Why ‘eat the rainbow’?
Different colours have different vitamin and antioxidants. Read here…
I tried to break down local fruits and vegetables according to colour.
And I realised that it is not easy to consume purple and blue fruits and vegetables. Most consist of berries e.g. blueberry, blackberry, plum, black currant, purple grapes… It is really expensive here.
Green Veggies are generally not an issue as in the tropical climate there are so many green leafy veggies.
1. Red
Red: apple, red pepper, tomato
2. Yellow and Orange
Yellow: lemon, pineapple
Orange: orange, pumpkin, mangoes, carrot, papaya, sweet potato
3. Blue and Purple
Purple: cabbage, egg plant, purple sweet potato
Maybe I can try black rice or black beans as it contains anthocyanins too.
And does the butterfly pea flower count?
4. Green
Dark green:
Leafy greens: white bok choy, green bak choy, choi sum (sawi), gai choy (Chinese mustard green), potato leaf, Chinese spinach, kai lan (Chinese broccoli), watercress,
Light green:
yau mak (local romaine lettuce), lettuce, cabbage, french beans, long beans, celery, bittergourd, cucumber
Spinach, mustard green and broccoli are high in lutein.
5. White and Brown
White:
Garlic, Shallots, Onions, Bananas
Brown
Potatoes, Mushroom
My Meals
I think most of my fruits are orangy yellow and veggies are green. So I will need to make an effort to consume reasonably priced red and purple fruits/ vegetables.