Photo by Jannis Brandt via Uplash.

If you’re anything like me, you might find it easy to fall into a boring and redundant dietary routine. Personally, I love trying new foods, but I often only think to do so when dining out or traveling—neither of which I do frequently as a full-time student with a full-time job. It was only after I read a Healthline article describing the benefits of “eating the rainbow” that I truly realized how dull and colorless my diet had become. Since my realization, adding more diversity to my dietary selection has brought on a number of benefits I’m eager to share with you in this article!

A colorful diet comes with health benefits:

Did you know that diversity in vitamins and minerals is correlated with the color of your food? While eating fruits and vegetables is commonly understood as the ideal strategy to maximize vitamin intake, slimming down your color selection can deprive you of nutrients you might not be getting anywhere else. Here are a few key insights to keep in mind when selecting your produce, courtesy of Healthline:

Red produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, may help lower risk of heart disease and certain cancers and may help reduce sun-related skin damage. 

Yellow and orange produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, supports eye health and may help lower risk of heart disease and cancer. 

Green produce is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant; cruciferous veggies in particular may help lower risk of cancer and heart disease. 

Blue and purple produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, may help improve brain function and may help lower risk of heart disease, neurological disorders, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

Dark red produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, may help support athletic performance through increased oxygen uptake, may help lower risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and certain cancers

White and brown produce is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and may help lower risk of heart disease, colon cancer and other cancers.

According to the National Library of Medicine, a diet containing a vast selection of colorful biolative pigments in fruits and vegetables is linked to positive health outcomes regarding body weight, lipid profile, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, mortality, type 2 diabetes and cancer. 

A colorful diet encourages you to try new foods:

After beginning to practice mindfulness in my diet’s color palette, I quickly noticed that I rarely eat blue or purple foods. As someone who prefers savory foods and saving money, solving this problem with an excess amount of blueberries and blackberries did not seem feasible. As an alternative, I’ve discovered that I really enjoy beet kraut as a sandwich topping along with my usual sauerkraut!

Likewise, yellow and orange foods rarely make their way onto my dinner plate, which encouraged me to recently try yams for the first time. My family wasn’t very fond of sweet vegetables, so foods like sweet potatoes and pumpkins were a rarity. Now, I have been making yam and tofu bowls as part of my regular meal prep—which has become one of my favorite things to eat.

From regional, in-season produce to exotic fruits you didn’t know existed, there are very few limits in selection thanks to the wonders of modern agriculture. You might as well take advantage! What foods do you think you might be missing out on?

A colorful diet promotes well-being:

While subjective, it has been my experience that visually appealing meals make my life feel less bland and more vibrant. The enchantment of a colorful selection of food brings positivity into my life at every step of the process, whether at the grocery store surrounded by a vivid selection or at home preparing my plate with a sense of elation. Pair this appreciation for edible radiance with the sense of adventure and tangible health benefits as mentioned earlier and the result is a profound sense of holistic well-being.

Final thoughts:

Each time I prepare a meal, I now challenge myself to incorporate every color of the rainbow. Doing so has helped me find a new sense of both creativity and balance within my diet. If you find yourself lacking proper nutrients, void of fresh inspiration, or simply feeling bored and underwhelmed with your diet or surroundings, perhaps introducing some color into your diet is the change in pace you didn’t know you were looking for! 

If you’ve been noticing lots of rainbow art on social media – or your neighbors’ porches – it’s not your imagination. In the wake of COVID-19, a movement known as the “rainbow hunt” has taken off. 

The movement is simple. Kids and families paint rainbow pictures to hang in the windows, add rainbow sticky notes to their front doors or even decorate the sidewalks with rainbow chalk. Then, families are encouraged to take their kids on “rainbow hunts” while maintaining CDC-recommended social distancing measures to spot out the colorful designs. Facebook groups, such as 518 Rainbow Hunt, are filled with posts of children going on rainbow hunts. Some Facebook groups even include a place for people moved by the artwork to donate to essential workers. However, the main purpose of the rainbow hunt is to provide a fun activity for kids cooped up at home. 

“The greater the storm, the brighter the rainbow,” says 518 Rainbow Hunt’s Facebook. 

The idea that after the pandemic passes a future as joyful as a rainbow is a very comforting thought, but where did the symbolic meaning of rainbows originate? 

The answer is that rainbows have many different meanings for many different groups of people. For Christian communities, the rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant. According to the book of Genesis in The Bible, God sends a rainbow after a 40-day flood. God says that the rainbow will reappear throughout time as a reminder of God’s protection of the people. This is why many Christians see rainbows as a symbol of hope and safety – two things that we all are in search of during this pandemic. 

