Dr. Deanna Minich, author of The Rainbow Diet, explains why eating colorful fruits and vegetables matters. A 2009 survey found most Americans lack blue and purple foods, missing phytonutrients that support brain health, immunity, and gut bacteria. She recommends focusing on color, having fun with food, and eating more variety.
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754. While it's important to eat your greens, it's also important to eat other colors of the rainbow. That's why we're talking about that today with Dr. Deanna Minik, author of the Rainbow Diet. Good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you so much for being here. This is so important when we talk about nutrition and really a holistic approach to our health, which I think more and more people are becoming aware of. Is that the reason why you decided to come out with this, the rainbow diet?
Well, you know, eating has become complicated. It seems like in my 25 years of being in nutrition, we've seen a lot of diets come and go, and I feel like the basics are being lost. And so many people are becoming very analytical about what they eat, how many calories, how many grams of fat. And what I've seen in the literature and just through working with people is that it's so important to stick with color, because if we're watching color, it's a lot more fun. It becomes more like an art, and it's something that stays with us longer. And so I think for that reason, looking at the colors and tracking the fruits and vegetables is important.
And really, that means, you know, if we're taking those colors from our environment, a natural resource, the food in their natural state, the color means that there's those extra vitamins and minerals that we're able to absorb.
Exactly. You know, most people focus on protein, carbohydrate, and fat, but then they neglect the thousands of other compounds that are making those foods colorful, which make more protection in our body. Antioxidants. So these are called phytonutrients. So that's really what the color is connecting into. But I don't feel like everybody needs to know the science of all of that.
They just need to make sure their plate is colorful. I was joking with you. My stepmom always said, as a nurse, you know, you have to have, you know, a red, yellow vegetable. I'm like, okay, all right. So where do you find the biggest gaps in people's diet? Where are we really missing out when we look at our food as a rainbow?
That's a great question. And there was a survey that was done by nutrilite back in 2009 that surveyed people to find out what colors they were eating. And they found that 8 out of 10Americans have a phytonutrient gap. And out of all the colors, blue, purple, 88% of people were lacking blue, purple.
Wow. So the blueberries, the acai all of.
That we need raspberries, blackberries, eggplant, all of those colors. And we know that blue, purple is good for the brain. So if we're missing those compounds and we're missing things that could be good for cognition, for mood, for memory, for mind.
So if you could impart. I know you're giving a talk today and we're going to get to the details because it's open to the public, which I think is really interesting for people who want to know more about the foods that they should be eating. What do you want people to take away? I mean, if you have to give one piece of advice to really boost their nutrition for their own health, what do you want people to take away?
I have three things. One is to focus on the color, focus on the rainbow. The second one is to have fun with food. When I was growing up, it was all about just being serious at the dinner table, finishing everything on your plate and so being creative, having fun. And then the third thing is variety. Most people are in food ruts, so they're eating the same thing over and over again. And when we don't get diversity in the diet, we're not helping the gut microbiome, we're not helping our immune system. Immune system. So that's what we're learning much more about in nutrition, is that those colors track to the microbiome. They track to certain pigments that are helping us to be better in our immune function.
Great advice. So true. Okay, so again, let's put up the full screen because you're giving a talk today, an hour long 4:30 to 5:30 at the Hilton San Diego Resort and Spa there in Mission Bay. You can register online and there will be a whole talk on consuming a rainbow diet.
It's an hour. It's hosted by the American Nutrition Association. We're having a conference there and so it'll be great to see everybody. And we're giving some book giveaways.
Awesome. Dr. Deanna Minick, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
Absolutely. All right, we'll be right back. It is 7:58. Good morning San Diego.
