Red Rhubarb Promotes Good Health

by Darlene V.
(Ontario, Canada)

Red rhubarb promotes good health and actually has a place on the nutritional color-wheel encouraging overall healthy eating.

Our bodies need a variety of nutritional elements to function properly. We don't want to get sick, we don't want to feel tired all of the time and we want to maintain good energy levels on a daily basis. We want to be equipped to fight disease as best we can too, don't we?

This nutrition comes in many forms such as fiber, materials from plants, vitamins, and antioxidants. By
following a healthy diet plan, all of these necessary elements can be consumed fairly consistently.

If you want to be on track for a healthier lifestyle, think about the foods that you eat and then fit all of the foods into a type of color wheel. Try to eat consistently from these food sources during the week, and you'll be eating well enough and properly enough to cover the categories listed.

You won't be able to eat everything that needs to be covered in one day. That would be a little much and it would be an awfully boring way to eat.

What makes it all make sense, is that these food sources fall into color groups and each group contributes to better health for a variety of similar conditions.

Red rhubarb promotes good health by being considered a "red" because of its' general color and falls into the "red group" of foods that promotes good health for the heart among other things.

The American Dietetic Association has taken notice and listed how to define these colorful groups and identify the nutritional benefits associated with them. Many of the groups share the same attributes in that they help promote the same health benefits as other color groups.

What if you don't have a taste for a specific food?

The color wheel gives you a list of food choices you can make for yourself and you can get the nutritional benefit from a different type of food each day if you want to.

Green Food Group - For better vision, reducing cancer risks: Asparagus, kiwi, limes, grapes, honeydew, broccoli, green beans, leafy green vegetables like spinach; melons, avocados, apples, green grapes


Yellow Food Group For Oils - Provides Vitamin E, fatty acids for promotion of stronger immunity and good eyesight.

Recommendation: use lightly because of calories per tablespoon: Walnut, soybean, olive, peanut, corn, sunflower, canola

Deep Yellow - Orange Food Group - Reduces some cancer risks, promotes immunity and good vision - Sweet potatoes, corn, yellow peppers, pineapples, peaches, mangos, grapefruit, cantaloupe, carrots, papaya, apricots

Red Food Group - Reduced Risk of Cancer, Promotes healthy vision, healthy heart maintenance, strong immune system - Red and pink grapefruit, beets, red onions, tomatoes, watermelon, red peppers, and rhubarb.

Why does red rhubarb promote good health? Fact is, it has been used by the Chinese for thousands of years and seen as having tremendous health-related benefits in many areas.

Researchers remain quite intrigued by rhubarb and some of the mysterious properties it seems to hold. It's been linked to menopause, acid indigestion to name a few as a dietary aid. Though cooked rhubarb seems to produce an increase in antioxidants, one would be hard-pressed to say it's a "cure" for cancer. That isn't the case, but certainly been looked at as well.

Blue and Purple Food Group - May contain antioxidants that help to reduce cancer risks and promote increased levels of memory and a healthy urinary tract. Choose from plums, raisins, purple cabbage, eggplant, blueberries or blackberries.

Included in the purple color wheel are high protein sources from nuts, eggs, lean meats, skinless poultry and beans. Fish as well may reduce arthritic inflammation and risk for heart disease. Great sources are mackerel, salmon and tuna.

Fat free and low fat dairy are connected with the blue food group. Low fat cheese, milk and yogurt are good sources of Vitamin D, and calcium for strong bones.

The grains and fibers belong with the brown and white vegetables and fruit groups. They are thought to contribute to reducing of cancer risks and promoting a healthy heart much the same way red rhubarb promotes good health. Foods to choose from include dates, cauliflower, turnips, mushrooms, bananas, pears, onions, potatoes, cereals, pasta, brown rice and whole grain breads.

If you've ever thought of rhubarb as an empty food source with no value, rhubarb really isn't a food to dismiss.