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Color Your Plate
Adding color to your diet can boost your energy.
By Sophia Schweitzer
No doubt you are already quite savvy when it comes to healthy eating for maximum energy. So perhaps you feel a little skeptical about the latest recommendation that urges us to prepare meals with plenty of color. You want to feel great, yes, but you’re not a Van Gogh. And yet, with farmers’ markets in full swing, it’s time to reevaluate the way we look at food. You might just want to make a color-coordinated diet part of your lifestyle from now on. 
An apple a day
For more than a decade, nationwide health agencies have been pushing five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, based on scientific proof that a plant-based diet improves our health and helps us to live longer. Fruits and vegetables provide essential nutrients that we can’t get anywhere else, such as betacarotene and vitamin C. Magnesium and potassium, widely available in produce, may aid in preventing osteoporosis. Studies show that people who eat lots of broccoli, cabbage, leafy greens and citrus fruit have a 31 percent lesser chance of suffering a stroke. A plant-based diet may reduce the risk of developing cancer by 50 percent and may prevent coronary heart disease. Not to mention that those who eat their veggies tend to be less obese. But we haven’t been listening—we pop a multivitamin instead. According to the American Institute of Cancer Research, only 27 percent of women and just 19 percent of men report eating enough produce. Hey, some of us have maintained that French fries count. Then, just three or four years ago, science discovered phytochemicals, which are tiny compounds in plants that carry huge potential and can’t be captured in a pill.
Pigment power
Fast-forward to today’s colorful approach to health. Its attractiveness has all to do with its victory over free radicals, the unstable molecules we all produce naturally, in the process of using oxygen. When you are healthy and young, your body neutralizes this potentially harmful byproduct effectively. But after a vigorous workout or when you’re under stress, older or nutritionally depleted, an excess of free radicals erodes cell structures and speeds up aging. Scientists recently found that anthocyanins are compounds that give plants their color. A specific family of phytochemicals in the group of flavonoids, they turn out to be powerful cleansers otherwise called antioxidants. There’s enough evidence to show that these pigments reduce the risk of many aging-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and vision loss. "Pigments in fruits and vegetables serve to protect the plant from sunlight and disease," explains James A. Joseph, Ph.D., chief of the Neuroscience Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on aging at Tufts University, and author of The Color Code. "When you absorb them, through eating colorful produce, you give yourself similar protection." Different color pigments are associated with different health benefits. "Lycopene in tomatoes makes them red and may aid in prostate health," says Joseph. "Lutein in yellow-green vegetables such as kale or corn protects the eyes." To reap health benefits from head to toe, you want your daily meals to span a spectrum of colors. (See sidebar). "As a rule of thumb, more color indicates greater antioxidant activity," says Joseph. Think blueberries and spinach in addition to celery.
Beyond antioxidants
Other phytochemicals not necessarily responsible for color, such as the sulfur compounds found in garlic and onions that aid in lowering LDL (bad cholesterol), are equally important to our health. Plus, this is all new stuff we may well find out tomorrow. For example, we may find that humble cucumbers hold fascinating phytonutrients. Only a fraction of all compounds has been discovered and researched so far. So is the color approach with its focus on antioxidants too limited? Not really, says Marjorie E. Fitch-Hilgenberg, Ph.D., R.D., L.D., a nutrition researcher and assistant professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. "It’s a great tool to ensure that Americans eat more produce in a larger variety. It’s a way to get all of the elusive phytonutrients and also a way to get long-established essential nutrients such as vitamins, fiber and minerals." Move over neutral shades of potatoes, chicken and meat. "It’s simple," says Fitch-Hilgenberg, "the more colors you eat, the wider of a variety of nutrients you get."
Quality is important. Darker vegetables contain more chlorophyll, which is linked with preventing colon cancer. A key nutrient when you are pregnant is folic acid. "Spinach packs more than three times as much of folic acid than iceberg lettuce" says Fitch-Hilgenberg. It also contains more than five times the amount of iron, and a whopping seven times more vitamin E. Fitch-Hilgenberg has found at least one easy way of slipping spinach into the American diet: "Substitute spinach leaves for iceberg lettuce every time you make or order sandwiches," she says. "You might not even notice the difference."
