5 A Day the Color Way

Eating 5 or more servings of colorful fruits and vegetables a day is essential to building a healthy diet. According to the Produce for Better Health Foundation, "That's because deeply hued fruits and vegetables provide the wide range of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals your body needs to maintain good health and energy levels, protect against the effects of aging, and reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease."

A growing body of research proves that fruits and vegetables are critical to promoting good health. In fact, fruits and vegetables should be the foundation of a healthy diet. Most people need to double the amount of fruits and vegetables they eat every day. The Produce for Better Health Foundation suggests we aim to make fruits and vegetables half of what we eat at meals and snacks.

There are many benefits to loading up on fruits and veggies. Because they're low in calories and high in fiber, fruits and vegetables can help you control your weight. Fruits and vegetables are packed with essential vitamins, minerals, fiber, and disease-fighting phytochemicals. Because of this, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables everyday can help reduce your risk of:

Cancer
According to the American Cancer Society, certain nutrients in vegetables and fruits appear to protect the body against the damage to tissues that occurs constantly as a result of normal metabolism. Because such damage is associated with increased cancer risk, these so-called antioxidant nutrients are thought to protect against cancer. Antioxidants include vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, carotenoids, and many other phytochemicals (chemicals from plants). Studies suggest that people who eat more vegetables and fruits, which are rich food sources of these antioxidants, have a lower risk for some types of cancer.
Heart Disease
Heart-healthy diets are rich in fruits and vegetables (8 to 10 servings a day), low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and emphasize low-fat dairy foods and whole grains, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Such diets can significantly lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and may reduce the risk for having heart disease.

Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Asscoiation said sufficient blood levels of carotenoids, a family of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables, might reduce the risk of ischemic stroke.
Diabetes
Obesity and diet are strong risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it is important to stay at a healthy weight by getting adequate physical activity and eating a healthy diet that includes daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. By eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer high-calorie foods, you'll find it much easier to control your weight.

Finally, Fruits and vegetables have many important phytochemicals that help "fight" to protect your health. Phytochemicals are usually related to color. Fruits and vegetables of different colors — green, yellow-orange, red, blue-purple, and white — contain their own combination of phytochemicals and nutrients that work together to promote good health.

In fact, tomatoes contain an important phytochemical- an antioxidant called "lycopene" which contributes to their bright, vibrant red color. As an antioxidant, lycopene helps to counteract the harmful effects of substances called "free radicals," which are thought to contribute to many chronic diseases and age-related processes in the body.

Tomatoes are also a rich source of vitamins, mineral, carotenoids, and other phytochemicals that are most likely working together to help protect against cancer and other degenerative diseases. Click here for more information on 5 a Day the Color Way.

By eating a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables — green, yellow-orange, red, blue-purple, and white — you're giving your body a wide range of nutrients that are important for good health. Each color offers something unique, like different vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting phytochemicals, that work together to protect your health.

It's easy to get a variety of fruits and vegetables into your diet everyday. Just remember to think color. Here's a few tips from the 5 a Day the Color Way website ways to increase your intake and variety of fruits and veggies:

Toss fruit into your green salad for extra flavor, variety, color, and crunch.
Expand your palate and your palette with green, red, orange, yellow, and purple peppers.
Think frozen! Frozen fruits and vegetables are just as healthy as fresh, and they're ready when you need them.
Save time with pre-cut vegetables and salad mixes.
Add apples, raisins, or pineapple chunks to deli salads like chicken, tuna, or pasta.
Add frozen mixed vegetables to canned or dried soups.
Make a quick smoothie using frozen fruit.
Keep an easy-to-grab, pre-washed bowl of fruit on the counter.

Perhaps Janice Horowitz, columnist for Time Magazine put it simplest in her January 2002 article, "10 Foods That Pack a Wallop:"

"For optimum health, scientists say, eat a rainbow of colors. Your plate should look like a box of Crayolas."

So what topped her list of 10 foods, you ask? Tomatoes, of course.