March is National Nutrition Month, sponsored by the American Dietetic Association, and the theme for this year is Eat Right With Color.
This annual campaign is…
designed to focus attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. NNM also promotes ADA and its members to the public and the media as the most valuable and credible source of timely, scientifically based food and nutrition information.
The basic premise of this year’s “Eat Right With Color” theme is to eat better by making sure you have a variety of colorful foods in your diet. It’s a great idea, because often the color of a food can give you great visual cues as to the nutritional value, the deeper and richer a color, the more nutritional value is packed in to it. On top of that, a colorful plate of food just looks better, and that alone can make a meal much more appealing.
While I’m not a dietitian (yet!), the ADA site has some great information for anyone interested in better nutrition.
Now most people are going to think fruits and vegetables when it comes to the whole color thing, and that’s great! But don’t overlook other nutritious foods that can come in a variety of colors including beans and lentils as well as grains like quinoa, or even fish (think tuna steaks and wild salmon!).
Need some ideas for some colorful foods to add to your meals? Here’s a few to get you started… if you come up with ideas of your own leave them in the comments, and I’ll try to come up with some “colorful” recipes in the coming weeks.
Red: red apples, red cabbage, cherries, cranberries, red grapes, red bell peppers, strawberries, tomatoes, pomegranates, red quinoa, kidney beans
Orange: sweet potatoes, oranges, peaches, mangoes, carrots, apricots, squash/pumpkin
Yellow: lemons, pears, pineapple, yellow summer squash, corn
Green: broccoli, avocado, asparagus, green apples, spinach, mung beans, split peas, kiwi, kale, zucchini, edamame, green onions, limes
Purple: beets, grapes, eggplant, plums, blackberries, purple kale, purple beans
