The importance of a colorful diet

Learn what are the benefits of eating raw foods such as rainbow colored fruits and veggies!

Mother Earth provides us a wide range of beautiful rainbow-colored edible vegetables and fruits. When I was a kid I used to fantasize with my mind about all those beautiful colored fruits thinking they were some kind of ‘magical’ stuff coming from another dimension. Some of these precious gifts from Nature are nowadays called ‘superfoods’ because they have tons of benefis as well as rejuvenating compounds that may help cure cancer and other conditions. Fruits and vegetables, if eaten raw as you would find them in nature, can heal your body and system in many ways while cooked foods, on the contrary, have been processed or heated to high temperatures, causing chemical changes to occur. For example, fats or proteins start to change their molecular structure if heated at extremely high temperatures and become bad for our system, if eaten daily. Cooking food can also diminish it nutritional value because Vitamins and some minerals become unavailable to be absorbed for the human body. As part of the digestive process, ‘Raw Foods’ are particularly important in providing the enzymes that are essential to our health.

The substances upon which an enzyme can act are known as Substrates. By the process of binding with particular substrates, enzymes act as catalysts, setting off reactions which allow substances to be converted into such a form with which the body is able to work. Enzymes have a specific role, hence there are many thousands of different types of Enzymes. If we eat highly-processed foods or even cooked at high temperatures our bodies are forced to work harder by producing more enzymes to aid the digestion and that leads to lack of energy, dizziness and sleepiness after a high-processed foods meal. Have you ever experienced that yourself?

While processed foods are mostly called ‘junk foods’ in nowadays consumerist society, raw food on the other hand equates to pure, fresh, vibrant, enzyme-rich, oxygen-rich, unadulterated, whole organic living nutrition. 

If you want to help your body to detox for sure you can start sticking to raw foods for a couple of meals a week or even more according to how your body reacts to it. If you are not used to fibers you will maybe feel bloated at the beginning but then everything will move its way and you maybe become even more regular at digestion. A diet with a high content of fibers is known for its benefits, You will feel less hungry and fuel your guts with good natural probiotics.  

Therefore, if you pay attention to colors among fruits and vegetables you can work with them creating a special synergy depending on your needs. Nutrients in vegetables and fruits work together to protect against cancer, heart disease, vision loss, hypertension and other diseases. 

Let’s take for example red fruits as tomatoes. Red fruits and vegetables protect our hearts. Red color in most fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants that reduce the risk of developing atherosclerosis, hypertension and high cholesterol. They also lower the risk of developing different types of cancer, including prostate cancer and protect against heart diseases and improve brain function. Blue and purple fruits and vegetables help prevent heart disease, stroke and cancer. Blue and purple fruits and vegetables are very important for your memory and promote healthy aging. Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables are packed with nutrients that are known to protect your nervous system promote eye health and prevent heart diseases. They also play an important role in maintaining skin health, boosting your immune system and helping build strong bones. My favorite are actually Green fruits and vegetables such as rocket, green apples and chard or spinach / kale. These foods protect your eye health, lowering the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration. Green leafy vegetables also contain folic acid which is very important for pregnant women as it reduces the risk that their baby will develop a birth defect. The essential nutrients found in green Green fruits and vegetables protect your eye health, lowering the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s start including more colorful raw fruits and vegetables in your diet to feel at the top of the world and be fit!