You will agree with me that colour certainly colours up our lives. Just a glance around you will reveal the perfect combination of natural hues in all areas of our lives. Have a quick look outside and you will observe that the aqua blue sky, dotted with the white cottony clouds, blend in beautifully with either the distant purple mountains or the vivid green trees or lemon green of the grass on the rolling hills. Whether it is golden red sunsets with hints of pink, or the turquoise green of the vast seas, the beautiful colours are mesmerising. 

Apart from the obvious benefit of brightening our world and helping us to differentiate between things and phenomenon, is there any other point of colour in nature?

Apparently there is: food comes in all sorts of colours, especially in the numerous vegetables. Purple, which is amazing and uncommon, is actually available in eggplants, cabbages and yams not forgetting the popular onion.  The purple in them is a great cancer preventer and is to be eaten with great gusto.

If you want to have your heart in perfect working condition, then the colour white is the one that you need to include in your diet. White vegetables like sweet potatoes, garlic, mushrooms and cauliflowers ensure that.

Red, yellow and orange colours, as their look suggests, make you well again. They are your wellness colours, if you like, due to the high amount of vitamins in these vegetables. For healing of wounds and prevention of disastrous diseases like cancer, carrots, yellow pumpkin, corn, and pepper are all excellent in these areas. Also the red ones like beetroot, red cabbage are great sources so go ahead and eat goodness.

If you want your iron levels boosted, then green is the colour to look out for. This can be gotten from spinach, broccoli, peas and green beans. Not to forget black; black beans and lentils are loaded with antioxidants that are great in ensuring the proper body state. They are waiting for you to off load them in your body too.

On several occasions we are encouraged to eat healthily but sometimes we may forget what food has what value. What about using colour to plan out meals? Because of the different values present in the various vegetables we can easily colour code our meals for balance and at the same time enjoy the various natural tastes that vegetables offer to us.

Lois Nakibuuka is an educator and counselor

lnakibuuka@yahoo.com