Think you’re getting the maximum amount of nutrients eating fresh tomatoes? Think again, the answer may be in your oven! When it comes to vegetables, most people think that raw veggies always offer more benefits than their cooked counterparts. However, this isn’t always the case!

And although tomatoes contain vitamin C, folate, and potassium, as well as lycopene and are nutrient powerhouses no matter how you eat them, cooked tomatoes actually have higher concentrations of lycopene!

Lycopene has incredible antioxidant properties. Antioxidants protect against free radicals and can prevent premature aging from environmental damage. Lycopene has also been shown to reduce the incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration.

To get the most lycopene from your tomatoes try roasting them. When roasting vegetables, we love to drizzle thick slices of tomato with a teaspoon or two of olive oil, salt and pepper. Consuming tomatoes along with the healthy fat found in olive oil helps your body absorb more of the nutrients, so you get their maximum benefits. Do you ever cook with tomatoes? Did you know you were actually getting more lycopene eating them this way?