When you witness a rainbow blossoming in the sky after a thunderstorm your face lights up and you feel joyful. Unfortunately, rainbows don’t appear every day but there is a way to recapture the happiness...By eating a rainbow in the form of a diet.
The rainbow diet is a colourful diet which consists of fruits and veggies in different colours. This diet has enormous healing powers, all thanks to the nutrients, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals which make it a holistic healer. Besides alleviating your depression and anxiety, it can also help you shed extra kilos. This humble and happy diet has the power to enhance your overall well-being.
Colour magic
The colourful spread of red, green, yellow, blue and orange will not just please your eyes but also your taste buds. Dr Anjali Chhabria, Psychologist & Psychotherapist, explains, “The rainbow diet’s USP is that it includes a lot of colours on your plate. One of the factors that make you choose certain food over others is the way it is presented and looks. With the help of the rainbow diet, one is more likely to choose such food items over simple or bland looking food items. This also ensures a balanced diet influencing one’s physical and mental health positively.”
Five shades of diet
Every colour of fruit and vegetable in the rainbow diet denotes unique nutritional values. The rainbow diet mainly consists of fruits and veggies made up of red, yellow and orange, white, green, blue and purple. Eating these colours every day in small proportions can strengthen the immunity system and benefit different parts of the body and internal organs. “Eating a diversity of colourful foods can be an easy way to get a complete range of the vitamins and minerals your body needs to thrive,” shares dietician Kanchan Patwardhan. For red colour fruits and veggies you can rely on strawberries, watermelon, pink grapefruit, raspberries, beetroot, redcurrants, red onions, radish, tomato, etc. Go for green with items like spinach, cucumbers, parsley, limes, zucchini, asparagus, green leaf and romaine lettuce, avocado, kiwi, green apples, broccoli, peas while for yellow and orange you can pick lemons, carrots, pumpkin, yellow peppers, corn, yellow apples, peaches, apricots, melons, pineapples. The best food options for white are cauliflower, onions, daikon radish, garlic and for blue and purple, food options are purple cabbage, black currants, eggplant, blueberries, plums, and purple grapes.
Decoding it
Dr Kanchan explains, “Red fruits and vegetables help fight cancer, it also reduces the risk of developing diabetes and heart disease and is also good for the skin. Orange and yellow improve immune function, promotes eye health as they are high in vitamin C and carotenoids and beta-carotene, which improves vision and cell growth. Citrus fruits help increase blood flow and may reduce your risk of stroke. Green food items boost the immune system, detoxify our body and restore energy and vitality. They also aid blood and bone health. Blue and purple fruits and vegetables too help combat cancer and ward off unwanted inflammation. They have been studied extensively for their anti-cancer and anti-ageing properties and white and brown vegetables and food items protect against certain types of cancers. They keep the bones strong.”
Happy meal
The rainbow diet has the potential to alleviate one's anxiety and depression. It also has the ability to uplift mood as after consuming such diet our body releases certain chemicals which ups our happiness quotient. In today's fast-paced life where we are prone to stress and mental health issues, spoonfuls of rainbow can work wonders. “Serotonin is affected by the food we eat. Including healthier options such as vegetables and fruits instead of processed and fast food can help in uplifting mood. Food rich in proteins, vitamin B12, anti-oxidants boost hormonal secretion,” says Dr Anjali.
Must for millennials
Clinical Nutritionist & Founder of Bio-Logics Nutrition Clinic, Dr Nupur Krishnan believes that this diet is a ‘go-to’ diet for millennials, who should not follow other dieting trends. Dr Nupur says, “I don’t support other forms of diets like Yo-yo, Keto etc. since they usually have side effects. By including traditional Indian food and fruits you can escape the many dangers caused by western diet. The rainbow diet is safe because it covers all the macro and micro nutrients required for healthy well being.” The rainbow diet helps shed kilos faster, it enhances skin quality and rejuvenates inside out. “All you have to do is avoid junk food, pay attention to your iodine, manganese, copper levels, Vitamin D and B12.”
