Whether you are a flesh-raising who has recently been encouraged to abstain from mammals or a vegetarian that requires the most flexibility in your food choices, the pescatarian diet may be what you are looking for. It opens your food for an entire ecosystem that may not invade your dish regularly, providing serious benefits to the heart, brain and overall health.
Here’s how to follow a pescatarian diet and why you want to do in the first place.
What is a pescatarian diet?
A pescatarian diet follows a largely vegetarian diet, in addition to adding fish and seafood. Some pescatarians also include milk and eggs in their diet, while others do not.
“Most pescatarians eat a lot of vegetarian meals and include only fish or seafood several times a week,” says Jenn Cassetta, CN, MS, Master of Nutrition and Nutritionist Certified in Santa Monica, who has been on a pescatarian diet for more than 15 years.
The benefits of a pescatarian diet
According to Monika Jacobson, RDN, a registered nutritionist dietitian in Spokane, Washington, the pescatarian diet can provide considerable benefits:
1. The health of the brain and the heart
Many salmon fish, sardines and mackerel-are rich in omega-3s, which are beneficial for cardiovascular and glycemic health and can support brain health.
2. Weight management
“Eating fish or shellfish along with a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, healthy fats and whole grains in the right calorie range is very useful for losing weight,” says Jacobson.
3. The lean protein
Most seafood is rich in protein, but lower in calories and saturated fat than other types of meat, allowing you to meet your protein requirements with less calories.
4. Durability
A pescatarian diet is generally more stable than eating meat, as fishing can have a smaller trace of carbon than the growth of the animals we consume.
What to take care of a pescatarian diet
Nutrient
When done properly, a pescatarian diet can have great health benefits; Traditionally it is lower in saturated fats and focuses on nutrient foods and lean protein.
However, “there are always ways to return healthy healthy diets,” says Ha Nguyen, RD, LDN, a dietitian registered in Philadelphia. “Technically, a pescatarian diet can be pop-tart for breakfast, frozen fish sticks for lunch and French fry for dinner.”
So, instead of filling processed or fried foods, Cassetta recommends frying, baking or chopping your seafood and choosing sources of plant -based proteins such as beans, nuts and seeds.
For example, try a lentil salad or hummus as a side dish instead of potatoes and other simple starch. Either go for a package with a single service or two tablespoons of almond butter with some fresh vegetables as a noon snack instead of a coffee paste or whatever is in the nearest sales machine.
Mercury
The state of our environment means that almost every fish contains mercury. But this is not a reason to eliminate the fish from your diet or to avoid the pescatarian diet.
“Mercury levels in fish vary dramatically, but if you choose the right seafood, you will have very little exposure,” says registered dietician Janis Jibrin, a professor at Georgetown University.
This table by FDA is a good source to keep track of the latest recommendations regarding mercury in fish. But as a rule, Jibrin suggests to avoid the biggest capture such as sword fish, shark, king’s mackerel and fish fish because they have more time to accumulate greater levels of mercury.
Low memory options include shrimp, salmon, pollock and catfish. While the canned light tone is safe for regular consumption, the canned Albacore tuna is very high in mercury and should be consumed saving.
Quality
Your guide principle to get the best quality of seafood is to choose fish caught by savages when possible and avoid those that are raised on the farm.
“When you buy any animal protein, always choose the best quality you can afford,” Cassetta says. “When it comes to fish and seafood, I like to go to a fish market where I can talk to someone and find out what is cooler and be able to see where the fish comes from. Fish caught by savagely eats what they naturally are meant to eat, and therefore usually have larger omega-3s.
Most fish can also be bought frozen, which means it can be melted and eaten when needed so as not to worry about the loss of any. According to the US Department of Trade, most of the frozen seafood today are equal in quality. Check out their tips for buying and treating seafood.
How to start on a pescatarian diet
Ready to try a pescatarian diet? Sharon Palmer, RD, suggests creating some recipes you like and are easy to prepare, like tacos with black or vegetarian fried beans. “In that way, you can make these recipes as easily go to your busiest days.” It can also be as easy as subjugating calf or chicken in some of your favorite fish recipes.
Set a meal preparation schedule that works for you, suggests ngyen. Since fresh seafood should be prepared within a day or two, start with it at the beginning of the week and you have frozen options stored in the refrigerator in the middle of the week.
“The shrimp is great for fried fried dishes, fish can be baked in a light cleaning pan, and mussels and scaffolding are great for large bundles of sea pasta,” Nguyen says. “Look at the canned tone and sardines, which are both high in omega-3s, for easy lunch options.”
For vegetarians to be eased in the diet, start falling into a dish of seafood several times a week, Jibrin suggests. “Being a pescatarian is essentially being a vegetarian with the addition of seafood, so the passage for vegetarians is really easy. You can be a vegetarian on Monday, a pescatarian Tuesday and a Vegan on Wednesday.”
