5 reasons to eat more seafood
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Brett NethellWritten on 13th August
Fewer and fewer people are eating fish, but fish has always been a strong part of our ancestors' diet, whether that was fish from the sea, lakes or rivers. Wild caught fish and other seafood has immense benefits for our health. Helping boost our skin, hormone, joint and gut health, but most forget what is within seafood that actually boost our health in such a profound way.
In this article we’ll dive into the key reasons to eat more seafood and why its not just about the muscle meat.
1. Zinc and hormone health
Sea food such as oysters and crab are rich sources of zinc, oysters being the highest food source of zinc we can get. But why is zinc important? Zinc is a key part of our hormone health, it is involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body, it is crucial for male and female hormone production such as testosterone for men and progesterone for women, it is also needed for conversion of thyroid hormone T4 to the active thyroid hormone T3.
There is more to zinc however, when people take zinc supplements they often forget that zinc must be balanced with copper, some try to do this but managing the balance and absorption in synthetic supplements isn’t easy or ideal. Within oysters the zinc is balanced naturally with copper and therefore a risk of imbalance of zinc or toxicity of copper is low.
Zinc also helps our gut seal, our immunity and many more factors in the body. Most people are zinc deficient and aren’t even aware.
2. Nose to fin eating
One of the best aspects of seafood is that we often eat more than just muscle meat, meaning the amino acids are balanced, we get more key nutrients such as glycine and creatine.
Glycine is a key amino acid that has been diminishing from societies dietary intake for a long time, since nose to tail eating of ruminant animals decreased, along with people who do eat fish just wanting the meaty parts and not the whole fish.
Fish oil supplements can never compare to eating oily fish, sardines for example are incredible for our joint and skin health for this reason. We know the importance of nose to tail eating with ruminant animals and so we must apply the same approach to fish.
3. Skin health
As mentioned above, good gut health depends on glycine intake and so does skin health. The healthier our gut the better our skin. When we give our gut amino acids such as glycine along with the natural oils in fish, our skin begins to glow, nutrients are fully absorbed by the gut thanks to glycine sealing affects and so the skin reflects this abundance of nutrients.
Omega 3 fatty acids are also incredible for our skin health, when combined with zinc and copper our skin is going to react by becoming more supple and glowing.
Selenium and antioxidants are also found in many fish that help boost the quality of our skin, this can give our skin that more youthful appearance.
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4. Winter health boost
When the darker months come we inevitably lose vitamin D from the sun (if you live in the northern hemisphere) and if you didn’t get a good amount of sun exposure in the summer you may pay the price in the winter with more illness and less vitality.
This is where wild caught salmon really plays role and has done for centuries for places such as Norway who’s people turn to salmon as not just a food but also a rich source of vitamin D, with one serving providing 50% of your recommended daily intake for vitamin D!
Even if you did get a lot of sun during summer, including more wild caught salmon in your winter diet is a form of supplementation to keep you feeling your best even when you haven’t seen the sun for a long while. Forget the vitamin D supplements and use your food.
5. Brain health
Seafood has also been shown to be massively beneficial for brain health with weekly consumption of seafood lowering risk of developing Alzheimer’s by up to 30%. Regular seafood consumers have also shown larger brain volume in the frontal and temporal lobes, which govern memory and learning.
Combine this with all the nutrients and gut benefits of seafood that I’ve mentioned so far and seafood can be a really mood boosting dish, helping improve your health and help you feel more energised.
Summary
All this comes with a caveat, and that is that you need to source wild caught fish. Farmed fish is often incredibly toxic due to the conditions that they are raised in, most especially salmon. Wild caught fish on the other hand is raised in its natural habit and so much more nutrient dense thanks to this natural environment.
Additionally, make sure to check for additives in ingredients lists as fish is so often combined with preservatives or seed oils. Embrace sea food and enjoy all the health boosting aspects it brings!
