Sometimes it's not the food that we eat that's ruining our diet, it's the condiments we slather over the food. Today we'll be looking at one of the guiltiest condiment culprits... tomato ketchup!
I love ketchup, I use it pretty much everythingthat I eat. So this particular one hits home for me.
Tomatoes are good for you, correct?
Ketchup is primarily made using tomatoes. So you would think that it's not too bad for your health. All of us recognize that it's also full of sugar, but tomatoes are veggies, correct? So at least you are receiving the nourishment from those...
Well not when they've been boiled to within an inch of their lives!
Ketchup is basically made using extremely over cooked tomatoes that have unfortunately lost all of their nutritional worth, some water and plenty of sugar.
The sugar that you can find in ketchup may be worth a closer look. Because, although it starts out as sugar (which is already pretty bad) before being added to the bottle it is refined into high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is a lot worse!
On top of this, it's crammed with flavourings, like MSG, that make us want to eat more.
So , ketchup is not good. It's only decent ingredient has been robbed of its value and all of the additional stuff has been linked to countless health issues, for instance...
High Fructose Corn Syrup is linked to
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
.. and contains absolutely no nutritional value. All it does is make things sweet, so people eat more.
Is MSG really bad for your health?
When you do a little research for MSG, you will find lots of articles saying that it has a bad rep but it really isn't that bad for your health. Then you will stumble in to this little insight from Michael Galitzer...
“It’s probably one of the most harmful substances that one can eat.”
I truthfully feel that there might be a bit of a conspiracy going on, trying to avoid the majority of folk from obtaining 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 linked to...
- Bloatedness
- Gas
- Diarrhea
- Stomach pain
I have got to admit, on quite a few occasions I've had all of those, especially after scoffing a yummy takeaway.
Healthy Tomato Ketchup options
Anyway, back to ketchup. We really like it. We would like to keep consuming it. But we don't really want 'Leaky Gut'.
The greatest alternative to shop bought ketchup is to make your own.
In case you fancy giving that a go, then you'll enjoy this video from "Cooking With Plants"
In case you just don't have time for that, there are a couple of ketchups that are a much healthier option.
Back in 2010 ConAgra took out the HFCS from their tomato ketchup (Hunt's Ketchup) however they put it back a couple of years later. Why? Well, I think that they were wanting to cash in on many peoples growing awareness of the dangers associated with HFCS and expecting that their much healthier option would earn them a increased share of the ketchup market.
I don't for a single minute believe that they did it out of concern the public's health.
Obviously, it didn't work, simply because they added it back. But folks are constantly becoming more health aware, so maybe they'll give it an additional go when they consider that the public will prefer to buy it. It's definitely worth picking up a bottle and going through the ingredients every so often.
Another option, but not really a tasty one, is to use tomato puree. In recipes this works perfectly, but like a condiment it's a bit strong. Tomato puree isn't as sweet and has a very strong flavor. But play with it, add some sweetener 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!
Simply don't boil all the nutrients away, pack it with HFCS and lace it with 'gut-leaking' MSG! Aside of that, experiment... possibly even adding a sprinkling of sugar will still create a much healthier ketchup compared to the one you're using now.
Tomato puree (mixed along with a sweetener) will be a good option to making your own ketchup as it lasts a great deal longer than fresh tomatoes, takes up much less room inside your fridge and its an easy task to rustle up in a few seconds when needed. Try it, and let me know how it goes.