Tomatoes

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kathy s

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Can anyone give me advice re tomatoes, good or bad?! Ive read theg have a low gi rating and are ok for diabetics but then others say they spike them! Is there a general rule around tomatoes or is it a personal response? Also if ok what can I use as a pasta sauce substitute, I made a mince based dish last night and whilst it was ok it missed something!
thanks
 
I don't find tomatos spiky at all. I mean, possibly fill sugar ketchup, but not raw, nor cooked in a homemade sauce. Bought sauces could have sugar, thickners etc added so may be a different kettle of fish
 
@kathy s I think the answer is that, like many foods, the reaction to tomatoes is a personal response.
Eating them raw has little impact but eating half a tin of tomatoes as a sauce will cause a rise for me but it does contain nearly 10g carbs so I am not surprised.
If you are having pasta sauces, does that mean you are also having pasta? The carbn sin pasta far outweig the effect of the carbs in the tomato sauce.

I recommend testing to find out how they affect you. Test before you eat and 2 hours later to see what the rise is.
 
Added to @helli's comment. It also depends on the tomatoes in question. A dozen very sweet cherry tomatoes will likely have much more of an impact than a larger but less tasty salad tomato. Tomatoes are full of micro nutrients so I would find a way to incorporate them into your diet both from an enjoyment and healthful perspective if you like them but be mindful of type and portion size. For me I do need to inject a bit of insulin to cover tomatoes in sauces and ratatouille etc, but it is insulin well spent, I would far rather spend it on tomato as pasta. I appreciate that you are likely not injecting insulin but your body is struggling to produce enough to manage your BG levels so to a certain extent it is the same. You have a limited amount of insulin available to balance your BG, even if you can't actually see it, so you set yourself a carb allowance and decide how best to spend that carb allowance and what gives you most "bang for your bucks".... the "bang" being enjoyment and taste rather than a high BG spike. 🙄
 
I'm not having it with pasta! It was a mince dish a bit like lasagne but without the pasta or sauces! So a little dry, a layer of mince,herbs garlic and bacon, then a layer of sour cream and egg mix then a sprinkle of cheese, whilst good ( and my levels were well under control) it was missing something! I have been fine with tomatoes I salad so far which I'm happy with as I have 4 very laden tomato plants in my garden planted before I knew!

In talking of pasta though I haven't has it since diagnosis in May, I know I should try the wholewheat one but I'm dubious as wholemeal bread ( any variety) causes spikes!
 
Tdm said:
I don't find tomatos spiky at all. I mean, possibly fill sugar ketchup, but not raw, nor cooked in a homemade sauce. Bought sauces could have sugar, thickners etc added so may be a different kettle of fish
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How do you make your own? I've always relied on jars!
 
I always have 2 or 3 cherry tomatoes with my salads and we regularly have meals that involve a tomato-based sauce, such as Bolognese, Chicken Parmigiana or Chilli Con Carne, and one of my favourite soups is Tomato & Red Pepper. My post-prandial readings don't suggest they're a problem for me. As @rebrascora says, they are packed with micronutrients. They are also the major dietary source of the antioxidant lycopene, which has been linked to many health benefits.
 
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As ever test afterwards. Toms are one of my fave foods & eat them however served, those ripe cheery toms can eat them like sweets, delicious they are.
 
Sliced/grated courgettes make a reasonable low carb pasta substitute, by the way
 
Personally, my digestive system sees no difference between wholemeal pasta and white and I am not a huge pasta fan so I don't bother and have my bolognaise sauce on a bed of shredded cabbage or broccoli or courgettes, but my bogognaise always contains tomato. Generally I fry off the onions and garlic in olive oil or meat fat and add dried herbs and mushrooms and chopped peppers and chopped celery and then a tin or two of chopped tomatoes and then add the mince that had previously been browned off in the pan (hence the meat fat comment to fry the onions in) and probably a squeeze or tomato puree and a stock cube or two and simmer for as long as it takes for it to be the right consistency. I often also add a glug of red wine or port just to be decadent. No particular recipe, just whatever needs using up around that sort of basic formula of onions/garlic, tomatoes and meat plus any other veg that seems to fit with the theme. Might be courgettes and aubergine or a bit of finely chopped carrot and then served with a good dollop of coleslaw which is after all more veg coated in fat and protein which are all low carb foods. The way I look at it, the more different varieties of veg I can incorporate into a dish the better. That way I end up with a big plate of tasty food and don't miss the beige carbs that I was previously using mostly to fill my plate.

