Reprinted from the Health District's quarterly publication mailed to district residents (Spring 2005)

What if healthy eating could be as easy as picking five crayons out of a box each day?

Well, it can be – as long as you vary your tastes. You might choose Neon Carrot on some days and Vivid Tangerine on others. And substitute Eggplant for Plum on occasion.

It’s no surprise that about three dozen crayons in Crayola’s starter set of 120 are named after the vibrant colors of fruits and vegetables. Food is, after all, eye candy.

So, what does the color Asparagus have to do with the price of health? Researchers say the pigment that gives a fruit or vegetable its color can offer clues to its nutritional content.

Dark green leafy foods like spinach, for example, contain lutein, a powerful antioxidant that can also help protect against cataracts. Tomatoes and watermelon both have lycopene, which can help reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke. Researchers at Harvard Medical School credited lycopene with reducing the risk of prostate cancer by as much as 34 percent in a study of men who ate tomatoes, tomato sauce or pizza more than twice a week, as opposed to never.

Without question, the strongest case made for eating more fruits and vegetables is their antioxidant benefits.

If the only change people made was to eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day, overall cancer rates would drop by as much as 20 percent, the American Institute of Cancer Research predicts.

That would mean changing the habits of 75 percent of residents in northern Larimer County. That’s the number of people who reported eating fewer than five servings a day in the Health District’s 2004 Community Health Survey.

So, how do you manage to pack at least five  servings of fruits and vegetables into a day? 

At first, that may seem like a lot of peas and peaches, or bananas and broccoli, to consume.

“Start where you’re at and add one more vegetable each week,” suggests Dianne Moeller, registered dietitian at the Health District.

“Look at every meal or snack as a way to get in a fruit or vegetable,” she says, adding that a serving equals about a half-cup.

You’ll also need to think outside the box: There’s no need to eat a bowl of peas or blueberries, for that matter, in one sitting.

“You can get a vegetable in your breakfast,” Moeller says. “How about adding veggies to a breakfast burrito or rollup? Or add spinach to eggs?”

Salsa is an easy way to get lots of vegetables and it tastes good on almost anything from eggs to dipping vegetables, she says.

The concept of eating by color is simple: Imagine your plate as a color wheel.

“Not only do fruits and vegetables make our plates more beautiful, but we can easily see what kinds of nutrients we’re getting in a day,” Moeller says.

For simplicity’s sake, we can lump fruits and vegetables into five main colors: red, orange/yellow; green; white, and blue/purple (see chart at right).

While foods of one color do not have the exact same nutrient makeup, they share important nutritional traits within a color group. To get the most health benefits, it’s best to change up what you choose within a color group, Moeller says. Besides, eating the same thing is boring.

Many people out of habit build a meal around meat, Moeller says.

“When you’re thinking about a meal, think vegetables first and build from there. You can add meat or tofu to stir-fry or salads,” she says.

“Too often, we think of vegetables as a side dish,” she says. “That’s one of the ways we shortchange ourselves on vegetables.”

Like the crayons in the box, no fruit or vegetable is exactly alike, neither in hue nor composition.

And that’s the beauty of it.

“If you don’t like something, it’s OK,” says Moeller. “There are plenty of fruits and vegetables to choose from in a color group.”

“People hear that broccoli is so good for you. Maybe you don’t like broccoli, but you like kale or swiss chard. That’s OK, too.”