Is the color of your food of importance? Traditionally, as consumers, we have been led to believe that the darker and brighter the color the more nutrients. Take berries for instance. Their deep blue, black and red coloring are caused by anthocyanins, healing compounds that protect us from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Orange vegetables like carrot and peppers and green vegetables, like broccoli and spinach, are superb sources antioxidant that protect our cells from free radical damage.
Wild rice which hasn’t been stripped of its nutrient-rich bran and germ layers, has considerably more fiber, magnesium, and potassium than its white bleached-out counterpart, white rice. As a consequence, we unconsciously embrace a collective belief that food which is absent of bright colors in nutritionally void. White flour, white sugar, salt, they all inspire health concerns.
Put before you abandon pale, colorless food because you fear that they serve to undermine your health, here are five pale foods that are jammed with nutrition.
Onions
When it comes to adding flavor to a meal, onions reign supreme. Loaded with vitamin C, folate, calcium and potassium, onions are also high in flavonols, phytochemicals that undermine the harmful attempts of free radicals. And get this, one flavonol called quercetin has been linked to guarding against lung cancer, asthma and you guessed it… diabetes.
Mushrooms
Did you know that mushrooms are an excellent source of vitamin B and that the fungus plays an important role in improving circulation and reduce inflammation? For a food that lacks color, mushrooms deliver plenty on the nutrition front. And here’s an added bonus, one cup is only 21 calories and provides three grams of protein.
Parsnips
This root vegetable may look bland and colorless, but it is loaded with disease-combating nutrients like anti-cancer, falcarinol. And just one cup of cooked nutrient-rich parsnips provides 5.5 grams of fiber, 20 mg of vitamin C and more than 550 mg of potassium.
Potatoes
Don’t bail on the potato. It has become wrongly criticized as a starchy food with little nutritional value. But the facts tell a different story; not only does a medium baked potato provide up to 22 milligrams of vitamin C along it is also loaded with B6, folate and magnesium.
Now keep in mind, some varieties of white potato do have a high glycemic index (GI). So diabetics should purchase red and new potatoes with moderate GI levels. And remember not to remove the skin on when you prepare potatoes. The skin contains fiber and nutrients, and it helps retain the vitamin C in potatoes.
Bananas
Okay, everyone knows that bananas are pack with potassium, but did you know that the banana is also an exception source for vitamin B6, a key nutrient that helps maintain nerve and brain function? Bananas are also rich in vitamin C, niacin and magnesium. Even better, if you’re a diabetic, bananas are low on the GI index, making them a wonderful choice of a snack for people suffering from the blood sugar disease.
