What is the first thing you think of when you see the word carrot? I think of Bugs Bunny and his munching on a carrot holding on to the green end. The other thing I think of is how good carrots are for your eyes.

The fact that carrots join a group of orange vegetables, including pumpkins, squash, and sweet potatoes, is not by accident. History shows that in the 17th-century Dutch horticulturalists cross-bred different varieties to come up with an orange-colored carrot, which was the color of the Dutch royal family. Not to fear if you don't like the color orange as they are also available in the colors purple, black, red, white, and yellow.

The nutritional benefits of these colorful roots include high alpha and beta carotene and vitamin K and vitamin B6. The carotenes are converted into vitamin A, making carrots a great source of this nutrient. Vitamin A plays a part in eye health, and that is the connection to eating carrots to improve your eyesight.

When my children were young, they loved carrot baby food, and that could have been because of the high sugar content of carrots. We knew they were getting too many carrots when their skin started to turn orange or yellow. This condition is called carotenemia occurs due to eating too many carrots, causing a build-up of carotenoids in the skin.

Vitamin A is one of the fat-soluble vitamins; others include E, D, and K. These vitamins can accumulate in the body, unlike the water-soluble counterparts, which are flushed out of the system in the sweat and urine. Fat-soluble vitamins can collect in our systems because they are stored in fatty tissue. This can be a concern if we get too much with the possibility of becoming toxic.

Vitamin A benefits include growth and development, maintenance of the immune system and for good vision. There are two main sources, retinol from animal products and carotene from plant products. The carotene in animals is converted by enzymes to retinol in their intestinal tracts. Vitamin A deficiency is not uncommon in developing countries and can lead to vision issues like night blindness. The importance of including carrots in your diet is definitely a benefit when it comes to our vision.

You may recall seeing pictures where a carrot was tied to a stick in front of a wagon's mule or stubborn horse to make them step forward and walk ahead. They thought they would walk forward and try to get the carrot that they were never able to reach. This technique may have worked for a short time but wasn't a long-term solution to keeping the animal motivated.

I refer to a goal as a carrot. When working out or training, it seems a little easier to work harder when you have a carrot out. Without a carrot, it is harder to get up early in the morning to try and get a workout in. Excuses seem to creep into the equation, and exercise can eventually fall by the wayside. So for me, this technique keeps me focused on the goal or carrot.

The concept of having a carrot as a goal does not work for everyone. One of the arguments would be, "why would I have a goal that makes me work out more when I don't like working out." For those individuals, they may need to look for something different as a motivation.

My carrot for the last four years has been the Maah Daah Hey 100 mountain bike race. The race consists of 5 races in one; 13, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mile distances all beginning at different parts of the trail with a shotgun start at 6 AM. The finish line is the same for every race at the west end of Medora.

The race organizer is Nick Ybarro from Watford City. He not only runs a whole series of different races, but he and his organization Save the MDH has become a non-profit maintainer of the trail, fixing and mowing it for racers and the general public. Without him and the Save the MDH organization, it would be almost impossible to keep this 140-mile trail in such great shape. Kudos to Nick and his crew of volunteers.

I have been riding the 25-mile race for the last four years, and somehow, I have improved a little each year. This year I beat my best time by 10 minutes, which I felt really good about. I attribute a portion of my improvement to the group fitness class I have been working out with over the last year.

Group fitness can be a carrot for some as well. Having the group there to motivate and guide you is a great way to lose the excuses. As long as I'm giving shout-outs in this article, I would like to give one to Joe Champa and Yianna Nadeau for their help in the HIT program and all my workout partners for keeping me motivated and hitting those carrot goals.

If you have any questions regarding vitamin A dosing and would like to schedule a consult, stop in or call the pharmacy @ 701-483-4858. Until next time, be vigilant about your health!!