My favorite color as a child was purple. Everything...from backpacks, to lunch boxes, to my jellies sandals, was some shade of purple royalty. But purple foods as a child, forget it. I was an eater of anything and everything white (scoffing at my child-self as I write this): angel hair pasta, parmesan cheese, butter, smart food popcorn, white pizza, vanilla ice cream, clear gummy bears, you name it. Fast forward 20 years and it's a complete flip. Just about everything I choose in my material life is either white, or black (boring, I know). Yet, my foods, are LOADED with this majestic purple. Now that color in food, is beauty. And power.
Not only are these shades simply pretty to look at on a plate, it is scientifically-proven that the darker the shade, the higher the antioxidant level. Thus, dark foods with this glorious purple pigment, such as blackberries, grapes, purple figs, purple onions, cabbage, lavender and purple basil have amazing healing powers.
One of the primary antioxidants in purple produce is the flavanoids, more specifically, Resveratrol, which helps decrease inflammation, relax the arterial walls, increases circulation and leads to decreased blood pressure.
Purple foods also kill cancer cells. And that even includes red wine (whaaaaaaat?!). And to add to that, turmeric, which has curcumin in it, seems to boost this cancer cell fighting activity. So when having your next curry dish, here's your excuse to have that glass of red wine with dinner.
Blueberries have anthocyanins in them which are excellent for your liver, BUT, black/purple rice, has more per gram than the blueberries. This boost can help reduce damage to the liver incurred from excess alcohol intake. Pass the purple grains, por favor. (curry with purple rice and your glass of red wine, perhaps?)
And to get even more anthocyanin than blueberries AND black rice, we pass the black currants and bilberries to help reduce LDL (the bad) cholesterol and increase HDL (the good) cholesterol.
And let's not forget to mention that these little purple powerhouses make you look and feel younger and help you relaaaaax. On goes the lavender eye mask.
Vegetables: purple cabbage, eggplant, purple potatoes, purple peppers, purple onions
Fruits: blackberries, grapes, prunes, plums, figs
Plants: lavendar and purple basil
*the purple basil in this photo above has super high doses of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Calcium and is great for your skin, eyes and hair. This just makes it that much easier to put purple on our plate.
