Tag Archives: Tomato

Eating Rainbow Part 1. (a series In yumminess)

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They say you eat first with your eyes; and even though I am tested to be about 10% visual I have to whole heartedly agree. How often I have gone into a  restaurant thinking I know what I want and then I see all the pictures and suddenly I want everything! And I can’t tell you how many times I have been so enthralled with the delicious opportunities that I completely tune out everyone around me. I want to take you on a mini tour of foods, with colors as our guide.

Red doesn't have to be sinful

Red is a good place to start. Usually I think of berries, spicy peppers and radishes, and a nice red tomato. There are plenty of reasons to add more red to your meal.

Strawberries:
Strawberries are packed with vitamin C. One serving is about 150% of your Daily Value (DV) needed. They have no fat and they are excellent for weight loss. Interesting bit about that weight loss, the calories in Strawberries are about 85% carbohydrate. SO before you swear all crabs off save a little space for these babies.
A great way to get more in your diet: Other than eating large handfuls. They are great additions to salads of all kinds sliced up or as part of a vinaigrette. They also make any dessert sweeter without packing on extra pounds.
 
Tomatoes:
Tomatoes are something most people either love or hate. I haven’t met many people on the fence. They have a significant amount of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Fiber. Again you have something great for weight-loss and keeping it off. And if you keep them raw and eat cherry or grape tomatoes you can enjoy them more even with acid reflux.
How to get more easily: Adding ketchup to everything will not help you here. But putting tomatoes on your sandwiches, in wraps, and pastas are easy and quick. You can even swap chopped up tomatoes for tomato sauce if you get frequent heart burn and season them up like you would the sauce (it taste wonderful)
 
Red Chilli Peppers:
One Pepper wouldn’t make a big difference nutritionally right? Actually one pepper provides over 100% of your DV of vitamin C. To get up to even one gram of fat you would have to eat 5 peppers and contrary to what many believe, They are extremely low in sodium.
Spicing up your pepper intake: One pepper is not a ton of spice so even if you don’t like the heat you can still benefit. It is a great addition to any sauce (crush it up all you want) and it is awesome in things like stir-frys. You can even add it to your chicken soup when you are sick and get bonus healing powers
 

Need more Red in your Food?

Don’t forget about other red foods like Red Potatoes, red grapes, red bell peppers, pomegranates, red onions, raspberries, and more. Make it your goal to add more red to your dishes and you’ll find meeting some of your nutrition goals is easier than you thought! On to the next color tomorrow!