There are almost limitless options for foods that you can eat for breakfast.
Many people like a heavy breakfast to keep them full, whereas, others prefer something light for breakfast.
Carrots are light on the stomach because they are low in calories and high in fiber, but is it a good idea to eat them for breakfast?
It’s good to eat carrots for breakfast.
But, carrots are low in calories and therefore you will be hungry again very soon.
An average-sized carrot contains 1% of your recommended daily intake of calories.
So, if you eat 3 carrots in the morning you will need to eat much more throughout the day.
Another way to get a lot of calories from carrots is to instead drink carrot juice.
It takes about 10 carrots to make 1 cup of carrot juice.
This means instead of 3% of the recommended daily intake of calories, you can get about 10%, which means you’ll be less hungry, particularly if you eat some other foods along with carrot juice.
Today, I will explain if it’s OK to eat carrots in the morning, and what benefits are to eating carrots or drinking carrot juice in the morning.
Can We Eat Carrot in the Morning?
Carrots are not a traditional breakfast food and vegetable juices are also not commonly consumed in the morning.
Therefore, you may be curious if it is in fact ok to eat carrots before lunch and if there is anything to be aware of if you do.
Here’s what I found.
It’s fine to eat carrot in the morning.
The main concern with eating carrots is that they are low in calories, this means you will be hungry again very soon.
Provided you combine it with other foods to give you enough energy there aren’t any drawbacks to eating carrots in the morning.
This is the main reason people prefer to eat toast, porridge, or cereal that contains grains in the morning such as muesli.
These types of foods are high in calories and keep you full for longer, which means you don’t need to take a break to eat something before lunch.
And instead can have something light like a piece of fruit, or a cup of tea or coffee.
Carrots like most fruits and vegetables are particularly low in calories.
This means you won’t get a lot of energy.
Although, they can be great for keeping your calories low.
Generally, you’ll feel hungry soon – within an hour or so of eating them.
The ideal breakfast involving carrots
Therefore, the ideal breakfast involving carrots is carrot juice, and something else such as some toast with peanut butter (very high in calories), some eggs, or other high calorie foods.
Here’s a video that shows an interesting breakfast recipe using carrots and eggs:
The average recommended daily intake of calories for an adult is around 2000 to 3000.
An average-sized carrot contains just 25 calories.
Which is 1% of the recommended daily intake.
In my experience, I can eat about 3 raw or cooked carrots before I feel full.
Adding this up only equals 3% of your recommended daily intake of calories.
However, I could comfortably drink a cup of carrot juice.
Which equals 10% of your recommended daily intake of calories according to the NHS.
If you eat 3 big meals and a few snacks in between on an average day, your breakfast should contain around 15% to 25% of your recommended daily intake of carrots.
This is virtually impossible to do by eating raw or cooked carrots.
Because you will feel full before you eat enough carrots to get enough calories.
What Are the Benefits of Eating Carrot in the Morning?
Given that carrots are a typical breakfast food, if you were to begin eating carrots for breakfast, you may be interested in the benefits of doing so, if any.
Based on the unique nutrients found in carrots, and eating them at this specific time of day, here’s what I found the benefits are.
The benefits of eating carrot in the morning are you will absorb the beneficial vitamins and minerals they contain quicker.
This is because your digestive system is emptier after not having eaten when you sleep.
Apart from this there are no benefits to eating carrots specifically in the morning.
Carrots are naturally high in vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, manganese, and contain an average amount of fiber.
These nutrients are very beneficial for your immune system, skin health, and digestive health.
Carrots are particularly high in vitamin A, which is very good for your skin health.
Carrots have been reported to make your skin glow, so I looked into exactly how many carrots you should consume to get this effect based on the recommendation of dermatologists and summarized it in this article about whether carrots make your skin glow.
But, other foods also contain these beneficial nutrients.
And in my opinion, they can make a better breakfast.
Cooked, or raw vegetables in the morning aren’t a typical food for breakfast and can be a bit funny or even not very appealing at all.
The best way to get the benefits of absorbing more of the nutrients that carrots are high in by eating them in the morning is to have a glass of carrot juice.
Juice and liquids pass through your stomach quite quickly and won’t make you feel full.
Provided you don’t drink a very large amount, say around 4 cups (1 liter).
This will generally give you enough room to eat any other breakfast food you like with carrot juice in the morning.
Carrot juice is a concentrated form of carrots.
This is because it takes 10 average-sized carrots to make 1 cup of carrot juice.
This means that carrot juice has much higher levels of nutrients.
And can potentially put you over the recommended daily intake of these nutrients.
I explained how much carrot juice is too much to drink, in this article about if it’s ok to drink carrot juice everyday.
Carrot Juice in the Morning Benefits
Juice in the morning is a very healthy start to the day.
Carrot juice in particular has a bunch of beneficial vitamins and minerals.
Here’s what the benefits are to drinking carrot juice in the morning.
The stomach and beginning of the digestive system are largely empty first thing in the morning.
As there has been a lot of time for the food you consumed the day before to be processed by your body.
The transit time of food through the digestive system is about 48 hours on average.
Most people stop eating and sleep for around 7 to 10 hours.
This allows a significant amount of time for your stomach and intestines to clear.
As you may be aware, the stomach liquifies food that you eat, and this liquid mixture then goes into the intestines.
The intestines squeeze and push the food through themselves, and the nutrients are absorbed as they are sitting against the walls of the intestines.
These nutrients are then transported away to other parts of your body.
I’m Chris Watson & the Founder of EatForLonger.com. I’m a food and wellbeing enthusiast researching and sharing foodstuffs and simple food-based concepts, such as fasting and clean eating.
I hope it inspires you to make tiny changes to what you eat and when you eat while optimizing your healthspan and all-around well-being.
Read more About Me here.