Five Health Foods to Release Your Inner Seafood Gourmet

Almost every healthy eating guide includes advice that adding fish and seafood to your diet can improve your health, energy and vitality. However, many people don’t have the first idea about how to buy or select fish. That limits them to canned varieties or skipping fish for easier to prepare items like hamburgers or steaks. Understanding the healthiest types of seafood and fish and how to choose them will help you include these foods in your diet more often and release your inner seafood gourmet.

Fish

Today’s fish are either harvested from commercial “farms” or caught wild. Unfortunately, many of these more popular varieties, such as Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, bluefish tuna, Atlantic cod, grouper and shark are being both over-fished and contaminated by harmful substances like mercury, PCB and other chemicals. Some are plumped out with additives such as sodium triphosphate (also known as E451), a chemical which causes the fish to absorb 50 percent more water and be heavier by weight for sale.

A newcomer with a growing fan base is the lowly tilapia. It has become one of the five most popular varieties of fish consumed by Americans. You can cook tilapia in a variety of ways for a delicious and healthy main course. Because it is an herbivore, you don’t need to worry about the contaminated “feeder fish” it may have grown up on. Avoid Asian varieties of tilapia and stay with U.S. or Central American farmed fish, for not only tilapia, but trout and catfish as well.

Just about any sea creature from Alaska is a safer choice at this point in time. Alaskan sablefish, also known as “black cod,” is much like Chilean sea bass. Alaskan halibut works well as a replacement for almost any Atlantic whitefish. Alaskan cod and pollack are also good choices for your gourmet experiments.

The first place award probably goes to the wild Alaskan salmon, regardless of particular species. This harvesting has been well-managed. The fish is low in contaminants and high in Omega 3 fatty acids. Learn how easy it is to cook this delightful fish and you will impress your guests each and every time.

Other Good Choices

Many types of seafood offer health benefits, so don’t limit yourself to fish:

• Although Chesapeake Bay blue crabs have been harvested almost to extinction, the Oregon and Washington Dungeness are excellent replacements. How about a plate of succulent crab cakes to impress your dinner guests?
• There’s nothing quite like Maine lobster, and if it has a Marine Stewardship Label on it, you can know that it is a good buy. Easy to cook and a prize-winner that can stand alone or with a few tasty salads, prepared lobster will make your summer festivities special indeed.
• Scallops are another traditional seafood favorite, especially when cooked in a flavorful, buttery casserole. The farmed variety may be easier on the environment because less large scale ocean dredging is involved. Watch out for added chemicals. The tastiest are the true “diver scallops,” but, unfortunately, they count for less than one percent of all harvested scallops.
• Avoid all shrimp that is collected from the Far East because they are full of chemical contaminants. Wild Oregon pink shrimp and wild Alaskan spot prawns may be more difficult to find, but they are definitely worth the search.

It may take a little research, but finding healthy fish and seafood not on the verge of extinction is still possible. When in doubt, approach the seafood counter and start asking questions. The seafood department workers at your local grocery store have a wealth of information to offer on the best seasonings, cooking methods and even wines to accompany your gourmet seafood meals.

About the author: Jessica Bosari offers nutrition and cooking advice at Nutritionist-World.com. The site helps students find the best nutritionist certification programs and culinary arts schools.

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