Here’s a fun way to make sure you’re getting the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Just eat the rainbow every day!
Fruits and vegetables come in all colors, not just green. So make an effort to eat something of a different hue, from oranges to red apples. It’ll make shopping in the produce aisle a bit of a game: See how many colors you can pick up.
The American Heart Association recommends eight or more fruits and vegetable servings each day. Fruits and vegetables deliver nutrients like vitamins, fiber, and even hydration to help us consume enough water every day.
Here are some examples to get you thinking:
- Make a rainbow salad. Green spinach, red beets, orange carrots, yellow peppers. That’s an easy start!
- Red delicious apples are naturally high in fiber.
- Add veggies to your pizza, burgers, and sandwiches: red tomatoes, green lettuce, etc.
- Berry Berry Yummy – blueberries, strawberries, blackberries.
- Try something different, like kiwi or passion fruit.
- Remember fruit makes a great dessert – and bananas are perfect after a workout.
More ideas:
- Reds and pinks: cherries, pink grapefruit, radicchio, red peppers, red potatoes, rhubarb, watermelon, tomato juice
- Orange/yellow: butternut squash, cantaloupe, corn, lemons, mangoes, pineapple, peaches
- Green: asparagus, avocados, collard greens, mustard greens, brussels sprouts, cucumbers, green grapes, green onion, kale… the options are endless!
- White: cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, potatoes
- Blue/purple: eggplant, purple grapes, plums, prunes
Holly Kouvo is a personal trainer, functional aging specialist, senior fitness specialist, brain health trainer, writer, and speaker.