Jump Start: Self Care September: Day 6
So far we’ve looked at taking quite a few things out of our daily diets, such as excess salt and fizzy drinks. Today we’re going to add one thing in that could have good health benefits and, crucially, be delicious. It really helps if it’s tasty because it’s a win-win situation and it’s easier to keep up with.
Today’s activity is to add a small portion of something blue to your food intake. Sorry, blue Smarties don’t count, or anything else with food colouring. Pick foods that are naturally blue, black, or purple.
You may have heard about how you can get variety into your diet by ‘eating the rainbow’ every day (red, orange, yellow, white/brown, light green, dark green, blue/purple). This is a good quick and easy way to remember to have a range of natural foods, and to get plenty of different nutrients down your neck.
Well, out of all of these, it seems to me that it’s easiest to forget the blue-y ones. So just focus on that today, rather than the whole rainbow in itself. Think of it as a mini nutrition hack.
Have one portion (about a heaped tablespoon) of any of the following, either fresh or frozen:
- aubergine
- beetroot
- blackberries
- blackcurrants
- blueberries
- red cabbage (ones that are purple when raw)
- fresh figs (the purple ones)
- grapes (dark varieties)
- plums
- purple sprouting broccoli
You may also be able to find unusual varieties such as purple carrots, beans or sweet peppers, blue potatoes, purple cauliflower and purple asparagus.
As it’s September, you should be able to find pretty much all of those options fresh in the UK – enjoy harvest time. At other times of the year, even if you can’t find much that’s fresh, you can nearly always find dried plums (prunes).
The best budget option is home grown veg or foraged (free) blackberries. At the shops, the best value is probably going to be a small red cabbage to put into a home made coleslaw, or an economy punnet of plums, unless blueberries are on offer.
Enjoy!
