I’m reading The Color Code by James Joseph, which presents compelling evidence to support our need for five–or more–fruits and vegetables a day. The more richly colored, the better. They’re stuffed with antioxidants. They’re loaded with vitamins and minerals. They’re chock-full of fiber. They’re composed of healthful carbs. They reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, and senility. Okay, I’m convinced.
Breakfast found me adding berries to my oatmeal, and I had an apple for a snack. At dinnertime, I let the steamer cook brown basmati rice while I concocted a sauce of spaghetti sauce, sauteed onions and garlic, a bag of vegetables, lean ground beef, a few spices, and a splash of wine.
The book includes recipes, so I hope to get some concrete ideas on adding vegetables and fruits to our diet throughout the day.
This concept dovetails nicely with the ideas in Volumetrics by Barbara Rolls and Robert Barnett which I’m also reading. Haven’t gotten very far, but the gist of it seems to be that eating foods that are low in "energy density" (calories per gram) helps people lose weight. Point is to create satiety without going overboard on calories. Foods that are high in water–vegetables, fruits, soups, stews–tend to be filling yet low in calories per unit volume. Rolls is a nutrition researcher, so the book offers a great deal of science to back the claims. I’ll let you know what else I learn.
