A Balanced Spectrum
The natural colour of food gives us the full rainbow spectrum. This antioxidant rich program of whole foods will help you to love healthy food.
This holistic approach makes nutrition practical, defines what to buy at the grocery store and how to minimize allergic reactions to foods by consuming them in their whole natural state in all colours, successful in graduating the patient to a healthful lifestyle. Discover how to substitute food colourings for the benefit of naturally coloured foods, providing a balanced rainbow to the body and to the palate.
Use the Rainbow Program in support groups, health food stores, hospital programs or counseling. It works well with both children and adults, and is designed to cross language and cultural barriers.
Whole Food
Holistic nutrition is based on the consumption of whole foods. Whole foods are foods found in their natural state that have not been processed. Examples include fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, raw nuts and seeds. These are naturally found in all the rainbow colours and provide a vast spectrum of antioxidants.
Whole food encourage the body to lose weight naturally, and have no side effects, additives, preservatives, or artificial colourings.
Rainbow Nutrition
Foods in the Rainbow Program are categorized by colour. Selecting coloured foods is one of the first steps in good nutrition. Brightly coloured foods are higher in nutrients, and nourish the body without added sugar or food colourings. They also help protect the body from conditions such as free-radical damage and oxidation of cells.
The Rainbow Program suggests eating one selection from each color group each day (red through pink) on our whole foods list to stimulate the different organs and organ systems. This is called a rotation. If this is repeated twice, then the person has consumed two rotations.
Fruits and vegetables contain various antioxidants in the form of carotenes, anthocyanidins, and phytochemicals which help fight the free radicals that lead to cancer.
To obtain the full spectrum of red lycopene, orange carotenes, through purple anthocyanidins: phytochemicals present in whole foods, it is necessary that we consume a variety of seasonal fresh produce. The Rainbow Program encourages people to get a broad spectrum of nutrients and colours.
Small Changes Mean Eating More
Try making small dietary changes, introducing more fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Cutting up crunchy bright colored fruits and vegetables for snacks helps you get the fiber, water and antioxidants to need to stay radiant and energetic.
Eat more regularly throughout the day to assist in improving one's nutrition. Grazing, or eating six small meals as opposed to three large ones is an improvement in raising your metabolism so you can eat more and not gain weight. I always recommend this to my clients. It is important to leave 2 1/2-3 hour between meals however. With children, the Golden Rule is three meals and three snacks for them to obtain all the nutrients they need in a day, according to the DRI's.
Are frozen vegetables healthy, I am often asked. Not only are frozen vegetables healthy and packed with table-ready nutrients, they are frozen the day after picking, sealing in flavor and vitamins. Try to offer both raw and cooked vegetables as the basis for each meal; eat them fresh or steam them frozen to obtain the most nutrients.
Season dishes with herbs and spices instead of salt for delicious flavor. Get to know your culinary herbs by experimenting in the bulk food spice section. Ginger and garlic are pungent spices, warming to the body on cold winter days. Add these to soup or make into tea to keep colds at bay.
Exchanging ground turkey or chicken for hamburger meat helps lower the content of saturated fat in the diet, and is a heart-healthy option too. Try making your burritos, tacos and spaghetti with ground turkey as an alternative. This is a great invisible substitution.
