It’s small.
It’s orange.
It’s round and hard. Sometimes it’s shaped like a cone. Other times it takes a cylindrical shape.
And it’s hiding in your fridge at this moment
It’s a carrot.
A carrot? you ask. What’s so great about a carrot?
Carrots are common. They’re so commonplace we forget about them in our refrigerators until they turn soft and wilted. We pass over them time and time again on the veggie tray for cherry tomatoes and sugar snap peas.
But carrots are amazing. Why you ask?
Carrots are:
Cheap
High in vitamin A
Full of fiber
High in carbohydrates
Versatile
Carrots are known to contain a variety of nutrients. Just 35 calories of cooked carrots contains:
6% of your Daily Value (DV) for vitamin C
7% of your DV for potassium
8% of your DV for vitamin B6
8% of your DV for manganese
17% of your DV for vitamin K
And a whopping 341% of your DV for Vitamin A
Vitamin A helps create and sustain healthy teeth, skin, skeletal and soft tissue and mucus membranes. And as most know, it promotes good vision.
Vitamin A is also an antioxidant. The body uses antioxidants to prevent damage to our bodies through oxidation (Think of preventing your car from rusting. That’s oxidation).
Inflammation is associated with a variety of chronic diseases. Examples include depression, cancer, stroke, and heart disease. High levels of antioxidants in the body can prevent and reverse these problems.
You aren’t statistically likely to be low in vitamin A. But it’s difficult to get too much vitamin A in the form of whole foods. So go ahead. Eat as many carrots as you like.
Only if you turn orange should you reconsider your carrot intake.
Eating wholesome whole wheat pasta, beans, bananas and carrots won’t make you fat. Eating fat in the form of doughnuts, chocolate cake, eggs, provolone cheese and steak can make you fat. Also, eating refined carbohydrates like white bread, white rice and white pasta could make you fat.
But whole plant foods? They don’t make you fat.
So, eating a ton of carrots will keep you healthy and lean. Carrots are a food naturally high in carbohydrates and low in fat and protein.
Whole-food carbohydrates give you energy without giving you excess calories. Your blood sugar is controlled by the fiber in the carrots. Nutrients provide satiety. The carrot is slowly digested by your stomach in order to absorb the nutrients and change the starch into sugars.
Don’t be worried about these sugars. Your body changes all digestible carbohydrates into sugar. The body uses sugar (glucose) as energy and stores sugar (glycogen) in your muscles for later energy usage.
Glycogen is not stored on your body as fat.
Carrots aren’t only a superfood because they’re loaded with fiber, healthy carbohydrates and nutrition.
They’re fantastic because they’re useful in a variety of ways.
Normally, carrots are used in savory dishes, like salads and soups. Yet carrots are open to more than savory dishes. Carrots’ neutral flavor melds well in spicy dishes. And because carrots contain natural sugar, they’re a wholesome addition to dessert, too.
In fact, you can use carrots in every part of a meal. Try the following carrot recipes to include carrots into your diet anytime of the day:
Breakfast: Carrot Cake Oatmeal
Lunch: Summertime Veggie Wrap
Dinner: Kickin’ Carato Curry
Dessert: Raw Carrot Cake Bites
Hors d’oeuvre: Roasted Carrot and Garlic Hummus (shown above)
Appetizer: Vietnamese Summer Rolls
Drink: Spicy Sweet Carrot Radish Juice