s/o if you "eat a rainbow" of fruits and veg each day ...

[Anonymous]

Can you please give an example of typical day's fruits and vegetables that you eat? I'd love to "eat a rainbow" but find I stick to red/orange in the fruit family (berries, apples, oranges, melon) and green, orange, red and yellow in the veg family - which leaves blue and purple open in my diet. Plus I typically would eat 1 fruit with breakfast, 1 veg with lunch, 1 fruit as afternoon snack, 2 veg with dinner, 1 fruit as evening snack, but that wouldn't cover enough colors to make a rainbow.

[Anonymous]

You don't need to "eat a rainbow" every day. That's insane. That campaign originally started just to encourage people to eat a wider variety of fruit and veg, but you are not going to be nutritionally lacking if you don't literally eat one piece of produce of each colour each day.

With that being said, here are some blues and purples:

blueberries, blackberries, concord grapes, plums, figs

cabbage, purple potatoes, eggplant, endive, purple carrots

I really think it's better to think of your nutrition on a weekly/monthly basis. I buy produce 2x/month and try to buy a wide range of colours and types of produce - I know that at the end of 2 weeks if they're all gone, I've eaten a good range. I can't imagine trying to fit it all in in one day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to "eat a rainbow" every day. That's insane. That campaign originally started just to encourage people to eat a wider variety of fruit and veg, but you are not going to be nutritionally lacking if you don't literally eat one piece of produce of each colour each day.

With that being said, here are some blues and purples:

blueberries, blackberries, concord grapes, plums, figs

cabbage, purple potatoes, eggplant, endive, purple carrots

I really think it's better to think of your nutrition on a weekly/monthly basis. I buy produce 2x/month and try to buy a wide range of colours and types of produce - I know that at the end of 2 weeks if they're all gone, I've eaten a good range. I can't imagine trying to fit it all in in one day.

How is it possible to keep tender produce for two weeks? I'm trying really hard to think of a single time in my life I've held onto berries, plums, grapes, or even carrots and eggplant for two weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to "eat a rainbow" every day. That's insane. That campaign originally started just to encourage people to eat a wider variety of fruit and veg, but you are not going to be nutritionally lacking if you don't literally eat one piece of produce of each colour each day.

With that being said, here are some blues and purples:

blueberries, blackberries, concord grapes, plums, figs

cabbage, purple potatoes, eggplant, endive, purple carrots

I really think it's better to think of your nutrition on a weekly/monthly basis. I buy produce 2x/month and try to buy a wide range of colours and types of produce - I know that at the end of 2 weeks if they're all gone, I've eaten a good range. I can't imagine trying to fit it all in in one day.

How is it possible to keep tender produce for two weeks? I'm trying really hard to think of a single time in my life I've held onto berries, plums, grapes, or even carrots and eggplant for two weeks.

You must be buying some very delicate carrots then I have no kids and live with roommates so I'm just cooking for myself. Stuff like berries and spinach (that go bad quickly) get eaten within the first 4-5 days. I often cook a big batch of food Sunday night (including lots of the veggies) and eat the leftovers all week. I also utilize frozen fruit and veg quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

well soft fruits and berries probably wouldn't last two weeks. Carrots most definitely would. An eggplant might be iffy. It's better to cook somethings ahead, like a pasta sauce with veggies ahead of time in that case.

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't get a full rainbow, probably because I don't eat enough fruit but here's what I try to do.

Breakfast: I don't have time to make a smoothie but it's the obvious way to start the day. You can buy the Odwalla ones at the store. Alternatively, I try to buy some fresh fruit each week (paying for the precut) and then portion it out. Usually strawberries, blueberries and pineapple or mango.

Lunch: Eat from the salad bar! Spinach instead of lettuce. Some carrots, some tomatoes. Maybe some broccoli or peas. Our office cafeteria occasionally has roasted zucchini or eggplant so I grab some of that. Dried cranberries.

Dinner: Be creative with your side veggies.

[Anonymous]

Today I ate a kale salad for breakfast with some mango. I'll have some babganoush for lunch (eggplant) and probably a grapefruit. I will have some roasted broccoli with my dinner.

[Anonymous]

Agree with first PP, this is something to look at more of on a monthly basis. It is better to eat a few fresh items daily than to try to eat a complete rainbow every day.

