This week is Nutrition and Hydration Week and we’ve been working together to highlight the value of what we eat and drink in keeping our bodies, and minds, well.  “Eating a rainbow” is a fun way of ensuring we get a good balance of nutrients to maximise the health benefits.  It simply means eating fruit and vegetables in lots of different colours.

Residents got involved chopping and preparing colourful fruit and vegetable platters for everyone to enjoy. Fruit platters like this look great, smell wonderful, and taste delicious, so it’s easy to get our ‘5 a day!’

Eating lots of fruit and vegetables – fresh, frozen and canned all counts – contributes to your health by giving your body vitamins, minerals and fibre that it needs.  For maximum benefit, eating different colours is advised because each colour offers different benefits.

Red – tomatoes are an easy red food to include in your list, as well as red peppers.  At this time of year, fresh British strawberries are amazing!  Red foods’ main vitamins are A, C and K, with potassium and folate as well.

Orange – carrots, but also sweet potatoes, squash or pumpkin, oranges and other citrus fruit all count.  Whose parents didn’t tell them to eat their carrots so they could see in the dark!  That’s down to the Vitamin A in this group.

Yellow – bananas and other tropical fruit like pineapple, mangos, and melons offer similar benefits to orange foods, though bananas in particular are a good source of potassium.

Green – lots of vegetables, like broccoli, spinach or cabbage contain lots of fibre, and fruits like apples or grapes are strong green foods.  Rich in Vitamin A and K1, as well as magnesium and folate, it’s important to eat your greens.

Blue, Indigo and Violet – blueberries and blackberries are some of our favourite blue foods, though vegetables like aubergine also count and have good levels of Vitamin B6, C and K1, as well as manganese.

White doesn’t feature in the rainbow but white vegetables are still very important.  Mushrooms, for example, contain Vitamin D, which we often get from sunlight, but can be harder to source for people who spend less time outside.

At Buckland Court, our Head Chef, Leanne Crompton, and her team work hard to make sure that everyone’s dietary requirements are met.  She includes lots of fruit and vegetables options each day.  You can read more about life at OSJCT here.

We’ve also been celebrating Pride Month, and these rainbow platters tie in nicely with that too!