RAINBOW

We always talk about eating a rainbow. Why? Because it makes salad sound SO much more exciting to a child or because let’s be honest it reminds everyone of the old skittles advert??
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Noooooooo...the reason nutritionists and dieticians recommend eating a variety of different coloured fruit and vegetables throughout a day is because all food contains something called phytochemicals (=plant chemicals) which gives fruit and veg their taste, smell and their colour. By eating a wide variety of colours we are ensuring we are eating a wide variety of different phytochemicals, nutrients, vitamins and minerals.
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So beta carotene is a good example of a phytochemical and is classically found in many orange and yellow foods such as carrots, sweet potatoes and cantaloupe melon. It is a powerful antioxidant which can be converted into vitamin A in the body. Chlorophyll is found in your leafy greens and is what makes them so green 💚 such as spinach, and parsley. Amongst other things it has been proven to fight carcinogens and is good for wound healing. Think about what makes tomatoes red (lycopene) what makes corn yellow (zeaxanthin) and what makes salmon pink (astaxanthin). (And astaxanthin is also found in krill eaten by flamingos and is why they are pink - TRUE FACT)
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These might sound like a lot of foreign sciency words but actually these compounds all have different properties with different actions within our body. I spent three years studying them and fell in love with phytochemicals! I love eating a wide variety of foods and knowing they are doing different things for my body. 
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It’s so easy to fall into the routine of eating the same thing everyday but it’s important to know that no single food contains all the necessary nutrients we need and recent studies have confirmed longer life expectancy isn’t necessarily determined not by eating too much of the ‘bad’ foods but not eating enough of the right foods. So diversify people and yeah taste that rainbow (still got the skittles advert in my head...)🌈🌈🌈
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Food for thought on a Tuesday 😂
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