7 Reasons to Consider Going Pescatarian

I’ve been appearing as a weight-loss expert on ABC’s reality weight-loss show My Diet Is Better Than Yours, and in a recent episode I put my client on a pescatarian diet.

The show’s premise it to pit different dietary theories against each other to see which plans work. Going in to the show, I chose to use my preferred diet to be as authentic as possible throughout the series. Paired with a martial arts workout for fitness, my approach is called the Strong, Safe & Sexy plan.

Regardless of the numbers on the scale, I felt confident that I was putting my client on a diet that was the overall healthiest for long-term wellness.

A pescatarian diet is a vegetarian diet with the inclusion of fish and seafood. Therefore, a pescatarian does not eat any flesh from any other animals outside of fish or seafood: no cows, lamb, pigs, turkeys, ducks or chickens.

We pescatarians get our protein from fish, eggs, dairy and plant-based sources like beans, nuts and seeds. A pescatarian diet can be similar to a Mediterranean diet or a Japanese diet (minus small amounts of meat), which are still touted as some of the healthiest ways to eat to reduce your chances of developing a lifestyle-related disease.

You get the known benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle with the proven health effects of omega-3 fatty acids from fish, making this diet a powerful link to long-term health. Here are seven reasons to consider a pescatarian diet:

1. You’ll be adding anti-inflammatory fats to your diet.
Anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids are underrepresented in the average American diet of factory-farmed meat, wheat, sugar and refined vegetable oils. All of these foods in the Standard American Diet (SAD) cause inflammation in the body, and if consumed in large amounts over time can lead to heart disease and even autoimmune diseases.

Pescatarian foods, on the other hand, such as cod, salmon, pasture-raised eggs, walnuts and pumpkin seeds contain high amounts of omega-3s and can help lower inflammation in the body. Creating a diet with these foods at the center can lead to increased energy, health and even weight loss.

2. You’ll improve your blood lipid profile.
Adding fatty fish to your diet even just twice a week can lower triglyceride levels, according to the American Heart Association. And a study done by the University of Eastern Finland found that increasing fatty fish intake to three or four meals per week increased HDL concentrations. HDL is the good cholesterol that helps protect against heart disease.

3. You’ll get your vitamins D and B-12.
On a strict vegan or vegetarian diet it can be tough to get vitamins D and B-12. Vitamin D is essential for teeth and bone health as well as for keeping your immune system in check. Vitamin B-12 is required for energy production.

Sardines, salmon, tuna and cod all rank higher than land animals as sources of vitamin B-12, and salmon ranks higher than cow milk as a good source of vitamin D.

For the full article, head on over to Livestrong.com to find out the last 4 reasons…

Interested in trying a Pescatarian diet? If so, I’ve created a 21 Day Strong, Safe & Sexy Pescatarian and Gluten-free diet that I used on ABC’s weight-loss competition TV show, My Diet is Better Than Yours.

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