Susan Farrar is a Colour Therapist and Feng Shui Consultant who uses these principles in her Holistic Design practice. Projects have included a Ballet School, a wallpaper factory, restaurants, yoga centre and many private homes. She is currently writing a book on Feng Shui and colour.

Using colour in food as a therapy can only be understood and applied if we have some background knowledge of what colour means to us in its various aspects - physically, psychologically and emotionally. Colour influences our moods and emotions via the hypothalamus, which in turn affects the pituitary gland. This controls the whole of the endocrine system, the thyroid and sex glands and, most especially, female hormones and their associated moods.

All colours can attract or repel depending on our mood and how we perceive or receive them in their tonal quality. So red can either be warm or aggressive, orange can be harsh or cheerful, yellow can be acidic or joyful, green can be relaxing or sickly, blue can be cold or cleansing, indigo blue can be smart or dull and violet can be depressing or relaxing.

If we are to use colour in a healing or therapeutic way every day by eating the correctly coloured foods we must understand the human aura and its relationship to the chakras.

Chakras are wheels of energy along the spine. They relate to the seven aura colours which correspond to various parts of the body. Now we can understand why it is important to eat certain foods and colours to help to heal various parts of the body, and, most importantly, to stay in good health. It is said in practising yoga postures we activate all the colours and can have maximum health.

For instance, the base chakra relates to the colour red and the adrenals. The sacral plexus is related to the spleen and gonads gland and relates to the colour orange; the solar plexus is related to the pancreas and the colour yellow; the thymus relates to the heart and the colour green. The throat is related to the colour blue; the thyroid gland and the pituitary gland are related to indigo blue and finally the crown chakra is related to the pineal gland and the colour violet.

However all the warm colours from the red vibration on the base of the spine to the orange chakra are counter-balanced by the cool colours of blue to violet. To explain this further: the way we give therapy for a sore throat/cold is to understand that the throat is a blue vibration which is balanced by the orange chakra, so that colour in the form of the orange [vitamin C] vibration will balance it. The red chakra is counter-balanced by the indigo blue and the yellow by violet. The green chakra of the heart is a harmoniser in itself.

Everyone is sensitive to the colour of foods and since colour can either stimulate or dampen our appetite it is important to eat the colours that give us maximum protection against illness. The natural colours in food are nature’s way of telling us what nutrients foods have and I emphasise natural here. Energy imbalances can be corrected by eating the correct colour frequencies for your bodies. You could say we need to eat the rainbow diet of all the 7 colours to have maximum health.

So how can we apply this in our daily lives?

Understanding which parts of the body respond to which colours can help you. For example: anyone wanting to have extra physical energy should have red foods though not of course in isolation. Please note that all proteins, including red and white meat, eggs and fish, fall in the red ray. These should be balanced with carbohydrates and fats with the green, red, orange or yellow vegetables as these are the warmer chakra vibrations. Remember red foods are yang energy. Vegetables are yin and that is why vegetarians must be so careful to eat a balanced diet or be lacking in energy. Soya and dried legumes, nuts and grains can give that balance.

In colour therapy we say it is important to eat the colourful foods at the beginning of the day in the form of fruits for breakfast to give you energy to start the day. Lunch should consist of colours from the middle of the spectrum in the form of salads or steamed vegetables and include grains like bread to sustain you throughout the rest of the day and a protein dish. However at night-time less heavy protein foods should be eaten and coloured fruits and vegetables from the higher part of the spectrum such as black grapes, aubergine and plums for example and other coloured foods to complement them.

In conclusion the young and elderly respond to colourful and natural foods and as they are the most vulnerable need to boost their immune system against illnesses. Balance in our diet is important for us all if we are to stay healthy.
Light is colour and colour is light, and light is Nature’s own medicine. The Italian’s have a saying: Dove il sole non entra, entra il dottore. Where the sun does not enter the doctor does..

You can find Susan Farrar at 020 8876 2548 email: farrar.london@virgin.net

First published in 2003

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