It's not necessarily the food which we consume which is the problem, it's the condiments that we add to the food. Today we will be looking at probably the guiltiest condiment culprits... ketchup!
I love ketchup, I use it pretty much everythingthat I eat. So this particular one is very personal for me.
Tomatoes are pretty healthy, correct?
Ketchup is primarily produced from tomatoes. Therefore you might believe that it's not that bad for you. All of us accept that it's also filled with sugar, but tomatoes are veggies, correct? So at the very least you'll be getting the nourishment from those...
Well not when you boil them to death!
Ketchup is essentially made from extremely over cooked tomatoes which have lost all their natural worth, some water and lots of sugar.
The sugar added to ketchup may be worth a closer inspection. Because, although it starts as sugar (which is already unhealthy) before it goes into the ketchup it's refined into high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is a lot worse!
On top of this, it's packed with flavourings, like MSG, that make us want it more.
So , ketchup is not a good idea if you're trying to eat healthy. It's only nutritious ingredient has lost any value it once had and all of the additional stuff has been linked to countless health problems, just 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 you eat more.
Is MSG really bad for your health?
If you do a quick search on MSG, you can find many articles saying that it has a negative rep but it isn't really that bad for your health. Then you will stumble into this from Michael Galitzer...
“It’s probably one of the most harmful substances that one can eat.”
I honestly believe that there's a bit of a conspiracy here, attempting to avoid most folk from discovering the truth about MSG. So that we keep eating products which are filled with it.
MSG could trigger 'Leaky Gut' which sounds disgusting and is associated with...
- Bloatedness
- Gas
- Diarrhea
- Stomach pain
I have to admit, on many occasions I have had all those, specifically after scoffing a greasy Chinese takeaway.
Healthy Tomato Ketchup options
Anyway, back to ketchup. We like it. We would like to keep consuming it. But we don't want 'Leaky Gut'.
The greatest alternative to shop purchased ketchup is to make some in your kitchen.
In case you fancy giving that a go, then you'll enjoy this video from "Cooking With Plants"
If you basically don't have time for that, a few shop-bought ketchups that are a much healthier option.
In 2010 ConAgra eliminated the HFCS from their ketchup (Hunt's Ketchup) however they put it back a few years later. Why? Well, I think that they were seeking to cash-in on many peoples growing awareness of the dangers of HFCS and hoping that their more healthy option would earn them a more significant share of the market.
I don't for one minute think that they did it out of concern people's health.
Obviously, it didn't do the job, simply because they put it back in. But folks are constantly becoming more health aware, so maybe they will give it one more go when they decide the general public will prefer to buy it. It's well worth picking up a bottle and looking at the ingredients every once in a while.
Another option, but not a very tasty one, is to switch out your reglular ketchup with tomato puree. Within recipes this will work perfectly, but like a condiment it's really not the same. Tomato puree is not as sweet and has an extremely powerful flavor. But it's worth giving it a try, put in a little sweetener (such as Stevia) and it'll be much more palitable. I'm pretty sure that anything you do will be a great deal healthier than any kind of branded ketchup!
Simply don't boil all the nutrition away, cram it with HFCS and lace it with 'gut-leaking' MSG! Aside of that, experiment... possibly even adding a few spoons of sugar will still create a healthier ketchup compared to the one you're likely using now.
Tomato puree (mixed with a sweetener) is a great alternative to making your own ketchup since it lasts a lot longer than fresh tomatoes, occupies less room inside your refrigerator and its an easy task to rustle up in a couple of seconds when required. Try it, and let me know how it tastes.