{"id":2841,"date":"2018-03-19T07:37:29","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T06:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/?p=2841"},"modified":"2018-03-19T08:00:15","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T07:00:15","slug":"the-easy-way-to-healthy-food-are-colours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/main\/lifestyle\/the-easy-way-to-healthy-food-are-colours\/","title":{"rendered":"The easy way to healthy food are colours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Detox, paleo<\/a>, vegan<\/a>, vegetarian, gluten-free, clean and other keywords are nowadays trending. They have all in one way or another the same goal, eating healthy. They usually require special plans or items in order to achieve whatever they are designed for and they have their reason to exist. Nevertheless eating healthy is very simple and you can do it with one simple trick in mind: think colours, think rainbow!<\/p>\n

\"colours\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What sounds weird at first, is simple at last: Vegetables and fruits have different colours and those colours are different for plenty of reasons.<\/p>\n

The different colours are placeholders for different micro nutrients and mixing up the colours on your plate means you\u2019ll eat a wide array of different micro nutrients. That\u2019s the theory and it\u2019s simple.<\/p>\n

The Power of Five: The Five Colours<\/strong><\/h1>\n

This is not a new concept and it has been known for ages in Japanese cooking culture. The concept of the power of five consists of the five senses, colours, tastes, ways (i.e. preparation of food) and attitude. I\u2019d like to focus a little on the five colours.<\/p>\n

In Japanese cooking culture (same goes for Chinese) there are five different colours linked to food: white, black (blue, purple), red, green and yellow and it\u2019s believed to be best to include all five of them in every meal. Foods consisting of all of those five colours enhance nutritional and visual value.<\/p>\n

\"Shabu<\/a><\/p>\n

So try to colour it up and get rid of your monochrome food variations as much and often as possible.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the preservation of the original colours of produce has such an important value in Japanese cuisine that they have a proper term for it. They call this process iroage<\/em> which literally means \u201craise colour\u201d. Iroage<\/em> and its emphasis on preserving colours has not only visual reasons. The main advantage of iroage<\/em> is simple: the shinier the produce (especially greens) the more nutrients it still contains.<\/p>\n

So what are those colours good for?<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Before answering the question let\u2019s first take a quick look at what makes the colours in the first place. It\u2019s something called phytochemicals<\/a>, which is a naturally occurring chemical compound. Those phytochemicals, which are basically pigments, can be classified into four major groups, being betalains, carotenoids, chlorophylls and flavonoids.\u00a0Here\u2019s a small and simplified overview of the major phytochemicals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Phytochemicals<\/strong><\/td>\nColour<\/strong><\/td>\nFound in<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
betalains<\/td>\nMainly red to violet, but also yellow to orange<\/td>\nAll sorts of beets<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
carotenoids<\/td>\nShades of orange, red, pink and yellow<\/td>\nCarrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, orange peppers, butternut squash, mangos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
chlorophylls<\/td>\nGreen<\/td>\nBasically all green plant parts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
flavonoids<\/td>\nShades of yellow, blue, red and purple<\/td>\nCan be found in many berries but also papaya, peaches, oranges, tangerines<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

When you tap into the rainbow plate, you actually provide your body with a wide range of nutrients. So instead of loading up on the same nutrients over and over again, you give your body everything it needs for a healthy diet.<\/p>\n

\"salad<\/a><\/p>\n

Different vitamins, folic acid, antioxidants, folate, bromelain (an enzyme), calcium, iron\u2026 you get the idea. Furthermore, fruits and vegetables are generally low in fat, sodium and for most also in calories. On top of that, they are rich in fibre which is great for your digestion too.<\/p>\n

Mixing up your colours has even more positive side effects, such as the potential to lower your cholesterol, a decreased risk of certain cancers, promotion of bone health, increased body immunity, improved memory function, a healthy heart. The list goes on, but the main idea is that the rainbow diet gives your body plenty of fuel to strengthen itself from inside out and all you need to do is eat your colours!<\/p>\n

Inspired yet? Try it yourself and cook in colours!<\/strong><\/h1>\n

In case your diet was monochrome in the past, it\u2019s a little hard to break your old habits. I was in a similar position a few years ago until I figured I needed to change. What I did to start with is to add peppers (preferably 3 different colours), carrots, red and spring onions to my savoury dishes. That\u2019s easily four colours on your plate!<\/p>\n

Looking for similar Recipes? Get my Low Carb Cookbook!<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n
[product id=2606″ columns=”1″]<\/div>\n

I did this stoically until I moved forward trying different vegetables. Now I\u2019m at a point in where I miss my vegetables if I don\u2019t have them. Your fruit intake can be colourful in form of a fruit salad as dessert. Get four different fruits, best would be seasonal produce, chop them into small junks, drizzle some lime juice, brown sugar and cinnamon over it, mix and enjoy.<\/p>\n

If that still sounds too troublesome how about an oriental beef stew<\/a>? Or a very delicious and easy to make spinach frittata<\/a>? Maybe you\u2019re more of a soup person, then have a very colourful chicken soup<\/a>! Maybe you want it spicier, with more protein, a few carbs and some veggies? Well then have a look at my spicy jalape\u00f1o cheeseburger with bacon<\/a>. Maybe you aren’t a beef burger kind of person, then have a look at my spicy shrimp burger with a side of vegetables<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Detox, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, clean and other keywords are nowadays trending. They have all in one way or another the same goal, eating healthy. They usually require special plans or items in order to achieve whatever they are designed for and they have their reason to exist. Nevertheless eating healthy is very simple and you can do it with one simple trick in mind: think colours, think rainbow! What sounds weird at first, is simple at last: Vegetables Continue Reading…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_3580015876_3580015876":"","facebook_10222714690288203_1473941132908662":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The easy way to healthy food are colours","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,479],"tags":[685,40,686,687,688,690,689],"class_list":["post-2841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-nutrition","tag-colours","tag-cooking","tag-health","tag-healthy","tag-healthy-lifestyle","tag-iroage","tag-recipes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/cloud-346706_1280.png?fit=1280%2C640&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6IZwn-JP","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1333,"url":"https:\/\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/main\/lifestyle\/healthy-2-course-menu-delhaize-food-challenge\/","url_meta":{"origin":2841,"position":0},"title":"Healthy 2-course menu – Delhaize Food Challenge","author":"Stefan","date":"February 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We are kicking off February with another food challenge sponsored by Delhaize Luxembourg. 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One was that a (perceived) healthy food doesn\u2019t have to be healthy, like yogurt in this instance.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lifestyle"","block_context":{"text":"Lifestyle","link":"https:\/\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/category\/main\/lifestyle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"natural yogurt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/natural-yogurt.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/natural-yogurt.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/natural-yogurt.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/natural-yogurt.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/natural-yogurt.jpg?fit=1200%2C554&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2216,"url":"https:\/\/taoofstefan.com\/blog\/main\/lifestyle\/different-types-of-diets\/","url_meta":{"origin":2841,"position":2},"title":"Different Types Of Diets – An Overview","author":"Stefan","date":"September 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the years I shared plenty of recipes with you on my blog. 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