For years, I disdained the taste of tomatoes and could not bear having them anywhere near my mouth. Even on burgers, I used to be a picky eater and removed every vegetable, stripping away a delicious burger’s healthy potential. As I slowly began to appreciate tomatoes’ taste on burgers, I expanded my horizon to different types of tomatoes. Now, I enjoy immersing salads in tomatoes and find them delicious. My favorite tomato so far has to be the traditional big red tomatoes followed by cherry tomatoes, but there are several other options. This blog post dives into the significant benefits behind tomatoes and some tips I use to include them within dishes. Healthline’s article called “Tomatoes 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits” speaks of the numerous reasons to have more tomatoes in your diet.
First of all, four significant vitamins and minerals show how critical tomatoes are for improving one’s health. While these may be the major vitamins and minerals, there are many more healthy compounds within tomatoes. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient and antioxidant that helps protect cells and keep them healthy, maintains healthy skin, blood vessels, bones, and cartilage, and helps heal wounds. Potassium is a mineral beneficial for blood pressure control, heart disease prevention, and regulating muscle contractions. Vitamin K1 is essential for blood clotting and keeping the bones healthy. Finally, folate (vitamin B9) is another prominent tomato component that helps with tissue growth, cell function, and energy production.
There are also four main plant components within tomatoes, accounting for the positive influences of tomatoes. Beta carotene is an antioxidant that converts into Vitamin A in the body. This vitamin is a vital nutrient for healthy vision, cell growth, and helps maintain organs like the heart, lungs, and kidneys. Naringenin is a flavonoid in tomatoes’ skin that studies show reduces inflammation and protects against various diseases in mice. Chlorogenic acid is a powerful antioxidant compound in tomatoes that may help lower blood pressure, enhances metabolism, and helps the body handle blood sugar. Lycopene is the largest plant compound in tomatoes. Many studies dig into the extensive benefits of this compound, including reduced risk of heart disease, better heart health, and cancer prevention. The large degree of plant components in tomatoes display compelling reasons to eat more tomatoes.
My personal opinion of tomatoes is that they add another component to salads with significant benefits. I feel healthier with the large variety of salads and tomatoes and recommend that everybody incorporate more tomatoes into their lifestyle. While I cannot tell you the exact things I feel because of eating tomatoes, ever since I began eating many vegetables and fruits, I have felt the best I ever have. The benefits found in some studies give you the scientific proof to validate my claims and feelings on tomatoes. And I promise you that you will eventually get used to the taste of tomatoes, but until then, force yourself to eat them because your body will thank you.
There are various ways to utilize tomatoes, and I doubt I can touch upon all of them so I will focus on the methods I use to eat tomatoes. I always include a variety of different vegetables, sometimes fruits, and a nice dressing in salads. I prefer to use vinaigrette or lemon, but there are many kinds of dressings out there to make tomatoes and salads tastier. Whenever I am eating a meal, I will eat tomatoes with something else pleasant to remove tomatoes’ taste as quickly as possible. For example, in a burger, the fantastic burger hides the taste of tomatoes, enabling me to eat them without noticing they are there. My mum occasionally makes tomato soup, which is another way to eat lots of tomatoes without the raw tastes. My dad makes an excellent tomato sauce with pasta, comprising another way to make tomatoes into something almost dreamy. I sometimes mix tomatoes into scrambled eggs or an omelet. The mixed taste of the several things in the dish help it taste like something out of this world.
Tomatoes are an amazing vegetable (or fruit) that I would highly recommend eating more often. I touched up the primary benefits and compounds, but there are vast reasons to eat tomatoes if you want to research them further. There are various types of tomatoes with different tastes and different dishes to turn the taste of tomatoes into something more profound. I included some ways I infuse tomatoes into dishes; however, there is so much more potential for tomatoes. Instead of limiting yourself to things I discussed, become a creative chef, and create incredible dishes utilizing tomatoes. As I continue to eat tomatoes and think of ways to eat them more, start to eat more tomatoes, and you will be grateful.
