Sometimes it's not the food we eat that is ruining our diet, it's the stuff that we put on the food. Today we'll be looking at most likely the biggest condiment culprits... ketchup!
I enjoy ketchup, I put it on pretty much everythingthat I eat. So this one hits home for me.
Tomatoes are healthy, right?
Ketchup is mainly made from tomatoes. Therefore you would probably believe that it's not that bad for your health. We all realize that it's also full of sugar, but tomatoes are wholesome veggies, right? So at the very least you're getting the nutrients from those...
Well not when you boil them to death!
Ketchup is basically produced from extremely over cooked tomatoes that have now lost all their organic value, some water and a LOT of sugar.
The sugar that is added to ketchup may be worth a closer look. Because, although this starts out as sugar (which is already pretty bad) before it goes into the ketchup it's processed into high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is a lot more damaging for your health!
In Additional to this, it is packed with flavourings, such as MSG, which make us want to eat more.
So , ketchup is unhealthy. It's only decent ingredient (tomatoes) has been stripped of its value and all of the additional stuff has been linked to countless medical issues, for instance...
HFCS is connected to
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
.. and contains absolutely no nutritional value. It just makes things sweet, so people eat more.
Is MSG really bad for you?
If you do a quick search for MSG, you will find many articles saying that it has a poor reputation but it isn't really that bad for you. Then you will stumble in to this quote from Michael Galitzer...
“It’s probably one of the most harmful substances that one can eat.”
I honestly feel that there might be a little bit of a conspiracy here, seeking to avoid most people from obtaining the reality about MSG. So that we keep eating products which are filled with it.
MSG can cause 'Leaky Gut' which certainly sounds revolting and is linked to...
- Bloatedness
- Gas
- Diarrhea
- Stomach pain
I have to admit, on quite a few occasions I have had all those, especially after scoffing a greasy takeaway.
Healthier Ketchup options
Anyway, back to ketchup. We adore it. We want to keep eating it. But we don't want 'Leaky Gut'.
The greatest substitute for shop purchased ketchup is to make it yourself.
If you fancy giving that a go, then watch this video from "Cooking With Plants"
If you basically don't have time for that, a few ketchups which are a more healthy option.
Way back in 2010 ConAgra took out the HFCS from their ketchup (Hunt's Ketchup) but sadly they put it back in a couple of years later. Why? Well, I feel that they were wanting to cash-in on peoples growing knowledge of the dangers of HFCS and hoping that their more healthy option would earn them a greater share of the market.
I don't for one second believe that they did it out of genuine concern the public's health.
Obviously, it didn't work, simply because they put it back in again. But people are constantly getting more health aware, so maybe they will give it one more go when they determine the general public will pay for it. It's certainly worth picking up the bottle and going through the ingredients every once in a while.
One more option, but not a very tasty one, is to switch out your reglular ketchup with tomato puree. Within recipes this works perfectly, but like a sauce it's a bit strong. Tomato puree isn't as sweet and has an extremely powerful flavor. But give it a try, add some sweetener (such as Stevia) and see what you come up with. I'm pretty certain that anything you do will be a great deal healthier than any kind of shop-bought ketchup!
Just don't boil all of the nutrition away, cram it with HFCS and lace it with 'gut-leaking' MSG! Aside of that, experiment... even adding a few spoons of sugar will still create a far healthier ketchup than the one you're using now.
Tomato puree (mixed with a sweetener) will be a good option to making your own ketchup because it lasts a great deal longer than fresh tomatoes, takes up less room within your refrigerator and its easy to rustle up in a few seconds as required. Try it, and let me know how it goes.