My family have a love/hate relationship with carrots. One will eat them covered in honey, one will eat carrots raw, my teenagers under pressure and my husband will eat carrots if they’re on his plate (he never requests them!). But what does the simple carrot bring to our bodies? As you know, I am interested in food’s medicinal qualities. Nature’s abundance does provide for humanity and carrots easily represent this. Extremely high in Vitamin A, carrots support eye health and improve night vision. Besides there fibre quality they are also have the correct ratio of Vitamin K and the mineral manganese. These two have a symbiotic relationship and work together for bone and tissue health, calcium regulation and play a role in correct brain function. So strong is there relationship, that one without the other will scavenge it from elsewhere in the body. Carrots are full of Vitamin B6, pantothenic acid and folate. These B vitamins have a big part to play throughout the body, but especially adrenal health. The adrenals work hard during periods of daily stress and can easily become fatigued. Carrots are more than orange vegetables. They can be purple, red, yellow and white. This rainbow spectrum is also Nature’s ways of showing us how full of antioxidants (particularly Vitamin C) carrots are. They can fight bacteria and are extremely antiseptic; this is great for gut and colon health. While chewing a raw carrot stimulates salvia in the mouth for good gum health. The combination of high fibre and high antiseptic quality is useful as it proceeds through all stages of digestion (mouth to ‘out’). Carrots are extremely useful in our diet. They are sweet in flavour and calorically very low. They, like so many other leafy green (carrot stalks are great in a stock or salad, stews or casseroles) and colourful vegetables have the trace minerals copper (for brain development and heart health) and iron (required by haemoglobin). The essential mineral potassium also has a presence (heart health and blood pressure regulation) . This is not new news to many people, but it’s a good reminder about how important good eating is as preventative medicine. A carrot, an apple, a bunch of kale … a day will keep the doctor away.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorPaula is an avid writer and enjoys working with food and words. Archives
August 2022
Categories |