Tomatoes..Everyday Vegetable?

Tomatoes?
Vegetable or fruit?
Tomato is a fruit but is often treated as a vegetable. For culinary purposes, It is usually consumed in diverse ways, raw or cooked, as an ingredient in many dishes, sauces, salads, and drinks.

Best Way to Consume Tomatoes: 
Tomatoes are in the top ten fruits and vegetables for containing levels of pesticide residue. Wash tomatoes before eating. Eat more tomatoes by adding them to wraps or sandwiches, sauces, or salsas.

Tomatoes eaten raw might not be so healthy, says a new study, because our digestive tract can only process a tiny amount of lycopene, an antioxidant found abundantly in tomatoes. Antioxidants are dietary substances found in beta-carotene, vitamins C and E and selenium.

Amazing Health Benefits of Tomatoes
If you ask someone to describe the health benefits of tomato, a discussion about lycopene is likely to follow.
Lycopene’s a carotenoid with antioxidant properties that are responsible for making tomatoes their signature red color. It’s believed to have the strongest antioxidant activity of all the carotenoids.
The deeper the color of your tomato, the higher the lycopene concentration. Besides fighting free radicals, lycopene has been linked to:

• Lower cholesterol
• Improved immune function
• Fewer blood clots
• Preventing artery hardening
• Decreased risks of stroke

Now in order to enjoy a larger increase in lycopene, you actually have to cook tomatoes or opt for processed versions of tomato such as tomato juice, sauce, and paste. Cooking breaks down the tomato cell walls so our bodies can use all the goodness inside them. One slice of raw tomato contains around 515 micrograms of lycopene. But two tablespoons of tomato paste contains 13,800 micrograms of lycopene. Big difference!

Furthermore including tomatoes in the diet can help protect against cancer, maintain healthy blood pressure, and reduce blood glucose in people with diabetes.
They are also considered to be beneficial for skin health and may protect against sunburns.
Tomatoes have been found to reduce inflammation and water retention in the body, as well as reversing leptin resistance. Leptin is a type of protein which helps to regulate metabolic rate and appetite, so our bodies rely on it to shed those extra pounds.

One thing for sure: tomatoes are Awesome!