A long time ago, but not in a galaxy far, far away, I had a copy of a newspaper comic strip that featured a bunny holding carrots up to its eyes and asking, “How do carrots help you see better?” :) HA! Thinking of that still makes me chuckle these many years later.
It sounds funny, but everyone knows (or probably everyone knows) that carrots do indeed help maintain healthy eyes. Carrots are loaded with beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in your liver. (Unless you’re a plant, you can’t manufacture beta-carotene yourself.) Carrots also contain small amounts of calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin C, among other nutrients. What does that mean for you?
Eat. Your. Carrots.
I thought about the health benefits of carrots recently when I was munching on some baby carrots, as well as after putting a bunch of carrots and sweet potatoes in a crockpot for a balsamic beef pot roast type of recipe. (Very tasty!) It sounds funny, but I occasionally forget how much I like the taste of fresh, raw carrots. Unlike my recently-developed fascination with the Darlington variety of cucumber, I’m not thinking of any specific variety of carrot. Fresh out of the garden is best, although I’ll take what I can get when it’s winter and I’m stuck at the grocery store.
When I did some digging online, I found things I didn’t know about carrots! Carrots can help prevent tooth decay. The potassium in carrots helps maintain healthy sodium levels in the body. Carrots are high in fiber, which is good for you on many levels. The glycemic index for carrots is only 39, so if you’re concerned about consuming too many sugars, the impact that carrots will have on your blood sugar is actually lower than you might think.
I also didn’t realize that while it seems raw is better, cooking carrots actually does not reduce their benefits. So the carrots in my pot roast were still good for me! (I’m not so sure that the butter and brown sugar-glazed carrots I like to make are still all that healthy…but gosh they’re tasty that way!)
How do you like your carrots? Fresh? Cooked? Grated into spaghetti sauce? (I’m not kidding! Try it sometime; you might like it!)
Cheers! Here’s to your health!
p.s. I thought it'd be fun to mention the wine I'm enjoying when I write these, particularly if it's an Iowa wine or one from a winery I've visited. Tonight's wine of choice is from Madison County Winery here in Iowa and it's their gloriously tasty Petite Sirah. Cheers!