Natural foods come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Everything on Earth has its own unique function and characteristics. Eating fruits and vegetables of a variety of different colors can give you the best all-round health benefits as each contains a distinctive blend of super nutrients that are fantastic for our well-being.
Red: Fruits and vegetables with the color red contain a super anti-oxidant in the carotenoid pigment lycopene. Lycopene is found in tomatoes, red & pink grapefruit, guava, watermelon , & papaya, red bell pepper, and gogi berrie s. A fruit grown in Southern Asia called "gac" is considered the most lycopene rich food with over 70 times the amount of lycopene as tomato products per volume.
Lycopene is absorbed most effectively when it is combined with a fat source. Gac contains saturated and unsaturated fatty acids making it naturally bioavailable. Tomato sauces or tomatoes with extra virgin olive oil is another bioavailable source. Lycopene is noted for its powerful ability to scavenge free radicals and inhibit cancer cell formation and arterial inflammation.
Orange: Orange containing fruits and vegetables are rich in the potent anti-oxidant beta-carotene. Beta carotene is found in sweet potatoes, yams, mangos, carrots, & apricots. The Vietnamese superfood "gac" has the most beta-carotene with over 10x the amount as carrots.
Beta carotene helps prevent night blindness and other eye problems while working to help improve eye function. It also acts to enhance skin health and immune system stability. Beta carotene has powerful anti-oxidant properties which help clean the body of free radicals that damage tissue and cause cancer
Greens: The color of life is derived by chlorophyll which is one of the most powerful life-giving substances on the planet. The chlorophyll content of a food is a major indicator of the health attributes of any given plant based food. Chlorophyll rich foods have a very deep green and are extraordinarily useful in building new blood cells and purifying the body from cancer and radiation.
Additionally, green foods contain the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin that are being studied for their ability to protect your eyes by keeping your retina strong. They are also rich in folate, magnesium, copper, B6, & potassium. Many green vegetables like kale and collard greens contain powerfulglucosinolates and methyl cysteine sulfoxides. These super-nutrients help to activate detoxifying enzymes in the liver that play an important role in neutralizing carcinogenic substances.
Blue/Purple: These darker pigments add beautiful shades that enrich your plate. They are also rich in flavonoids, phytochemicals, and anti-oxidants. The phytochemical pigment responsible for the dark color is called anthocyanins. Foods that are rich in anthocyanins include blueberries, plums, red cabbage, eggplant, blackberries, raspberries, & cranberries.
These super nutrients have an especially powerful ability to minimize cancer-induced DNA damage, stall the growth of pre-malignant cells, accelerate cancer cell death, and reduce inflammatory mediators that initiate cancer cell growth. Berries are one of the richest sources of anthocyanins and many experts believe that our ancestors ate far more anthocyanins than we do. In comparison, many researchers believe we are deficient in anthocyanins.
White: The onion family which includes leeks, scallions, onions, & garlic all contain the sulfur containing compound called allicin. This is a powerful anti-microbial that destroys bacteria, viruses, &fungi. Allicin is also a powerful anti-inflammatory that destroys cancer, lowers cholesterol, and reduces inflammatory damage to the heart and vasculature.
Mushrooms contain beta-glucan, selenium, vitamin B6, zinc, & copper that are critical for healthy immune function and the formation of the cellular anti-oxidant glutathione. Cauliflower contains the phytochemicals Indole-3-Carbonyl and Sulfaforaphanes which are some of nature's most powerful cancer fighters.
About the author
Dr. David Jockers owns and operates Exodus Health Center in Kennesaw, Ga. He is a chiropractor, exercise physiologist, and health researcher. His expertise is in weight loss, customized nutrition & exercise, & structural corrective chiropractic care. For more information go to www.exodushc.com
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