It's not always the food that we eat that's stopping us from losing weight, it is the condiments that we put on the food. Today we'll be looking at probably the biggest condiment culprits... tomato ketchup!
I love ketchup, I put it on pretty much everything. So this one pushes a few personal buttons for me.
Tomatoes are nutritious, right?
Ketchup is mostly made using tomatoes. Therefore you'd believe that it's not that bad for you. All of us recognize that it's also full of sugar, but tomatoes are wholesome vegetables, correct? So at the very least you're going to be getting the goodness from those...
Well not when you boil them to death!
Ketchup is essentially manufactured from really over cooked tomatoes which have now lost all their natural worth, some water and loads of sugar.
The sugar that is added to ketchup is worth a closer look. Because, although it starts as sugar (which is already pretty unhealthy) before being added to the ketchup it is refined into high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is much worse!
In Additional to this, it's crammed with flavourings, like MSG, that make us want to use more.
Therefore , ketchup is not a good idea if you're trying to eat healthy. It's only decent ingredient (tomatoes) has long lost any value it once had and all of the other ingredients have been linked to countless medical issues, including...
High Fructose Corn Syrup is linked to
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
.. and contains absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever. All it does is make stuff sweet, so you eat more.
Is MSG really bad for your health?
When you do a little research on MSG, there are lots of articles stating that it has a bad rep but it isn't really that bad for your health. 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 going on, hoping to prevent most people from obtaining the reality about MSG. So that we keep eating products that are full of it.
MSG could cause 'Leaky Gut' which certainly sounds disgusting and is connected to...
- Bloatedness
- Gas
- Diarrhea
- Abdominal pain
I have to admit, on many occasions I have had all of those, specifically after indulging in a yummy takeaway.
Healthy Tomato Ketchup options
Anyway, back to ketchup. We really like it. We want to keep consuming it. But we don't want 'Leaky Gut'.
The healthiest alternative to shop bought ketchup is to make your own.
If you fancy giving that a go, then you'll enjoy this video from "Cooking With Plants"
If you just don't have time for that, there are some shop-bought ketchups that are a healthier option.
In 2010 ConAgra took out the HFCS from their ketchup (Hunt's Ketchup) but sadly they put it back in a few years later. Why? Honestly, I believe that they were seeking to cash in on peoples growing concern of the dangers of HFCS and expecting that their much healthier option would earn them a increased share of the market.
I don't for a single moment believe that they did it out of concern public health.
Obviously, it didn't work, because they put it back. But people are constantly becoming more health conscious, so maybe they will give it another go when they think the general public will prefer to buy it. It's definitely worth picking up a bottle and checking the ingredients every now and then.
Another option, but not really a tasty one, is to use tomato puree. Within recipes this will work perfectly, but as a condiment it's a bit strong. Tomato puree isn't as sweet and has an extremely strong flavor. But it's worth a try, include a little sweetener and see what you come up with. I'm pretty sure that whatever you do will be a great deal healthier than any kind of branded ketchup!
Simply don't boil all the nutrients away, fill it with HFCS and lace it with 'gut-leaking' MSG! Aside of that, go crazy... even adding some sugar will still create a much healthier ketchup compared to the one you're likely using now.
Tomato puree (mixed along with a sweetener) will be a good alternative to making your own ketchup because it lasts a lot longer than fresh tomatoes, occupies less room within your refrigerator and its an easy task to rustle up in a few seconds as required. Try it, and let me know how it goes.