It’s hardly shocking that a raw carrot “salad” is presently popular on TikTok considering the platform has already persuaded users that a drink made of balsamic vinegar, seltzer, and sugar is a healthy substitute for Coke or that low-carb bread can be made with only eggs, sugar, and cornflour. Many people who have shared the recipe claim that all it takes to balance your hormones is to eat raw carrots every day, and that making them into a salad is the best way to achieve it.
Calling this food a salad may seem a bit of a stretch if you’re used to eating salads that are packed with ingredients. Nevertheless, what is essentially a further stretch is the assertion that.
If you do have a hormone imbalance, raw carrots are no substitute for medicine, says Dr. Datta-Thomas, who is a specialist in bioidentical hormone therapy. “The extreme of eating this salad two to three times per day and the TikTok viral recipe don’t have medical evidence behind it, which would include randomised controlled trials,” she stresses.
But despite the lack of research backing up the TikTok claims, which allegedly originate from a recipe published by biologist Ray Peat, PhD, there are other advantages to eating more carrots. “In general, raw carrots do have the benefits of carotenoids, which are known to have great antioxidant effects, meaning they help repair or prevent the “oxidative stress” or cell damage that can occur from inflammation, disease or environmental exposures,” Dr. Datta-Thomas points out. As for hormone health specifically, carrots only have a positive impact on it because they’re high in fibre, and having a healthy gut can reduce excess estrogen.
A true hormone imbalance requires consultation with a medical professional, Dr. Datta-Thomas says, but if you’re just looking to incorporate more antioxidants and fibre into your diet, there’s no harm in continuing to eat the TikTok salad. It’s a pretty bare bones salad, being that it only consists of one vegetable and a basic vinaigrette, but it’s still a tasty way to consume carrots. Check out the simple recipe below (adapted from the most popular TikTok iterations of what’s supposed to be Dr. Peat’s salad) to learn how to make it.
