Unleash Your Purple

August 24, 2016
Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Award-winning nutritionist and New York Times bestselling author.

Blast belly fat and beyond.

The color purple is often associated with royalty and an elite status, and that certainly holds true today—nutritionally speaking, that is. Foods of this hue have potent health boosting phytonutrient power including supercharging the immune system, revving up brain function, and reducing your likelihood for high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

There’s also massive purple power when it comes to whittling your middle. The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found in a three-year study that purple foods slashed belly fat and inhibited fat absorption. Now that’s news we always like to hear!

Plus, you’ll be delighted to know that the list of foods appearing on this purple-powered list are delicious, too.

Purple Power

The phytonutrient power of purple isn’t limited to a strict shade—the blue- and red-toned varieties also apply. You’re probably familiar with common antioxidant powerhouses like blueberries, acai, and pomegranate.

Other top picks include cabbage, eggplant, grapes, plums, black currants, figs, and blackberries. You might also be surprised at how many purple counterparts there are to some of your favorites veggies that are more common in other colors, including purple asparagus, purple carrots, purple bell peppers, purple cauliflower, and even purple potatoes!

We can’t forget beets, which are full of betaine, a prominent protector of the liver. Betaine also thins the bile and helps it move freely within the bile ducts (healthy bile is a critical component to allow your body to properly utilize slimming fats), and is an incredibly rich dietary source of nitric oxide and antioxidants. While beets aren’t a favorite food for many, I recommend trying grating them and then sprinkling over a salad—you’ll find they’re quite delicious this way.

Classic Cranberry

Of course, then there’s my favorite Fat Flush staple—the courageous cranberry.

Cranberries are rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, C, and E as well as folic acid, boron, calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium, and sulfur—all crucial vitamins and minerals for liver activity, as well as for many other bodily functions. These potent red berries are also vital aids to liver detox because they contain exceedingly high levels of lifesaving antioxidants that provide crucial support for the detox pathways.

Furthermore, their high content of organic acids—such as benzoic, malic, quinic, citric, and ellagic acids—have outstanding therapeutic qualities for many bodily functions. Malic acid, for example, is a potent digestion regulator and helps protect against diarrhea, while ellagic acid has been proven to inhibit the initiator of cancer.

As always, do always opt only for the organic variety—August farmer’s markets are a superb source for veggies and fruits—as produce can be a source of over 25,000 food chemicals. May these purple players delight your taste buds and create an aesthetically pleasing presentation at your dinner table tonight!

Related Articles and Podcasts

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books including The Fat Flush Plan series and her latest book, Radical Metabolism. She’s been rewriting the rules of nutrition for more than 40 years and is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field of diet, detox and women’s health issues. 

For a FREE daily dose of tips and strategies for maintaining healthy weight, conquering insomnia, and much more…check out my Radical Health Tips.

I’d like to meet and greet you on my Facebook groups, so won’t you check us out at the Radical Metabolism RevolutionFat Flush Nation, or my Inner Circle!

10 Comments

  1. Dianna

    Anne Louise
    Do you have concerns about pesticides sliding downhill into the bogs where cranberries are grown, even if they are organic?

    Thanks

    Reply
  2. Ann Louise

    Dianna: Cranberries are so high on the ORAC scale that their storehouse of antioxidants will effectively neutralize any pesticides coming their way.

    Reply
  3. Kathleen

    I love your idea of grating the beets in a salad. I will try that. Good information!

    Reply
  4. Lisa

    Interesting information. Good to know the fancy purple veggies are so good for me! Thanks!

    Reply
  5. Terresa Roden

    Since I’ve been put on warfarin, Cranberry is very limited (amongst other things due to INR reactions with the drug). What are some good substitutions? I’m victim of 3 mini-strokes or TIA’s in the last quarter of 2015.

    Reply
    • Team ALG

      I’d suggest just focusing on the other purple fruits and veggies. There aren’t any cranberry substitutes that don’t thin the blood.

      Reply
  6. Michele Cohen

    Hi Ann Louise, I heard your talk on the essential oil revolution and find it interesting and have since signed up for your newsletters and ordered your book. I am looking for the information on what brands of olive oil you recommend based on your taste tests and can’t find it in the book I ordered, Eat Fat Lose Weight, I think you mentioned in your talk that it in was in this book. Can you tell me what brands? Thanks so much!

    Reply
  7. Team ALG

    I know Ann Louise has mentioned Lucini extra virgin olive oil as an option that is pure. I use it and it tastes really good.

    Reply
  8. Colleen Foster

    Hi Ann Louise Firstly thank you for all the excellent info. Sadly I missed your talk on the EO Summit but am hoping I will still have a chance. I am suffering in the extreme with obstipatiin, lack of bile clearly, huge parasitic infection and viruses. I am having severe liver pain. I was on drips with Glutathione and Apha Lipoic acid and my liver just loved it and I was having ozone colonics and boy did we remove tons of funky bile. However some very bad stuff was done to me and I am now in a terrible state.When I read the nutrients for building bile I was concerned because I can’t get Bile Builder in South Africa but can get the individual nutrients except one. That one is an issue, collinsonia because you said the bile salts cause constipation. I am already so overloaded with impacted stool so am nervous of taking the bile salts without the collinsonia, but I don’t know where to find that.
    Also because I have serious nerve issues where would I find Benfotiamine?
    Thanks so much for your help.
    Colleen

    Reply

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  1. Study: purple foods have a combination of fat burning nutrients that no other food has : The Hearty Soul - […] article is shared with permission from our friends at Ann Louise.com. Dr Ann Louise Gittleman is an internationally recognized…

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