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Nutritional Benefits of Eating the Rainbow

Colorful, Plant-Based Foods Offer Phytonutrients

Why do nutritionists and dietitians encourage us to eat more plant-based foods and a variety of color? The vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytonutrients are beneficial to our overall health, and each color offers a variety of ‘phytonutrients’. These plant-based compounds help our cells function properly, fight the risk of cancer, and aid in overall health.

You Don’t Have to be Vegan or Vegetarian to Eat Plant-Forward

On average, we should be consuming a combined 4 to 5 cups of fruits and vegetables per day. When selecting your foods, remember that snacks and desserts are an easy way to include colorful food options – fruit for dessert and a side of nuts and vegetables as a snack could easily provide over half of your plant-forward intake for the day.

Find the Best Fruits and Vegetables

If you can’t grow your own produce, our chefs and dietitians agree that local offerings from farmer’s markets are the best choice because it allows for in-season eating based on region, greater nutrition through the natural ripening process, and fewer miles traveled from the field to your table. Local sourcing and cooking with fresh ingredients are how Thomas Cuisine offers clean, colorful entrees and snacks in our client’s cafes for healthcare, corporate dining, and senior living communities.

Green fruits and vegetables are shown to have cancer-blocking chemicals like sulforaphane & indoles.

Purple and blue produce offers antioxidants called anthocyanins which can help protect against heart disease and cell damage.

Yellow and orange offer beta cryptoxanthin that can help reduce the risk of some cancers, heart disease and improve immune function.

Red foods contain lycopene and anthocyanin which can help reduce the risk of heart disease. Cooking foods high in lycopene enhances its properties.

White foods contain allicin which may help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of some types of cancer. They also contain flavonoids like quercetin and kaempferol that can help reduce the risk of chronic disease.