Lori Esarey MS, APRN-C, ABAAHPGoing Beyond Weight Loss to Achieve Wellness For Life

Eat a Variety of Foods 🌈 | Why Dietary Diversity Supports Gut & Metabolic Health

6 Mar 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

2:09

In this brief National Nutrition Month monologue, the presenter emphasizes the importance of dietary diversity for optimal vitamin and mineral intake and gut health. She highlights how consuming different varieties within food groups—such as multiple leafy greens (romaine, spinach, Swiss chard, arugula), colored carrots (orange, white, purple), and apple types (Gala, Pink Lady, Granny Smith)—provides a broader spectrum of nutrients. She extends the concept to nuts, seeds, and spices, urging viewers to incorporate a wide range of flavors and phytochemicals. The core call‑to‑action is a challenge: aim for at least 30 distinct fruit, vegetable, nut, seed, or spice items each week to expand the palate and support metabolic health.

Chapters

Hi everyone, I just wanted to stop in and remind you that March is National Nutrition Month. And when I think about nutrition, I think about vitamins and minerals in our foods. But a lot of us get kind of stuck eating the same things every day, and they kind of never veer, veer away from the usual. So one way to get a better variety of foods into your diet is to Eat a different variety of, say, green leafy vegetables. We have romaine, we have spinach, we have Swiss chard, we have arugula, many different varieties of green leafy vegetables. Also think about carrots. Carrots come in many other colors besides orange. They are white and they are purple as well as orange, and you can get a rainbow mix in your grocery store. And that's another way, because every variety gives you a different mixture of your vitamins and minerals. Also, I think about, say, apples as an example. We have so many different varieties of apples. So instead of maybe buying a bag of apples, buy individual apples so you can get a Gala apple or a Pink Lady or Granny Smith apple as an example. And each one again is a different variety rather than it being exactly the same food that you eat all the time. I challenge everyone to try to get in 30 different varieties of fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, even your spices. Your spices are dried herbs, so they also count as getting a variety. And a lot of us just don't take advantage of our spices to that we have sitting in our cabinet. So try to get 30 different foods each week and see if you can expand your palate.