Today I had corned beef hash for lunch made with butternut squash instead of potato along with onion and cabbage for the hash and a fried egg cooked in the middle of the hash in the frying pan, served with pickled gherkins and pickled beetroot. Pickles are great for providing a bit of extra bite and tastiness and the vinegar seems to offset the glucose in the beetroot for me so I can eat pickled beetroot from the jar without needing insulin for it.... which helps because I love it and so good for you and easy to open a jar and bulk up a meal with extra taste and nutrients.
 
As for making a tomato sauce at home, just chuck chopped toms (fresh or tinned) in a saucepan with a little oil, a bit of salt, dash basamic vinegre, possibly some fried onions and a bit of garlic and some mixed herbs/ basil and simmer down till the right consistancy
 
For me its quantity and quality. Sugar drop tomatoes Id eat the packet. Like Beetroot Im a fan and Carrots. No one gets fat but if they spike your sugars then its the consequences of that. i do not exclude them I have them daily in salad. Tonight i will have them in sauce but agsin if its tinned look on ingredients a lot of the herb ones have sugar. Mix with stock cube but again watch salt intake etc.
Yoghurt i love always have but like milk im kinda sensitive.
its working out say two / three toms a quarter of a tin is okay say . tomato puree is sometimes better if it colour but check some of thosd especially expensive one can add sugar.
ill dont have durum wheat pasta but it made with Leeks , courgettes or a recipe had cabbage . instead of pasta . Some have skinny pasta or other low carb ones but so far im happy.
Just blood test and adjust. Sometimes half of something is enough so you dont feel left out.
Summertime with garden tomatoes I am not
going to not eat them. However my tomatoes on toast with sweet chilli sauce breakfast has to be a memory now. i loved loved that. mouth waters
 
Tomatoes are not terribly high in sugars, McCance and Widdowson's ' Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset' ; this is the food industry standard used for labelling foods, has small cherry toms at 3.6g/100g weight and 'standard' toms at 3g/100g weight. So if you want a rough idea as to how many carbs you'll be eating just weigh or guesstimate the weight of your toms and multiply by 3 or 3.6.
 
kathy s said:
How do you make your own? I've always relied on jars!
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I make a lovely tomato sauce out of fresh toms.
I griddle them with half an onion and then blend in a food processor.
Much fresher tasting than a tin.
I usually use it in a Mexican dish so it tends to include a finely chopped chilli. But works of without the spice.
 
helli said:
I make a lovely tomato sauce out of fresh toms.
I griddle them with half an onion and then blend in a food processor.
Much fresher tasting than a tin.
I usually use it in a Mexican dish so it tends to include a finely chopped chilli. But works of without the spice.
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Fresh tomato and chilli sauce beautiful. I add cumin and cayenne and chilli
Fresh tomatoes with fresh basil } :Tomatoes out of the garden you cannot beat it.
Fresh tomatoes make a great salsa too.
 
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My bolognese recipe has an Oxo cube, one sachet of Schwartz 'Italian herbs mix' (rounded dessert spoon) and a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, into the still dry browned mince and onions before adding the tinned chopped tomatoes AND (heresy) a tablespoon of tomato KETCHUP. If it's lasagne, the last layer over the top layer of lasagne is all bechamel, liberally adorned with freshly grated nutmeg, before lobbing in the oven to brown.

Grated parmesan served WITH it, not IN it.
 
trophywench said:
My bolognese recipe has an Oxo cube, one sachet of Schwartz 'Italian herbs mix' (rounded dessert spoon) and a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, into the still dry browned mince and onions before adding the tinned chopped tomatoes AND (heresy) a tablespoon of tomato KETCHUP. If it's lasagne, the last layer over the top layer of lasagne is all bechamel, liberally adorned with freshly grated nutmeg, before lobbing in the oven to brown.

Grated parmesan served WITH it, not IN it.
Click to expand...
May I come for dinner please @ lol sounds scrummy
 
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