A Pescatarian Diet - What is it and its Benefits?

So what is a pescatarian and their diet? The simplest way of explaining this is someone who adds fish and seafood to a vegetarian diet, which is kinda obvious if you can speak fluent Italian, considering the word is a mixture of “pesce”, the Italian word for fish, mixed with the ending of vegetarian. There are many reasons people choose to not eat meat and poultry, but still eat fish, such as a number of benefits to being a pescatarian. This change in lifestyle is often seen as a stepping stone for people who want to reduce the amount of meat they eat without completely cutting it out of their diet. Some of the benefits of being a pescatarian are;

Improved Heart Health

Most fatty fish, such as salmon and mackerel, are rich in omega 3. This contributes to lowering the blood pressure and helps to decrease the risk of abnormal heart rhythms (arrythmias), which reduces the chances of having a fatal heart attack.

Reduced risk of diabetes

Fish contain high amounts of vitamin D, something that can lead people to suffering with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin or their pancreas is unable to produce enough, so eating more fish is an excellent way to increase your vitamin D intake. Studies have found a direct correlation between the percentage of sufferers being higher in omnivores than pescatarians, supporting the theory between a fish diet being good for your heart and a good prevention for diabetes.

Boost your protein

Humans need around 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day, as well as some people preferring to eat more, which is often difficult to maintain with just endorsing a plant based diet. Although nowadays vegetarians can get a lot of protein through their plant based diet, these meat alternatives also usually contain a higher amount of carbohydrates and fats. Fish and other seafood are an excellent source of lean protein, allowing your to aid your muscles without overloading the other food elements.

Improved Skin

Similarly to the science behind the increased heart health, fatty fish are excellent sources of omega 3 which contributes to their improvement of your skin by keeping it think, supple and moisterised, likewise not consuming enough omega 3 can cause dry skin.

Additional Nutrients

Behind the massive amounts of omega 3 and protein, seafood in rich in a number of other nutrients. Not every type of seafood and shellfish contains every type of vitamin and mineral, but mixing what you eat can help provide the body with a good, healthy balance. Take a look at the list below for what a variety of seafood contains;

Mussels – All of the Vitamin Bs & Manganese

Oysters – Vitamin B12, Zinc & Selenium

Cod – Selenium, Phosphorus, Niacin, Vitamins B6 and B12, and more than 20 times the amount of protein compared to fat

Being a vegetarian is a concept that many people like the sound, but just think that giving up meat in one go is too difficult. Some of the implications people have when trying to go vegetarian are the thought of losing out on things like the taste of the meals they would no longer be able to eat, the protein intake and the all rounded meal choices available. However, this is not the issue with a pescatarian diet, as you can replace the meat you currently consume in your diet now with seafood in virtually in every dish. The image below is just some of the dishes that we currently offer that are suitable to pescatarians, proving that you don’t need all the types of meat you’re used to in order to create delicious, healthy meals.