A general rule of thumb is eat all the colors of the rainbow in fruits and vegetables a day to get the full spectrum of nutrients. The darker the colors the more antioxidants they contain. Different colors of even the same produce contain different vitamins.
Here is a short summary of colors and nutrients:
Red:
Lycopene, ellagic acid, Quercetin, and Hesperidin
Orange & Yellow:
Beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, flavonoids, lycopene, potassium, and vitamin C
Green:
Chlorophyll, fiber, lutein, zeaxanthin, calcium, folate, vitamin C, calcium, and Beta-carotene.
Blue and Purple:
Lutein, zeaxanthin, resveratrol, vitamin C, fiber, flavonoids, ellagic acid, and quercetin
White:
Beta-glucans, EGCG, SDG, and lignans
What are antioxidants? A lot of people have no idea what they are and what they do. To put it simply, antioxidants deter or neutralize oxidation in the digestive system and cells of the body. Antioxidants are basically pigmented cells in the fruits and vegetables that absorbs oxidizing chemicals in the body’s digestive tract. This is why when you eat a good amount of dark colored things, your urine or feces can actually turn different colors depending on what you ate. This is a good thing. Oxidation of your cells leads to damage of the cell walls and increases inflammation (swelling during the healing process) which can do much more harm than good. Dark berries such as blueberries, blackberries, acai and others have some of the most antioxidants due to their rich dark pigments in the fruit fiber.
Learn to eat and eat to learn.