Tomato - fruit or vegetable?

Please help me with this. I am trying to eat a more balanced diet, but I am just not a big fruit eater. However, I do eat tomatoes a lot. Do they technically count as fruit? Or are they still considered a vegetable?

Kate (kissmekate02)

Mon. Oct 10, 10:14am

I think they are still considered a veg, although we all know it is actually a fruit. I'm not such a big fruit eater but I make myself eat fruit everyday. Over time I have found that I like bananas, nectarines and plums.

Monday, October 10, 2005, 10:48 AM

smoothies help

Tomatoes are technically a fruit. I've found making smoothies w/ fresh fruit helps me get my fruit servings in for the day and craves my sweet tooth. I use non-fat plain yogurt, strawberries, blueberries & banana. No fruit juice or other sweetners added. 30 seconds in the blender and I've had my fruit servings for the day. Try adding mandarin orange slices, apple slices, pears etc... to salads also.

Monday, October 10, 2005, 3:29 PM

toss up

technically, fruit and veggies are in the same category. if you check the usda website, their new *mypyramid* food guide will tell you how many of what types of fruit/veg to eat (how many leafy, how many green, how many colored).
that helped me a lot.
but... tomatoes do have sugar, i'd say go ahead and count it as a fruit. it's got the sugar, and the antioxidants

Monday, October 10, 2005, 9:15 PM

i would count them as fruit b/c they are one we should tend to eat them like a veggie. tomatoes are very healthy for you they can help promote a healthy heart!

Monday, October 10, 2005, 10:12 PM

I know some diets (like the Zone) recommend that you don't eat very many fruits (especially avoiding high-sugar fruits like grapes and bananas). In my uneducated opinion, if you're eating a lot of veggies - and a wide variety - you don't need to worry about not eating fruit. I'd say talk to a nutritionist.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005, 8:01 AM

I agree, tomatoes are technically a fruit. All fruit is not created equal because some have more concentrated sugar than others. Grapes for example are like a shot of sugar. Apples are always good and someone wrote a great thread here about all teh benefits of bananas too.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005, 9:04 AM

They are definitely a fruit. (If you've ever had a fresh garden-picked tomato, then you would really be convinced. The supermarket ones are very bland and not sweet.)

They do have some sugar, although not as much as, say, a pear.

They are also a good source of vitamin C.

If you don't like fruit, but like tomatoes, go ahead and eat the tomatoes. There may also be some other fruits you can find -- some people don't like the acidity of certain fruits, or the sugar. But be aware that if you're only getting your tomatoes in the form of sauce, there's usually a lot of added sugar in sauce, so try to eat the actual tomato.

PS And Reagan had classified ketchup as a vegetable for the purpose of school cafeterias... remember that?

Tuesday, October 11, 2005, 9:56 AM

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