There’s no question that eating three to five servings of fruits and vegetables daily will improve your health. But more and more experts are saying healthy eating is not only about how many servings you eat. It’s about the variety you pick, too.

Eat a diet of solely white foods, and you’ll miss key nutrients your body needs—even if your palette includes cauliflower, onions, and mushrooms. Fact is, the best way to get all your vitamins and nutrients is to add the 5 color groups of fruits and vegetables to your daily plate ; red and pink, blue and purple, yellow and orange, white and brown and the greens.

There is no better or easier season to load up on the good stuff than summer and especially during the month of August. But which veggies and fruits you eat is as important as how often you eat them. That’s because different colors have different health benefits. Today, every color group is abundantly found at your neighborhood grocery store, we have a plethora of varieties, shapes, textures, flavors and prices across our Lebanese local market, rich enough to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters.

Adding color to your recipes has also never been easier, with sweet green, red and yellow peppers, carrots, baby marrow, python spinach, agassi broccoli and Cheryl eggplants. Salads will taste splendid and look great with cherry tomatoes, oak leaf lettuce, artichokes, avocados and rondeel radish to name a few. And last but not least, it’s not really summer without nature’s desserts starting with crimson and tigrinho watermelon, melon, apples, grapes, figs, peaches, plums, berries and much more.

The main health benefit of locally grown food is that it’s fresher. Fruits and vegetables begin to lose their nutrients within 24 hours of being picked, so fresher produce is more nutritious. In addition, locally grown food is picked at its peak ripeness, when it’s most dense with nutrients.

Local fruits and vegetables are grown and harvested across Lebanon, the main growers during the summer season are found in the Bekaa and Akkar regions. Supporting them today and every day is crucial to the survival of our local food industry, Lebanon’s food security and the protection of our local farmer and grower. For the health conscious community, Lebanon’s tasty and certified organic produce is also flourishing and doesn’t lack the arrays of color either.

Eat more color every day, always ask for Baladi, and as often as possible, choose fruits and vegetables that are high in antioxidants, which boost the body’s immune system, protect blood cells from free radicals, promote the growth of healthy cells and may help to lower the risk of stroke.