Introducing our Guest Blogger, Nutritionist Barbara Cox
Award-winning nutritionist, Barbara Cox, has created an exclusive blog series for YoYoga, to help you make choices that promote a healthy lifestyle. In her first blog, she will be discussing simple ways to introduce more colour into your diet, as well as sharing her tips for staying energised. Barbara is the author of the Rainbow Recipes cookbook and the Eat To Be Fit e-cookbook. Throughout her blog series she will be sharing some of her healthy and delicious recipes, so be sure to keep an eye out!
Colour Yourself Healthy with a Rainbow of Foods
When talking fruit and veg, the Government advises that we eat “Five a Day” (*1), that way we’d hopefully find ourselves eating more than five different kinds of fruit and vegetables daily, but it would mean we’d also benefit from the additional health-promoting properties of eating naturally pigmented food.
Natural food pigments, known technically as carotenoids, are one kind of an important class of disease-fighting biochemicals (*2) with a very suitable (but coincidental) name: phytochemicals! Acting as antioxidants and immune response boosters, these chemicals are believed to be very important in providing protection against cancer and heart disease.
Listed below are some commonly available colourful fruits and vegetables that carry an array of health benefits with their natural pigments. As well as picking colourful foods, you can personalise your yoga sessions with a YoYoga mat to match your chakra!
| Chakra Colour | Pigmented Fruit & Vegetables |
| Red | Beetroot, cranberries, pomegranate, tomatoes, red apples, cherries, goji berries, radishes, raspberries, red grapes, watermelon |
| Orange | Butternut squash, pumpkin, oranges, swede, peaches, apricots, cantaloupe melon, carrot, nectarine, sweet potato |
| Yellow/White | Parsnips, turnip, celeriac, chestnuts, garlic, ginger, artichokes, bamboo shoots, cauliflower, coconut, daikon radish, lemon, onions, pineapple, star fruit, yellow peppers |
| Green | Cabbage, pears, leeks, Brussel sprouts, asparagus, avocado, capers, celery, chard, courgettes, fennel, gooseberries, green grapes, kale, kiwi, leeks, limes, okra, olives, runner beans, spinach, seaweed, watercress, wheatgrass |
| Blue | Blackberries, blueberries, dulse seaweed, dates |
| Purple/Indigo | Blackberries, aubergine, ‘red’ cabbage, beetroot, purple grapes, dragon fruit, plums, red onions |
Incorporating this rainbow of foods into your daily regimen at home and work is easier than you might imagine. While menu planning at home, you can make sure you have a variety of colours in your diet to ensure a well-balanced meal on many levels! Here are some more ideas for promoting health and wellbeing while you’re off your YoYoga mat:
1) Chew Slooowwwly!
Many people eat as if they’re in a race to get the food in their stomach as fast as they can! They shovel the food into their mouth, chew for a few seconds and then swallow. What they’re not realising is that the process of chewing is actually a vitally important first stage of digestion – due to the effects of an enzyme in our saliva. Slow down and chew for longer and you should see an improvement in your digestion.
2) Don’t Eat on Autopilot
Commonly, when we eat at our desks, in the car or on the run, we’re not focusing on our food, but on our work or task at hand instead. This habit can lead to poor portion control, weight gain and digestive problems.
3) Eat at Regular Intervals
Skipping meals can cause drops in your blood sugar levels that lead to dizzy spells and lack of concentration. Make sure you head out of the house after having a good breakfast and a few snacks in your bag. Don’t skip lunch and don’t eat dinner too late or you won’t enjoy a good night’s rest! Remember your circadian rhythms can be affected by poor eating habits too.
4) Healthy Snacks
If you feel the need to snack between meals, first have a glass of water – people often mistake thirst for hunger! Beware that junk food doesn’t give you the prolonged energy flow you need to get through a busy day. After an initial energy rush, sugary food often leads to a drop in blood sugar levels causing the jitters, sugar cravings, a lack of concentration and lethargy.
5) Keep Hydrated
Your brain is at least 85% water so keep it hydrated by drinking water throughout the day. Offices, shops and some public transport with commercial air handling systems can be quite dry so make sure you’ve got a plentiful supply of water.
Caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea, energy drinks and some soft drinks are relatively harmless in small quantities. However, too many can cause dehydration and caffeine overload, leading to sleepless nights and underperformance the next day.
6) Eat What’s Within the Rainbow
The more naturally occurring colourful foods on your plate will inevitably equate to a healthier body (*3), remember to take portion control into that equation too! So, having your table or lunch box filled with the colours of the rainbow is definitely my idea of fuelling and boosting your body to help you feel more energized to take on everything life throws at you.
My rule of thumb goes like this:
“Eat what’s within the rainbow around you. Aim for the 80%-20% rule: 80% really fantastic clean foods, leaving you 20% for a little indulgence.”
