Eat The Rainbow: The Benefits of a Colourful Diet

A final magical instalment from Margareta Serfozo, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach & Corporate Mental Health Facilitator, for Magic Members' Week on the benefits of eating a colourful diet!

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any conditions. If you are seeking medical advice, please consult your GP or a licensed healthcare practitioner. Any decision to use supplements to support your specific needs should be considered in partnership with your licensed healthcare practitioner. For specific dietary advice, please consult a registered nutritionist or dietitian.


Fruits and vegetables are crucial components of a healthy diet. According to a research published by Public Health England in 2018, only 31% of adults, 32% of 65- to 74-year-olds and 8% of teenagers meet the 5 A Day(1) recommendation for fruit and vegetables(2). Fruits and vegetables are essential sources of vitamins and minerals, dietary fibre, as well as plant sterols, flavonoids and other anti-oxidants(3). Having a variety of fruits and vegetables helps to ensure that you get an adequate intake of these essential nutrients. Eating local, seasonal and minimally processed plants of a great variety of colours have a wide range of health benefits, including a potentially reduced risk of some diseases(4), such as cardiovascular diseases(5).

So be adventurous and eat the rainbow!

Bella Happikiss Grid

Based on the detailed research conducted by Dr. Deanna Minich, amongst other amazing benefits, red foods have great anti-inflammatory properties, orange foods are having a positive impact on your endocrine-regulating activities and fertility, yellows are rich in fibre to support your microbiome, greens are great for cardiovascular health and blue-purple shades are polyphenol-rich foods to assist with learning, memory and mood(6). A great, more detailed summary table is available here.

Don’t just eat the usual suspects you regularly put into your shopping basket. You can pimp up your salads with some new colours, enjoy a rich soup, stew or stir-fry and start snacking on fruits, carrots, cucumbers or even some homemade vegetable or fruit crisps. Make it into a family game with your children, who could get a star for each colour of the rainbow that they’ve tried that day. This is an amazing technique to get children to experiment with fruits and vegetables and certainly works well with my mine! Include those rainbow colours into their fruit bowls, add spinach to their banana smoothie, throw some red fruits on their morning porridge, or add some vegetables to their rice or omelette. Studies demonstrate(7) that experience with a variety of vegetables early in childhood can promote later consumption as early dietary habits often track into adulthood(8).

Eating the rainbow can have many health benefits to you and your family, so take them all with you on this exciting adventure of experimenting with colourful fruits and vegetables.

Margareta Img

BY MARGARETA SERFOZO

Integrative Nutrition Health Coach & Corporate Mental Health Facilitator @ The Endearing Project


(1) NHS, 5 a day, what counts? Available from : https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/5-a-day-what-counts/ , accessed 10/04/2021 (2) Public Health England, National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) rolling programme for 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016, published 16 March 2018, available from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/phe-publishes-latest-data-on-nations-diet, accessed 10/04/2021 (3) World Health Organisation, Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption to reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases, via eLENA, available from : https://www.who.int/elena/titles/fruit_vegetables_ncds/en/ , accessed 10/04/2021 (4) Dagfinn Aune, Edward Giovannucci, Paolo Boffetta, Lars T Fadnes, NaNa Keum, Teresa Norat, Darren C Greenwood, Elio Riboli, Lars J Vatten, Serena Tonstad, Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer and all-cause mortality—a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies, International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 46, Issue 3, June 2017, Pages 1029–1056, available from https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/46/3/1029/3039477 (5) Hartley L, Igbinedion E, Holmes J, Flowers N, Thorogood M, Clarke A, Stranges S, Hooper L, Rees K. Increased consumption of fruit and vegetables for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, Issue 6. Art. No.: CD009874. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009874.pub2., available from https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009874.pub2/full , Accessed 10 April 2021. (6) D. Minich “A Review of the Science of Colorful, Plant-Based Food and Practical Strategies for “Eating the Rainbow”, “Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, Volume 2019 (2019), Article ID 2125070, 19 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2125070”, available from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnme/2019/2125070/

Share article

Author Details

Margareta Serfozo

Integrative Nutrition Health Coach & Corporate Mental Health Facilitator

Specialising in women's health and fertility, Margareta created The Endearing Project to support, guide and enable her clients to follow their own path to wellbeing through lifestyle and behavioural guidance, and wellness, health and fertility coaching.