How to Build an Easy Rainbow Salad: A Guide

Salad is enjoying a moment in the sun. It takes just a single scroll through social media to see the number of recipes that have proliferated across the internet, with many attempting to replicate fads, celebrity favourites or ‘cheat meals’ within salad form.

While we’re big fans of anything that encourages a sustainable and healthy diet, the wide range of recipe options can actually make it more difficult to find one that suits your daily needs. Rather than reaching for the fancy croutons, we advise finding a go-to salad recipe that allows you to ‘eat the rainbow’. This method ensures you’re getting all the benefits of many different nutrients within your daily diet, all delivered within a humble (and repeatable!) salad.

If you’re new to eating the rainbow and you’re on the hunt for the easiest way to do so, we’ve got an approach that’ll work wonders.

 

Why it’s important to eat the rainbow

Eating the rainbow refers to eating a variety of fruits and vegetables in different colours. It’s a simple way to approach our nutritional needs, providing a great foundation for an ongoing healthy diet.

As each natural colour of fruits and vegetables offers varying nutrients and antioxidants, it’s important to build this variety into your daily intake. These nutrients play key roles in supporting different bodily functions. When our diet is high in one particular colour and low in another, there’s a stronger chance you’re missing out on core nutrients that could have a significant impact on your body’s ability to function.

These nutrients include:

• Lycopene (found in red fruits and vegetables) – this has been linked to reduction in the risk of certain types of cancers
• Beta-carotene and Vitamin C (found in yellow and orange fruits and vegetables) – these nutrients are crucial to the protection of our skin and vision 
• Vitamin K (found in green fruits and vegetables) – this vitamin contributes to necessary blood clotting and bone health
• Anthocyanins (found in blue and purple fruits and vegetables) – these antioxidants actively help to reduce inflammation and improve brain health
• Vitamin B and potassium (found in white fruits and vegetables) – these compounds can support the healthy function of the immune system and provide protection against some forms of cancer

 

The building blocks of a great salad

As with any other routine recipe, it’s important to find what works for you. This may look less like the fancy version on Pinterest and more like a thrown-together meal from fridge leftovers, but remember: salad doesn’t have to be pretty in order for it to deliver ample benefits to our health!

By thinking about a great salad as a series of building blocks rather than a set recipe, you can eat in a flexible, seasonal way. This can lead to time and cost savings by embracing what’s accessible rather than a firm list of pre-set ingredients.

Here’s how our nutritionist Hayley recommends establishing the building blocks of your go-to rainbow salad.

 

Start with a green base

Most salads will begin with some form of green base before other colours are introduced. Reach for:

• Baby spinach
• Mixed leaves
• Rocket
• Avocado
• Cucumber
• Snow peas
• Herbs (such as dill, parsley, coriander, thyme, oregano etc.)

When people think of salad as ‘boring’, they often forget about the power of herbs. Experimenting with different combinations can help you to find the herbs that add the most flavour to your meals with a single ingredient.

 

Throw in a touch of red

Red fruits and vegetables pack in plenty of flavour and are a fantastic addition to every salad. Capsicums, tomatoes, red onions, radishes and red cabbage are all strong contenders for your consideration.

If you’d like to create a summer salad with a twist, watermelon can be a beautiful flavour addition. Fresh red chillies can also kick up the intensity of a salad in an instant.

 

Move to the yellow and orange food groups

Next, it’s time to introduce some yellow and orange fruits and vegetables. Again, there’s a wide range of options here, including:

• Sweet potatoes
• Carrots
• Pumpkins
• Lemons
• Yellow capsicums
• Corn

Many of these vegetables work well in roasted form and can be easily prepped at the start of the week to make a great salad addition.

 

Look for blue, black and purple options

Blue, black and purple fruits and vegetables often bring unique flavour profiles. If you’re stuck on how to shake up a salad, changing out these ingredients can be an easy way to find a new flavour combination.

Reach for:

• Purple cabbage
• Beetroot
• Purple onion
• Olives
• Eggplants
• Purple cauliflower
• Purple carrots

 

Bringing it all together

Now for the fun part – mixing all the colours together!

By including an ingredient from each colour, you can easily support your daily health and wellbeing with the nutrients necessary for the best function. 

It can also be fun to set a challenge for your family, competing to see how many different colours they can include in each meal. By taking a photo of each dish, you can keep up some friendly competition in a text chain (and a great reminder to look for colourful food options throughout the day!).

 

Building a rainbow salad that accommodates food intolerances/allergies

Many of us may need to build our meals to fit within certain diet limitations. Thankfully, creating a rainbow salad when following a gluten-free, vegetarian or lactose-free diet is a simple process.

Alongside your raw and cooked fruits and vegetables, you can include gluten-free and vegetarian protein sources to build a complete meal. Beans, lentils, tofu and eggs are all fantastic additions to a rainbow salad. By opting to include nuts and seeds, you can also build in more sources of healthy fats (as well as a lovely, crunchy texture).

There are numerous recipes for salad dressings that remain safe for all kinds of dietary requirements – we recommend the humble combination of olive oil, lemon juice and dijon mustard as a great way to kick off your quest. 

 

Healthy eating during menopause

While menopause brings many symptoms and disruptions, a simple rainbow salad can be a powerful tool in maximising your health and reducing its impact on a daily basis. 

By eating a wide range of necessary nutrients, you can support your body through the physical changes menopause brings. Learn more about treatment options for menopause via our email newsletter.