Mmm, lycopene

I love tomatoes. I know, they're a weird food to love, but I do. Tomato sauce, ketchup, salsa, tomato sandwiches or even tomato slices with a little salt--I don't want to sound like Bubba from Forrest Gump, but you get the point. The best part of this love affair? A food that is really good for you is something I already like to eat! I don't have to force it into my diet (and my body) like broccoli or low-fat cheese. Hooray lycopene!

I made this fortuitous discovery reading through "What's Your BQ?" for class while eating whole- wheat pasta with, you guessed it, tomato sauce. The sidebar titled "The Mediterranean Miracle: Tomato Sauce" explained that the red stuff has "has an incredible range of health benefits" from reducing the size of cholesterol plagues to containing the powerful antioxidant mentioned above, lycopene, to keeping your arteries young.

Though the tomato's power to reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 40 percent does not apply to me, it's blood pressure lowering abilities do. I have a history of heart disease and high blood pressure in my family, and eating 10 tablespoons of tomato sauce a week can lower blood pressure by 8 over 5 mmHg.