The basic rule of this diet is to add a carrot at or near the beginning of every meal. Why should this work? This works because a bulky carrot at or near the meal's beginning leaves no room in the stomach at the meal's end for the extra ice-cream or cheesecake. That saves perhaps 500 calories a day, which translates to a weight loss of about a pound a week. Even plain water at the beginning of a meal will tend to create a full feeling in the stomach sooner in the meal. This will reduce the amount of food consumed at the end. But eating carrot is more fun.

Getting your carrot-a-day is easy, considering the vegetable's versatility and blendability. And subtlety: carrots enhance but don't overwhelm. Here are ways to put power on your table.

Cook grated carrots with beans, split peas, lentils, rice, pastas. Good in stuffing. Try the roasted - split large carrots lengthways and brush with a little oil then put on a roasting tray in a 200c oven for about 45 minutes until tender and browned. Try roast carrots, potato, sweet potato and pumpkin serve with steamed green vegetables and a nice sauce.

Toss grated carrot with potatoes for hashbrowns. (Toss in grated zucchini and minced onion, too.)

white or red. Grated carrots give body and impart subtle flavour, and they fit any tomato or creamy soup, sauce, or casserole.

Mix finely-ground carrots into peanut butter. New kind of crunch. (If you want to make a really GOOD Peanut Butter & carrot sandwich, smoosh in a banana.)

Sautè onion, green pepper, and grated or finely sliced carrots. Remove from heat and pour your preferred salad vinegar over hot veggies. (It will hiss and steam.) While hot, add to chilled salad greens. Toss and serve.

To your regular dough, add finely grated carrots; minced onion (dried flakes or fresh green); parsley; garlic powder; sprinkle of basil and skosh of oregano or sage. We like to add some dried or pesto tomatoes and a few hearty shakes of parmesan cheese

For some reason, males and small children who normally turn down veggies like those baby carrots. They come washed, peeled, prepackaged - meaning they cost more than their bulk-buy counterparts. But it's still more nutrition per penny than fast food.

Carrots are grown all over the world and are readily available in all seasons. They vary in colour from orange, black, pinkish, red, yellow and white. This delicious vegetable is within the reach of rich & poor alike and is rightly called the "universal root". The carrot root is the main edible part and can be eaten raw, drunk as a juice, used in every conceivable salad, cooked as a vegetable, made into jam, marmalade, syrup & sweet dishes. You can also eat the greens tops. The Carrot is a very versatile vegetable and can be used in a myriad of savoury and sweet dishes, mostly very healthy eating and good alternatives to stodge. It can be used as a starter, main course, sweet or just as a snack. Carrots may be eaten raw or cooked in almost any manner imaginable.

Carrots help to maintain acidic & alkaline properties in the system it is an invigorating & energizing tonic for eyes, skin, bones, heart & muscles of the body. Carrot is blood purifier, diuretic, carminative, digestive, anti flatulent, anti pyretic and vermifuge.

Carrots are nutritional heroes, they store a goldmine of nutrients. No other vegetable or fruit contains as much carotene as carrots, which the body converts to vitamin A. This is a truly versatile vegetable and an excellent source of vitamins B and C as well as calcium pectate, an extraordinary pectin fibre that has been found to have cholesterol-lowering properties. The carrot is an herbaceous plant containing about 87% water, rich in mineral salts and vitamins (B,C,D,E). Raw carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A and potassium; they contain vitamin C, vitamin B6, thiamine, folic acid, and magnesium.

Cooked carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, a good source of potassium, and contain vitamin B6, copper, folic acid, and magnesium. The high level of beta-carotene is very important and gives carrots their distinctive orange colour.

Carrots also contain, in smaller amounts, essential oils, carbohydrates and nitrogenous composites. They are well-known for their sweetening, antianaemic, healing, diuretic, remineralizing and sedative properties. In order to assimilate the greatest quantity of the nutrients present in carrots, it is important to chew them well - they are the exception to the rule - they are more nutritious cooked than raw. Why?

The answer is yes to both questions. Read on.

Are Carrots more nutritious in their raw state than when cooked? That's a very good question. Opinions vary. Clearly a raw carrot has more goodness in it when it is raw and therefore you would assume it is the healthiest way to eat it. But unless the carrot is juiced then consumed, the body cannot break down the goodness because of the cellular nature of the carrot.

So in reality, unlike most other vegetables (though not all), carrots are more nutritious when eaten cooked than eaten raw (except when juiced). Because raw carrots have tough cellular walls, the body is able to convert less than 25 per cent of their beta carotene into vitamin A. Cooking, however, partially dissolves cellulose-thickened cell walls, freeing up nutrients by breaking down the cell membranes. So long as the cooked carrots are served as part of a meal that provides some fat the body can absorb more than half of the carotene. Also, it usual for Carrots to be cut into pieces and eaten after boiling or steaming, but done in this way, half the proteins and soluble carbohydrates will be lost so it is more advisable to cook them whole and then cut up. Experiments show that eating lightly-cooked carrots is much more beneficial than eating raw carrots, which confirms the ancient wisdom in traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners have always recommended that their patients eat lightly-cooked carrots in order to get the best nutritional absorption. Recent research by Dr. Xiangdong Wang at Tufts University shows that beta carotene can change in the human body into a substance called retinoic acid, which is widely used to treat cancers.

