Food fads are ever-changing and more often than not, it’s difficult to play catch up. Do you know what else is difficult and unhealthy? Quitting food groups in order to meet your goal.
Most diet trends promise to be high on nutrition and also induce rapid weight loss. However, that’s usually not true. Take it from someone who has followed all these diets regularly only to be left clueless in the end. A lot of these diets such as Keto, Paleo require you to cut down on a certain food group to meet your goal. I’ve even participated in juice cleanses only to eat more after the cleanse. TBH, they kinda make me feel drained at the end.
So we decided to find a diet that actually worked without affecting one’s mental and physical health. And here’s what we found:
Diet That Works
Turns out, there’s actually a diet that is as appealing as it sounds–the rainbow diet. No, we’re not joking with you. The rainbow diet is actually a health-inspired trend that encourages one to eat colourful fruit and vegetables that are red, orange, yellow, green, and purple. “A rainbow diet as the name suggests prescribes adding fruits and vegetables of varied colours to your daily diet to amp up your nutrition game. Each colour significantly helps you to meet your body’s nutrition requirements,” explains Neha Ranglani, Integrative nutritionist, health coach and author of The Beverage Reboot- All In One Solution for Healthy Liquid Diet.
Pros Of A Rainbow Diet
It’s quite simple–the more colours you eat, the more you expose yourself to a variety of nutrients that come along with eating colours. “Adding 4-5 servings of different fruits and 5-6 servings of vegetables ensures you get a good dose of antioxidants, phytochemicals, micronutrients, polyphenols, and fiber which helps in improving our gut and overall health,” adds Neha. And thankfully, there’s no vegetable or fruit that’s labelled unhealthy or too-high-in-sugar in this diet.
How To Eat The Rainbow?
The diet is actually a simple way to cleanse your system and incorporate clean eating without restricting yourself.
The ultimate goal should be to add 30 and more different colourful fruit and vegetables to your meals every week. We get that it may sound too much but it becomes easy when you start planning one colourful food pot for every meal. Opt for smoothies, plant-based milkshakes, salads and stir-pots to get your quota of colours.
Advantages Of Rainbow Diet
Oh, the advantages of the diet are endless, claims Neha, “Advantages of the popular diet is that it helps in the management of health issues like blood sugar balance, aids in lowering blood pressure and bad cholesterol and maintaining great heart health.” That’s not all, she says it also works wonders for your skin health, good eye care and overall brain health.
Why Should You Go For The Rainbow Diet
If you really need another reason then here’s one. With this quality of air, food, water, and the type of skincare products we are exposed to, the toxin load in our body is always on the rise. This can damage organs and cause harm to your health. “With the increased consumption of processed foods, the rainbow diet really helps in better health management as it provides the necessary antioxidants to fight the free radicals in our body and protect us from lethal side effects,” says Neha.
Recipe for Rainbow Diet
Name of the beverage: Colon Cleanser
Ingredients
¼ piece pear
1/2 apple
3-4 unsweetened prunes
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp mulethi powder
5 – 6 black raisins
1/4 cup water
Method:
In a blending jar, add all the ingredients with 1/4 cup water and blend together.
Transfer to a glass or a mason jar, drink immediately or chill if you like it cold.
Rainbow Diet Table
Red: Food sources like tomatoes, red peppers, or strawberries is rich in lycopene which is a powerful antioxident. It offers many health benefits including sun protecion and improved heart health.
Orange -Food sources like orange, carrots, papaya are rich in antioxidants that help fight cancer-causing free radicals.
Yellow: Foods like pineapple and papaya are loaded with nutrients that can ease digestion, suppress inflammation and reduce the risk of heart disease.
Green: Green vegetables like spinach, kale, broccoli, celery are loaded with lutein that significantly contributes to our eye health.
Purples/Blues: Deep coloured foods like purple cauliflower, purple cabbage, purple kale, eggplant, blueberries, cranberries, are loaded with antioxidants that benefit brain health, lowers inflammation and helps fight cancer.
White/Tan: These foods have minerals like potassium, manganese, magnesium and lots of fibre. Sources like bananas, potatoes, onions, garlic are rich in allicin that helps with good heart health.
Eating colourful foods also helps uplift our nutrient quotient and strengthen our immune cells to combat various diseases. Which makes it the correct diet to follow during such crucial times. BRB, going grocery shopping to stock up on my colourful diet!
Related Stories:
Iron Rich Foods: We help you with a list of foods that contain iron so that you can include them in your diet.
Featured Image: Instagram