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The appeal of color is no secret to food manufacturers. One of reasons for the success of these products is not only their sweet taste but their eye-catching colors. When it comes to food, one of the ways to draw kids into the eating experience is to pull them in using color. The issue is that there are lots of colors to choose from—which side of the rainbow is your family eating from?
Most processed food products don’t contain as many natural-based colors as they do artificial colors. “Artificial” denotes “not natural,” which means that there is a good chance that the body won’t know how to process them in a way that is healthy. Indeed, the seven food dyes, spanning the spectrum from FD&C Red No. 5 to FD&C Blue No. 2, have permeated rows of processed foods. Food colorings are used enhance the coloring of a food even when it has become drab, making it more true to the food’s natural color. For example, adding red dye to meats to make them look fresher than their brown color, or adding orange/red dye to salmon to make it look like we may perceive salmon to be—a rich orange color. Although these food colorings have lots of perks to the consumer visually, research indicates that they may cause a rainbow variety of negative effects in the body, ranging from the red of inflammation to the blue of not being able to breathe. In a recent review study, researchers reported an association of synthetic food dyes and negative neurobehavioral outcomes in some children. One aspect of this finding may be related to the proportion of ingested dye to a child’s body weight. Children, as well as adults, may experience allergic type reactions after eating food colorings. Moreover, research indicates that children’s behavior is related to a diet that contains artificial colorings.
The question becomes—how can we introduce healthy colors into kids’ diets? After all, one of the ideas as to why the Mediterranean diet from southern Europe is health-promoting is because of the multitude of foods it contains and their array of bountiful colors. The natural colors are aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but they are also connected to specific functions inside the body. Healthy colors are linked to lowered risks of obesity and chronic diseases. Red foods like tomatoes and watermelon contain the antioxidant, lycopene, shown to play a role in reducing the development of certain cancers and may play be important for warding off heart problems. Orange foods like carrots are great sources of beta-carotene, a vitamin A precursor. When we eat the orange beta-carotene pigment, it converts to vitamin A in the body. Eating orange fruits and vegetables can help our immune system and eyes to function better. Yellow-green foods are packed with phytonutrients like lutein for eye health, chlorophyll to protect cells from damage, and folic acid, an essential nutrient for growth and development. And, finally, blue-purple foods are excellent sources of brain-protective antioxidants. Eating berries can keep the mind sharp and focused.
Therefore, if, for example, we avoid green-colored foods, we will be missing out on some important nutrients for the body. Eating red foods in place of green foods may not necessarily be good substitutes because the plant constituents in green foods have different effects in the body. The problem with modern-day eating, is that either we are eating a bland, “brown, yellow, and white diet” or we may be eating color, but they tend to be artificial colors. Here are some easy ways to get more vibrant, natural colors onto the palette of the plate of your little one.
- At the grocery store:
When you have time to plan: Plan a grocery list. Read through it with your child and have him or her use colored markers to highlight the color focus of that food. See if you can create a full rainbow variety of foods. Have them comment on whether more foods in certain color categories are needed to balance the rainbow.
On the spur of the moment: In the grocery store with your child, stay on the perimeter of the store. Set a goal with them from the beginning to create a rainbow of whole food products in the cart. When you walk by the produce section, you can ask them which red-colored fruits and vegetables (choose a number limit) they would like to choose. Continue through the entire rainbow: orange, yellow, green, blue/purple. Most kids enjoy this activity. When they select the food, they feel more ownership of the food and will want to prepare and eat it.
- At home:
Inject colors into as many meals as possible. For breakfast, offer fresh fruit with cereal, or a wide variety of vegetables in an omelet. Make lunch colorful and fresh by providing freshly cut, bite-sized vegetables with peanut butter (assuming no food allergies). At dinner, have your little one help you prepare rainbow plates to serve to the family. Finally, rainbowed fruit kabobs (wooden skewers lined with a slice of red apple, an orange section, a chunk of pineapple, a green grape, and a blueberry) are a real treat for dessert! Frozen grapes are perfect candy substitutes. As snacks throughout the day, nibble-sized fruits and vegetables can be accessible in the refrigerator.
- At school:
Pack lunches that have lots of variety. Create dedicated “color” days at school by focusing on red foods on Monday, orange foods on Tuesday, yellow foods on Wednesday, green foods on Thursday, and purple foods on Friday. You could emphasize this further by having them color-coordinate their clothes for that day.
- At restaurants:
Frequent restaurants that have colorful salad bar displays so that a variety of options are present. Finally, don’t forget that children model their parents eating behavior. Setting a good example of eating colors wherever possible will be the best method to ensuring healthy food choices for a long time.
If you plan to incorporate more colorful, plant-based, whole foods into your child’s daily eating or have questions about what foods can best support your child’s health or about possible food allergies, talk to your child’s pediatrician or another member of his/her healthcare team for personal options.
