The safest fish to eat

I'm always hearing and reading how healthy fish is vs eating meat or even poultry, how we should all eat more fish for the healthy benefits of Omega 3’s…etc…yet we hear on the other hand, about the dangers of mercury poisoning and other harmful contaminants in seafood. So what is one to do?

So I did a little (just a little) research and thought I‘d post a list of the safest bets out there. To begin with pay attention to the seafood food chain. Generally speaking, the higher up the food chain, the larger the fish, the more contaminants. Over time, these large fish can build up higher amounts of mercury and other impurities from the many small fish they eat. This means you should avoid eating large fish such as shark, walleye, pike, sea bass, swordfish, King mackerel, largemouth bass, tuna, tilefish, marlin, halibut, and Atlantic halibut. So the smaller the fish, the better it is for you. Wiser, low mercury, choices would include crawfish, scallops, tilapia, Pacific flounder, crab, shrimp, summer flounder, haddock, sole, whitefish, and croaker (spiny, thin finned fish found in the sandy shallows of all temperate and warm seas).

Not all fish are equally high in omega-3's. Two excellent choices that are both low in contaminants and high in omega-3's are wild caught Alaskan salmon and sardines. Avoid farm raised salmon however, as it has significantly more dioxins and other potentially cancer-causing pollutants than wild caught salmon. Farm raised salmon however makes up half the salmon that comes to market so read your labels carefully. One of the main reasons for its less healthful status is farm-raised salmon eat lots of fish oil and meal made from just a few species of ocean fish, concentrating the contaminants they're exposed to, while wild salmon eat a greater variety.

Wild caught Alaskan salmon can be hard-to-find fresh, but is readily available in cans at most grocery stores. Read the label carefully to make sure any salmon you buy was caught in the wild.

I love Tilapia and we have taken to eating it fairly regularly since coming to California. Heres one of my favorite ways to prepare it. Its quick and easy and excellent.



Ingredients
4 tilapia fillets
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes or 2 tsp fresh chopped parsley
pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Rinse tilapia fillets under cool water, and pat dry with paper towels.
Place fillets in baking dish. Pour lemon juice over fillets, then drizzle butter on top. Sprinkle with garlic, parsley, and pepper.
Bake in preheated oven until the fish is white and flakes when pulled apart with a fork, about 30 minutes.

I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead - not sick, not wounded - dead. ~Woody Allen