"Health requires healthy food.”
Roger Williams
Crowding out is now in full effect... we can see you now nibbling on carrots and cucumbers as we speak.
Layering on top of yesterday's very important action is the new goal to Eat The Rainbow.
Why is that an important goal? Color in our food is all about phytonutrients and they have powerful health benefits that change based on the shade it casts and there are over 25,000. When we eat different plant foods, where we are ingesting hundreds of different antioxidants, it helps stimulate our body’s own ability to thrive. Today try to add just one additional color per meal for you and your loved ones. That can be as simple as:
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Red - Chopped strawberries to top on cereal or oatmeal or add beets to your sheet pan of roasted veggies
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Orange - Orange slices on the side of a sandwich or salad or shredded carrots to a salad
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Yellow - Lemon slices in your water or yellow squash to your sheet pan
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Green - Chopped parsley, sprouts, or microgreens on top of your baked potato
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Blue - Blueberries everywhere!
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Purple - chopped purple cabbage added to your salad or sautéed veggies
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White/Tan - coconut flakes and hemp seeds are great sprinkled on everything
Get pumped up friends... eating more veggies is no small feat! According to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, daily vegetable intake should be two and a half cups and daily fruit intake should be two cups (2,000 calorie diet).1 More than 90 percent of Americans do not meet this minimum.
The Guidelines also stress the importance of eating a variety of vegetables, but Americans fall short:
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More than 80 percent do not eat enough green vegetables.
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More than 90 percent do not eat enough red and orange vegetables.
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Potatoes account for more than 25 percent of all vegetable consumption.
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Approximately 100 percent do not eat enough whole grains.
Every bit of work that you do to eat the rainbow gets you closer a life of health and wellness.
To learn more visit this great website for more tips and ideas!
Action
Reminder - These actions are part of the Accountability Challenge and we'd love to have you take part. Regardless, you can use these prompts to put your daily lessons into action in your life.
Were you able to eat the rainbow today? Share with the group 2 ways you added color to your meals today.
Meal Plan Ideas
** A quick note to pay attention to serving amounts on the meal plans and modify according to how much you need.
If you are preparing dinner tonight, this is a great time to ask yourself if you can or want to increase the recipe for leftovers. If you don’t feel like you want to eat this for leftovers tomorrow or throughout the week, you can freeze some meals and eat them later.
Mindfulness
Continue with the theme of color in your day... when looking and walking around observe the many colors of the rainbow. During long meetings, calls, or drives run through your mental list of the rainbow noticing the different colors around you. And if you've got little people in your life, invite them to join you in a game of "I spy..." for each color.
Self Care
Color in life moves beyond the plate also into our lives... phone a friend.
Take a moment out of your day and connect with someone you love. It's our hope that this action helps build you up. Share about the reset, how it's going, your intentions, wins, and struggles.
You are not alone.
Family Meal Ideas
The easiest way to feed a variety of taste buds is to serve a deconstructed version of the meal and/or make substitutions to include personal tastes. Think of "build your own" to unlock a new level of one-meal fits-all.
What is your family’s favorite meal? Is there a way to make it meet the goals of this reset? Post your questions in What’s App.
