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Taste the rainbow: Fill your plate with vibrant colors

Bruce Alan | balan@wtop.com

April 26, 2016, 1:09 AM

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Squires says blueberries and anything that is dark purple, such as grapes, have what’s called anthocyanins, which are very beneficial for memory, brain health and cognitive function. Photo: WTOP/Rachel Nania (WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WTOP/Rachel Nania
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Red foods, such as tomatoes, generally contain lycopene, a natural pigment that helps protect against light stress. When you cook tomatoes, the lycopene becomes even more concentrated. Lycopene also serves as a cancer prevention. In addition to tomatoes, you’ll find lycopene in guava, apricots, watermelon and even pink grapefruit. Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images (Getty Images/Sean Gallup)
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Orange and yellow foods are generally high in beta carotene, which is converted in the body to vitamin A. We need vitamin A to help preserve vision, good immune function, and normal growth and development. You can find beta carotene in sweet potatoes, carrots, cantaloupe and pumpkin — but also in kale, collard greens and dandelion greens, as well as winter squash. Photo: WTOP/Megan Cloherty (Getty Images/iStockphoto/kviktor01)
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Green foods have substances called glucosinolates, substances that activate enzymes that detoxify cancer-causing substances. They have anti-cancer properties, especially cruciferous vegetables, which include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. Photo: National Institutes of Health
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Squires addressed an admonition out there to avoid eating anything white — which she says doesn’t really make sense. Squires says she thinks the notion was originally intended warn people to avoid potatoes, white rice, sugar and white flour. After all, Squires says, cauliflower is white and we know that is a very nutritious vegetable. Garlic is also white, and we know its been used for food and medicine for thousands of years — in fact, back to the time of the Egyptian pyramids. In the early 1700s, grave diggers drank crushed garlic in wine to protect themselves from the plague. During World War I and World War II, garlic was used to help prevent gangrene. Today it’s used to help protect against heart disease and, possibly, cancer because it is rich in antioxidants. Onions and garlic contain allicin, a substance that has antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activities. So bottom line: Go ahead and eat something white. Photo: Thinkstock (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
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WASHINGTON — Does the food on your plate look pretty much the same, day after day? Lean Plate Club blogger Sally Squires says you should fill your plate with vibrant colors — and eat a varied menu with the colors of the rainbow. If you think about plants, the more colorful the plant and the more nutritious it probably is — from phytonutrients to vitamins and mineral, Squires says. She walks us through some of these colors.

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