Winters are almost here and we are eagerly waiting for those misty mornings and beautiful crisp evenings. The season is marked by fresh and lovely vegetables such as the leafy greens or the starchy tubers. It is good to make the most of these delights while the season lasts. One such vegetable we have our hearts set on is the juicy, crunchy carrots! Very soon, vegetable stores and supermarkets will be stocked with carrots, and there are many reasons why you must load your grocery bag with this yummy veggie. According to Bangalore-based Nutritionist, Dr. Sheela Manglani, "Carrots are good source of beta carotene, which is a natural pigment that is used by the body to make vitamin A and it has good amount of fibre." Health Practitioner and Macrobiotic Nutritionist Shilpa Arora suggests adding carrots in your daily diet to avoid constipation. "Raw carrots daily address the problem of constipation. Carrots also help maintain healthy cholesterol and prevent heart diseases. Being rich in potassium, they help bring down cholesterol and water retention." But, did you know that eating carrots will help you manage your weight? Yes, that's right.
The diet of noshing on carrots will help you lose weight. Why you ask? It is because they're naturally low in calories and full of nutrients that can help your weight loss efforts. A cup of raw carrot sticks has only 50 calories, which is just three percent of the daily calorie budget in a 1,500-calorie diet. If you're trying to lose weight in a healthiest possible way, then eating carrot sticks will help you make it possible. However, boiled carrots are slightly higher in calories, with 54 calories per cup. So, whichever type you choose, you can easily make carrots part of your weight loss diet.
Carrots are packed with vitamins, especially vitamin A. Our body converts vitamin A from food into chemicals called retinoids, which interact with our fat cells, and influence new fat cell growth, fat storage and obesity, according to a study published in Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. The study found that vitamin A may help in reducing abdominal obesity or belly fat, which has a few serious health risks.
And not just that, carrots offer a small-but-significant amount of fibre per serving - around 14 percent of the daily value in a cup of raw carrots, and 18 percent in a cup of boiled carrots. Eating fibre-rich veggies is good for weight loss as fibre takes longer to digest and keeps the hunger pangs at bay.
So, what are you waiting for? Juice them, boil them or add carrots to your dishes and snacks, but don't make the blunder of missing out on this storehouse of nutrients this winter to lose weight naturally.