Featured Food: Carrots

Usually I just do one post, and I'd already planned on covering beets, but yesterday's blog on beta-carotene prompted me to write about carrots today. Generally I promote getting vegetables in leafy green sources, but I've expanded the vegetable options lately (I figured eating varied vegetables was better than having clients eating grains, starches, or sugars). I usually ruled out the carrot because of it's higher sugar content, although I have read that carrots help regulate blood sugar and that eating them in combination with green vegetables, decreases their sugar levels. Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidants and the best source of pro-vitamin A carotenes. This helps protect the your vision, especially night vision. Beta carotene in the liver converts to vitamin A before it travels to the retina and is transformed into a purple pigment called rhodopsin, necessary for night vision. I think most of us have heard the age old stories of carrots for your eye sight before. Just one cup of carrots has 686.3% of the RDA of vitamin A. High levels of carotenoid have shown a 20% decrease of postmenopausal breast cancer, and a 50% decrease in bladder, cervix, prostate, colon, larynx, and esophagus cancers. Some studies have even said that just one carrot a day could cut lung cancer rates by half. Most articles I read talked about the link between carrots and smoking, so if you're a smoking increasing your carrot intake may help decrease your risk of getting lung cancer (although I think not smoking would be beneficial as well). It's good for the heart too! One study of elderly men in Massachusetts determined that one serving of carrots a day could reduce the risk of heart attacks by 60%. In a addition to all these health benefits, carrots are also an excellent source of: vitamin K, vitamin C, dietary fiber, and potassium. Look for carrots that are a deeper orange because that means they contain more beta-carotene. Tomorrow I'm going to try and post some recipes, but you can add carrots to any salad or soup.