A Carrot Out Weighs Oatmeal, Really?

I was reading a nutrition blog the other day that recommended avoidance of root vegetables for diabetics and those wanting to lose weight. The author argued that root vegetables are high in sugar, and sugar, being incompatible with weight loss and diabetes, should be avoided.

Over the years, my own clients have told me they also avoid carrots for similar reasons. I began to wonder why root vegetables were getting such a bad rap, because I put at least one root veggie, and sometimes two (if it is a carrot) in my green drink every morning. I am losing weight, so what possible harm am I doing to myself? After all, people have been eating root vegetables since the beginning of time, right?

I began my research with a website called NutritionData.com for analyses. Along with providing the standard nutritional data, they also have additional tools such as fullness factor, glycemic load and inflammation factor which are useful to determine which foods are capable of causing or preventing disease.

For the ease of comparison, I took the standard portion size of one bag of instant oatmeal (155 g) and compare it to a similar size serving of carrots (158g), this is about 2 carrots.

Results:

Summary:

Carrots contain fewer calories, less fat, protein, sodium, folate and sugar than oatmeal; but, essentially contains more of every other vitamin than oatmeal. Furthermore, carrots also contain more that 100 phytonutrients (plant chemicals) that are important in the prevention of disease.

More importantly, at least in my mind, is the strong anti-inflammatory properties of carrots. Inflammation is thought to be the underlying cause of diabetes, coronary artery disease, and cancer.

It is apparent to me that we should be eating more carrots and not less. Carrot juice anyone?