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10 Facts About Carrots.

31 Dec

Carrots are 88% water.

The carrot primarily gets its characteristic and bright orange color from beta-carotene.

Carrots are rich in antioxidants and minerals.

Carrot greens are edible as a leafy vegetable, but are only occasionally eaten by humans.

Baby carrots are really just carrots that have been cut and peeled into uniform cylinders.

Growing carrot plants with tomato plants increases tomato production.

The carrot is one of the top-ten most economically important vegetables crops in the world.

Carrots can be stored for several months in the refrigerator or over winter in a moist, cool place.

Carrots are a member of the Umbelliferae family, which also includes celery, parsley, dill, cilantro, caraway, cumin, and the poisonous hemlock.

Eating too many carrots can cause a person’s skin to turn yellowish orange, especially on the palms or soles of the feet. This is called carotenemia. It is completely reversible once the consumption of carrots is reduced.

 

Lack of Sleep Can Cause Weight Gain.

17 Dec

One of the more profound ways lack of sleep promotes weight gain is by influencing the hormones that control both hunger and satiety.  For instance, chronic sleep deprivation raises levels of the stress hormone cortisol.  Cortisol tells the body it needs more energy to meet the demands of stress, which causes an increase of hunger and cravings.

Lack of sleep also increases grehlin, a hormone that promotes hunger and fat storage.  Sleep deprivation also decreases leptin, the satiety hormone that tells you when you’ve had enough to eat.  So in a double whammy, lack of sleep both increases hunger and inhibits the ability to feel full.  The result is a natural inclination to eat more and more frequently.

Unfortunately, weight gain due to sleep deprivation doesn’t only happen slowly over time.  Just a few nights of sleep deprivation can pack on pounds.  Sleep deprivation makes fat cells less sensitive to insulin, the hormone that ushers glucose into cells so they can produce energy.  In effect, it makes a person more insulin resistant, which is a stepping-stone to obesity and diabetes.

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