Tomatoes

Tomatoes are not only red.

Recently I bought red and yellow cherry tomatoes. The woman I live with grows tomatoes in her garden. I love seeing them growing, even though those tomatoes are hers to eat.

A tomato is a fruit because it grows from a flower and the fruit contains the seeds of the plant.

People cook with tomatoes the way people cook with vegetables, which is why most people call a tomato a vegetable.

Tomatoes belong to the nightshade family. The nightshade family is a group of related plants with similar star-shaped flowers. Many of these plants make compounds in their leaves and stems that protect the plant from insects and animals. A compound is a substance made of two or more elements joined together. Those compounds can upset a person's stomach, which is why tomato leaves are not eaten.

A tomato's color comes from pigments inside it. A pigment is a compound that gives something its color.

Red tomatoes get their color from a pigment called lycopene.

Yellow tomatoes have very little lycopene, so they stay yellow instead of turning red. Their color comes from other pigments in the same group as beta carotene, the pigment that makes carrots orange.

In most tomatoes, green chlorophyll fades as the tomato ripens. Dark tomatoes keep some of that green chlorophyll, and the green mixed with red lycopene looks brown or dark purple.

Many of these pigments are antioxidants, which are compounds that protect your cells from damage. Different antioxidants protect your body in different ways, so eating tomatoes of different colors gives your body a wider range of protection.

Cooking tomatoes releases more lycopene and changes the lycopene into a form your body absorbs more easily. Lycopene dissolves in fat, so cooking tomatoes with oil helps your body absorb even more.

Eating tomatoes raw gives your body more vitamin C because heat breaks vitamin C down.

A tomato is about ninety-five percent water, so eating tomatoes is one way your body becomes hydrated. Tomatoes also provide vitamin C, potassium, folate, and vitamin K.

You are welcome to eat tomatoes of every color.

Stacy 🌺

Information in this post comes from my learning and research.

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I share my experiences and my perspective. Eating and healing look different for everyone. If you are struggling with food or your relationship with your body, please find support. You don’t have to do this alone.