Eat The Rainbow

Every so often I feel the need to ‘keep it real’ and that’s what I’m about to do now. Last month, February, was Heart Health Month. I usually do my part to support anything that affects women’s health issues.

This year was different for me.

My dad had triple bypass surgery this past December. Scary. We didn’t see it coming. Yeah, he’d had an episode a few years ago that required a stint but since then he was the model patient. He ate well and exercised and then, he had a mild heart attack . . .

So now I guess that means that I need to start checking that box on my medical intake form at my next physical. Like I said. Scary.

I know I work too much and don’t always eat right. I need to manage stress better and I definitely need to lose a good 20-25 pounds.

Selfie Time! Me on Wear Red Day – Heart Health Month.

Since I turned the big 5-0 this past September, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how I want to live the rest of my life. I am making a lot of changes starting with what I call ‘eating the rainbow’.

Let me ‘splain.

I know there are only two ways to lose weight and they are diet and exercise. Eating the rainbow makes the diet part fun for me and also makes it easier for me to make heart healthy choices. My goal? To eat very little white (sorry white) and eat at least 4 different colors of the rainbow each day. Ever since I made this choice I’ve felt better and lost a little weight.

First I make sure that I have a wide variety of color choices in the house –

• Red – strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, red peppers, cranberries, pomegranates, beets
• Pink – grapefruit, pickled red onions
• Orange – oranges, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash, salmon, carrots
• Green – LOTS of choices here from leafy greens to broccoli, kiwi, asparagus, green beans, grapes, cucumbers
• Blue – blueberries, blackberries
• Brown – organic whole wheat bread, brown rice
• Yellow – bananas, lemons, corn, pineapple, yellow peppers

I could go on but the point is that when I make a priority of having a lot of variety in my diet I tend to make better choices and that’s good for me and my heart. I’ll keep you posted about my progress and share my colorful recipes.