An Organic Gardener’s Salad – Eat Colors for Health

Both the farmers’ markets, as well as our gardens are exploding with color right now. And aside from being aesthetically appealing there are some potential health benefits that come along with it.  Adding an array of colorful plants to your diet might just benifit more than your mood.

Phytochemicals, or more commonly know as antioxidants, play a key role in helping to protect our cells from damage. The variety of chemical compounds that make up phytochemicals, are also responsible for giving our fruits, vegetables and other plants their color.

Research tells us that a variety of foods have many different compounds and each work differently on our cells.  As an example of a couple of these components that make up phytochemicals, are vitamins E and C. We know that citrus fruits, dark leafy greens and bell peppers are all good sources for vitamin C. While many of our nuts and seeds are high in vitamin E.

Of course the list goes on, but we can clearly see why adding a variety of colorful foods to our diet can have a healthful impact. If you would like to get more detailed information on the benefits of colorful foods, this article from the American Cancer Society or this article from The University of Maryland Medical Center are two I found helpful.

Whether you garden or not there is no better time to add some color to your world.