Tomato

Why tomato is rated low

Tomato is low at 1 medium (150g), with no single FODMAP subgroup recorded as raised at that serving, so nothing in particular is driving the rating. Double the amount and it changes: 2 medium (300g) is recorded as moderate, which is the overall load building rather than one sugar crossing a line. That is a useful thing to know, because two tomatoes is an ordinary amount to put in a salad or a sauce for one person. The verdict is that a tomato is easy, and that the second one is where the data stops calling it low.

What changes your risk

• The second tomato 1 medium (150g) is low and 2 medium (300g) is moderate. Nothing else about the food changes between those two rungs, only the size of the helping, so the count on the plate is the lever that matters most.
• Stacking across the meal Tomato carries no recorded subgroup, so what adds up is the whole meal's FODMAP load. Tomato in the salad, tomato in the sauce and tomato in the salsa within the same sitting is a bigger serving than it looks, and the same is true of a plate where several other low servings crowd in alongside. Spread servings across the day rather than concentrating them.
• Drying concentrates it Drying removes water and concentrates everything left behind, so sun dried tomatoes are not equivalent to the fresh tested serving. A given weight of dried tomato represents a good deal more tomato than the same weight fresh, which is worth remembering when they are scattered through a pasta or a salad.
• Juicing and paste do the same thing Tomato juice and passata concentrate several tomatoes into one glass or one jar, and juice leaves the fibre behind. Treat drinks and concentrated products as multiple servings, not one.
• Cooking does not reduce it, the sauce is the risk Roasting or simmering does not destroy FODMAPs, so a reduced sauce carries what went into the pan in a smaller volume. The bigger issue with jarred pasta sauces, ketchup, salsa, canned tomatoes with added flavouring and most tinned soups is the onion and garlic cooked into them. Build sauces on plain canned or fresh tomatoes with garlic-infused oil, basil and oregano.

What else works

Tomato is low at its tested serving, so this is about what shares the plate rather than what replaces it. For salad bulk and colour, cucumber, bell pepper, carrot, baby spinach, bok choy and green beans all work without adding to the tomato count. If you want more sauce volume without more tomato, stretch a plain tomato base with roasted bell pepper, zucchini or carrot and finish with garlic-infused oil and herbs. The forms to keep separate are the concentrated ones: sun dried tomato, tomato juice, paste and passata are not the same as 1 medium (150g) of fresh tomato, and jarred sauces usually carry onion and garlic on top of whatever tomato they contain.

How to keep it low

Store tomatoes on the counter rather than in the fridge, since cold flattens the flavour and flat tomatoes get used more heavily to compensate. Buy medium tomatoes rather than the largest in the box, so 1 medium (150g) stays an easy thing to picture, and slice into a salad by the tomato rather than filling the bowl and hoping. When cooking, count the tomatoes into the pan and work out how many servings the pan makes, because a reduced sauce hides its volume. Check labels on canned tomatoes, passata, ketchup and salsa for onion and garlic, which appear in most ready made versions. Eating out, ask for sun dried tomatoes on the side and keep a bruschetta or caprese to a portion rather than the whole plate.

Common questions

how many tomatoes can i eat on a low fodmap diet

1 medium (150g) is the tested low serving. At 2 medium (300g) the published data records tomato as moderate, so the second tomato is where it shifts.

can i eat tomato on the elimination phase

Yes, at 1 medium (150g), which is recorded as low. Just count the tomato that turns up in the sauce and the salsa as well as the slices on the plate.

are sun dried tomatoes low fodmap

They are a concentrated form, since drying removes water and concentrates what is left, so a spoonful of sun dried tomato represents far more tomato than its weight suggests. It is not equivalent to 1 medium (150g) fresh.

is tomato sauce low fodmap

The tomato is only half the question. Most jarred pasta sauces, ketchups and salsas are made with onion and garlic, and a reduced sauce packs several tomatoes into a small volume, so a homemade sauce with garlic-infused oil and herbs is the safer route.