How can you tell just by looking at this photo of my Balsamic Beet and Feta Salad that it is packed with goodies? COLOR!! You bet! This rich, fresh, and bright colored dish is shouting out to you – “EAT ME!” 🙂

Color Signifies Nutrients

Not only is this salad pretty, it’s rich with antioxidants, phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Eating foods rich in color and varieties of color is one sure way you can guarantee that you are getting a whole host of nutrients. Why is that? Because plant foods get their color as well as their aroma and flavor from phytochemicals. Examples of healthy phytochemicals include:

chlorophyll: gives the deep green color to leafy greens and other green veggies
anthocyanins: notice the “cyan” in the name? These are compounds that give the deep blue or purple color to foods like blueberries and other berries
lycopene: gives the rich red color to tomatoes

Each one of these colors, and plenty more, are a great sign that the foods you’re looking at are chock-full of amazing nutrients. That’s why you’ve probably been told many times to eat a rainbow of colors at every meal!

Importance of Fiber

What I love even more about this Balsamic Beet and Feta Salad is that you get 6 grams of fiber in one serving! Getting enough fiber at ANY meal will help keep you satiated, your blood sugar stabilized, and keep you on track for maintaining your goals of weight loss. How much & how to? Check out my free Protein, Fat & Fiber Guide!

You can get enough fiber by:

First, scanning the options available to see which dishes are fiber-packed by looking for veggies & fruit, whole grains, beans & legumes, and nuts are all excellent sources
Then take note of which of those fiber dishes are high carb. Choose 1-2 carb dishes MAX, and keep the rest of the fiber sources coming from lower carb options

Fiber Health Hack

Focusing on fiber helps direct you to eating more nourishing foods. That’s because fiber is ONLY naturally occurring in whole or minimally processed plant foods. And what else do these whole plant foods have? Tons of nutrients! So if you just focus on getting enough fiber (I usually recommend at elast 8-10g per meal), then you can rest assured that you will also get a variety of nutrients.

And big bonus of this fiber hack: Aiming to get enough fiber at a meal automatically helps you moderate carb intake quite a bit! That’s because all plant foods have some amount of carbs in them. And healthiest versions of carbs are those that are whole or minimally processed carb foods. These include plant foods like potatoes, quinoa, beans, and fruit. And as we said earlier, whole or minimally processed plant foods provide an excellent source of fiber! But instead of trying to micro-manage carb intake, you can simply choose to get enough fiber from a variety of plant sources at your meal, and keep the higher carb / starchy sources of fiber to 1-2 servings max. Easy!

So remember – **Follow the Fiber!**

When to Serve This Balsamic Beet and Feta Salad

This salad is a great all-year-round, any season side dish. Beets are fantastic in summery salads to give a deep flavor with added sweetness. But they are also perfect in the fall, as are many root vegetables.

This is balsamic beet and feta salad is super easy to scale up for a crowd. That’s why I love to whip it up as a quick but healthy side dish for party or holiday feast. (I mean, just look at those Christmas-y colors, or imagine this on your Thanksgiving table!) Your friends and family will be pleasantly surprised by such a fresh, colorful, nutritious dish when many might be used to classic “party food” that is lacking in balance.

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Recipe blog written by Jennifer Franzen, RDN | edited & reviewed by Victoria Peck-Gray, RDN