Abondanza :)

One more carry over from my old blog - three to go :)

Tomatoes were once thought to be poisonous. Someone must have gotten sick on them and declared them so and everyone avoided them because of that. Imagine not having tomatoes in sauces or on salads. Where would Pizza be without tomatoes? Interesting thought. Well we are big tomato eaters in our home. Spaghetti sauce, salads, salsa, and chili all come to mind.

So what's good about tomatoes? Well first it starts with the color. The brighter the red the more pluses for your diet. The red shows an increase in the beta carotene - lycopene. It's an antioxidant but even more importantly they have found that carotenoids have a killer effect on cancer, especially Prostate, Lung and Stomach cancers. One book I read said that caroteniods actually 'mobilize the body's defense systems against carcinogens'. They did mention that to absorb all the benefits of the tomato you must eat it with a little bit of fat to help your body absorb the lycopene better. So just add a bit of olive oil to whatever your cooking.

They also did some studies where they had people eat food high in cooked tomato product (mostly tomato paste) and they showed a mark decrease in heart disease. Tomato Juice has been shown to help stop blood clots from happening. Another article mentioned that Tomatoes have actually been shown to help with reducing some migraines.

Tomatoes have B6 (niacin - great for raising your HDL) and Folic Acid (great for lowering your Triglycerides). It's high in Vit A & C & K. Oh, and it's a wonderful source for Potassium. So when you suffer from leg cramps next time instead of eating a banana grab a tomato instead.

If you are on a diet, tomatoes are wonderful since they are mostly water and very low in calories. And the GL on this is 2 for a whole cup of fresh tomatoes.

One thing I didn't know about tomatoes is that you need to store it outside of the refrigerator. Now that I think about it the tomatoes are always in the center section at the grocery store and not in the refrigerated section. They say that refrigeration interferes with the ripening process of the tomato and takes away the flavor. Well I guess I will have to make room in my fruit bowl for the tomatoes.

Oh, and Tomatoes are a fruit :) I'm sooooo glad that I like tomatoes. Definitely a plus.

What next? I just realized that I had skipped over Mushrooms. I love Mushrooms. In our household the mushroom lovers are female and the mushroom haters are male. I must go back and cover mushrooms.

Enjoy!