Great Find - Chopped Tomatoes

When my husband and I are at the grocery store we are constantly reading labels and trying to find healthier products. We recently came across a fabulous brand of chopped and crushed tomatoes that have a fraction of the salt and calories then most other brands. Take a look for POMI tomato products in your local grocery store. (I can't find a website for Pomi but they are sold at Highland Farms in Toronto) We found these tomatoes in tetra packs next to the canned ones. For 1/2 of a cup they have only 30 calories compared to 60 in other brands, and the most surprising fact was they only have 10mg of sodium compared to a whopping 270 mg in other brands. These days most food that is processed in any way has a ton of added salt so it was refreshing to find this brand of tomatoes with a much healthier amount.

When we are purchasing packaged or canned products here are the things we are looking at:
- What is it made of? Do we know what all of the ingredients actually are or are there some things on the label we don't understand. We always try to purchase the products with fewer ingredients and always steer clear of buying something with any ingredient we don't recognize. Sometimes we google it when we get home just find out what it is.
- How much salt is there? Believe it or not one can of tomatoes or beans is not the same as the next. Different brands have different amounts of salt. Always choose the brand with less salt.
- How much sugar is in it? If your following the GI Diet you will already be paying attention to sugar levels. Less is better so choose the brand with less.
- Calories. Those calories can add up fast. Even though we don't count calories on the GI Diet it can sometimes be the determining factor when choosing one canned product over the other.
- Nutrition. It is always good to pay attention to the nutritional information such as protein and vitamin levels as well.

If you want more detailed advice from the professionals check out what Health Canada considers healthy by clicking on the link below:

Health Canada