My day today:

Apple for breakfast. Strawberries and carrots for lunch. Kale and a wild rice with peppers, onions, and leeks for dinner.

Tomorrow I have some plums that will probably be ripe, will finish off the kale and probably have a breakfast smoothie with banana and blueberries. Not sure what my other dinner vegetable will be but I have some broccoli and cauliflower in the fridge.

Over the summer I probably eat 2 large tomatoes a day along with fresh peppers and squash. I don't get as much fruit in June/July/August, then get more fruit in the fall as the tree fruit ripens.

So basically, just try to eat a variety, don't feel you need to each something of each colour each day.

[Anonymous]

I don't think of it as "eating a rainbow" every day but do try to add fruits/veggies in easy ways:

Beets/roasted pepper in salad
Spinach/blueberries in smoothies
Carrots/celery as a snack with dip.

Actually having all of these today and now feel very pleased with myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to "eat a rainbow" every day. That's insane. That campaign originally started just to encourage people to eat a wider variety of fruit and veg, but you are not going to be nutritionally lacking if you don't literally eat one piece of produce of each colour each day.

With that being said, here are some blues and purples:

blueberries, blackberries, concord grapes, plums, figs

cabbage, purple potatoes, eggplant, endive, purple carrots

I really think it's better to think of your nutrition on a weekly/monthly basis. I buy produce 2x/month and try to buy a wide range of colours and types of produce - I know that at the end of 2 weeks if they're all gone, I've eaten a good range. I can't imagine trying to fit it all in in one day.

How is it possible to keep tender produce for two weeks? I'm trying really hard to think of a single time in my life I've held onto berries, plums, grapes, or even carrots and eggplant for two weeks.

Where are you buying carrots that they can't last for 2 weeks? Same with cabbage? You need to shop somewhere else if your produce is spoiling that quickly.

[Anonymous]

I'm the poster that mentioned that I like to "eat a rainbow" in that produce thread.
Everything that I have seen/read about eating a rainbow has only 5 color categories 1) Red 2) orange/yellow 3)Green 4) blue/purple 5) white

Most of my snacks are fruits or vegetables.

Fruit at breakfast, vegetable at lunch, vegetable at dinner--that right there (3 meals plus 2 snacks per day) is 5--one for each color of the "produce rainbow"

But even beyond that, I tend to have more than one fruit/vegetable per meal--like a dinner I might have sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts. I might have a salad with my lunch that has spinach/lettuce plus tomatoes. For an afternoon snack I might have carrots with tzatziki and an apple, etc.

So far today:
Breakfast: clementines
lunch: broccoli and strawberries
afternoon snack: apple
Later will be
Dinner: tomatoes
Dessert: Banana (sent Dh to a different store to buy some, but didn't tell him to pick up anything purple/blue)

(obviously I eat other things like meat, dairy, bread-- I'm only listing the produce I ate)

So I have most of my "rainbow" minus the purple/blue until I get a chance to get to the store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How is it possible to keep tender produce for two weeks? I'm trying really hard to think of a single time in my life I've held onto berries, plums, grapes, or even carrots and eggplant for two weeks.

Where are you buying carrots that they can't last for 2 weeks? Same with cabbage? You need to shop somewhere else if your produce is spoiling that quickly.

Agreed. We get the large 5lb bag of carrots from Whole Foods and that lasts around 3 wks to a month.

[Anonymous]

I used to love Ellie Krieger's short lived show on food network. She often talked about "eating the rainbow" and I think it's more of an overarching philosophy than something you do every day. Blue - for example, is pretty hard to fit in. This is what I ate today:

breakfast - toasted mini whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and tomato slices.
lunch - slice of pizza with black olives, red onions, broccoli rabe I shared with my 3 yo, arugula salad with corn and avocado.
snack with the kids - apple and carrot slices
dinner - roasted beet, red onion, apple, and spinach salad with roasted shrimp, garlic, roasted red pepper, spinach, and tomato over linguini.

For me it's about everything in balance with an emphasis on a diverse selection of veggies.

I think I got red, orange, yellow, green and purple.

[Anonymous]

If you eat a rainbow you kill unicorns. Just stop people...think!

[Anonymous]

Wine is purple. Drink a glass every night.