FIVE KEY REASONS TO “EAT THE RAINBOW”

There’s nothing more beautiful than a rainbow that stretches across the sky brilliantly displaying its colorful hues. ROYGBIV is the acronym used to remember the colors in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. These same colors are also displayed in the plants God has given us to eat. Did you know that research has shown that eating a variety of colors enhances our health and vitality? Today, we’ll look at five key reasons to “eat the rainbow.”

Any nutritionist can tell you that our bodies thrive when we eat a variety of colorful foods from the plant kingdom. I’m clearly not talking about “eat the rainbow” with artificial colors such as M&M’s. Here are five key reasons why it’s important to eat all of the colors of the fruits and vegetables God has given us for our health. Each color represents a different set of phytonutrients and nutrients that our bodies need to maintain health. Eating the rainbow enhances our health by:

Increasing longevity.

According to research, the intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and premature mortality.  Blueberries are powerhouse nutrients that do many things for our health from the blue-purple food colors. But they are also known to increase the endothelial lining of our blood vessels which is key to increasing longevity.

Optimizing nutrition.

Each color of plants provides a different health benefit for our bodies. For example, red foods like tomatoes, red peppers, and watermelon contain lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that protects against prostate cancer and heart disease. Green foods are rich in cancer-blocking chemicals such as sulforaphane, isocyanates, and indoles. When we eat all the colors of the rainbow, it provides all the nutrients our bodies need to thrive.

Enhancing your microbiome.

According to Dr. Will Bulsiewics, gastroenterologist and gut health expert, the key to maintaining a healthy gut is eating a diversity of plants. He recommends that we count the plants and eat about 25 different plants each week.

Boosting your immune system.

With 70-80 percent of your immune cells being located in your gut lining, eating the rainbow is a great way to boost your God-given immune system. Preventing and fighting diseases is all about boosting our own God-given immune system.

Preventing many chronic diseases.

You’ve heard the famous saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It’s so much better to prevent heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune diseases in the first place. We now know many chronic diseases are 90-95 percent lifestyle related. Only 5-10 percent are due to genetics. When we eat the rainbow, we reduce our chances of developing these diseases.

A 2015 morbidity and mortality report from the CDC reveals that “the percentage of adults meeting fruit and vegetable recommended intake is very low.” Another earlier report showing phytonutrient intake shows that most Americans are falling short in virtually every color category of phytonutrients.

So, join me over the next few months as we delve into the colorful foods God has given us to eat. We’ll look at the red foods, orange foods, yellow foods, green foods, blue-violet (purple) foods, and even white-brown foods. We’ll look at what foods these color categories contain, the nutrients and phytochemicals provided, and what the phytochemicals do for us, Hopefully, these five key reasons and the added knowledge will encourage us all to “eat the rainbow” and increase our plant intake.

Have you ever heard the term “eat the rainbow?” How many plants do you eat each day?

For Your Health,

Ginny

Related articles giving more information:

Blueberries: Six Benefits for Health and Longevity

Four Factors that Influence Our Gut Health

Ginny Dent Brant is a speaker and writer who grew up in the halls of power in Washington, DC. She has battled cancer, ministered around the world, and served on the front lines of American culture as a counselor, educator, wellness advocate, and adjunct professor. Brant’s award-winning book, Finding True Freedom: From the White House to the World, was endorsed by Chuck Colson and featured in many TV and media interviews. Unleash Your God-Given Healing: Eight Steps to Prevent and Survive Cancer was released in May 2020 after her journey with cancer and was recently awarded the First Place Golden Scrolls Award for Memoirs, and Second Place in both Selah Awards for Memoirs and Director’s Choice Award for Nonfiction at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference. It recently received the Christian Authors Network’s (CAN) Gold Award for Excellence in Marketing for reaching 62.5 million people with a message of cancer prevention and survival.  It was written with commentary from an oncologist and was featured on CBN’s Healthy Living Show, Atlanta Live, and CTN’s Homekeepers along with over 75 media outlets. Learn more and cancer and wellness prevention blog and book information at www.ginnybrant.com.