One Small Habit: Eat The Rainbow

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When I graduated from college and first started living and working on my own, eating healthy was not on my radar at all. I was a picky eater, and I was busy! Getting used to all the things that come along with starting life on your own is an eye-opening experience. Now there's a hashtag for it: #adulting

I was adulting pretty well I guess, except for my nutrition. One day I was eating lunch at my desk when a client came in who was a "health nut." [That's what I used to call people who simply care about healthy stuff. I guess I'm in that club now, so the joke is on me. My 22 year old self would be rolling her eyes.] But she taught me something really important, and I've never forgotten it.

She took one look at my lunch and sat down in a chair by my desk. She went on for an hour or so telling me how badly I was eating and how I needed to change my diet. I was exercising several times a week at the time, and was not even close to being overweight, so it caught me off guard.

But she was right. My lunch had zero fruits or veggies in it. It was all white: bread, cheese, turkey, and chips.

She gave me a tip that very day that changed the way I viewed the food on my plate. I've used it ever since. It's so easy that even I couldn't mess it up.

Simply put: eat the rainbow.

The food on your plate should be all sorts of beautiful colors; it shouldn't be completely white or brown. Try to have red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple foods. Think about the produce section at your grocery store and all those pretty colors that fruits and veggies comes in. Your plate needs more of that.

Now think about the foods that are mostly white and brown. Breads, fried foods, processed foods, etc. Eat more fresh stuff, and less processed (packaged) stuff.

Nowadays, this tip is such a mindset for me that I only have white plates because I like to admire the colorful variety on my plate. (Yep. I know that may sound silly, but whatever works.)

Try eating by that rule. Eat more colorful foods and make sure you have a variety of colors. Easiest tip ever. Eat the rainbow.