Powerful Nutrition: Red Fruits and Vegetables

This week the Real Food Experience is challenging you to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables each day.  You can check out the weekly challenge if you haven’t already and then come back and learn more about red fruits and vegetables.

You could probably guess that we need different amounts of fruits and vegetables depending on our age, gender, and level of physical activity.  You would be right! You can get the whole scoop on your daily recommendations by visiting: The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.  All forms of fruits and vegetables count for the challenge. Yippee!  You can eat fresh, frozen, canned, dried, and 100% juice.  If you go the juice route, keep in mind that you will be giving up the fiber that you find in whole fruits and vegetables.  Not a deal breaker……just keep that in mind when you are making your choices.

Red fruits and vegetables are colored by natural plant pigments called lycopene or anthocyanins.  Lycopene……….as we hear in lots of TV commercials and thankfully legitimate health reports as well, may help reduce the risk of several types of cancer.  Anthocyanins act as powerful antioxidants that protect cells from damage.  They are also linked to keeping our hearts healthy.  Red fruits and vegetables are also high in Vitamins A and C.

These little red fruits and vegetables sound powerful, right?  I bet you are thinking you want to include more into your daily diet.  So, what fruits and vegetables are you looking for?  First of all……….we are talking about the flesh of the fruit or vegetable.  For example, watermelon is known as a red fruit due to its flesh and not green due to its skin.  This little piece of information will make it easier to figure out what you are looking at.

Examples of Red Fruits and Vegetables:

• Red apples
• Beets
• Red Grapes
• Pink Grapefruit
• Red Cabbage
• Beets
• Red Peppers
• Radishes
• Watermelon
• Tomatoes
• Rhubarb
• Raspberries
• Red Potatoes
• Pomegranates
• Strawberries
• Cherries

Explore the delicious rainbow of fruits and vegetables this week.  Enjoy the red group……eat some of your old favorites and maybe try a new one.  The red group is pretty popular in my house. Strawberries and apples are constants in my house.  Something new that we are trying is pomegranate.  I just need to figure out how to open up those darned things.

What is your favorite “Red” fruit or vegetable?  Do you try to eat a rainbow each week?  Is there any one color you really love or really dislike? Do you have any tips for opening up pomegranates?

If you have missed any of the Real Food Experience posts, I welcome you to just jump in this week and get started. You can get caught up on all of the rest of the posts here. Each week is full of terrific advice to help you transition from fast and processed food to a real food diet. Changes that will help you to live a healthy lifestyle and have the energy to keep up with your busy schedule.