I have a friend who told me that she was on this kick when all that she was eating was carrots . . . bags and bags of those little baby carrots. She ate so many over a period of a few weeks that she actually turned orange.
She must have looked like an Oompa Loompa with a glandular problem . . . my friend is pretty tall.
Is it really possible that eating too many carrots can cause your skin to turn orange-ish? Yeah, actually it is.
It’s a condition called carotenosis . . . it is caused by eating a lot of foods that contain carotene . . . a red or yellow hydrocarbon pigment . . . egg yolks, sweet potatoes, beets, a variety of leafy vegetables and, of course, carrots. Carotene builds up in your bloodstream and most people turn a sickly yellow color resembling jaundice. It’s rarely fatal . . . apparently you have to try really, really hard to die of carotenosis.
The good news is you just have to stop eating carrots to resume your normal hue.
