Eating seafood has a lot of health benefits, but with so much to think about - Is it high in mercury? Is it farmed or wild, and which is better? - it definitely gets confusing. Here is a great site that makes it easy for us to choose what's best for our health and the environment:
Also, look for fish at the market with the certified MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) label, which is another way to tell that the seafood is OK to eat.
Here are some factors that make eating seafood so complicated:
- Overfishing: Unsustainable methods like trawling catch fish faster than they can reproduce, depleting whole populations.
- Bycatch: 25% of the creatures caught in the big nets of commercial fisheries go to waste because they are not what the fishermen are looking to catch. Dolphins, sea turtles, whales, seals, and tons of fish die caught up in these nets.
- Farmed fish: They create water pollution and are fed cheap food, antibiotics, and artificial food coloring to make their flesh more appealing.
- Mercury: The larger the fish, the more mercury it accumulates. So stay away from large fish such as swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and tilefish.
Still, there are many health benefits to eating seafood, so don't give up on it altogether. The healthy omega-3 fatty acids in fish are great for heart health, and may also help against Alzheimer's, depression, joint problems, and cancer. They also contain numerous vitamins and minerals.
You can learn a lot more about the issues regarding fish online. There's even a guide to safe sushi!
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5 comments:
aw wth? tuna is so bad and i eat a lot of it :( that's a good site. thx lisa.
Haha I know! I'm such a Debbie Downer. But you don't have to cut it entirely, just eat it less often.
just an update.. i went to a seafood market yesterday with my dad (he's visiting). he told me i should eat more fish, so i shopped around using what i remembred from the list. i bought mussels and oysters and was able to avoid things like imported tilapia. so, it was pretty cool using this info :)
oh that's awesome!! you're an inspiration to continue blogging, dave ;) thank you for sharing!
by the way, i'm working on a new post today!
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