What To Do When Your Hands Are Orange.

No, I have not had an accident with self-tanner - this time.

This is about my previously mentioned multi-month beta carotene overdosing.

See these little guys?

We have a pretty serious relationship. I realized I eat 3-4 a day. I pull them out of my fridge as a snack regularly and eat them exactly like this. I don't even wash them...some leftover grit gives it that garden taste even when I'm pulling them out of a plastic bag. I also put them in lots of meals. Let's look at the evidence...

Into Carrot Cake Pancakes.

As part of dinner. 

As part of lunch. 

Indian with rice. 

Steamed with broccoli. 

In stew. 

With pasta marinara and peas. 

With indian and macaroni. 

And, of course, as part of my USMLE Step 1 food. 

And there were many more...

However, the time has come to make a change. There are two main reasons.
1. I'm kind of sick of my orange hands (and feet too!).
2. I fear that while I do love my carrots, I'm sacrificing the snacking deliciousness of other vegetables by only grabbing these when I want a snack.

So, I'm taking you all with me on an experiment. According to the wikipedia article on beta carotene (because where else would you go for scientific knowledge?) the foods highest in beta carotene are various forms of carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach (two of my other favorites, of course).

And so, for the next few weeks I won't be eating them, and we'll see how long it takes my hands to return to normal. I won't be vitamin A deficient - there's still plenty of the vitamin in other vegetables, just not the megadoses found in my favorite foods.

Here's a "start" photo. My palm is the one towards the bottom, compared to Boyfriend's. You may also recognize it because, well, it's clearly orange.

I bought zucchini this week instead ... hopefully this doesn't mean I'm going to turn green.