Last weekend I visited my local grocery store and it happened to be sample day! I love the idea of sample day, but this sample day was a huge disappointment to me as a dietitian. This is because the foods were all processed, full of empty calories, or “nutritional.” Well, isn’t a nutritional product a good thing? Sure. But, some of these products claimed to supply all daily nutritional needs in a drink or bar, because vitamins and minerals were added to increase nutritional value. Now, there is nothing wrong with including a few of these specialized products in the diet, but, man cannot subsist on nutritional concoctions alone! Each of us must eat a balanced diet that includes a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, not just one or two foods or drinks that supply only one aspect of the benefits offered by fruits and vegetables.

Fruits and vegetables are nutritious choices because they supply energy, fiber, water, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, a class of thousands of different compounds that benefit the body in ways still not completely identified. Making fruits and vegetables the foundation of the diet, rather than replacing them with nutrition products, packs a greater punch of nutrition in a tasty package. Additionally, each color in the produce aisle, from red to violet, offers a different matrix of nutritive compounds. Thus, eating a rainbow supplies a larger variety of the nutrients found in fruits and vegetables. So the next time it’s sample day at your local store, try sampling one of the store’s powerhouses—a new fruit, vegetable, or color! Perhaps you would like a green or red Anjou pear, golden Bartlett, cinnamon brown Bosc, crimson Starkrimson, or a pear variety that blushes? A nutritional pot of gold is at the end of this rainbow!