Friday Food Facts: Tomatoes

Green Girl Goodies, September 2012

Featuring information from “12 Best Foods Cookbook” by Dana Jacobi

And SuperFoods:  Fourteen Foods that will Change Your Life by Steven G. Pratt, M.D., and Kathy Matthews

Tomatoes rise above their fruit and vegetable companions mainly because of their abundance of lycopene.  Lycopene, a member of the carotenoid family, is what gives tomatoes and their sidekicks their bright red color and is a major contributor to the health-promoting power of the fruit.  It has been proven to help protect against cancers and heart attacks as well as helping us remain strong and look young even as we age.  Lycopene is also an important part of the antioxidant defense network in the skin and can even raise the sun protection factor (SPF) of the skin, acting like an internal sunblock.  Unfortunately, the lack of red color makes many types of Heirloom Tomatoes not as beneficial as your standard red tomatoes but they still contain the vitamins and fiber!

In addition to the above mentioned benefits, tomatoes are a great source of potassium, niacin, vitamins B6, A and C, folate and fiber.  One of the most exciting things about tomatoes is unlike many other foods, cooked tomatoes actually are just as healthy if not more so in some ways than their raw counterparts.    Cooked tomatoes – including canned tomatoes, tomato paste, juice, soup and even ketchup – contain up to 8 times more available lycopene than raw tomatoes.  Eating a combination of raw and cooked tomatoes daily is a key part to improving your diet!

Image Courtesy of www.nutritionafacts.net

In order to maintain the benefits of lycopene we must consume it every day.  Your body also needs fat to absorb the lycopene which makes foods like pizza and pasta (of the whole grain variety) great ways to eat your tomatoes!

Image from Green Girl Goodies:  Cleansing Diet Recipes, Pizza

Also, keep in mind that the skin of produce contains more antioxidants than the inner flesh so tiny tomatoes or tomato products created with the skin on are your best choices.  Try adding grape, cherry, cocktail or currant tomatoes to your salad or munch on them instead of carrot sticks!  Luckily tomatoes are an easy addition to any diet in many forms.

Image from Green Girl Goodies:  Latin Inspired Steak and Eggs

If you don’t care for tomatoes try one of the sidekicks listed below to get your daily dose of lycopene:

Red Watermelon

Pink Grapefruit

Japanese Persimmons

Red Flesh Papaya

Strawberry Guava

One serving of processed tomatoes or sidekicks daily and multiple servings of fresh tomatoes weekly is recommended for the optimum diet.  Look under the “Main Ingredient” heading on the right side bar of Green Girl Goodies for “Tomato” and search the site for many more tomato recipes!

Next Friday Food Facts:

Broccoli