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The importance of colour – even for ‘beige’ eaters

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The importance of colour even for ‘beige’ eaters

Does your child love foods like toast, crackers, and pasta, preferably with no sauce?

Are they eating a standard fussy eater ‘beige diet’?
Do you feel like plain is going to work for them and colours are probably going to be a no?

What’s interesting, is that colour is the most important sensory component in setting people’s expectations when it comes to food. We really do eat with our eyes because we decide more about how a food is going to taste by its colour than anything else.

Young children and colour

Babies are naturally drawn to bright colours. They take in the world around them with their eyes and use colours to distinguish shapes and separate objects.

They find primary colours like red, yellow, and blue easier to see, which is why most toys and other things aimed at small children are vibrant greens rather than pastel ones.

Before babies use words, they sort things by colour.

This is of course, useful to know from a food point of view. If colours are important then being exposed to lots of brightly coloured fruit and vegetables from an early age helps.

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In fact, many children learn about colours by making associations with food. Red for apple, yellow for banana and well, orange!

Because young children are more drawn to bright colours than adults, repeatedly serving them and building those positive thoughts is a great way to support better eating.

Colour intensity

Studies have shown that we are naturally drawn to foods that have the brightest or most intense colours. We will pick the shiniest apple or the strawberry with the deepest red.

This makes sense as in nature the foods that are brightly coloured are usually the ones that are ripest and therefore sweetest and provide the most natural energy.

Intense colour also signifies more nutritious phytochemicals!

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Again, making sure that our children have multiple exposures to these naturally deeply coloured foods supports them to build a long-term comfort level with them.

First impressions count

Studies have shown that the colour of a food can have a huge impact on what we expect it to taste like. It is the reason that certain things are dyed. For example, many oranges have skins that are green. This would not be an “orange” in many consumers eyes and so the skins are artificially coloured.

Food and drinks have been coloured for many years (even centuries). Carrots were naturally purple until consciously bred to be orange.

Studies show that how a food tastes and how we interpret the flavour is often decided and not consciously, but automatically, by our expectations of how it is going to taste.

Anyone who has a picky eater will know this is true! How many times have you heard “but I know I won’t like it!”.

Marketing using color

Colours are often used in marketing to create a specific image:

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• Green is thought of as fresh, eco-friendly, more organic.

• Bright colours are far more appealing in sweet foods.

• Yellow and orange are thought to increase our drive to eat and make us feel hungry.

• Red is the colour of emotion and passion.

Put yellow and red together in a brand … hmm …😉

• White foods can inadvertently make us eat more as it is thought of as being empty and therefore harmless.

White plates are frequently used because foods look brighter and more vibrant on them. Studies show that people eat more from a white plate than from a black, red, or blue one.

In fact, blue plates are used in weight loss programs as people do not eat as much. Who knew that the colour of a plate was so important?!

Using a plate that makes food look more appealing is a small thing parents can do to support a child to eat more comfortably.

Multi coloured

Studies have shown that people eat more lollies if they come in a variety of colours. Think Skittles or jellybeans. Perhaps counter intuitively, a bag that contains only a favourite colour in it, leads to less being eaten than when there are many colours.

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The reason is not known for sure, but psychologists think it is probably boredom and that the different colours are needed to give new sensory input.

This is important to know if supporting a fussy eater.

Serving foods of only one or two colours often does lead to boredom. When a child is bored with the foods they eat, it may mean that they become less interested in eating and can drop foods they previously accepted.

Changing foods they are looking at, even if they are not eating them yet can really help with this. It also makes the plate look colourful and pretty. Given that all of us do eat with our eyes this is important.

Think of how much more appealing a multi coloured platter looks!

Modelling

As parents modelling eating is always important and the science backs this up.

A study showed that changing the colour of a popular dessert created a new food for a child. Many children, particularly extremely selective eaters see a new colour, shape, or brand of a food as different as we would see an apple and an orange. Yes, they are both fruits but also materially different.

The Importance of Colour even for ‘beige’ eaters, Judith Yeabsley|Fussy Eating NZ, Purple cake, #TheImportanceOfColourForFussyEaters, #TheImportanceOfColourForPickyEaters #TryNewFoods, #TheConfidentEater, #FussyEatingNZ, #HelpForFussyEating, #HelpForFussyEaters, #FussyEater, #FussyEating, #PickyEater, #PickyEating, #SupportForFussyEaters, #SupportForPickyEaters, #CreatingConfidentEaters, #TryNewFood #PickyEatingNZ #HelpForPickyEaters, #HelpForPickyEating, #Wellington, #NZ, #JudithYeabsley

However, in the study when the colour of the dessert was changed, children accepted more of it if an adult was also eating the same dessert, dyed the same colour, than if there was no adult eating or they were eating the dessert in a different colour.

These results are of course generally based on children who are more eating competent. However, it is still true of any child, regardless of how selective, that they learn far more from watching parents eat than they do from being told what to do.

The comfort around colours can also be something that can be used to support a selective eater. For example, if a child is comfortable with brightly coloured berries, perhaps that colour can be used to help them build a comfort level with a new food.

There is a lot of research concerning the power of colour and how it may affect the way that a child eats. Perhaps you are able to use some of it to support you’re your to eat more widely and well.

My advice is to make colour a feature of every meal even if your child is generally happiest with the beige 🙂

Judith, MA Cantab (Cambridge University), Post Grad Dip Psychology (Massey University), is an AOTA accredited picky eating advisor and internationally certified nutritional therapist. She works with 100+ families every year resolving fussy eating and returning pleasure and joy to the meal table.
She is also mum to two boys and the author of Creating Confident Eaters and Winner Winner I Eat Dinner. Her dream is that every child is able to approach food from a place of safety and joy, not fear.
Learn more about Judith here: https://theconfidenteater.com/about/

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