High temperature is usually not the best thing for many of the sensitive compounds that are contained in our food and new research from the University of Arkansas indicates that for carrots, at least, cooking may in fact increase their goodness.

Carrots are one of the best sources of carotene which is a strong antioxidant. But carrots also contain other phenolic compounds that are antioxidants. Many people do not realise that numerous phenolic compounds are located in the skin of fruit and vegetables, many of which are removed by peeling prior to processing.

The Arkansas researchers were studying the effects of thermal processing (cooking) on the antioxidant properties of carrots. The carrots (peeled or non-peeled) were sliced and blanched (2 minutes or 20 minutes), cooked in cans at 250 ^oC for 75 minutes and then stored for up to 4 weeks. In all cases the antioxidant power of the processed carrots was greater - on average 34% higher - than for raw carrots. During the first week of storage the antioxidant properties continued to climb, before declining over the next 3 weeks in storage. At the end of the 4 weeks the processed carrots still had more oxidative power than raw carrots.

Heating vegetables, either during processing or cooking, is a way of reducing enzyme activity that can lead to undesirable changes in colour, flavour and texture. But the heat can also change compounds found in the raw food into other chemically related compounds. The properties of these new compounds may be different as was reported in this carrot cooking experiment.

Raw vegetables may be popular with many people, but this study shows that at least some processed and canned vegetables can be just as nutritious as raw ones. In areas where fresh produce is not available year round, or where frozen vegetables are not practical, canned vegetables are an ideal option. (reference: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 48: 1315-1321 (2000)

The nutritional value of fresh produce does decrease with time. According to the University of Minnesota Extension Service, nearly half of some vitamins may be lost within a few days of harvesting unless fresh produce is quickly cooled or preserved.

Within 1 to 2 weeks, even refrigerated produce will continue to lose half or more of some of its vitamins. The heating process during canning also destroys from one-third to one-half of vitamins A, E, thiamin and riboflavin. Once canned, losses of between 5 percent and 20 percent of these vitamins may occur during a year.

The best advice then is to cook them but not too much this increases the bioavailability of carotenoids in plant foods; and, absorption of vitamin A from the diet is improved when consumed along with some fat in the same meal. The next page continues the nutritional story concentrating on the bodily effects of carrot consumption. Learn how carrots help prevent and lower cancer risk, heart disease and stroke. Also the carrot effect on eyesight and stomach ailments.

Carrots can be eaten sliced, diced, cut up or shoe stringed. They are sold in bunches, canned, frozen and dehydrated. They may be baked, sauteed, pickled, glazed and served in combination with meats, stews, roasts, soups meat loaf or curries. The mineral contents in carrots lie very close to the skin. Hence they should not be peeled or scraped off.

Dried roasted carrot roots can be ground into a powder and used as coffee substitute. Carrot syrup is sometimes employed as a sweetening agent. Alcoholic tincture of carrot seed is incorporated in French liqueurs. Carrot oil is used for flavouring and in perfumery. Considerable honey is manufactured from bees visiting carrot, although the quality is poor. The flower clusters can be french-fried to produce a carrot-flavoured gourmet's delight. The aromatic seed is used as a flavouring in stews etc.

The cookware we use for food preparation, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the pesticide-sprayed leafy greens we eat, can lead to an exposure to heavy metals. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 1985, carrot juice can pull these heavy metals from fatty tissue where they reside, bind them up, and discharge them from the system.

Carrot juice, because of its many healthy benefits, is frequently called the "miracle juice." A large number of people in all walks of life suffering from various ailments have found that the inclusion of carrot juice in their diet has greatly improved their health. Countless others have found it to be a valuable "protective" agent in the building and maintenance of health in both children and adults, while its delicious flavour makes it popular with all members of the family as a beverage, plain or combined with other juices.

Carrot juice is a very important source of vitamin A. Scientists in the U.S. estimate that this juice contains the largest source of vitamin A, than any other fruit juice. Carrot juice provides an important source of dietary fibre and has approximately 24 calories in each 2 oz. Serving. It contains important nutrients such as calcium, phosphorous, iron, sodium, potassium, vitamin B complex, vitamin A, and as mentioned - mostly vitamin A.

Carrot juice is a therapeutic agent used for over 150 years as an ancient practice. It is reported to contain healing properties that have proven to treat varied diseases. Even complexion problems can be eliminated with the intake and digestion of needed potassium in carrot juice to help neutralize excess acid to the skin. The vitamin A in carrot juice helps the liver flush out toxins from the body - toxins that cause complexion problems.

Wash carrots thoroughly in cold water, using a stiff vegetable brush. Scrape lightly, but do not peel, as valuable vitamins and minerals lies close to the surface. The juice should be taken immediately it is made, if at all possible. If not, let the juice flow directly into glass jars which should then be covered with screw-on lids. After pouring the quantity to be used immediately, keep the remaining juice tightly covered, in the refrigerator to prevent loss of vitamin and mineral content through oxidation.

Carrot juice blends with practically all other juices. It is a delicious nourishing beverage for all members of the family at all times and it should be an important part of the diet in cases of illness. One pound of carrots will make approximately six to eight ounces of carrot juice. The large, firm, dark-yellow carrots should be selected for juicing, rather than the light-yellow ones, because of their greater carotene content.

Don't forget your carrot today!!!