Why I’m Something Like a Pescatarian

Pescatarianism (more on Wikipedia and Pescatarian Life) is similar to Vegetarianism in that the meat of land animals (beef, pork, chicken, etc) are avoided, whereas a Pescatarian will allow for the consumption of seafood, and maybe eggs, dairy and honey as well. Perhaps more similar to Pescatarianism is the Mediterranean Diet. In the article, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition explains the following typical Mediterranean eating habits:

The diet is characterized by abundant plant foods (fruit, vegetables, breads, other forms of cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts, and seeds), fresh fruit as the typical daily dessert, olive oil as the principal source of fat, dairy products (principally cheese and yogurt), and fish and poultry consumed in low to moderate amounts, zero to four eggs consumed weekly, red meat consumed in low amounts, and wine consumed in low to moderate amounts, normally with meals.

Growing up in southern Florida, our meals fairly frequently consisted of a very similar food pyramid, one that was low in processed foods and sugary carbs, while high in fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh-caught fish (thanks to my dad, fisherman of the Gulf!) I’m sure most of us have heard about the numerous health benefits provided by healthy fats (omega’s and other essential fatty oils) found in things like olive oil and high in certain seafoods. From brain development to heart health, studies of those in the Mediterranean have shown amazing health records when compared to the typical American diet.

I have one grandmother suffering from serious heart problems, another suffering from both Alzheimers and, just found out this week, terminal colon cancer. My grandfather has struggled with high cholesterol and heart problems as well. Hubby’s grandpa battles Diabetes. Sure, we kinda assume that such things come with the inevitable advancement of our lifespan on Earth. But what seriously gets to me is the quality of life so many are living, when studies show that changes in diet and exercise early on can play a vital role in your health for years to come.

Now, please note: I’m not a band-wagon kinda girl (at least, I like to think I’m not!). I don’t usually pick one specific, rigid way of believing something and then stake my whole-hearted little flag on it. I think life demands a little more flexibility than that. That is, a life involving relating to other odd human creatures. But I have really been giving veganism/vegetarianism and the various versions thereof some intentional consideration, and at this point have “decided” that the above mentioned food lifestyle is a smart choice for me. Why?

Fish/seafood significantly lowers risks to a variety of known illnesses, particularly cardiovascular disease. Olive oil, nuts, whole grains, and a little wine each day also prove beneficial to your health and well-being (fatty oils which lower the BAD cholesterol, flavanoids containing antioxidants, etc etc). While I did wonder about including seafood in with an Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian diet, I found that, for me, the benefits far outweigh the threat of toxins such as mercury and PCB. In this interesting article, Charles Santerre, a “foods and nutrition associate professor who specializes in chemical contaminants in food” explained what the proper intake of various seafood is:

The safest seafoods are farmed and wild salmon, along with oysters, shrimp, farm-raised channel catfish, farm-raised rainbow trout, flounder, perch, tialpia, clams, scallops and red swamp crayfish. These have the lowest level of mercury and can be eaten more than once a week. Canned tuna, crab, cod, mahi-mahi, haddock, whitefish, herring and spiny lobster have slightly higher levels of mercury and should be eaten no more than one meal per week.

Some seafood should be limited to just one meal a month: tuna steaks, red snapper, orange roughy, pollack, halibut, northern lobster, marlin, moonfish, saltwater bass, wild trout, bluefish, grouper, croaker and sablefish.

In another article, I find yet another reason my Lil’ E is such a smart young whipper-snapper:

For infants and young children, the authors found that omega-3 fatty acids from seafood likely improve early brain development; children could obtain that benefit from pregnant or nursing mothers who consumed fish.

In addition to the health reasons, there are, of course, environmental/ethical ones. I’ve written before about the “cost” that the livestock industry has on the environment, and this 12-year-old girl wrote an informative, concise article about it in the Vegetarian Times!

So, there it is, not the entire exhaustive concordance to the way-Vivian-operates-with-food, but a basic bloggy style explanation of my big, definitive “decision”.