Challenges › Eat the Rainbow
7-day challenge
Eat the Rainbow
Five colours on your plate, every day, for a week. Glowcast checks your meals and ticks each colour off for you.
On iPhone: $4.99 a week, $14.99 a month or $69.99 a year, with a 7-day trial on the yearly plan.
the rule:
All 5 colours, every day, for 7 days.
Across the whole day, not every meal. Breakfast, lunch and a snack can cover it.
- red
- orange + yellow
- green
- purple + blue
- white + tan
- Length
- 7 days
- Level
- Intermediate
- You count
- Colours only
What counts as each colour?
Go by the colour of the food itself. Here's what Glowcast looks for in each group.
Red
tomatoes, strawberries, watermelon, beets, red peppers
Orange + yellow
carrots, sweet potato, mango, oranges, turmeric
Green
spinach, avocado, broccoli, cucumber, matcha
Purple + blue
blueberries, grapes, purple cabbage, aubergine, acai
White + tan
cauliflower, mushrooms, garlic, oats, chickpeas
What does eating the rainbow do for your skin?
Colourful fruit and veg show up in your skin. Eating more made skin look healthier in about six weeks. This week is just to see how five colours a day feels.
the nerdy bit
In a Scottish study of 35 people, changes in how much fruit and veg they ate showed up in their skin colour within six weeks, and about three extra portions a day was enough for skin to look healthier to others (Whitehead et al., 2012). Everyone in that study had white skin, but a 2023 US trial of 162 people from four racial and ethnic groups also saw skin pigments rise: orange-carrot juice every day raised skin carotenoid scores within six weeks, by 42% on the higher dose, compared with apple juice (Jilcott Pitts et al., 2023). The colours roughly track plant pigments: carotenoids in orange and red foods, anthocyanins in purple and blue ones, lutein in leafy greens. In a 12-week trial of 20 women, tomato paste with olive oil every day gave some protection from UV damage in skin samples, though other small trials disagree (Rizwan et al., 2011). A bonus, never a sunscreen swap. No study has tested "eat the rainbow" itself; it's an easy way to eat more fruit and veg, which is what these studies changed.
steal this
Day 1, done for you
Breakfast
Oats with blueberries and mango
Lunch
Salmon bowl with avocado and cucumber
Snack
Cherry smoothie
5 of 5 colours by 4pm ✓
the other 6 days?
Days 2 to 7 unlock in the app
- Day 1done ✓
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
- Day 5
- Day 6
- Day 7
- badge at the end
- Snap each meal and Glowcast ticks off the colours
- Your streak and progress ring, day by day
- 115 glow recipes for when you're stuck
Quick questions
Do I need all 5 colours at every meal?
No. It counts across the whole day, so three meals, or two meals and a snack, can cover it.
What if I miss a day?
Your streak resets and the challenge keeps going, but the badge needs every day, so a missed day means no badge this time.
Can I do it with another challenge?
Yes. You can run two challenges at once, like Eat the Rainbow and Gut Reset.
Do I have to count calories?
Never. You're counting colours, and Glowcast does even that for you.
Food inspo, not medical advice.
Sources
- Whitehead RD et al. You are what you eat: within-subject increases in fruit and vegetable consumption confer beneficial skin-color changes. PLoS One. 2012. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Jilcott Pitts S, Moran NE, Laska MN, et al. Reflection spectroscopy-assessed skin carotenoids are sensitive to change in carotenoid intake in a 6-week randomized controlled feeding trial in a racially/ethnically diverse sample. J Nutr. 2023. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Rizwan M, Rodriguez-Blanco I, Harbottle A, et al. Tomato paste rich in lycopene protects against cutaneous photodamage in humans in vivo: a randomized controlled trial. Br J Dermatol. 2011. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
