Feeling lost when you enter the pasta sauce aisle? Not everyone has the time or skills to make from-scratch pasta sauce 🍅🔪, so it is always a good idea to stock a solid canned option in the house. 🥫
With the laundry list of ingredients and dozens of brand options, it can feel very overwhelming to attempt to advocate for your health on spaghetti night. 😞🍝 Here, we will give you 4 MAJOR COMPONENTS to look for next time you are shopping for pasta sauce, without sacrificing any flavor!
1. Added sugar content
Tomatoes are naturally sweet due to the naturally-occurring sugars. We are talking about added sugars that we want to limit. Almost all tomato sauces have added sugar, so it is best to find brands that have minimal, if any. However, no sugar added tomato sauces are the way to go since sugar is pro-inflammatory.
2. Salt content 🧂
Although salt should not be feared, the dietary recommended intake is 2,300 mg. That being said, opting for lower-sodium tomato sauces is a good decision. This will help to prevent the adverse side effects of consuming too much salt such as water retention, increased blood pressure, and inflammation.
3. Length of ingredients list 📜
a. The ingredients list on canned tomato sauces can provide an idea of how the product will make you feel after eating. Besides the molecular names of added
vitamins and minerals that could be adding to the listed ingredients, high amounts of added chemicals could be a red flag for GI distress and/or increased inflammation.
4. Health-promoting nutrition
a. Now that you have a better idea of what ingredients to limit when choosing a canned tomato sauce, here are some components you also want to have in your sauce in order to provide a nutrient-dense meal:
- unsaturated fats such as avocado oil 🥑
- an additional vegetable (the more, the better!) 🥕
- high amounts of potassium
- low saturated fat content
Stay tuned for Thursday’s post for brand recommendations that will turn pasta night into a nutrient-rich and tasty experience!🤌
Until Next Time,
Your RD Fuel Good Experts 🍍