It is strange to imagine that once in Russia they did not know about such a wonderful and, most importantly, healthy berry as a tomato. Yes, don’t be surprised, the familiar tomato that everyone perceives as a vegetable is actually a berry. But the main question that lovers of this “golden apple” ask themselves is not its botanical affiliation. Is it much more important for them to know how many calories are in a tomato?
This issue becomes especially relevant in the summer, when the abundance of tomatoes on the shelves, coupled with the general desire to lose a couple of kilograms before going on vacation, makes you think about replacing the usual side dishes with light salads of tomatoes and herbs. Is such a replacement appropriate and will there be an effect on it?
Of course it will. And although it is difficult to directly answer the question of how many calories in a tomato, it all depends on the size of the fruit itself, and also on whether it was grown in a greenhouse or in the open ground, nutritionists still call some average numbers.
So, the greenhouse tomato becomes the leader in the calorie competition , the calories in which do not exceed 14 kcal per 100 g. product. A slightly higher indicator is the average fruit expressed in open ground - 19-kcal / 100 gr. And the highest calorie content of large fleshy fruits is about 23 kcal / 100 g.
Thus, it becomes apparent that the tomato is an excellent basis for dietary nutrition. And its versatility in cooking allows you to cook any dishes from it - from light juices to complex gazpacho soups. In other words, tomato dishes can easily squeeze out more high-calorie and junk food from our daily diet, without harming the taste of the food you eat.
After the question of how many calories in a tomato is solved, the following question arises - how useful is it? And will it not harm the use of it in significant quantities, especially if the dishes are cooked?
In order to find out what is useful tomato, it is worth a closer look at its composition. Tomatoes contain a significant amount of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Everyone knows about the benefits of vitamins from young nails, but it’s worth discussing in more detail what other components of this valuable red berry give us.
First of all, a significant amount of magnesium and potassium contained in tomatoes and dishes prepared from them, make them indispensable for people with cardiovascular diseases.
Volatile, also part of the fruit, contribute to the body's fight against bacteria and inflammation, and serotonin has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the nervous system.
But the main in the composition of tomatoes is, of course, lycopene. This substance is unique in its properties and is an important component of the prevention of diseases such as cervical cancer in women or prostate cancer in men. Under its influence, the division of cancer cells and all kinds of DNA mutations are slowed down. Also, lycopene is a powerful antioxidant that allows you to successfully fight free radicals and helps rejuvenate the body.
Interestingly, tomato is one of the few products that after heat treatment becomes only healthier. In this case, the concentration of beneficial lycopene in it increases several times. And for better absorption of this substance, you need to eat a tomato with a small amount of fat. Even during the diet, it’s worth adding a little vegetable oil to the tomato salad, because now, knowing how many calories are in the tomato, we are sure that it will not harm our body, but only accelerate the absorption of nutrients.
But at the same time, nutritionists note that excessive consumption of tomatoes can often overload the body, so the optimal dose for its use is considered to be no more than 1 kg per day, or 2 glasses of tomato juice.