While it’s relatively easy to get a tan by just sitting outside for a while, doing so has downsides. First, the risk of sunburn. Second, skin cancer. Third, it goes away — and who has the time to go *outside* over and over again? There’s gaming to be done!

Seeing this, some have decided to find a more “natural” way to turn their skin orange. No, not by dying it with an artificial tanner, but by eating a shit ton of carrots.

@kainoalam Will you carrot max? #fyp#foryou#selfimprovement#looksmax#trending#carrotmaxxing#tan#skincolor♬ Blade Runner 2049 - Synthwave Goose

Maximizing your daily carrot count, also known as, sigh, “carrotmaxxing” has been a thing on the internet for a few years now, but it’s really only picked up steam recently — largely due to posts about how it’s actually dangerous.

UPDATE: CARROTMAXXING SENT ME TO THE ER https://t.co/hVjmWwWOYn

— Sydney (@SydneyPacce) May 19, 2025

For example, this X/Twitter user said that her attempt to carrotmaxx sent her to the hospital. But why? Aren’t carrots healthy?

Well, yes, if you’re just eating carrots. The problem is that, if you want to intentionally develop carotenemia (the condition where your skin turns yellow/orange), you have to eat a lot of carrots — more carrots (and beta carotene) than your body can process.

And if you’re eating processed carrots like this internet user did, that results in you consuming a fuckton of salt. It was the salt, not the carrots, that she says sent her to the hospital.

@adixovic

♬ original sound - kassie

@masonvitality

♬ Tired - someoneunlovable

Okay, so what if I go raw? Can I still do it? First, phrasing. Second, yes, but do you really want to?

I ask this because, unlike what these people seem to be saying, the skin discoloration that comes with carotenemia is only *sort of* similar to the kind of change you get from the sun. While one study claimed that the resultant “carrot tan” was rated to be more attractive, they used digital enhancement to approximate what a carrot tan looked like compared to a normal tan. Now that I’ve seen a lot of videos of people with carrot tans, I gotta say, it looks worse.

@nooz395 Carrots DO tan you. Start carrotmaxxing today. #looksmax#tanning#skincare♬ delulu - NESYA

But if you want your skin to look orange and don’t have the courage to spray paint yourself, hey, go ahead and eat all those carrots. Just don’t come crying to us when you end up looking like an Oompa Loompa.