Our eyes have the amazing ability to appreciate light waves through the colour spectrum from red to violet – red being the longest wavelength at 750 nanometres (nm) and violet the shortest at 380 nm.
We could of course have been restricted to seeing the world only in black and white with various shades of grey. But apart from giving us the ability to appreciate the world better aesthetically around us, and to help us distinguish objects more easily, colour makes food more attractive.
Who hasn’t been tempted by dark purple grapes, or a bright orange carrot, or pink grapefruit segments? Go to any well laid out fruit and vegetable supplier and the plethora of colours and shapes of produce is impressive.
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Apart from the attractiveness of all the colours, each of these colours is associated with a range of chemicals which are important in maintaining our health – substances called phytonutrients.
A few of the more well-known include carotene (it wouldn’t take much imagination to identify the main source of this substance – carrots), resveratrol – a purple colour as found in red/purple grapes, lycopene – a red substance found in tomatoes and watermelon, and anthocyanins – a purple/red colour found in berries.
Some researchers estimate that there are around 4000 phytonutrients, but only a few of these have been studied. You may think that you can get by with the traditional diet of protein and starch, and then boost your health with a bunch of multivitamins and mineral supplements. But these only provide less than 2-3 dozen phytonutrients/antioxidants.
How much better to get the full range through a wide variety of fruits and vegetables represented by the colour spectrum.
I recently spoke to a friend who, for most of her life, had avoided eating fruit.
However, with a little encouragement from my side, she has started eating freshly made fruit salad every day and can’t believe how delicious it is and what she has been missing out on all these years. She is also reaping the benefits of better health and vitality.
Many people find either the flavours or textures of fruit and vegetables unpalatable. There are many ways to get around this. As my friend found, making a fruit salad, or a tossed vegetable salad can help.
Or starting with just small amounts of fruits and vegetables helps one to adapt and change our tastes. It is also helpful to eat mindfully. Concentrate on the full range of flavours and textures as you eat. See this as a new experience and explore new flavours out of your normal dietary rut.
In our next article we will discuss some of the proven benefits of phytonutrients.
Dr Dave Glass
MBChB, FCOG(SA), DipIBLM
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