March is National Nutrition Month, an annual celebration sponsored by the American Dietetic Association. OK, I have to admit. As dietitians, we get really excited about this. It’s our month to shine the spotlight on the power of healthy eating and raise awareness of the unique contributions of the registered dietitian.
This year’s theme is Eat Right With Color, which is a tremendous concept. Color is one of the most reliable cues to nutrient-rich foods – or at least when it comes to fruits and vegetables. I think we’ll be hearing lots more about the importance of eating a variety of colors.
Eat Right With Color was the topic of my Kids’ Table column in the Chicago Tribune, which you’ll find here and reprinted below.
The Kids’ Table: Better Nutrition at the End of the Rainbow
March is National Nutrition Month, an annual celebration sponsored by the American Dietetic Association. This year’s theme, Eat Right With Color, seems especially relevant for kids. All too often, children eat a rather beige diet, dominated by chicken nuggets, french fries, macaroni and cheese, and white bread.
Adding color to their plates not only makes the meal more visually appealing, but the varied hues also help boost the nutritional power of what you serve, says registered dietitian and dietetic association spokeswoman Karen Ansel.
Color is one of the best cues of nutritional density — and the darker, the better. Well, that’s true as long as the vibrant tints are natural and not due to artificial coloring. All bets are off if you’re talking about neon-blue juice drinks or bright-pink breakfast cereal.
Beyond those obvious exceptions, color is a reliable way to decipher nutritional value. Brightly colored fruits and vegetables contain plant compounds or phytonutrients that provide the distinctive shade that you see and specific health benefits you may not even know about.
Each color provides something different. Eating well means much more than having different food groups at every meal. It’s important to keep track of colors too. Have kids look for a rainbow on their plates.
mongolbbq on flickr
Blue/purple
Dark-colored fruits and vegetables are good sources of anthocyanins, the purplish phytonutrient that put blueberries on the map as a superfood. Other blue and purple foods offer similar benefits.
Choices: Purple grapes, plums, raisins, dried plums, purple asparagus, purple cabbage, purple carrots, eggplant, purple potatoes and purple cauliflower
Yellow/orange
You’ll find ample amounts of antioxidants, such as vitamin C and beta carotene (vitamin A) in yellow and orange fruits and vegetables.
Choices: Apricots, cantaloupe, mangoes, oranges, tangerines, butternut squash, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes
Red
Red is a flag for such health-promoting compounds as lycopene and anthocyanins. The darker and richer the tones, the more phytonutrients you’ll get in return.
Choices: Cherries, cranberries, red grapes, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, beets, red peppers, tomatoes
k.miyuki on flickr
Green
Green is a signal for chlorophyll, and green vegetables are potent in folate and such phytonutrients as carotenoids, lutein and indoles. Dark, leafy greens such as spinach and kale are richer in nutrients than paler iceberg lettuce.
Choices: Asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green beans, leafy greens, peas, snow peas, spinach, zucchini
To help families year-round with ideas on how to improve children’s diets, the ADA recently launched a new campaign called Kids Eat Right. Learn more at kidseatright.org.
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When you put it like that, color is a great classifier for the health content of fruits and vegetables. The way to encourage healthy eating to kids, is definitely to start early and prepare them in an inviting and tasty way so they’ll have the iniatitve to eat it by themselves as time passes.
Adolescence is such a vital era in life. The choices you make with your kids could reverberate throughout the rest of their lives. The use of bright colors looks like an effective and fun way to reach youngsters. This brings to memory another article on childhood nutrition from the American Society for Nutrition’s official blog. It turns out a specific food regimen called the ketogenic diet can help treat epilepsy in kids under 14. Whether it’s with the rainbow diet or the ketogenic diet, it’s important to keep your young ones healthy. You can read the ASN article here: ASN Blog article
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