Often it isn't the food we eat that is ruining our diet, it is the condiments that we put on the food. Today we'll be taking a look at most likely the guiltiest condiment culprits... ketchup!
I enjoy ketchup, I put it on almost everythingthat I eat. So this particular one pushes a few personal buttons for me.
Tomatoes are pretty good for you, right?
Ketchup is primarily produced using tomatoes. So you'd think that it's not that bad for your health. All of us recognize that it's also full of sugar, but tomatoes are wholesome vegetables, right? So at the very least you're going to be getting the nourishment from those...
Unfortunately not when they've been boiled to within an inch of their lives!
Ketchup is basically produced from incredibly over cooked tomatoes which have unfortunately lost all their organic value, some water and tons of sugar.
The sugar that you find in ketchup will be worth a closer look. Because, although it starts out as sugar (which is already pretty unhealthy) before it goes into the ketchup it is refined into high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is much more damaging for your health!
In Additional to this, it's packed with flavourings, like MSG, that make us want it more.
Therefore , ketchup is not good. It's only decent ingredient (tomatoes) has long lost any value it once had and everything else has been linked to numerous medical issues, like...
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is connected to
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
.. and contains absolutely no nutritional worth. It just makes food sweet, so people eat more.
Is MSG really bad for your health?
If you do a quick search on MSG, you will discover lots of articles stating that it has a bad rep but it really isn't that bad for you. Then you'll stumble into this quote from Michael Galitzer...
“It’s probably one of the most harmful substances that one can eat.”
I honestly think that there's a bit of a conspiracy here, attempting to avoid the majority of folk from discovering the truth about MSG. So that we carry on eating products which are filled with it.
MSG can cause 'Leaky Gut' which sounds disgusting and is connected with...
- Bloating
- Gas
- Diarrhea
- Stomach pain
I have to admit, on numerous occasions I've had all those, especially after indulging in a greasy takeaway.
Healthier Ketchup options
Anyway, let's get back to ketchup. We adore it. We would like to keep consuming it. But we don't really want 'Leaky Gut'.
The best alternative to shop purchased ketchup is to make it yourself.
In case you fancy giving that a go, then watch this video from "Cooking With Plants"
If you simply don't have time for that, a few shop-bought ketchups that are a much healthier option.
Way back in 2010 ConAgra took out the HFCS from their tomato ketchup (Hunt's Ketchup) but they put it back in a couple of years later. Why? My guess, I believe that they were seeking to cash in on peoples growing knowledge of the dangers of HFCS and hoping that their healthier option would earn them a more significant share of the ketchup market.
I don't for 1 minute think that they did it out of concern public health.
Obviously, it didn't work, simply because they added it back. But people are constantly getting more health aware, so maybe they will give it one more go when they decide that the public will prefer to buy it. It's definitely worth picking up the bottle and looking at the ingredients every now and then.
One more option, but not a tasty one, is to switch out your reglular ketchup with tomato puree. In recipes this works perfectly, but as a condiment it's a bit strong. Tomato puree isn't as sweet and has an extremely powerful flavour. But give it a try, include a little sweetener (such as Stevia) and it'll be much more palitable. I'm pretty sure that anything you do will be a lot healthier than any kind of shop-bought ketchup!
Just don't boil all the nutrients away, stuff it with HFCS and lace it with 'gut-leaking' MSG! Aside of that, experiment... possibly even adding a touch of sugar will still produce a far healthier ketchup compared to the one you're using now.
Tomato puree (mixed along with a sweetener) is a good alternative to making your own ketchup since it lasts a great deal longer than fresh tomatoes, takes up much less room within your refrigerator and its an easy task to rustle up in a few seconds when required. Try it, and let me know how you get on.