Wellness in The Workplace with Don Gordon
Here at the OPRA Group we have been enjoying bi-monthly wellness sessions with functional nutritionist and Health Transformation Coach Don Gordon – from Elite Wellness. The knock on effect has been lots more water in the office, fresh lemons in the fridge, Wellness Wednesday Walking and some of us are trying intermittent fasting, but that’s for another time! We’d like to share with you a nutritional concept from Don that we think is easy to follow… Eat A Rainbow!
Eat A Rainbow
We have all heard of the 5-A-Day recommendation from the NHS, however, our health guru Don, supports further recommendations for optimal health with 7-A-Day, including 5 portions of vegetables and 2 portions of fruit.
The more variety of colour the better, but it is interesting to note that there are associations to different coloured food and their properties. It is widely reported that blue/purple coloured food, such as blueberries, have antioxidant qualities but did you know the effect different coloured food has on your mood? Don tells us that Green relaxes, eases stress, Red is energising, Blue can help with depression and pain, Yellow enhances mood, and Orange stimulates appetite and elicits happiness. Think about eating chilli (Red), it’s very stimulating however drinking peppermint tea (Green) is calming.
Fruit
We all love that succulent sweet taste of seasonal fruit, so enjoy it and follow the seasons so you can enjoy variety throughout the year and locally sourced fruit wherever possible. However the recommendation is to keep the sugar levels down for many health benefits, so 2 pieces of fruit per day is sufficient to gain all the benefits and keep risks associated with sugar to a minimum. When choosing fruits look at all the beautiful rainbow colours and mix it up!
Vegetables
Our supermarkets, farmers markets, local shops and outlets are full of a plethora of amazing, rainbow coloured, nutrition packed, powerhouse vegetables! Take advantage, eat seasonally, be inventive, try something new, your body and mind will reap the benefits. Did you know that our humble and well used potato does not count as one of your 7-A-Day, so how about you try a baked sweet potato to add to your daily count. What other switches can you make?
Don has advised us here at OPRA Group, that adding in extra vegetables into our diet can help us improve our microbiome which may positively impact brain, skin, prostate, vascular, eye, heart, and reproductive health, the list goes on, so what’s not to like! Fill up your plate with colour and you could be building your health for the future.