Crack the Colour Code for Healthy Eating

 
Does fitting 7 to 10 servings of fruits or vegetables into your daily diet seem like a stretch? Here are 10 tips for getting enough colour in your diet.

1. Escape your usual grocery routine and visit a local farmer's market instead. Seeing the colours spread out in front of you may inspire creativity and daring. You may even discover a fruit or vegetable you've never seen before.
2. Plan meals with the colour code in mind, and try fitting in at least one item from each category.
3. Stir harder-to-stomach vegetables into a soup or stew. Rough textures or bitter tastes can go down a lot more easily when they're blended into a brothy mixture.
4. Blend fruits or vegetables together into smoothies or juices.
5. Keep frozen berries on hand. Thaw them in the morning to toss into your cereal or oatmeal or add them to smoothie recipes.
6. Chop bananas or strawberries into your cereal or oatmeal.
7. If you eat out, make sure to order at least one fruit or vegetable item with your meal.
8. Lay a bed of deep green lettuce and top it with any veggie (or fruit) that strikes your fancy – bell peppers, tomatoes, beets, the more colourful the final result, the better. Drizzle your salad with lemon instead of fatty dressings for a vitamin C boost.
9. Dishes that include stir-fried veggies with rice are no-brainer ways to stir a variety of vegetables into a meal. Flavour with garlic or ginger and then add in a vegetable from each colour group.
10. As you sit down to a meal, take a good look at your plate of food. Which colours are represented? Notice if you seem to favour one colour over another and make sure to add the less-represented colours to your next shopping list.