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Why You Can`t Beat Fish For A Healthy Diet
By EricHanson | November 19, 2009
Americans are not particularly given to eating seafood. Basically, we like our steaks and chops too much. But, in avoiding this wonderful food, we are doing ourselves a grave nutritional injustice. For, besides being prime providers of protein and minerals, many species of fish are low in fat. Some are practically fat-free.
As we have indicated above, marine fats are definitely cholesterol-lowering so, if you can stand the calories, you can eat even the very fatty fish.
In all fairness, we must admit that there are some ”not-too-good” reasons for avoiding fish. Fresh fish is messy to prepare, and many homemakers are not too expert at cooking it. This may be the reason why you so often hear, “Well, we like fish all right, but we only eat it when we go to a restaurant.” That’s understandable when a restaurant specializes in sea food.
The fish is apt to be fresh-caught and most skilfully prepared—a good reason why you should patronize such establishments more often.
Also, except for some of the fatty fish, most varieties are not as “filling” as meats. They don’t have a great deal of satiety value, meaning that ”stick-to-the-ribs” quality which keeps your appetite satisfied for several hours after eating. The person who eats fish, may become hungry again an hour or so after his meal.
This defect also helps to account for the fact that fish is so often fried. Fried foods “stick to the ribs” better because of their fat content. However, unless you have the weight problem, don’t hesitate to fry fish if you want to, as long as you fry it in a vegetable oil—and treat yourself to the extra polys.
The people of Europe, particularly of France, have also tried to make fish more “filling” by using a variety of rich sauces which not only add flavor, but because of their fat content, make the fish linger longer in the stomach, increasing the satiety value. Make and use such sauces if you don’t have to count calories; but again, take the opportunity to get extra polys by using a vegetable oil.
At any rate, the lack of filling power helped to popularize the mistaken notion that fish proteins don’t have the nutritional value of meat proteins. However, this just isn’t true.
As far back as 1926, the British Ministry of Health underwrote a study of the comparative value of fish and meat proteins. Dr. E. L. Lowe, noted British nutritionist, was put in charge of the research. He began by putting himself on an exclusive diet of lean beef; keeping very accurate records of his blood-nitrogen balance, and other measures of the relative value of proteins.
He made the same tests while on an exclusive fish diet, and found no laboratory evidence that fish proteins were inferior. A personal experience influenced him further.
After some weeks on a straight lean-beef diet, he noticed that his hair began to fall out at a greater rate than before. Not that he grew bald, or developed bald patches. He simply noticed more hair on his brush and comb, and counted the combings daily to be certain that his hair was thinning.
Satisfied that such was the case, he began to wonder whether there might be some vitamins or essential food factors missing in beef. He decided to add fish to his beef-only meals; within a week, his daily hair fall-out count grew noticeably less. He began to speculate on the possible reasons.
Was it because fish contained cystine, or a better array of the amino building blocks which go to make up proteins? He never did satisfy himself on this point. However, after a four-year study, he did establish scientifically that fish proteins are just as good, and sometimes a little better, biologically than beef proteins, or the proteins of other meats.
All this happened better than thirty years ago, which is a long time in the history of nutrition science. Our knowledge of proteins and their aminos has increased tremendously since. Much work done in many learning centers throughout the world, has firmly established Dr. Lowe’s basic contention that fish proteins are fully the equal of those found in meat. In short, you are not doing yourself any nutritional injustice when you eat fish.
Among the several different unsaturated fatty acids found in fish, but not in other foods, is clapadonodonic acid. This poly-rich fat with the strange name might possibly turn out to be the best anti-cholesterol agent of all. Cod liver oil contains twenty percent of this factor. Arachidonic acid is another that is known to be an extraordinarily good blood-cholesterol clearing agent. Several fish oils contain as much as twenty-two percent, which is a “terrific” amount.
If your taste runs to fish from the sea, you’ll be doing yourself an even greater nutritional favor. Without exception, seafood is apt to be richer in iodine than any other food. Several high-ranking authorities who specialize in geriatrics (the care and treatment of the aging), feel that iodine is a food element of special value to men and women over forty.
Unfortunately, there is no acceptable, controlled research to prove this point beyond dispute. However, one top-flight geriatrician told me personally that he has been prescribing a small daily ration of iodine to his patients for twenty years now. He is thoroughly convinced that his patients feel better for it, and that the little bit of extra iodine each day helps to improve their thyroid function; helps to give them welcome vigor and pep.
This is of special interest to us, because undoubtedly a slowdown of thyroid function seems to further the rise of cholesterol in the blood. Several careful studies indicate that small doses of thyroid extract help to clear the cholesterol from the blood of patients with depressed thyroid action. Be that as it may, eating a frequent portion of seafood, will help to keep up the iodine stores in your body.
Fish also supplies an abundance of other trace minerals and generous amounts of B-vitamins. Red snapper, codfish, and flounder are excellent examples of this type of fish. Oysters, crabmeat, and lobsters are the least fatty of all denizens of the deep, and wonderful sources of protein and minerals. These fish, too, are ideal for reducers. In fact, a high-protein reducing diet could be built around fish, which would put some of our current reducing diets to shame.
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