Colorful choices make good choices
The more reds, oranges, greens, yellows, and blues you eat, the more health-promoting properties you get from your diet.
The more reds, oranges, greens, yellows, and blues you eat, the more health-promoting properties you get from your diet.
Reds and bright pink foods add lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, to your diet. Lycopene can be found in tomatoes, grapefruits, watermelon, papaya, and guava. Lycopene is being studied for its ability to fight heart disease and some cancers.
Green foods are rich in phytochemicals that help keep you healthy. Carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, found in spinach, kale, and broccoli, are being studied for their ability to keep your retina strong. Vegetables like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and turnips may reduce the risk of cancerous tumors.
Orange foods like sweet potatoes, mangoes, carrots, and apricots contain beta-carotene, a natural antioxidant being studied for its role in enhancing the immune system. Orange food is also rich in vitamin C and vitamin E. Yellow foods have many of the same benefits as orange foods.
Anthocyanins, a photochemical responsible for the blue hues in foods like blueberries, is being studied for its role in defending the body against carcinogens.
White foods like onions, garlic, chives, and leeks contain the photochemical allicin, which is being studied for its ability to lower cholesterol and blood pressure and increase the body's ability to fight infections.
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