Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana?

The nutritional magic of orange foods

“Knock knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Orange!”

“Orange, who?”

“Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?!”

For whatever reason, the idea that humans need to eat nutrient-rich, whole, fresh, delicious foods in order to feel healthy and happy is a hard sell in America.

Maybe because of the relentless advertising, courtesy of multi-billion dollar processed food companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, that we’re bombarded with nearly every minute of every day?

Or maybe because Big Pharma and Big Medicine want to keep us fat, sick, and nearly dead so they can sell us pharmaceuticals to reverse our lifestyle-induced health woes?

But, just like a car engine needs the right kind of gas to run optimally, we humans need to eat the right kind of food to optimize our health and well-being.

You know that.

I know that.

But knowing it and doing it are two different things.

Eat fresh foods

The best foods for our bodies and are brains are the freshest, made in our own kitchens instead of in industrial plants.

And eating should also bring us joy.

As a friend once said to me years ago, it’s no good to cram “healthy” food down our gullets, while we’re scowling by the sink, feeling anxious about work, our kids, or the latest deadly bacterial infections (shigellosis, anyone? Listeria?).

It’s also no good to stress about eating.

If we prepare a beautiful meal but resent cooking it, obsessing about the mess we’re making in the kitchen, and feeling sure that our efforts will go unappreciated, we aren’t really nourishing our bodies or our minds.

Which brings us to why I love eating bright orange vegetables, fruits, and fungi and I think you should try eating them too.

Why eat orange foods?

Colorful fruits and vegetables are full of cancer-busting phytonutrients, energy-enhancing vitamins, and essential trace minerals.

They’re also easy-to-prepare and oh-so-tasty.

Unlike green leafy vegetables, orange foods usually aren’t bitter.

Like green leafy vegetables, eating orange veggies on a daily basis will help you move your bowels, improve your digestion, have more energy, and feel more vibrant.

So, my dears, squeeze yourself a cuppa fresh organic orange juice and grab an orange pepper out of the fridge.

Go ahead.

I’ll wait.

Now take a nice big bite of that crunchy orange pepper while I tell you more about these foods and why you should eat them.

Orange vegetables

Acorn squash
Butternut squash
Carrots
Chanterelle mushrooms (granted, mushrooms are fungi, but don’t tell anyone)
Kabocha squash
Orange peppers
Orange tomatoes
Pumpkin
Saffron
Sweet potatoes
Turmeric

Orange fruits

Apricots
Cantaloupe
Crenshaw melon
Guavas (okay, maybe these are pink. Shut up.)
Kumquats
Loquats
Mandarins
Mangos
Minneola tangelos
Nectarines
Orange honeydew
Oranges
Papayas
Peaches
Persimmons
Physalis (nope, I’ve never had one of these either, but my Australian readers have)
Tangerines

Crazy about carotene

Most of these vegetables and fruits are high in carotene, the yellow-orange pigment that gives them their bright orange coloring.

Carotene is one of a group of orange, red, and yellow pigments called carotenoids that are made by plants, animals, and even fungi.

For the most part, the deeper the orange hue of the food, the higher the carotene content. 

Um. Why do we want to eat foods high in carotene?

In the liver, our bodies convert this hydrocarbon made by plants into vitamin A.

You learned in grade school that vitamin A helps maintain good eye sight.

You may not have learned that carotenoids are also responsible for helping the growth and repair of epithelial tissue (the tissue lining your mouth and intestines), bones, and teeth.

They also help maintain healthy skin and prevent acne, which is why so many people report seeing their acne improve when they start eating a more whole-food, plant-based diet.

In addition, carotenoids in general and vitamin A in particular support a healthy immune response by aiding mucous membranes in secreting mucous to keep them moist and healthy.

In fact, carotenoids are crucial in helping protect against colds, flus, and infections of the kidneys, lungs, bladder, and mucous membranes.

But that ain’t all, Doc.

Carotenoids also aid in digestion and preventing gastrointestinal ulcers.

Your body’s natural vitamin A also functions as an antioxidant, which means that it helps the body get rid of harmful agents (called free radicals) that are generated during the metabolism of fatty foods.

It’s not just the carotenoids

And we should all be eating lots of orange foods for more than just the carotenoids.

Orange foods are often high in vitamin C, antioxidants, and micronutrients.

Fighting macular degeneration with orange foods

According to a 1998 study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, orange vegetables can help adults avoid macular degeneration, an eye disease that can lead to partial or total blindness.

