A Dozen Foods That Can Give You Vitamin A Naturally

Discovery of the fact that you are suffering from a Vitamin A deficiency could make you scared. But, as a proactive person, having learnt that you have such a deficiency, the next question that is likely to come up in your mind is one as to what you can do about it. You are likely to find yourself wondering as to whether, for instance, there are some pills you can pop to make up for the deficiency. And while there are indeed some pills used in vitamin A supplementation, they are ideally used as a short term solution to the deficiency. On an ongoing basis, one should ideally be getting his or her vitamin A from diet. There are more than a dozen foods that can give you vitamin A naturally, including:

Liver - whether it is beef liver, chicken liver or fish liver you can get, this is arguably the richest (natural) source of vitamin A. If you absolutely can't lay your hands on a liver, you may try cod liver oil - which is to be found on sale in most supermarkets today.

Carrots - these are the second richest source of vitamin A. Eaten raw or cooked, carrots will provide you with a considerable amount of vitamin A.

Kales and spinach - these too, are very rich in vitamin A. In the process of eating them, you will gain access to a host of other essential vitamins as well. Just ensure that you don't overcook them, because overcooking them could make it impossible for you to get the vitamins (and other nutrients) that were originally in them.

Eggs: although not very rich in vitamin A, eggs do contain some level of it. Just ensure that you don't overindulge in eggs though, because they have too much cholesterol for your heart's good. But whenever you get to eat an egg, keep it in mind that you will definitely have gained some amount of vitamin A from it.

Milk, butter and cheese: these diary products contain quite a lot of vitamin A. And the most beautiful thing about them (as with all these other natural sources of vitamin A) is in the fact that, besides vitamin A, they provide you with many other nutrients.

Sweet potatoes: when many of us hear of sweet potatoes, we only think of them as rich sources of carbohydrates. And although the sweet potatoes are indeed a rich source of carbohydrates (energy), they also provide our bodies with lots of other nutrients that we need - an example of which is the vitamin A we are talking about. In actual fact, sweet potatoes are ranked as the fourth richest source of vitamin A, after liver, carrot and broccoli leaf.

Broccoli and broccoli leaf: although broccoli and broccoli leaf are both potential sources of vitamin A, it is noteworthy that the broccoli leaf (inasmuch as you can lay your hands on it) is a much richer source of the vitamin than broccoli itself. Indeed, broccoli leaf is only second to liver, in terms of vitamin A richness.

Pumpkin: this is yet another rich (and often overlooked) source of vitamin A. Depending on how you prepare it, and the variety of it you get, pumpkin can also be undeniably delicious.