Are You A Carrot Lover? You Should Be!

     My mom use to feed us canned carrots as we grew up.  Canned carrots are mushy and tasteless.  As kids we hated them.  As a teenager. I had the chance to drink some carrot juice that my grandmother had made and the carrots came from her own garden.  Wow!  I thought that juice was delicious.  I couldn't believe that I was enjoying a by-product of carrots.  After I got married, my wife grew carrots in her garden and put them on the table for me, and I made a face at them, and I wouldn't eat them.  My wife could not understand how I did not like one of the tastiest vegetables that was ever placed on the supper table.  She told me to try a little bit with a dab of butter and some salt and pepper.  So I tried it and guess what?  For the first time in my life, I was enjoying cooked carrots and was helping myself to a 2nd and 3rd serving.  I have been a great carrot eater ever since and I have never eaten canned carrots ever again.
     If you are not a carrot eater, then you need to become one.  They are so healthy for you.  Because carrots are bright orange, they are an antioxidant and they are rich in beta carotene.  The body digests this beta carotene and turns it into vitamin A.  The molecules from digesting carrots will kill cancer cells when it comes in contact with them. The eating of carrots will also prevent Heart Diseases.
     I thought this was interesting:  When you eat only one cup full of raw carrots, it provides you with 31,000 units of beta carotene, but when you cook the carrots, then it becomes 38,000 units of  beta carotene.  That is 7,000 more units of beta carotene in cooked carrots over the raw ones.
     Now besides killing cancer cells, this beta carotene will greatly improve your eye sight.  And for those of you who suffer from night blindness, for the first time after eating a lot of carrots, you will be able to see better in the dark.  It's the natural Vitamin A that is doing the wonders to your eyes.  But carrots aren't the only edible food that provides beta carotene.  These other foods are also high in this wonderful stuff:

1. Cantaloupe                                                                  
2. Sweet Potato
3. Kale
4. Turnip greens
5. Mustard greens
6. Spinach
7. Dried Basil
8. Dried Parsley
9. Dried Marjoram
10. Dried Oregano
11. Fresh Thyme
12. Any of the Orange Flesh Squash
13. Pumpkins
14. Apricots
15. Lettuce
16. Collards
17. Papaya
18. Nectarines
19. Peaches
20. Raw Sunflower Seeds

     For those who did research on cancer in the US,  people who included a lot of beta carotene in their diets, suffer very little from cancer.  On the other hand, the cancer rate was much higher in those people who had very little of it in their diets.
     Also vitamin A is also known as the as the anti-infection vitamin.  It battles viruses and bacteria in two ways.  Vitamin A keeps body cells healthy and it provides the cells with a barrier that resists microorganisms.  Beta carotene also stops the viruses from growing in the body.
     Believe it or not, when you drink carrot juice, it will control Arthritis pains and you can double this effect if you mix celery juice with it.  Also, ground carrots can be wrapped around and  infectious wound and it will draw out the puss and help the wound to heal.