Carrots

The Color of Orange:

Aside from carrots being an excellent food choice, carrots are beautiful. In the United Sates, carrots are usually seen as a deep orange root with a fern-like top, but the variation of color doesn’t stop with orange. Carrots can also be found in yellow, white, purple, red, and every shade in between.

Eat Raw:

Carrots are very versatile and the dishes that you can add carrots to are virtually limitless. Eating carrots raw will give you the optimal amount of nutrients that they provide.

Carrots are extremely high in beta carotene, Vitamin A (converted from beta carotene), and are also an excellent source of Vitamin K and fiber. Carrots also contain Vitamin C, Potassium, Manganese, as well as many other vitamins and minerals.  Carrots are also known for being rich in antioxidants.

Health Benefits:

There are many health benefits that come with eating carrots-

           

            Cancer Preventative:

Studies have show that eating carrots regularly help prevent colon cancer  and breast cancer.   According to the National Cancer Institute, it has been estimated that “230,480 women will be diagnosed with and 39,520 women will die of cancer of the breast in 2011.” Their estimate for colon cancer was over 141,000 people being diagnosed, and over 49,000 will die of colon or rectal cancer in 2011. (Click here for more information)

If keeping a stock of carrots in my refrigerator reduces my risk of getting breast or colon cancer, I'll do it.  This does not guarantee that I will never get cancer. With cancer running on both sides of my family, my chances of getting it are greater. I want to reduce as much of that possibility as I can.

           

            Vision:

From everything I’ve read, carrots don’t necessarily improve your vision,  but the Vitamin A will maintain your eyesight.   Likewise, Vitamin A deficiency will result in poor eyesight.  Carrots also help with reducing the risk of cataracts and glaucoma. 

           

            Skin:

Carrots (juice, seed, oil) help with moisturizing and nourishing the skin, and fighting acne.

           

Kids and Carrots:

Most kids enjoy eating carrots. They are a clean and easy snack with a sweet taste and a nice crunch.  My kids will eat carrots plain, but they also enjoy jazzing them up a bit. They like to dip carrots in dressings and peanut butter. They have also been known to eat them as ants on a long, with raisins imbedded on the peanut butter spread carrots. Yes I know this is supposed to be with celery, but if you cut a carrot just once length wise, then cut to desired lengths, they work just as well for holding your peanut butter and raisins.  You don’t even need to stop there. You can mix it up a bit by trying different butters (peanut, almond, cashew), and using different kinds of dried fruit (blueberries, currants, cranberries, strawberries, etc).

If you are one of the unlucky parents whose child does not like to eat carrots, explore a few options.  Growing up, my mom almost always put the traditional carrot sticks in my sack lunch. They weren’t terribly exciting, but I enjoyed them. Baby carrots are sometimes just enough of a change that suddenly carrots become exciting. If the baby carrots or carrot sticks tend to dry out before the kids can eat them, add a tiny bit of water in the Ziploc baggie and give it a few shakes. Water will help the carrots from drying out.

Try different kinds of dips. The traditional ranch dressing seems to be an all-time favorite dressing/dip, but it is loaded with fat.  Healthier dips/hummus can be purchased at the store, or you can just make one yourself.  Homemade dips are almost always the healthier and most affordable choice.  Healthifying a recipe is fairly easy as well.  Replacing half the amount of sour cream with plain Greek yogurt will reduce the calories, but will maintain the thick consistency of the dip.  I have seen a low-fat mayonnaise recipe, and a vegan mayo recipe to help reduce the fat in the ranch dressing / dip, but I have not tried them.  The sky’s the limit with options to try. Just be creative.

Organic Sweet Carrots:

I love munching on carrots that have sweetness to them. Costco sells organic baby carrots for .99/lb, but with baby carrots (at any store) it is hit and miss with the taste.  Most of the time Costco will also have the regular full-sized carrots (my friend calls them horse carrots because they are so big) for .50/lb - .59/lb. These carrots look a little intimidating, but they have cut the sizing into two smaller bags within the larger bag.  These carrots always stay fresh longer than from other stores.  Not only are these carrots organic, but they are sweet. I have almost never come across a batch that wasn’t sweet.