By: Elizabeth Rahavi, RD   Date: 9/28/11

If health is a priority, then eating can often be like playing a game of Scrabble: striving to get the most out of each turn—always searching for that seven letter word. V-E-G-G-I-E-S: a seven letter word that can lead to good health. Add fruit to your veggies to make a colorful plate and get a triple word score. 

Aiming to get plenty of color on your plate is one way to ensure that you are eating a healthy diet. You can easily do this by making half of your plate fruits and vegetables. It’s no surprise to consumers that fruits and vegetables can promote health. In fact, since 1998 we’ve been asking them to tell us, top of mind, what is a food that can promote health? This year 70 percent of consumers who participated in our Functional Foods/Foods for Health Survey said that fruits and vegetables either generically or specifically could provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition.

Building a colorful plate is a good way to think about your diet because numerous functional foods can be recognized and grouped together by their color.  Functional Foods are foods or dietary components that may provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition. Examples can include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fortified or enhanced foods and beverages and certain dietary supplements.

• Orange/Red foods, like carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato and squash provide carotenoids, which can help support immune health. The lycopene in watermelon and tomato products can also help promote prostate health.

• Green foods like spinach, collard greens, bok choy, and broccoli contain many vitamins and minerals that Americans don’t consume enough of, like potassium, vitamins A, C, and E and dietary fiber.

• Brown, purple and blue foods found in foods like cocoa, tea, wine, grapes, berries and cherries all contain flavanols. This healthful food component can help support blood flow and circulation.

• When you see tan think fiber. Tan foods like whole grain breads and cereals can provide fiber, which can help support heart and digestive health and aid with weight management by helping to increase satiety.

• White foods include many low fat and fat free dairy products from milk to yogurt to cheese. Vitamin D and calcium are key nutrients in these foods, which can promote bone health.

• Yellow foods found in healthful oils like olive, soybean and canola oil can help support heart health.

These examples just scratch the surface of healthful attributes that functional foods can provide. Learn more about functional foods and their colorful components on our website.

Tell us, how do you get color on your plate?