Color Me Healthy offers a new and easy approach to healthy eating. It is the book that every nutritionally confused person needs. It answers the important questions: What should we eat today? How do I know whether it is good for me? Written by food writer Rita Erlich and medical researcher and general practitioner Dr Alice Murkies, Color Me Healthy brings you the latest scientific information and advice, and blends it with nutrition theory and wonderful easy-to-follow recipes. Rita Erlich and Alice Murkies have captured the science, the spirit and the romance of contemporary food and health ideas in Color Me Healthy. The colors of brown extend from the pale buff of chick peas to the golden-brown of wheat and the darkness of chocolate, without whose particular brownness many people would look sad. Brown foods – especially grains, legumes and nuts – are excellent sources of dietary fibre. Fibre is easily defined as those parts of plants that are not absorbed in the stomach or small intestine. There are different kinds of fibre and differing amounts in the foods we eat. The two broad categories of fibre are soluble and insoluble, and we need both in our diet. There is evidence that dietary fibre helps to prevent or control a number of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer. It also benefits the bowel and protects from constipation, haemorrhoids and diverticular disease.