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Home ? lifestyle Your Daily Health Balanced nutrition for a long, healthy life Published: Sat, 2011-05-07 00:30 Tweet A balanced diet would consist of eating foods of every colour, every day. Variety is not just the “spice of life,” it is also a very important way to keep your internal organs healthy.
Even if you’re eating natural fruits, vegetables and grains, if you are eating the exact same thing seven days a week, it is not healthy for you.
Meet the nutrition rainbow
When we eat the exact same thing day in and day out we set our body up to breed imbalances that can lead to disease. Don’t turn your digestive system into a septic breeding ground. Mix things up!
According to the Chinese medical tradition, there are five elemental energies that make up our universe, as well as our bodies. These energies are: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Each of these energies has a corresponding colour.? For instance, wood corresponds to green, fire to red, earth to yellow and orange, metal to white, and water to black, blue, and purple. A balanced diet would consist of eating foods of every colour, every day.
Vegetables
Try to eat vegetables every day that represent all of the elemental energies and colours. For green (wood), your choices include asparagus and dark leafy greens such as spinach, broccoli, and kale.
Vegetables in the red group (fire) include hot red peppers, red bell peppers, or beets. For yellow and orange group (earth) eat pumpkins, squash, and yams. Some white vegetables (metal) are cauliflower, jicama, and daikon radish. For your dark veggies (water), try eggplant, seaweed, or black mushrooms.
Fruits and nuts
Your nutrition rainbow should also include a wide array of fruits and nuts. For green: lime or melon for your fruits; and pumpkin seeds or pistachios for nuts and seeds. Red fruits: apples, tomatoes, or cherries; pecans for your red nut. Yellow and orange fruit: mangoes, oranges, or papaya; for nuts: almonds and cashews. For white fruit: pears and bananas; nut: pine nuts and macadamias. Dark (water) fruits: blueberries, and raisins as your fruit; nuts and seeds: chestnuts, walnuts and flaxseeds.
Beans and grains
Don’t forget to eat beans and grains from every elemental colour! Green: lentils and mung beans and rye for your grain. Red: red lentils, adzuki beans, and red beans; for grains, buckwheat and amaranth.
Yellow/orange: chickpeas and butter beans; corn and millet. White: soybeans and white beans, rice and barley.? Dark: navy beans and black beans, quinoa and black wild rice. Follow this advice in every category and you’ll be taking in nearly 600 carotenoids, which are the powerful antioxidants that mop up free radicals to prevent cancer and help you see, smell, hear and live better.
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