Tomatoes are Fruit (Technically, They’re Berries)

But the FDA says Ketchup is a Vegetable. Hmmmm…

Ah, the tomato, both tasty and sentimental. Here in Texas, there’s an unwritten law requiring the consumption of tomatoes each and every day. How would we survive without salsa, or ketchup, or spaghetti?

The tomato originated in South America, was brought back to Europe by Spanish conquerors, and finally made its way back around to Colonial America, where it was considered food fit for animals, but not people.

It’s in the nightshade family, as are eggplant, both sweet and hot peppers, tomatillos, white potatoes (red potatoes and sweet potatoes are in different families), and tobacco.

Deadly Nightshade, that pretty wildflower we see by the side of the road (aka Belladonna), is highly poisonous, and also resembles the tomato plant (because they ARE cousins, after all). Probably where the American colonists got their prejudice.

I bring up tomatoes because lately they seem to be coming up a lot in client sessions… lots of folks showing sensitivities to tomatoes.

In Dr. D’Adamo’s research (Eat Right for Your Type), only folks with blood type O or AB even tolerate tomatoes very well (they’re on the “avoid” list for A’s and B’s).* They contain an alkaloid called Solanine, which is toxic to humans, but it appears to take a whole lot of it to actually kill us. (On the other hand, it’s deadly to cats – keep your kitty away from tomatoes and other nightshades!)

Solanine is associated with arthritic or other inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and even gout, and it’s long been recommended by natural health practitioners that tomatoes should be avoided if you have arthritis (nightshades are also forbidden in Macrobiotics).

Giving up tomatoes can be difficult – those toxins they contain are also a bit addictive – but you may want to look at how often and how many tomatoes you eat in your daily diet. There may be places you could easily substitute something more beneficial for you.

And I also offer a compromise:

One of the things I learned, studying with Hanna Kroeger, was how to test the frequencies of food. She brought in a beautiful, fresh-picked tomato from her organic garden, and demonstrated that it tested neutral (not high, not low).

What? How could that be?

Then she took a paring knife and cut out the “core” of the tomato. And tested it again.

Positive. High frequency.

The foliage of nightshade plants is very poisonous, toxic enough to kill livestock, and the tomato core is like the continuation of the stem, the most poisonous part. (By the way, the core tested negative.)

So if you really feel like you need your tomatoes, please get fresh organic ones, and cut out the core.

Unfortunately, commercial production of condiments don’t allow for this kind of attention, so if you’re sensitive, you should probably avoid commercially produced salsa, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, ketchup, canned tomatoes, tomato juice… the list seems endless.

Postscript: In researching this article, I came across an interesting website – TomatoesAreEvil.com. It’s kinda “tongue-in-cheek” (or at least I think it is) and it has a game section.

I recommend the shooting gallery. I felt like Gallagher with his watermelons. But virtual, so no actual wasting of food. You can even shoot the stem off the tomatoes if you aim it right.

*Don’t know your blood type? Get a Blood Type Test Kit on Amazon.