EATING CARROTS BRINGS LOWER RISK FOR STROKE

The other night I was reading blogs, my newest hobby. Phil was sleeping in front of the TV, his newest hobby. I knew he was sleeping, even though his back is to me, because a PBS pledge drive was on and the subject was menopause or women's health or some such thing and he wasn't changing the channel. Since I was reading blogs I wasn't paying a lot of attention until the woman speaking said something like, "Women who eat nine carrots a week have a mumble-mumble % (I didn't exactly get the numbers but it was big, at least 65%, maybe as big as 85%) lower risk for stroke."

I perked up, turned my chair and watched. She mentioned that we should be eating other fruits and vegetables too.

Since I have a noise in the left side of my head at night that I somewhat-laughingly call my "stroke vein"--I can hear my heartbeat--I decided nine carrots were feasible for me. I started right away with two carrots. Not those little convenient "manufactured" baby carrots but the real deal, peeled and cut into "sticks."

Did you know those baby carrots are made from normal sized carrots, cut and trimmed? The ency ones are from the carrot tip. (Just a bit of trivia the produce man gave us one day.) Besides that the manufactured carrots get slimy if they are in the fridge for very long. They give me the shivers.

Carrots have always given me hiccups and now it seems they make me sneeze, too. But if they calm the stroke vein--and it seems to, after only three days the noise is diminished--it's worth it. Hic. Her information differed a bit from the info. I've copied below. The Harvard study quoted said five carrots. Hic. The woman on TV--whomever she was--said nine. Hic. I am going to eat nine. For life. Hic, hic, hic. Sneeze. I may be annoying but hopefully I won't die of a stroke. I'll be around to annoy for a l-o-n-g time. Hic.

Men benefit too. Heart disease is lowered by adding carrots and oranges to their diet.

From another article I found: "Beta-carotene is a powerful antioxidant, protecting the cells of the body from damage caused by free radicals. It is also one of the carotenoids believed to enhance the function of the immune system. Beta carotene also appears to stimulate cell to cell communication." This was from a blog called: Diet Cures Change Your Diet - Save Your Life, in a post entitled Beta Carotene and Strokes. They quoted the same study, below but recommended one and a half carrots a day which makes ten and a half a week. I guess I can do that. This blog has lots of interesting articles.

Spinach seems to be important too. Hum. I love the salad in my cookbook blog that uses spinach. Maybe I better eat it at least once a week and go heavy on the spinach, light on the lettuce. Shannon's salad is tasty too and has spinach too. I love canned spinach--I know, most of you are gagging--but it probably doesn't count as it's been processed to death.

Here's the link to the article, which was a Harvard study. I've copied some of the info below.

"...studies suggest that eating lots of fruits and vegetables containing Vitamin C and beta carotene are associated with a lowered risk of heart disease and stroke...

"...Eating spinach, carrots and oranges appears to be especially beneficial. In a study of the diets of 87,245 female nurses, Harvard medical School's Joann Manson found that women who ate at least five servings of carrots a week had a 68% lower stroke risk than women who ate carrots once a month or less. ...In another study, Dr. Dilip Pandey at the University of Texas in Houston found that men who ate plenty of foods containing vitamin C and beta carotene were 30% less likely to die of heart disease. The amount of vitamin C in one or two oranges and the beta carotene in one or two carrots was enough to have a protective effect, said Pandey."

Hic.