, mushrooms, onions.
4. Prepare Colorful and Nutritious Meals and Snacks
Try combining many many different colors by creating snacks such as a fruit smoothie with blueberries, red strawberries, with frozen cauliflower rice for a nutrient boost or meals such as an omelet with spinach, onions, red and orange peppers for breakfast, a rainbow salad with dark greens, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, and purple cabbage for lunch and lentil pasta tossed with sautéed spinach, yellow peppers, and mushrooms for dinner.
5. Set a Color Goal For Each Day or Every Meal
Commit to selecting as many colors as you can when prepping or preparing a meal or snack. This will not only add more color to your life, but also more nutrients to your mind and body. Nutrients fuel the mind and body improving brain health, enhancing mood, memory and learning, and overall cognitive function.
Get creative, have fun and see how amazing you will feel. Don’t forget to follow me for future tips to help you become nutritionally balanced.