Do you want to switch over to a vegetarian diet? Do you want to revamp your diet with added health benefits? Then you must adopt the pescetarian diet. This post talks in detail about the pescetarian diet, its components, advantages and how you can switch over to a pescetarian diet. Want to know more? Keep reading.
The term ‘pescetarian’ has been derived from an Italian word ’pesce’, meaning fish. People who prefer eating vegetarian foods, but also include aquatic animals as a part of their regular diet are known as pescetarians. In some parts of the world, they are also called pesco-vegetarians. These people eat saltwater and fresh water fish, shellfish and other vegetarian foods such as grains, vegetables, fruits, eggs, legumes and even dairy products just as the typical vegetarians consume.
Of late, more people are showing interest towards adapting the pescetarian style of eating. One of the major reasons behind the rise in the popularity of pescetarianism is that it offers the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle along with the proven health effects of the Omega-3 fatty acids from the fish. Thus, the pescetarian diet serves as the golden median between the two extreme forms of diet and interplays between the long-term health and nutrition.
Pescetarians technically cannot be considered as vegetarians, but they do not fall into the category of being omnivores. They prefer consumption of fish oils and fish because these are the major sources of Omega-3 fatty acids and are extremely essential for the smooth working of the heart and other body organs. Slowly, you can switch over to other healthier options such as flax seeds that are a good alternative to Omega-3 fatty acids. A 100% vegetarian diet does not include any type of animals.
According to the Crown Consulting CEO and Web editor for the Vegetarian Nutrition, Debra King, a pescetarian diet includes foods from diverse groups and is especially selected by people who are health conscious or want to lose weight. For some people, it can be a sort of compromise where they not only want to stick to their vegetarian diet but also want to add a good protein source that is readily available in social or business settings.
People with health problems also turn towards this kind of diet because they are quite aware of the detrimental effects of eating meat and flesh. Janis Jibrin, author of The Pescetarian Plan says plant- based diets that also include the benefits of protein and omega-3 fatty acids are a convenient and an easy way to stick to healthful choices.
As you age, the unnatural craving of the body to eat poultry and mammal meat disappears. But most of us never realize this change as we are too busy indulging in different varieties of pork, red meat and chicken. That is why, your body starts reacting by getting sick from such unwanted foods, as the land-animal flesh is full of fecal bacteria, uric acid and toxins.
Naturally, the human body is made to eat plant-based foods and it always rejects meat. Proponents of the pescetarian diet argue that we tend to feed our toddlers the wrong foods at a very early age due to which they cannot make the right choice when they grow up. This belief does hold some amount of truth because the natural carnivores never cook their meat and still do not get sick in any season.
On the other hand, we cannot eat a live chicken just like the carnivores, which means the food is not for human consumption. Just imagine! Can a human baby kill a chicken or an animal out of its instinct for food just like a baby lion would do? There lies the answer. On the contrary, seafood does not carry same risks as meat. It is a much safer choice when it comes to healthy and fresh eating.
Nutrition editor of Today’s Dietitian and the author of the Plant-Powered for Life, Sharon Palmer says that the pescetarian diet is almost similar to the traditional Mediterranean diet, in which the serving of fish is the primary source of animal protein. The Mediterranean eating pattern includes a healthy pescetarian type of diet that is packed with lots of whole grains, legumes, nuts, vegetables and fruits. You can also choose from the typical Japanese or the Nordic pescetarian diet that is extremely flexible and includes both the eggs and dairy in regular diets.
A pescetarian diet offers scope to try out a wide range of aquatic life that are low in saturated fat and rich in nutrients including trace minerals, and micronutrients. Seafoods such as oysters, clams, mussels are rich sources of minerals. Oyster is supposed to contain the highest amount of zinc on earth and just one serving covers the daily need of zinc of the human body (1). Mussels are rich in selenium, iron that act as a good source of fuel for the antioxidant system of the body. Studies also indicate that mussels have a high content of Silicon that helps maintain the lining of the aortic tissues (2).
If you are looking to improve your omega-3 fatty acids intake, you must choose oily fish such as sardines, trouts, salmon, mackerels and several other oil-rich fresh and salt-water varieties of fishes (3). Since almost all the fish varieties are low in calories, you can choose a large portion of a fish recipe to make up your daily protein requirement. Seafood is also a good source of vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin K and vitamin B3 (4).