How Many Calories in a Tomato
How many calories in a tomato? Whether you’re cooking an Italian dish or any other kind of recipe, tomatoes will always be part of any recipe. But apart from using tomatoes to bring that rich and extra flavor in a recipe, tomatoes also have a lot of nutrients which can benefit the body. In preparing a dish that makes use of tomatoes, it helps that you know their calorie content. The calorie content will actually depend on the color of the tomato and its size.
How Many Calories in a Tomato – Nutrition Facts
The calories widely vary depending on the kind of tomato and the color. For example, if you’re using tomatoes that are used in pasta or pizza, you can expect that there is a high calorie content.
That is why you cannot eat too much pasta and pizza. If you’re having problems maintaining your weight, you should definitely eat these in moderation.
A medium-sized tomato has 22 calories. Even if you’re not using any oil to cook it in, the calorie count still stays the same.
On the other hand, if ever you use Italian tomatoes in order to create a salsa or sauce, they will give you 11 calories.
Italian tomatoes are known to be some of the best tomatoes in the word. Every cherry tomato that you put in your salad has 3 calories and a slice of tomato that you include in your sandwich also gives you 3 calories.
The calorie count of tomatoes also differs depending on their color. Just like bell peppers, tomatoes also have different colors.
For example, orange tomatoes (111 g) can give you 18 in calories. For a yellow tomato (212 g), it’s much higher at 32 calories. For a green tomato (128 g), it has 28 calories.
Given the calorie content, you should definitely go for orange tomatoes. They can give you the best taste and you never have to worry about calorie count.
Tomatoes are usually used in sandwiches. And when you eat a sandwich, you also add other ingredients that also have calories. For instance, if you are eating a tomato sandwich that contains mayonnaise, you can expect higher calorie content.
With just the bread alone, you already have 155 calories. Mayonnaise contains 90 calories. Red ripe tomatoes (3 ” dia. – 182 g) give you 32 calories.
Health Benefits of Tomatoes
Tomato is known to be an excellent source of vitamin C. This vitamin boosts your overall immune system to protect the body against certain diseases and illnesses.
It also contains other valuable vitamins and minerals to help you reduce the risk of life-threatening illnesses like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and a whole lot more.
There are various studies that show tomatoes can give you several health benefits.
For one, tomatoes are a rich source of antioxidants. This is needed to fight back against free radicals that are known to cause cancer. In fact, there are studies in which it’s found that tomatoes reduce the risk of having prostate cancer among men.
In another study conducted by the American Cancer Society, they found out that tomatoes can reduce the risk of specific type of cancer like stomach and lung cancer.
Another great benefit of tomatoes are that they can lower blood pressure. Those who are suffering from high blood pressure should eat tomatoes often.
Tomatoes are very good for the heart considering that they contains fiber, vitamin C, choline and potassium. To lessen the risk of having cardiovascular disease, it’s important to increase your protection alongside a decrease in your sodium intake.
There is a study conducted where experts found out that those who consumed 4069 milligrams of potassium in a day had about 49% less risk of having heart disease compared to those who had a lesser potassium intake.
Tomatoes also contain collagen which is essential in preventing damage caused by external factors like smoke, pollution and too much exposure under the sun. This is basically one of the reasons why tomatoes are strongly recommended, especially for those who want to have tight, beautiful and young-looking skin.
Skin experts for years have always recommended tomatoes to make your skin look healthy and glowing. You can either apply the tomatoes directly to your face or you can include tomatoes in your diet.
If you’re having a hard time having regular bowel movements, eating foods that contain tomatoes can give you better digestion and can make it easier for you to have regular bowel movements since tomatoes are also rich in fiber which can minimize constipation.
For pregnant woman, it’s important to have a good intake of folic acid, and among the rich sources of folic acid are tomatoes.
Last but not least, tomatoes can also help in preventing depression.
In using tomatoes, there are several recipes that you might want to try. You can use tomatoes in a salad – for example, you might want to try grilled smoked mozzarella.
Another top choice is to use tomatoes in pasta. Some might hesitate to eat pasta since it has a lot of calories but there are actually different pasta recipes that are healthy and do not have that high a calorie content.
For a more nutritional meal, you can actually include tomatoes with other vegetables and herbs, creating a sumptuous dish that is also very healthy.
If you want to indulge yourself in a delicious meal, you can always make your own sandwich and use tomatoes.
