Sponsored: Nutritional therapist Orley Kutner gives her top tips for being at your fittest for the Maccabi GB Community Fun Run, by bringing more colour to your diet
May 22, 2019 11:52By Orley Kutner
Most of us remember being told to eat up our greens as children – and it seems all that nagging was justified – we all know about the benefits of eating broccoli, kale, and Brussels sprouts. The good effects of leafy greens have been mainstream since the days of Popeye, whose muscles would bulge whenever he downed a can of spinach.
But by focusing on greens alone, we could be missing out on a host of health benefits recently attributed to eating all the colours of the rainbow.
Just to be clear, I am not suggesting all brightly coloured foods are healthy. I am referring to nature’s colours – in fruits and vegetables. Each colour represents a different blend of nutrients, with different benefits.
According to the British Heart Foundation, many of these nutrients are antioxidants – they are thought to protect against the “free radicals” that cause cell damage in our body. Diets rich in colourful fruits and vegetables are associated with lower levels of cardiovascular disease and reduce your risk of stroke and some types of cancer (according to the NHS).
The fibre from fruit and vegetables can help maintain a healthy gut, preventing constipation and other digestive problems, as well as feeding beneficial gut bacteria.
The British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine recommends “eating a rainbow” of seven to nine portions of different-coloured fruit and vegetables per day – of which only two or three should be fruit; the rest vegetables. But according to the latest data from Public Health England, only 31 per cent of adults, 18 per cent of children and eight per cent of teenagers meet the Government’s recommendation of just five portions of fruit and veg per day.
So, what’s in the rainbow?
So what is the best way to increase your fruit and vegetable intake and incorporate a rainbow of colours into your diet? Here are my top tips:
Try this Rainbow Salad with Tangy Lime and Ginger Dressing
Serves four
For the salad:
180g cooked and chilled black Venus rice (or use wild rice)
230g black beans rinsed and drained
1 red onion, chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 large mango, chopped
1 large avocado, chopped
30g parsley, chopped
30g coriander, chopped
For the dressing:
Juice of two limes
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely grated
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp honey
Salt and pepper, to taste
Mix all the salad ingredients together in a large bowl.
Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a separate small bowl and mix into the salad just before serving.
Orley Kutner is a registered nutritional therapist, dipCNM mBANT mCNHC