Carrots, Good For More Than Eyes, Really!

Growing up every night I would eat at least one or two carrots, my mom always said carrots would keep my eyes good.  I took that comment serious, I wanted good eyes everyone in my family, including extended family, all had glasses, and I was not going to be one of them!  I have been alive for 32 years and still have perfect vision, I credit the carrots and I still eat one a day.  I have recently been doing more research about fruits and vegetables because I am trying to be what we all call "healthy" these days.  I want to share with you all what I have found out, it is very interesting.

Carrots are rich in alkaline elements which purify and revitalize the blood and nourish the entire system.  Carrots help to maintain a good acid-alkaline balance in your body.  Carrots are high in fiber which helps to cleanse your colon, an important thing to do now with the high amounts of colon cancer.  Carrot juices are very energizing for the body, especially for the liver.

When thinking about incorporating carrots into your diet please take the following into mind.  Carrots lose great amounts of vitamin C and the natural sugars when cooked, so eat them raw as much as possible.  To meet your daily requirement of beta carotene all you need is a handful of baby carrots, or 6oz of carrot juice, that's easy.  Another great selling point about carrots is that there is no fat and no cholesterol!  A tip for storing carrots is to keep them in the coldest part of your fridge and do not store them with apple, pears, potatoes, or other fruits and vegetables that will produce ethylene gas, the carrots will turn bitter.  An additional fact is I love to make baby food out of carrots, steam them enough to soften them and put them in the food processor, and you have baby food.  I freeze mine in ice cube trays, pop them out and put them in freezer bags and get them out when I need them.

Carrots come in over 100 varieties, many colors including red, orange, yellow, purple, and white, and grown anywhere from 2" to 3', imagine pulling that carrot out.  When choosing carrots make sure they are firm, straight, and bright in color.  When a carrot has a larger core they are much sweeter, so if you like sweet carrots there is a tip for buying!

The Eyes
Carrots are high in beta carotene and that is good for your eyes, eat them.  However, something I learned in my research was that when you eat a carrot, the liver will turn it into vitamin A which will then go to your retinas and turn into rhodopsin, a purple pigment in your eyes that is needed for night vision.

Cancer
This is a huge subject not to be taken lightly but there are a few things of interest here.  Carrots have a compound called falcarinol, and it has been found to have an effect on the development of cancer in a positive way.  Carrots have been proven to to decrease different forms of cancer by 50%.  One study I found suggests that by eating 1 carrot a day can cut your chances of developing lung cancer by half.  In addition to this, when the liver turns the carrot into vitamin A also decrease the risk of a smoker getting emphysema.  I personally made sure to tell my father to start eating 1 carrot a day because he is a smoker, he thinks I am a little weird, but says ok whatever you want!

Compresses/Worms/Illness
Raw grated carrots can be applied as a compress to burns to create a soothing effect.  This part is unsettling to my stomach but back in the older days people would eat carrots to expel worms in children.  Who would of thought!

It is not only chicken noodle soup that is good for you when your sick, try carrot soup.  It has been shown that eating carrot soup can help with tonsillitis and chronic cough. 

Breast Feeding
By eating at least 1 carrot a day a mother can stimulate milk flow during lactation.  The high amounts of vitamin C in the carrots is also readily available to the baby as well.

Tooth Health
Do you have that one kid who throws a fuss about brushing their teeth or the one who does not do a good enough job?  It happens to be that eating a carrot immediately after eating any kind of food kills all harmful bacteria, cleans the teeth, can remove particles lodged in crevices, and prevents bleeding gums and tooth decay.  Sounds like a good idea to keep an extra carrot around so that if an event rises when you can brush, you can at least freshen with a carrot.

I hope you enjoy and can use this knowledge about carrots!  I love fruits and vegetables, carrots are probably one of my favorites that are always affordable no matter what your budget!