Tomato: Benefits, Uses & Dosage

Tomatoes belong to the nightshade family. Green and yellow tomatoes are sour, sweet and heating with a pungent vipak—they provoke all doshas. Red tomatoes are sour, slightly pungent with a sour vipak, cooling in the stomach and heating in the intestines. Raw red tomatoes also provoke all doshas. They are all right for everyone once in a while when cooked with cumin, mustard and turmeric. Rich in oxalic acid, they tend to form kidney and gallstones.

Although tomatoes are generally toxic to the system, Ayurveda recommends tomatoes cooked with certain spices for healing purposes. Tomatoes are not good for acidity, arthritis, sciatica, kidney and gallstones.

• Heavy digestion (after meat): 1 hour after eating meat, drink 1 cup tomato juice with a pinch of cumin powder.
• Indigestion: 1 cup tomato juice, ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, a pinch each of hing and rock salt.
• Mental fatigue and insomnia: 1 cup tomato juice with 2 teaspoons organic sugar and 2 pinches of nutmeg between 4–5 p.m. Have dinner between 6–7 p.m.
• Obesity: 1 cup tomato juice with 2 pinches of trikatu in the early morning. Wait 2 hours before eating or drinking.
• Dry cough, breathlessness and chest pain: 1 cup tomato juice with 1 teaspoon turmeric, 2 teaspoons organic sugar and a pinch of ground clove on an empty stomach. Wait at least an hour.