Can you get too much?
Nutrition experts now favor nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Realistic? Keep in mind that nutritional servings are small. One serving equals just half a cup of berries or sliced fruit, three quarters of a cup of juice, a cup of fresh greens or half a cup chopped or cooked. Fresh and frozen produce is best—some researchers even think quick freezing preserves nutrients better than transporting fresh produce across the globe—even canned vegetables contain lots of nutrients that give you the variety you need. Cooked versus raw? "There is some evidence that phytochemicals are more available to the body after a vegetable has been cooked," says Fitch-Hilgenberg.
Nine servings? Yes. What about a handy phyto-supplement? Forget it. The thousands of compounds in a variety of produce all work together in synergy, interacting with each other in ways we haven’t even started to comprehend. "So much research still has to be done," says Diane Birt, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University. "But we know we need this wide variety of phytonutrients for optimal health." So far it appears impossible to squeeze the benefits of nine servings into one pill. In fact, Birt and other researchers are worried about Americans’ love affair with supplements, given that so little is known about the toxicity of large doses of phytochemicals. "We already know, for example, that isoflavones found in soy products may lower cholesterol and can enhance bone density, yet, taken in high doses, they might enhance cancer," says Birt. "The risk of toxicity is very real."
Color is cool
So whether you want to go by the ancient adagio of five-a-day, or you want to follow the antioxidant route or anywhere in between, the message is clear. You need produce, of great variety, with plenty of color. Vibrant energy awaits at the end of the rainbow.
Your seven-color phyto-palette
Note: For each group only one or two families of phytochemicals and nutrients are listed. Keep in mind that thousands of them exist.
Red-Purple
Example: blueberries, blackberries, plums, beets, grapes
Phytochemicals: anthocyanins (subgroup of flavonoids)
What they do: improve circulation, aid in cancer prevention, protect the brain
Red
Example: tomatoes and tomato products, red grapefruit
Phytochemical: lycopene (carotenoid)
What it does: aid in cancer prevention, specifically prostate cancer
Example: cherries, strawberries, raspberries, watermelon
Phytochemicals: anthocyanins
What they do: improve circulation, aid in cancer prevention, protect the brain
Orange
Example: carrots, pumpkins, apricots, mangoes
Phytochemicals: carotenoids, betacarotene
What they do: protect cells, neutralize free radicals, enhance immune system
Orange-Yellow
Exmple: oranges, peaches, pineapples
Phytochemicals: carotenoids, vitamin C
What they do: protect cells, neutralize free radicals, enhance immune system
Yellow-Green
Example: spinach, kale, collard greens, bell peppers, corn
Phytochemicals: lutein (carotenoid)
What it does: may protect the eyes
Green
Example: cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts
Phytochemicals: sulphorapane
What it does: aid in cancer prevention
White-Green
Example: garlic, onion, pears
Phytochemicals: sulfides
What they do: protect cellular structures, may lower LDL (bad cholesterol)
Example: pears, apples, asparagus, celery
Phytochemicals: flavonoids
What they do: may protect cell membranes
Sample daily food plan for nine servings
Breakfast:
Two servings:
Add a cup of berries or sliced fruit to your cereal; make a protein smoothie with at least a cup of mix fruit; or top your toast with sliced apple and mix some veggies with your scrambled eggs.
Lunch
Two servings:
Add greens and tomato to your sandwiches and eat some vegetables on the side in a salad or in vegetable soup.
Dinner
Three servings:
Start with a salad, cook and serve any of your main dishes with added vegetables (spinach lasagna or stir-fry broccoli with ginger). And for dessert, have strawberry shortcake (low fat) or a juicy peach.
Snacks
Two servings:
Eat an apple or an orange, or dip strips of bell peppers in a humus dip, and keep dried fruit on hand.
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