Enjoy July With Colorful Foods

July is the month of red, white, and blue! This month set yourself a nutritional goal to include more red, white, and blue fruits and vegetables. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is important for health, and the more colorful your plate is, the healthier, and more appealing, it is!

Here are some ways to incorporate more red, white, and blue foods into your diet:

Red foods: apples, blood oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, cherries, cranberries, raspberries, pink/red grapefruit, red pears, pomegranates, watermelon, tomatoes, red bell pepper, beets, radishes, red onions, rhubarb, red potatoes, red onions, and radicchio.

• Add berries to your smoothies for a summer treat
• Top your morning cereal, oatmeal, or toast with berries
• Serve a half of grapefruit alongside your eggs for breakfast
• Add tomatoes to your salad, or enjoy with mozzarella cheese for a refreshing caprese salad
• Stuff tomatoes or red bell pepper with tuna, brown rice and turkey, or couscous, feta, and basil!
• Serve a beet salad with walnuts and goat cheese, top on a salad with lettuce, roast with olive oil, or enjoy as a juice

White foods: Bananas, dates, white nectarines, white peaches, brown pears, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, Jerusalem artichokes, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, potatoes, white corn, jicama, shallots, and turnips

• Add bananas to your morning cereal or oatmeal    
• Enjoy white nectarines, peaches, or brown pears as a hydrating summer snack
• Make a stir-fry with garlic, ginger, mushrooms, onions, and parsnips and top onto brown rice with salsa
• Enjoy oven-baked potatoes with Greek yogurt and chives instead of sour cream or butter
• Grill up corn with paprika and lime wedges
• Try a new vegetable! Buy a kohlrabi and experiment with new recipes
• Use a portabella mushroom in place of beef as a burger

Blue foods: Blackberries, blueberries, grapes, plums, raisins, black olives, purple asparagus, purple cabbage, purple carrots, eggplant, purple potatoes, purple peppers, purple Belgian endive

• Swap eggplant for chicken and make a vegetarian Parmesan
• Make a jam with blackberries or blueberries
• Add a color pop to your salad with purple carrots 
• Enjoy plums as a sweet snack or dessert
• Serve a colorful dish with purple mashed potatoes
• Freeze grapes for a cool summer snack

For more information on different colored foods, see our list of fruits by color and vegetables by color

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