Purple Reigns

Not to get all elementary school on you, but it’s time to check your colors. Is it possible you’ve been leaning too heavily on the green side of things? While we have zero bad things to say about collards, kale and spinach (we love them all), many of us may have been neglecting foods in other shades of the rainbow. Specifically, think about adding more purple stuff to your diet. Anthocyanins are the color pigments that give foods their deep color, and they’ve also been shown to slow the growth of cancer cells. Below, four easy ways to pack more purple-hued goodness in your diet—from produce your should keep an eye out for, to the newest products on the shelves.

Purple Cabbage: Purple cabbage (also known as red cabbage) is crazy high in vitamin C and can go head-to-head with the almighty kale in terms of nutrient density. Try it in a crisp salad with fennel, orange and pumpkin seeds. As a sweet bonus, cabbage tends to be one of the cheapest foods per pound at the market.

Purple Potatoes: Striking in color, nutty in flavor and native to South America, purple potatoes are becoming easier to find. When a ramen craving hits, reach for Lotus Foods’ gluten-free Purple Potato & Brown Rice Ramen, made with organic, non-GMO rice. For a treat, Clean Plates favorite Jackson’s Honest makes purple heirloom potato chips–four times the antioxidants of white fleshed potatoes–fried in coconut oil.

Purple Rice: To keep things fresh, swap out your brown basmati for a steaming bowl of subtly sweet Thai Sticky Purple Rice (also sometimes referred to as black or Forbidden rice) from Alter Eco.

Purple Corn: Ounce for ounce, purple corn has twice the antioxidant power of blueberries and four times the level of anthocyanins found in blue corn. It also delivers 15 to 20 percent more of the eight essential amino acids found in yellow corn. For your next snacking session, make the simple switch to thin and crispy Late July Organic Purple Corn Tortilla Chips. Breakfast can be wonderfully hued too: Back to the Roots now makes a Purple Corn Flakes Stoneground cereal with organic, non-GMO purple corn from Minnesota, sea salt from the San Francisco Bay and 60 mg of antioxidants per serving.