Count Colours Not Calories to Lose Weight

When it comes to losing weight, make sure your plate is piled high with a range of colourful fruit and vegetables. You’ll naturally create more balance and health-filled menus. Colour not only brightens your mood – but also your diet. Load your plate with fruit and vegetabless like a box of crayons in colours such as red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, white and green and you’ll also be filling up on power packed phytonutrients.

Phytonutrients are naturally occurring chemicals which combat disease, including cancer.

Go easy on the beige and brown foods such as pasta and starchy carbohydrates. When there are too many of these drab colours on your plate, weight gain is almost certain. That’s because these beige foods often are high in calories and can leave you feeling hungry later. A cup of beige or brown beans can be over 200 calories, but a cup of red or green vegetables is under a hundred. Add fresh greens, deep purple-reds and bright yellow-orange to a meal, and watch the nutrient content go up, while calories go down. You’ll get more enjoyment from eating when there’s a variety of colours and flavours on your plate.

Blue/purple fruits and vegetables contain varying amounts of health-promoting phytochemicals such as anthocyanins and phenolics. Choose from blueberries, blackberries, eggplant, plums and raisins. These assist in memory function.

Green group includes broccoli; Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and bok choi. These foods stimulate the genes in your liver to turn on the production of enzymes that break down the cancer-causing chemicals in the body.

The yellow/green group includes green peas, avocado and honeydew melon. These promote eye health.

What we bought: The yellow/orange group includes carrots, mangoes, apricots, rock melon and pumpkin. These contain carotenoids (beta carotene is one) and antioxidants that help prevent cancer and assist to lower heart-attack risk.

The white group includes bananas, white peaches, cauliflower, garlic, ginger and mushrooms. These are helpful to maintain heart health.

The red group includes tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon all of which contain lycopene. Lycopene is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The red/purple group includes grapes, grape juice, prunes, cranberries, strawberries and red apples. These foods contain anthocyanins which have a beneficial effect on heart disease by inhibiting blood clot formation.