Color: More Than Meets the Eye

~ This article first appeared in the Leader Vindicator newspaper. ~

We’ve all heard that flowers feature bright colors to attract pollinators, thus ensuring mutual survival of plant and insect.  This relationship is our default answer to the unasked question “Why do plants have color?”

People are smart enough that we don’t use vegetative pigmentation to lead us around like a bug.  When it comes time to formulate a diet we use science, not color attractants.

Our method fails to acknowledge a critical reality.  Life, the most frugal and efficient system on earth, expends extraordinary effort to create a spectrum of colors so that human beings, borne from this same earth, can…look?  No.  There is more to the color than meets the eye.

Consider these few examples:

Green is Chlorophyll, which increases red blood cells, aids clotting / wound healing, is loaded with antioxidants, reduces cancer risk via natural cell death, strengthens immune systems, heals arthritis / fibromyalgia, and has anti-ageing properties.

Deep Red / Blue / Purple/ Magenta are Flavonoids that reduce free radical damage to cells, directly support organ systems, protect LDL cholesterol, and increase strength and integrity of blood vessel walls.

Yellow / Orange are Carotenoids that promote healthy eyesight, prevent skin damage, prevent damage from UV light, ward off common infections, illnesses, and diseases, including cancer, and they enhance immune systems.

This is just the tip of the iceberg; mull over the spectrum of color we see in vegetation.  Colors correlate with healing nutrients. 

Modern existence is a tale of trying to stay healthy: I try to exercise; I try to manage blood pressure; I try to lose weight.  It’s hard to continuously try.  Most people fail.  The pharmaceutical industry is astoundingly huge and unchecked as a result.

Now consider this: Animals don’t try.  Assuming their environment is not corrupted by ignorance or mismanagement, they remain in peak condition.  Is that not an astounding revelation when compared to humans’ futile approach?

The obvious question is how are they doing it?

Animals respond to dietary needs instead of actively trying to prevent them.  When an animal experiences a malady, it will crave foods that its body needs and alter its diet to include nutrients that will heal the symptoms.  When the deficiency is cleared up, the diet returns to normal.

People, on the other hand, proactively try to prevent deficiency by supplementing foods.  I can slurp down fortified orange juice and get a vitamin C boost.  A plethora of ‘fruit’ drinks supply various B vitamins.  Scurvy and pellagra are squelched, and so is the craving for fruits and vegetables.  People are satisfied by huge quantities of sugar calories instead of the rich array of phytochemicals present in the foods we need to ward off disease. 

Dietary supplementation coupled with food abundance is hitting us with a double-whammy:  First, supplements turn off our ability to self-regulate.  When we supplement, we mask natural desire to eat the bouquet of food.  Palates are desensitized to stronger flavors of nutrient rich food, and people reject variety.  We no longer associate feeling better with food consumption.  This phenomenon is more prevalent in developed countries than developing worlds.

Second, the plants we eat don’t contain the same level of nutrition as they once did.  When we select for perfect sweet corn, we’re selecting against phytochemical richness.  Eating a carrot today is not the same nutritionally as eating a carrot 100 years ago because today every carrot is genetically identical.  We’ve created better looking crops, but eliminated variety: 90% of the global food supply hinges on 15 species of plants.  In summary, we’re eating a very limited assortment of plants that are watered down in the nutrition department. 

Gordon Hazard, a southern veterinarian and well respected cattleman, recounts a scenario that spotlights the folly of supplementation in place of dietary variety.  A farmer was facing extreme losses in his herd, and the cause was discovered to be nutrient deficiency in combination with nutrient overload.  The animals, in an attempt to remedy their deficiency of one nutrient, gorged on the supplemental mineral mix that was provided in place of quality pasture.  As a result, they over-consumed a separate nutrient that overloaded their system and killed them.   This was a scientifically formulated mineral supplement provided by a trusted name in animal health.

The same thing is happening to people, but the symptoms are chronic, not acute.  To get back on track with absolute health, we must start paying attention to the colors and not the label.  Colors are a clear indication of what we’re eating; they make it easy to eat a diverse diet that is balanced and phytochemically rich.  I want to walk through the garden and select from hundreds of species what I need to eat just for the day, simply by intuition.  More specifically, I want my son to possess that ability so he has a chance at a great life. In order for such a lifestyle to be normal for him, I have to learn it myself today.  You should, too.

Stop trying to follow the rules and start living just as you need to. Purge supplements from your routine. Look at the colors of your food. Reflect on what you eat. React to how that makes you feel. Delight in the bouquet, friends. That’s what life is all about.