List of Fruits and Vegetables
for Amazing Energy and Health

Fiber from fruits and vegetables helps fill you up so don't feel like eating more, and it also helps move the digestive process along. Of course, these foods are also full of vitamins and minerals that provide your body with energy.

Most people eat too few on this list of fruits and vegetables, both in quantity a day and in variety. The most consumed vegetables in America are potatoes, lettuce, and tomatoes. The people who eat the most vegetables and fruits in the USA have the lowest risk for chronic diseases.

Also, those people are less likely to need vitamins and supplements to have a healthy diet since the vegetables and fruits provide all the nutrition they need.

The list of fruits and vegetables shows the phytochemicals, which are chemicals that come from plants and provide color to the food. There are more than 12,000 phytochemicals in nature, and eating fruits and vegetables, rather than using supplements, is the best way to make sure you are getting enough of them in your diet. Each color food has a different type of phytochemical that helps your immune system function properly.

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Check out this list of super foods, fruits and vegetables that are packed with tons of nutrients.

We are going to use the rainbow's help to show the benefits of nature's foods. Since the same chemical gives the food its color, typically the foods of that color have many of the same healthful components.

You will notice that some of the benefits and some of the colors overlap, so don't be too stringent on getting one of each color. Just eat a great variety. Also, fruits and vegetables do not have just one vitamin, as we commonly believe. They are a mix of several vitamins and minerals.

Red Fruits and Vegetables

The phytochemicals in red foods are carotenoids and anthocyanins. One of the most abundant carotenoid is lycopene. Lycopene helps reduce damage from free radicals in your body and it also prevents heart disease, cancer, prostrate problems, and reduces the skin damage from the sun. These red foods help memory function, urinary tract health, and makes your heart healthy.

Learn more about the health benefits of tomatoes, the benefits of apples, and the benefits of strawberries, and even the benefits of vinegar, a byproduct of red fruits. My favorite is raw apple cider vinegar.

Carotenoids are the powerful phytochemical in orange foods, and they are what give the foods their color. Carotenoids repair DNA and help prevent cancer and heart disease, as well as strengthening our vision. These orange foods also give us the right amount of vitamin A, which keeps our eyes and skin healthy, and protects against infections. They are also known to boost the immune system. Some of these also cross over with the health benefits of the yellow foods below.

Learn more about the amazing, packed with nutrients pumpkin nutrition and the health benefits of carrots.

Yellow foods are high in antioxidants like vitamin C. Vitamin C keeps our teeth and gums healthy, helps to heal cuts, improves the mucus membranes (like when we have colds), helps to absorb iron, prevents inflammation, improves circulation, and therefore prevents heart disease. Some of the darker ones also cross over with the health benefits of orange foods.

Learn more about the health benefits of bananas.

These foods have the phytochemicals sulforaphane and indoles, which both prevent cancer. They are also good for the circulatory system and have good vitamin B and minerals. On this list of fruits and vegetables, green foods also help with vision, and with maintaining strong bones and teeth. Some of the yellower green vegetables have carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin that help to prevent cataracts and eye disease, as well as osteoporosis.

You can also learn about:

• The health benefits of seaweed
• My favorite green with kale nutrition
• The notorious health benefits of broccoli
• The creamy, velvety, delicious benefits of avocado

The strong phytochemical in these whitish/greenish vegetables is called allicin, and it is an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral chemical. Some white foods prevent cancer and heart disease, and lower cholesterol levels. Celery is often dubbed as a useless vegetable because it has no calories, but it does have minerals like good sodium that help keep the joints healthy. The selenium in mushrooms helps prevent cancer and keeps your body in balance.

Everything on this greenish/white list of fruits and vegetables helps maintain low cholesterol levels in your body as well as a healthy heart.

Read about the garlic health benefits here.

The blue, indigo, and violet list of fruits and vegetables are great for their anti-aging properties. These foods have tons of antioxidants, which are called anthocyanins and phenolics. They help improve circulation and prevent blood clots, so they are great for the heart and can help prevent heart disease. They are also known to help memory function and urinary tract health and to reduce free radical damage.

An especially healthful fruit in the blue group is the blueberry; learn about the health benefits of blueberries.

Here's a great chart that outlines the phytochemicals in each of the food color categories.

Sources of Phytochemicals from dcp.psc.gov/ccbulletin/images/foodchart.gif

I hope you've enjoyed our list of fruits and vegetables.

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