Vegetables and fruits contain micronutrients and vitamins that are beneficial; and it some cases, necessary. Look up, for example, flavonoids and anthocyanin, and read about blueberries and health benefits. The intense color of fruits and vegetables is a visual sign of the micronutrients those foods contain, and different foods are higher in these substances. . Choosing a variety of foods of different colors is a way of eating the many different beneficial micronutrients.
I think it’s just a good rule of thumb for normies to follow so we get a reasonably balanced diet. Most people don’t give a damn about macro-or-micro-nutrients or completing a scientifically balanced diet. Most of us just want to live and be sorta healthy but also eat foods we enjoy and not think too much about it. If my approach is “eat plenty of color to eat a balanced diet” I’ll probably half-ass my way into a decent enough diet that I won’t have a heart attack at 45.
Here is a simple reference breaking down the different colors of fruits/vegetables and a description of the chemical properties in the different colors that make them lucrative for consumption, though you can find many research studies on each food. For example, carotenoids in orange fruits/vegetables can help reduce age-related macular degeneration; lycopene in red fruits and vegetables is an antioxidant associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, etc. This is why consuming a variety of colors is optimal.
Did you really Google this question? Because there’s like, a ton, of easy to find resources that all answer your question.
Yes, generally speaking the brighter the color fruit or vegetable the more micro nutrients they contain.
Also sweet potatoes absolutely do not have more nutrients than regular potatoes. They just have different ones. Did you know you can live entirely off of regular potatoes because they contain every major nutrient needed for survival?
Different colors provide different nutrients.
>I can’t seem to find much on this other than blogs about aligning chakras.
That’s odd because I found many references from many viable sources.
Here’s one.
Colors are correlated with different vitamins and nutrients. If you ensure you have a wide variety of color in your diet, you’re ensuring that you’re getting all your necessary nutrition. It’s more like statistical advice than a specific fact: different colors probably have different goodies in em, so eating lots of colors means you cover your bases and hedge your bets.
The colours are the antioxidants which are extremely beneficial for survival. For example tomatoes are red because of their lycopene content. Carrots/sweet potatoes are orange because of their beta carotene. Dozens more that a quick google will tell you
The variety of color also makes it aesthetically pleasing and makes our brain interested in it. I took a nutrition class and learned that if your brain is interested in the food and you approach your meal with a curious, joyful, and open mindset you will absorb the nutrients better than if you were resisting the food because it’s bland, boring, unappealing, etc. So the variety of colors also has a psychological component that aids in food absorption. So cool, I love nutrition.
Other than that, pure starch/fat is white, so not as colorful, meaning that if you want more nutrients for the same amount of calories, that food should likely be not pure white.
TLDR: Don’t overcomplicate your nutrition. Eat real food and you’ll live and eat well.
Not really. Some crackpot method of nutrition. You could stick to 2 colours and get the majority if not, all of the nutrients needed for health. Of course that would be a rather dull diet but objectively it makes no difference.
Hell my diet only has green, white, brown (or red if you include red meat as being one of the other) and orange. Plenty of antioxidants and vitamins I need are filled easily.
Do we need blue? Purple? Red? No. No evidence that we NEED or inherently benefit from the “colour” the content and quality is far more important.