Color Me Healthy -
An easy to follow guide to disease prevention
You can lose weight, live longer and reduce your risk of disease by eating fruits and vegetables from seven different color groups.
That's the theory behind a new food plan that emphasizes the importance of including a variety of health-promoting phytonutrients in your diet. The plan follows the Color Code System, devised by David Herber, M.D. Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at UCLA and the director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. In his book, "What Color is Your Diet?" Dr. Herber classifies fruit and vegetables into seven color groups with each color representing a plant chemical with a specific benefit. What's great about this system is that people can easily understand which whole foods and which nutrients target which disease.
Red Group: Included in the red group are tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon. These fruits contain the phytonutrient lycopene, which may prevent heart disease, lung disease and prostate cancer.
Red/Purple Group: Grapes, red wine, grape juice, cranberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and red apples are part of the red/purple group. These foods contain anthocyanines, an antioxidant that appears to protect against heart disease by inhibiting blood-clot formation.
Orange Group: Included in the orange group are carrots, mangoes, apricots, cantaloupes, pumpkin, acorn squash and sweet potatoes. All high in alpha and betacarotene, these foods may prevent cancer by blocking cell damage caused by oxidation.
Orange/Yellow Group: This group targets the prevention of heart disease and includes the nutrient beta cryptothanxin. Included in the orange/yellow group os orange juice, papayas, tangerines, peaches, oranges and nectarines.
Yellow/Green Group: Here's the group that includes spinach, mustard greens, turnips, collard greens, yellow corn, green peas, avocado and honeydew melon. Because these are the whole foods that contain lutein and zeaxanthin which target the eyes, they may help prevent cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.
Green Group: This group includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, Chinese cabbage and kale. These foods contain sulforaphanes, isothiocyanates and indoles which speed up the action of enzymes that break down carcinogens in the body.
White/Green Group: White wine, garlic, onions, celery, pears and chives are rich in flavonoids. Plants in the onion family also contain allicin, which appears to deter the growth of tumors.
Putting phytonutrients to work for you! Research shows that free radicals, the by-product of breathing, damage DNA and cause cancer and other diseases. Recent studies indicate that 80 to 90% if all cancers are not inherited, but are caused by DNA defects that could be prevented by eating phytonutrient-rich whole foods. Phytonutrients in the color groups listed, target specific tissues and organs where they protect against oxygen damage. The production of free radical soars as we age, while our bodies' natural DNA defenses break down. Dependence on the DNA defenses available in whole foods becomes increasingly important and that's where color coding your food can help you maintain optimum health. Nutrition experts advise eating at least one serving from each of the seven color groups daily. To get those daily servings, there's no need to consult complex charts, formulas and exchange lists. With a Vitamix machine on your counter, you have over 400 delicious, whole food recipes that can be made in minutes.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Phytonutrients aren't the only benefit of eating from the complete color palette. Whole foods add fiber to your diet, so you'll fill up on fruits and vegetables and eat less high-fat and high-sugar foods. The added bonus is that you reduce excess body fat, you further decrease your risk of disease.
You can find great recipes that include these great foods at our online Recipe Center.
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