Eating the rainbow every day is a great way to remember to get a variety of nutrients in your diet. We can all eat the rainbow for good health. Since my wife is the nutrition person on our team, she’s going to be talking to you about how to eat the rainbow for good health.

How to eat the rainbow for good health

Why You Should Eat the Rainbow

Nutrition is an important wedge of the wellness wheel and an important part of your fitness journey. Good food can actually heal your body.

Hi, I’m Christina, happy to join you today to talk about eating the rainbow for good health. Different colors of the rainbow offer different nutrients from the fruits and vegetables in our food. So eating every color of the rainbow each day helps us get a variety of nutrients in our bodies. We need all the vitamins and minerals in a variety of foods for optimal health. Something like this rainbow pasta dish can help.

There are so many health benefits in a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables with powerful antioxidants that fight free radicals that harm health. Eating a variety of colors in a balanced diet gives you the essential nutrients that you need to reduce the risk of heart disease, and the risk of cancer, reduce the chances of cardiovascular disease, improve skin health, reduce oxidative stress to help with disease control, and more. When you eat a variety of colorful foods, you get natural compounds that have anti-inflammatory properties and anticancer properties. Each color in the rainbow gives you a different nutrient content and gives you a good reason to eat a variety of foods. 

Rainbow food chart

You can use this rainbow food chart linked below to give you ideas of what kinds of foods to put on your shopping list.

Rainbow diet

The rainbow diet just means that we try to get a rainbow of variety in every day from fruits and vegetables. These rainbow colors include purple and blue foods, yellow and orange foods, green foods, red foods, and brown and white foods.

Once you have had something from every color group, you will have had 5 servings of fruits and vegetables in that day. Isn’t that awesome!

If you want more of my weight loss story and how I grew up on little Debbies and soda and learned how to change my health and life through exercise and nutrition, check out this nutrition guide. It has some basic dos and don’ts that my wife and I used for me to lose 100 pounds and be on no medication at age 53. There are also some sample meal plans in there. It was a long process, not a quick fix, but if I can do it, so can you!

Rainbow fruits and vegetables

You can see that eating out, especially fast food, would make it hard to reach this goal. Because mostly there are just french fries. How often do you see something red on a menu at a restaurant? Tomatoes? What else? Purple and blue? Anything? Anyone? Bueller? This is why eating at home is so good for your health!

When talking about the rainbow, we aren’t counting meat, breads, fats, or anything like that. We are talking about just fruits and vegetables only. If our diets are based on fruits and vegetables, we are going to find a whole lot more health in what we eat. So our plates should be at least half full of these foods.

rainbow swiss chard leaves laying in a row on a table

Purple and blue fruits and vegetables

Purple and blue fruits and vegetables have a variety of nutrients that boost immune systems and fight diseases. And there are plenty of yummy choices in this category. These colored foods are also may help slow cognitive decline, improve motor skills, and reverse memory loss.

  • Purple cauliflower
  • Purple asparagus
  • Beets
  • Blackberries
  • Purple carrots
  • Purple corn
  • Plums
  • Purple potatoes
  • Purple kale
  • Purple broccoli
  • Eggplant
  • Purple peppers
  • Blueberries
  • Purple grapes
  • Elderberries
  • Raisins

Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables

Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables have tons of beta-carotene which helps you resist infection and heal. This color of foods also helps with heart health and vision.

  • Cantaloupe
  • Lemons
  • Pineapple
  • Yellow peppers
  • Butternut squash and other winter squashes
  • Pumpkins
  • Yellow potatoes
  • Yellow apples
  • Apricots
  • Grapefruit
  • Mangoes
  • Oranges
  • Papaya
  • Peaches
  • Yellow pears
  • Tangerines
  • Carrots
  • Corn
  • Yellow tomatoes
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Yellow squash
multi colored fruits and vegetables laid out on a table top

Green fruits and vegetables

Green vegetables are full of antioxidants and folate as well as other nutrients. They support heart and vision and fight disease as well as lowering the risk of birth defects.

  • Avocadoes
  • Artichokes
  • Lettuce
  • Limes
  • Green pears
  • Green grapes
  • Green apples
  • Asparagus
  • Zucchini
  • Peas
  • Tomatillos
  • Green peppers
  • Okra
  • Green onions
  • Spinach
  • Cucumbers
  • Celery
  • Cabbage
  • Green beans
  • Brussel sprouts
  • Broccoli

Red fruits and vegetables

Red fruits and vegetables are full of flavonoids and lycopene. These support healthy bones, skin and teeth, a healthy heart and healthy vision. It also supports urinary tract health and fights disease.

  • Apples
  • Rhubarb
  • Tomatoes
  • Strawberries
  • Watermelon
  • Beets
  • Red peppers
  • Radishes
  • Radicchio
  • Red onions
  • Red potatoes
  • Cherries
  • Cranberries
  • Red grapes
  • Raspberries
  • Pomegranates
  • Red pears
  • Blood oranges
  • Red grapefruits

For a great treat, try this roasted cherry tomato toast for your reds. So good!

Brown and white fruits and vegetables

Brown and white fruits and vegetables contain a lot of potassium and selenium. They support a healthy heart and immune system. They lower blood pressure and cholesterol. And fight disease.

  • Ginger
  • Fennel
  • Mushrooms
  • Onions
  • Leeks
  • Kohlrabi
  • Jicama
  • Garlic
  • Coconuts
  • Brown pears
  • White peaches
  • Bananas
  • Dates
  • Cauliflower
  • Parsnips
  • Shallots
  • Turnips
  • White corn
  • White potatoes
  • White asparagus

For inspiration on how to include vegetables in your diet, check out these meals with vegetables. Check out these beautiful and healthy smoothie bowls too! Also, meal prep planning helps a lot.

So what can you make with all these wonderful foods? Check out these Rainbow diet recipes for inspiration. They are delish!

Eat the Rainbow challenge

So let’s challenge ourselves to try to eat the rainbow for good health every day for 7 days. Then try it for 21 and see if you form a habit that will last a lifetime. If you fall off the wagon, get back up and try again. Print out the checklist below so you can check them off as you go! And here are some great ways to save money on those healthy groceries.

I hope you are inspired to eat a rainbow today and in the coming days for good health! There are lots of great recipes using these fruits and vegetables over on Little Sprouts Learning.

For more ideas to get healthy, check these out: