Sky Lakes Medical Center | Live Smart | Summer 2020

4 LIVE smart | Summer 2020 RED Many red fruits and vegetables get their color from lycopene, an antioxidant that may help prevent cancer and promote heart health. Great sources of lycopene are tomatoes, watermelon, and pink or red grapefruit. The body can actually use this nutrient even more easily when it’s cooked. Try turning your fresh garden tomatoes into marinara sauce, or toss them in the oven with mozzarella and basil on a whole wheat pita for a light and summery caprese flatbread. ORANGE AND YELLOW Orange fruits and vegetables are often rich in vitamin C and beta- carotene. Vitamin C is known for its immune-boosting properties. While it’s important to remember that no single food, vitamin, mineral or supplement will prevent or cure your illness, vitamin C can certainly help support a healthy immune system. Oranges and lemons, mangoes, and bell peppers all pack a powerful punch of vitamin C. Beta-carotene is a pigment in plants that is converted to vitamin A in the body, which can help promote vision health. Keep your eye out for foods like sweet potatoes, cantaloupe and carrots! GREEN Green fruits and vegetables take on many roles. Dark green vegetables are a great source of lutein, which can help keep your eyes healthy. Many leafy greens are high in calcium and vitamin K, both of which can help maintain strong bones. Green fruits and veggies are also rich in a variety of phytochemicals, which help fight disease in the body, and some even protect against certain types of cancer! So go green and try something new like bok choy, swiss chard, edamame or kiwifruit. By Andie Scherer, RDN, LDN Sky Lakes Diabetes and Nutrition Services Each color of the rainbow is beautiful on its own—vibrant and distinct. But even more impressive is when they display themselves together, stretched across the sky in an arc as a symbol of good things to come. Similarly, every fruit and vegetable is important, but each color of fruit and vegetable provides us with different nutrients that perform a variety of functions in our body. There may not be a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, but when we combine the benefits of different colors together, they work harmoniously to help keep us in good health and spirits. And that’s even more valuable.