Just Follow the Colors:
The color “code” of a food can give some indication as to whether or not a food is close to, or far from, its original form. It’s no secret that the closer a food is to its purest form, the more natural and better it is for your body. Therefore, when selecting foods to eat it is very important to determine how much a food has been processed. The following breakdown describes the color coding of common food groups.
Green:
- Whole Grain Foods (at most meals)
- Plant Oils (olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, peanut, vegetable)
- Vegetables (in abundance)
- Fruits (2-3x a day)
- Nuts, Legumes (1-3x a day)
Yellow:
- Fish, Poultry, Eggs (0-2x a day)
- Dairy or Calcium supplement (1-2x a day)
Red:
- Red meat
- Butter
- White Rice
- White Bread
- Potatoes
- Pasta
- Sweets
Green= You’re Eating Healthy!
Green foods are the best and should be the primary source of dietary intake. Aside from the obvious fresh produce, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, other healthy foods include: vegetable pizza, many frozen foods, canned foods and well-rounded foods such as vegetable stir-fry. Green foods are not only low in saturated and trans-fats, but also relatively low in calories compared to yellow and red foods. Green foods should be eaten every day!
Yellow= Exercise Caution!
Yellow foods are the intermediary between a very healthy and a relatively unhealthy diet. Although these foods are healthier than the red coded foods, they are still not as healthy as the green foods. Yellow foods should be eaten in proportion.
Red= Watch Out!
Red colored foods are considered the least healthy within a food category. These foods usually contain a lot of sodium, trans-fats, saturated fat, refined flour, sugars, or a lot of additional processing. Unfortunately for the American consumer, red coded foods are the most popular grocery store foods…which may be a partial explanation for the increasing obesity rates! Red coded foods are fine in small proportion, but make sure to balance your meals with plenty of green coded foods.
Top 10 Brands with the Most Green Foods:
- Barilla
- Bird’s Eye
- Dannon
- Del Monte
- Dole
- Green Giant
- Hunt’s
- Minute Maid/Tropicana
- Progresso
- Ragu
Top 10 Brands with the Most Red Foods:
- Betty Crocker
- Campbell’s
- Dreyer’s/Edy’s
- Entenmann’s
- General Mills
- Kelloggs
- Kraft
- Nabisco
- Pillsbury
- Stouffer’s