Why Should You Eat Homemade Tomato Sauce Every Day?

When you make homemade tomato sauce, you are able to get the most out of the lycopene that is in tomatoes. In addition, you get the chance to incorporate other healthy ingredients.

Tomatoes may be a very common vegetable, but they have some wonderful health benefits. Some studies have shown their ability to prevent certain types of cancer, thanks to the lycopene they contain.

In this article, find out why you should eat homemade tomato sauce every day to prevent and improve a wide range of health problems.

What is lycopene?

Lycopene is a pigment found in fruits and vegetables with reddish colors (also purple and orange). Lycopene is found in the following foods:

• Tomatoes
• Red pepper
• Watermelon

• Papaya
• Guava
• Strawberry
• Pink grapefruit

Lycopene is a carotenoid that your body cannot synthesize itself, it is only found in vegetable foods. Therefore, consuming foods that contain it is the only way to get it.

• Once ingested, lycopene is absorbed in the intestines and deposited in the liver, testicles, prostate and adrenal glands after about half an hour.
• Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant  that will help fight the damage caused by free radicals, and which triggers cellular aging.

Tomatoes or tomato sauce?

Tomatoes themselves are very rich in lycopene. The most interesting thing, however, is that you can find a high concentration of lycopene in other tomato-based foods.

Lycopene concentration per 100 grams:

• Raw tomato: 2573 μg
• Ketchup: 17,716 μg
• Tomato sauce: 28 764 μg
• Dried tomato: 45,900 μg

Health benefits of eating homemade tomato sauce every day

Eating foods rich in lycopene, such as tomatoes, is good for you in many ways, including the following:

Cancer prevention

As stated at the beginning of this article , studies show that lycopene in tomatoes can help prevent some types of cancer, such as cancer of the prostate, lung and stomach. There were also positive results to prevent cases of cancer of the pancreas, colon, esophagus, throat and breast.

Circulation system

The daily consumption of tomatoes also provides many other health benefits. Another example is that they support your cardiovascular system since they improve cell activity and the use of fat as fuel. Thus, triglyceride levels and cholesterol should go down.

Eat homemade tomato sauce every day: Controls blood pressure

Lycopene has the power to control blood pressure without adversely affecting it because it helps to thin the blood. It is therefore suitable for people with hypertension.

Eat Homemade Tomato Sauce Every Day: Diabetes

For people with diabetes, regular consumption of tomatoes and other red vegetables improves the way the body uses glucose. It also helps insulin to function well and prevents certain symptoms of diabetes, such as:

• Retinopathy
• Diabetic foot
• Intermittent claudication

Lycopene is therefore very good for the treatment and prevention of diabetes.

The best way to eat tomatoes

As mentioned above , tomato concentrate is the best way to ingest large amounts of lycopene. However, this antioxidant is not always absorbed in the same way – it depends on what dish it is in and what other nutrients it is ingested with.

Absorption is significantly improved if we eat tomatoes together with good quality fat and at a high temperature. Therefore, the most effective, healthy way to consume tomatoes in a homemade tomato sauce is made with extra virgin olive oil at a high temperature.

You can make it even healthier if you add a hint of black pepper and turmeric. In this way, you will also make it an excellent remedy for all kinds of inflammation and pain.

Ingredients

• 10 ripe tomatoes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 100 g extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder (4 g)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper (4 g)
• ½ tablespoon brown sugar (7 g)
• 1 tablespoon sea salt (12 g)

Preparation

• First chop the garlic cloves and fry them for a minute.
• Then mash the tomatoes and add spices.
• Add garlic together with the tomato and spice mixture in a saucepan and cook for about 15 minutes.
• Eat this sauce hot.