Another group who the rainbow has great significance to is the LGBTQ+ community. The first rainbow flag was created by Gilbert Baker, a gay rights activist and veteran from Chanute, Kansas. Baker designed the flag in 1978 for a gay pride parade in San Francisco. The original flag included eight colors, each representing something different. Red was for life, orange for healing, green represented nature, purple was for spirit, blue demonstrated peace, yellow was for sun, pink symbolized sex and turquoise stood for magic. Parade-goers were drawn to the brightly colored flag and immediately adopted it as a symbol for LGBTQ+ rights. 

After the marriage equality ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015, the White House was lit up in rainbow colors to celebrate the landmark case. Some conservative Christians claimed that this was the LGBTQ+ community “stealing” the rainbow from the Christian community. 

“One day, the rainbow will no longer be misused by sinners to boast in their sin.  The rainbow will be reserved for the glory of God alone when Christ returns and makes all things new,” wrote blogger Josh Boice in a seething article.

However, the rainbow does not belong to one specific group of people or have one specific meaning. It is a part of many communities. It is a weather phenomenon that appears above the heads of us all.

In Greek mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow. She is the messenger between the gods and uses rainbows to draw water up from the ocean and back into the clouds. Irish legends associate rainbows with Leperchuans, ornery mythical creatures who leave pots of gold at the end of rainbows. Of course, a rainbow is an optical illusion, which means it has no end – and no gold. At least, that’s what the Leprechauns would like us to believe.

Today, one cultural connotation with rainbows is that of the “rainbow baby.” A rainbow baby is a baby born after a miscarriage, stillborn or loss of a child. The term has gained popularity amongst influencers and parenting bloggers who focus on infertility. It is meant as a term of encouragement and hope and as a way to deal with the complicated emotions that come for parents who have previously lost a child. 

For many people, the rainbow has great significance as a sign of good things to come. For others, it may be nothing more than the refraction of light through water droplets in the sky. Either way, in times of struggle, it’s good to keep your eyes open for signs of hope. We can all find our own version of a “rainbow hunt.”

Six years ago Kesha entered a brutal lawsuit claiming that Dr. Luke inflicted years of sexual abuse and misconduct on her. When she began her career she signed a contract with his company Kemosabe Music Records. This contract stated that she had to produce a total of seven albums with them before she could drop the label. Ultimately the penal system claimed that there was not enough evidence to press charges on Dr. Luke but that Kemosabe records must drop the original contract and allow the singer to release music without his direct influence.

Kesha’s first two albums painted the picture of a glitter enthused pop star full of potential. In contrast, her new album conveys the true anguish that the singer has endured over the past three years. Her single “Praying” is already top 20 on the Billboard charts. It is a ballad that conveys how she found strength through adversity.

“To this day, I’ve never released a single that’s a true ballad, and I feel like those are the songs that balance out the perception of you, because you can be a fun girl. You can go and have a crazy night out, but you also, as a human being, have vulnerable emotions. You can have love while learning to forgive,” said Kesha.

Her single is a testament to her growth as a human being and artist. It is a culmination of the various musical influences that have inspired her as an artist, including Iggy Pop, T. Rex, Dolly Parton, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, James Brown and Sweet. It ultimately expresses her liberation as a musician and human being.

One of her new songs, “Hunt You Down,” was influenced by the late Johnny Cash. Many fans are awed by her country inspiration, as it varies greatly from the pop hits she released in the past. Another hit from her album, “Learn to Let Go,” explains her maturity and growth from girl to woman, and how facing her demons allowed her to heal as an individual. “Hymn” is for her young fans who are also going through struggles. The lyrics demonstrate the album’s theme of moving forward. This and her single “Praying” were the first songs that she wrote for the album.

She wanted to outline not only the struggle of her legal lawsuit, but the lessons she has learned. The title “Rainbow” demonstrates the colorful spectrum that composes an individual.

“I wanted the title of this album to convey the idea that no one is one dimensional and defined by their past and what has deeply affected them,” she said.

With her lyrics, Kesha brings positivity and a silver lining to the hurt and pain that has plagued her life. She wants her fans to know that no matter the obstacles or challenges, there is always beauty, love and forgiveness. Her album received four out of five stars by Rolling Stones Magazine, and is the ultimate testament to her independence as an artist. As she states in “Praying,” “the best is yet to come.”

Image from Refinery29.