Hi, I’m Susan Bowerman, Herbalife Nutritionist. It’s safe to say that vitamin A is a real multi-tasker. Most people know vitamin A for its role in vision, but vitamin A also plays a role in the health of your skin, your bones, and your teeth, and it supports immune function, too.
You can get your vitamin A in a couple of ways. Preformed vitamin A – found mostly in animal foods like liver, fish, milk or eggs, is the active form of the vitamin, which means that once it’s absorbed, it’s ready for your body to use.
But you can also turn to all kinds of plant foods for your vitamin A, too. Many plant foods contain compounds called carotenoids. Carotenoids themselves are not active vitamin A, but your body can easily convert them into the active form whenever the need arises.
Carotenoids give many plant foods their deep, rich colors, so it’s a pretty safe bet that if a food is deep orange, red or green, it’s going to contain these important compounds. Here are five ways to get your As:
– Carrots get their color from a carotenoid called beta-carotene. Carrots have so much beta carotene that a single carrot can provide more than twice the vitamin A your body needs for the whole day.
– Orange squashes like pumpkin, acorn and butternut also contain lots of beta carotene. Try some cooked pumpkin in your protein shake with a dash of cinnamon.
-Spinach gets its green color from a carotenoid called lutein. If you’re not a fan, try baby spinach which is milder in flavor, and also contains more lutein than more mature spinach.
-Peppers of all colors contain carotenoid pigments which explains why they come in so many colors that range from green to yellow, orange, red and even deep purple.
-Tomatoes get much of their red color from a carotenoid called lycopene. If you don’t care for fresh tomatoes, try to work some into cooked sauces, stews or soups.
In general, cooking makes it a bit easier for your body to absorb the carotenoids from foods. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat your vegetables raw. Crushing and grinding also releases the carotenoids, too, so as long as you chew thoroughly, you should be good.
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Herbalife nutritionist, Susan Bowerman talks about five different ways to get your vitamin A needs from carotenoids which include: carrots, orange squash, green spinach, orange & red foods like peppers, & mixed vegetable juice. Vitamin A is important for its role in our vision health, skin health, bone health & immune system functions. Although most preformed vitamin A is found in animal foods you can also find it in plant foods.
