Have you had your carrots today?

The other day I was at the corner cafeteria and ordered a beef and vegetable soup. The most obvious vegetable in that soup was the carrot. I started wandering in the past and remembered what my grandma always said that I should take my carrots every day and that they were good for me and my eyesight. How many times as a kid have you heard that? Well, current nutritional information doesn?t prove her wrong, it's the other way around?she was right all along!

I was reading yesterday about all the benefits we get from eating carrots. I know we?ve all heard about it, but, honestly, do you remember them right now? I know some people do, but I did not remember them all. I was reading at bellybytes.com that no other vegetable or fruit contains as much carotene as carrots, which the body converts to vitamin A. According to the article, unlike most other vegetables, carrots are more nutritious when eaten cooked than eaten raw, except when juiced. Another interesting thing I didn?t know was that, because raw carrots have tough cellular walls, the body is able to convert less than 25 percent of their beta carotene into vitamin A, and that cooking them, however, partially dissolves cellulose-thickened cell walls, freeing up nutrients by breaking down the cell membranes.

According to the article, carrots are an excellent source of vitamins B and C as well as calcium pectate, an extraordinary pectin fiber that has been found to have cholesterol-lowering properties, and that carrot skins contain 10 percent of all nutrients found in carrots.
Finally, in short, according to the article the USDA completed studies showing that 7 ounces of carrots consumed every day for three weeks lowered cholesterol levels by 11 percent, and this was probably due to the calcium pectate, and a good percentage of which will be lost in juicing as mentioned above. Below are the places for more information regarding this article, if you want to know more. Be well!
http://www.bellybytes.com/foodfacts/carrot_facts.html

http://www.grimmway.com/Have fun, folks!Adal