Subtract the 2-3 grams of dietary fiber per serving, and you’re talking only 22-32 calories in half a cup. Did you know that carrots are also naturally fat-free, cholesterol-free, and sodium-free. A person could go wild and eat an entire pound of carrots, and it could end up being less calories than one serving of juice!
Carrots’ orange color shows that they’re packed with beta-carotene, one of the main sources of Vitamin A, a powerful antioxidant that helps with vision, immune systems, and healthy skin. Just one half cup serving of carrots provides 260-290% of the daily recommended allowance of Vitamin A! Carrots also have small amounts of other healthy vitamins (like Vitamin C, B6, and Niacin) and minerals (like iron, magnesium, potassium, and even calcium.)
People who want the maximum nutritional benefit from carrots should eat them raw. However, frozen and canned carrots are also healthy. Pre-peeled baby carrots cost a bit more, but they save prep time and are delicious! The easiest way to eat more carrots is to add them to a recipe:
- Include carrots in your salad or cole slaw.
- Mix carrots into soups and stews.
- Cook sliced or diced carrots in your favorite rice, couscous, or pasta dishes.
- Serve steamed carrots with lemon, pepper and oregano as a side to chicken or meat dishes.
- Grate carrots and top them on cold and hot pasta dishes, or even pizza.
- Toss grated carrots into a cake. Sound strange? Just think about how great carrot cake tastes!
There are also more direct ways to get a serving of carrots (about half a cup) into one's diet:
- Eat raw carrots as a snack (you can put them a sandwich bag to eat at work, school, or the gym).
- For a long-lasting, high-energy snack, try dipping carrots in peanut butter.
- Turn carrots into juice with a liquefier. If the thought of a glass of carrot juice just doesn’t work for you, dump a carrot in a blender with your favorite fruits and make a smoothie instead.
When carrots were first noticed by humans several thousand years ago, they came in white, purple, reddish, and yellow varieties... and they weren't nearly as tasty as they are today. Fortunately, people kept eating them, often for supposed medicinal purposes, and at the same time kept trying to make them tastier. The carrots popular today originated with horticulturalists trying to make the vegetable the same color as the Dutch Royal Family's standard: orange! Fortunately, that bit of patriotism made for a food that is both sweet and bursting with vitamins.
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