sun-dried tomatoes--yummy--but unfavorable? And these pieces are small, but obviously greatly shrunkened, so how big a piece makes a block?

A

I would doubt hat they are unfavorable.
Dried fruit is unfavorable because once dried, the amount of sugar in each stays the same,
so the % of sugar increases sharply once the liquid is dried out of fruit.
So dried fruit becomes almost all sugar.
Tomatoes have hardly any sugar, so I would think dried they would still be favorable.
But, it would take a lot of dried tomatoes just to make one block.
So, I wouldn't worry as what one might normally consume, most likely would be negligible.

Hi John, that's right--it takes 1.5 cups of fresh tomatoes to make just one block, but fruit is usually a lot more concentrated.

Yah! Another item I can add to my menu to make it more fun without going OOZ. :-)

Thanks ...

A

Ok. I ate soemthing like 5 small pieces.

I have no idea how to compute that.

Anyone? Sue? Cranberrycat?

Sarah, I would eat them in moderation. I read on this site years ago thatdehydrating foods reaks down the structure of the cell walls. This results in the carbohydrate of dehydrated fruit and vegetables entering the bloodstream more quickly.

Typo: breaks down

But I don't know what "in moderation" means ....?

a

Moderation means don't eat a lot of it. :-)

Think of moderation as eating condiment sized amounts, like you would when eating ketchup or mustard, just a little bit. T figure out block amounts use the nutrition label on your product. If there's no nutrition label, I'd google it.

Of course there is no label,
she is sun-drying the tomatoes herself,
and that is why she asked if any one knows the Carb info.
.
Sarah;
Fortunately NutritionData.com has them listed:
1 ounce (28 grams) weight:
P = 4 g
F = 1 g
netC = 16-3=13 g
(Sugars 11 g of the 13 g)
Estimated Glycemic Load = 6
Sodium 587 mg
.
However, I do not know if this refers to commercially processed sun-dried tomatoes
(most likely) or home made.
I would think that home made has little naturally occurring sodium,
and they would certainly have no added sodium.
And possibly lower sugar content, too?

Hi Sue, ok, so I treat it like ketchup? That means maybe a tsp I would think ...?

Hi John, thanks for this information. The GL is very low for one ounce!!! Wow, that is cool. Sugar is high for someone as carb-sensitive as me.

I'm trying to visualize what one ounce or 28 grams of dried tomato pieces would look like. I have no idea. Can someone give me a visual? For example, for meat, I need meat the size of my fist. Etc.

And I do have a scale, but it's not very precise, but, I'll try anyway ...

So ... anyone can give me an idea of what one ounce of this would look like? LOL ...

A

My mention of ketchup ad mustard was made to explain the concept of moderation. Use the nutrition label, or google it, if you are trying to determine exact block amounts.

If I wanted some sun dried tomato on a salad, I'd chop up a tiny amount and sprinkle it on without giving thought to blocks.

I think it would be a lot of dried tomato to make one ounce (28 grams).
I do not have any to weigh, or I would try and describe.
I found this, though:
"It takes over 1-1/3 pounds of tomatoes to make one ounce of sun dried tomatoes."
But that does not help!
.
BUT I also found this, which might give you an idea?
.
1 piece......5 calories
1 oz..........73 calories
1 cup.....139 calories
100 g.....258 calories
1 lb ......1170 calories
.
Based on the calories:
1 oz / 1 cup - 73 / 139 = .525 or 1/2 cup ~ = 1 oz.
And 73 / 5 = ~15, so 15 pieces = ~ 1 oz.
.
Does this help?

That is actually very helpful, I now know much better how many pieces to munch on at a time ...

Awesome! I copied your infromation down so I could glance at it next time I eat them ...

Sue, thanks too. It sounds like you would keep this food item to a very very small and very limited amount at a time ...

A

If you buy the sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, be sure its a Zone friendly fat, and don't forget to consider that fat in your meal.

Thanks, Sue, for the reminder.

A

I've been pretty busy, so missed most of this thread. Just wanted to chime in that I have used sun-dried tomato successfully in the past. Though I don't prepare my own, I purchased it in a package not packed in oil, and I had it figured out to be something like 4-5 pieces per 1/2 block of carb. Really tasty addition to my omelet!

I don't prepare my own, either ... but I think preparing one's own is a great idea. Maybe one of these ... years. LOL.

Thanks for sharing! It is helpful to hear from someone as carb-sensitive as you.

A

I did not approve of unfavorable Sarah, because dried tomatoes have their own nutritional value being rich in antioxidant content.

This is for Sue ...

FYI, when you're talkin' to me, I have absolutely no concept of what "moderation" means, frankly. I just don't. My mind just doesn't work that way.

I binge sometimes, usually on healthy fats or nuts, sometimes with fructose sprinkled in. I'll have to weigh myself at the gym to see if I gained weight, but I don't think so. I've lost 15-20 lbs in the last few months, so I'm ok with a stable weight when I binge, although I'm trying to avoid omega-6s, so that's a big issue to work around. I did find two teas I'm passionately in love with, though, so ...

Anyway. You're talkin' to someone who made some mini-muffins and basically ate one cup of peanut butter and almond butter in 24 hours without knowing it until too late. I had to drop that particular recipe, sad to say.

So, ya gotta spell it out for someone like me. Or I ain't gonna get it. Just not how my mind works. LOL.

A

Hi Dena,

I agree that these sun-dried tomatoes have a lot to offer.

The "unfavorable" comment doesn't mean these tomatoes are bad for you.

It means that its a food that triggers hunger. Therefore most people have to limit how much they eat of that particular food at one time.

In my case, I'm very carb-sensitive. If I don't eat very carefully, I get chronically hungry.

This is because unfavorable foods--no matter how healthy they are for me--make my insulin levels shot way, way up. My body can't accept these unnaturally high insulin levels, so it sends another hormone ... I can't spell the name of that particular hormone--hopefully someone else will chime in with the correct spelling--to counteract the elevated insulin levels. This results in the insulin levels being rapidly driven down to such a low insulin level that I get hungry as a result.

I used to eat two oranges or two apples (because they were physically much smaller per block) for the carb part of my zone meal. This was long before I found out about these forums here. And I would be absolutely ravaging hungry an hour or so later. It's like eating Chinese rice for a lot of people.

Thanks to Sue, I now "drop a carb" and have 3 blocks of proteins, 12+ grams of fat, and 2 blocks of carbs, and if I stick to that, it works for me 90% of the time.

Cranberrycat was awesome too, and is still awesome too ...

So "unfavorable" doesn't mean it's bad for you. It means it triggers hunger and therefore you need to limit it to 25% of your carb intake at one time.

A

Sarah, thank you for that awesome comment!

And, I SOOOO agree with you about that moderation comment. Moderation is a subjective term and is not always interpreted the same way. It is much better to specify the meaning of "moderation".

Hi Cranberrycat,

LOL ... yes!!! "moderation" IS definitely a subjective term, is it not? :-)

Sue did sketch out a little bit what she meant, e.g., use very little, and I did want a better idea of what's what ... and I did actually!

A