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Can you cook with tomato paste if you have type 2 diabetes?
The short answer to this question is…YES!
You can definitely use and enjoy tomato paste when you’re using a low carb diet to treat type 2 diabetes naturally.
We’re going to explore what tomato paste is, what’s in it, and the nutrition facts.
What is Tomato Paste?
Tomato paste is similar to tomato sauce, except tomato paste is far more concentrated. After the tomatoes have been strained for seeds and cooked for several hours, they simmer down to a nice thick paste with no extra water added to it.
Tomato paste is often used to add flavor to traditional Mediterranean and Italian dishes, and it is also used in various recipes for soups, stews, casseroles, pastas, and braised meats.
For example, here are a few delightfully-low-carb DMP recipes that call for tomato paste: a spice-infused chicken chorizo gumbo, tasty eggplant mini pizzas, and healthy zucchini pizza boats.
Tomato paste is available both in a can and in a super-convenient, squeezable tube. And while tomato sauce tends to be more acidic and milder in taste, tomato paste learns towards the sweeter and more flavorful end of things. A little bit can go a long way!
Tomato Paste Ingredients
The basic ingredients in tomato paste are: tomatoes, water, salt, spices, and citric acid (a preservative).
Notice that this short list doesn’t contain added sugars? This is what you want to look for in stores.
While some brands may contain added sugar, tomato paste is naturally sweet so many brands don’t add sweetener to their paste—this is the kind you want. The less added sugar you consume the happier your blood sugar levels will be, so it’s best to skip the added sugars as often as possible.
Tomato Paste Nutrition Facts
Let’s take a peek at the nutrition facts for two different types of tomato paste, one brand is canned and the other is paste in a tube.
Centro Double Concentrated Tomato Paste (in a tube):
- Serving Size: 2 Tablepsoons
- Calories: 40
- Total Carbs: 8 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Added Sugar: 0 g
Hunt’s Tomato Paste (canned):
- Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons
- Calories: 35
- Total Carbs: 7 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Added Sugar: 0 g
As you can see, the nutrition facts between these two options are very similar, so whether you choose to use tomato paste from a can or in a tube is purely a matter of convenience. What really matters is simply choosing an option that is free of added sweeteners.
Conclusion
People with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes can use and enjoy tomato paste!
It makes a great base for sauces, can be used to flavor meat patties, spreaded on pizza and has many other uses.
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