In that study, researchers from the University of Heidelberg Medical School in Germany found that vegetables like orange peppers and corn contain high quantities of two antioxidants—lutein and zeaxanthin—that help the body fight against the disintegration of the macula (part of the retina at the back of the eye).

That study found that orange peppers were especially high in zeaxanthin and orange citrus fruits and squashes also contained high levels of both lutein and zeaxanthin.

Protection against cancer

Consuming a variety of orange vegetables and fruits may also protect you against getting cancer.

According to a 1986 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, men in New Jersey who said they ate the highest portions of dark yellow and orange fruits and vegetables had the lowest incidents of lung cancer.

“Consumption of dark yellow-orange vegetables was consistently more predictive of reduced risk than consumption of any other food group or the total carotenoid index, possibly because of the high content of beta-carotene relative to other carotenoids in this particular food group,” the scientists wrote.

More recently, a 2013 meta-analysis by scientists in China found that higher intake of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, lycopene, and zeaxanthin reduced the risk of esophageal cancer.

Similarly, in a 2015 review in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers in Italy found that intake of carotenoids “act protectively” to reduce the risk of head and neck cancers.

A 2013 systematic review from Korean has also linked higher citrus consumption with lowered risk of breast cancer.

Your daily dose of orange

Holistic doctors say that eating raw vegetables and fruits, especially local produce that is freshly picked and organically grown without the use of harmful pesticides or herbicides, is the best way to maximize their nutrient and fiber content.

You can also add to your daily dose of orange vegetables by using puréed canned pumpkin to make pumpkin bread or pumpkin cookies, or adding ground turmeric to a morning smoothie, homemade salad dressing, or any cooked food that needs a little extra spice.

Five fun ways to eat fresh, healthy, yummy orange foods in the next five minutes (or so)

1. Slice some peppers: A veggie plate with orange, yellow, red, green, and purple peppers is always a crowd pleaser. Serve with your favorite dip (like spinach hummus) to make it extra healthy and delish.
   

2. Host a citrus taste-off: Impromptu blind taste tests are fun for kids and grown-ups alike. When my kids were little, we would do blind taste tests with different kinds of apples and varieties of tomatoes. Orange foods, especially citrus fruits, work perfectly for this. Cut up different kinds of lemons and oranges and pop little pieces in their mouths while they have their eyes shut so they can see if they can tell the varieties of fruit apart. They’ll have so much fun figuring out which is a Meyer lemon and which a regular lemon that they won’t even realize they’re eating “healthy” food.
   

3. Roast a sweet potato: Cut a sweet potato in half lengthwise and put it cut-side down in an ungreased baking pan. Roast at 425 for 20 to 25 minutes or until soft and fragrant. You can pick this up and eat it with your hands like a sub sandwich, using the skin as a wrapper. Or drizzle with olive oil and enjoy with a knife and fork. The skin is edible, as long as the sweet potatoes were grown organically.
   

4. Whip up some butternut squash soup: Roasted butternut squash, sweet potato, and carrot soup is a delight. This soup freezes well, so you can double or triple the recipe and re-heat it at your convenience.
   

5. Make orange busy rice: I love sautéing lots of chopped vegetables and cooking them with in two cups of broth and a cup of rice. I call this staple in our family “busy rice.”
   
   To make orange busy rice: sauté half a cup of chopped or minced carrots and orange peppers with half a chopped onion and two cloves of chopped garlic until all the vegetables soften. Season with salt and pepper, along with a teaspoon or more of paprika and turmeric and a pinch of saffron.
   
   Add 2 cups of broth and 1 cup of white rice. Cook this rice according to the directions on the package (usually 15 to 20 minutes). Taste to adjust seasonings. Serve piping hot. Add garbanzo or great northern beans to make it a complete protein.

Related articles:

The Best, Healthiest Cornbread Recipe Ever
Healthy, Yummy Desserts (For Real)
Delicious Orange Cake

About the author:

Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning science journalist. She’s been a contributing writer at The Epoch Times and produced audio features for Jefferson Public Radio. Her work has been published in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and on the cover of Smithsonian magazine. She is the author of Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family (2015), and co-author, with Paul Thomas, M.D., of two books: the No.1 Amazon bestseller, The Vaccine-Friendly Plan (2016), and The Addiction Spectrum (2018). A different version of this article first appeared in the Epoch Times. Support healthy eating, independent journalism, and medical freedom by becoming a free or paid subscriber to Vibrant Life today.