BayTree Wellness Center

Fish as health food has been in the spotlight for a while now.  The latest articles all talk about fish as a great source of healthy oils.   But then, you hear all this stuff about how all the waters are so polluted now with mercury, and you have to avoid bottom-dwellers?? There’s a lot of information to reconcile.  Here I give you my take.

On top of inherent risks of eating polluted fish, there are the various problems that we humans are causing the fish population.  Much of the fish we enjoy eating are overfished. In the U.S., 80% of seafood is imported to meet the demand.  Consumer choices fuel, if not trigger the destructive fishing and fish farming practices.

Here are two resources that I’d like to share with you to help with selecting what fish to buy and eat, followed by my top fish to eat list.

First one is the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program.  Part of their mission is to encourage consumers and businesses to purchase seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that don’t harm the environment. How do they do this?  Their recommendations are science-based, peer reviewed, and use ecosystem-based criteria.

Please make sure to visit the Seafood Watch Program website to get more info, and of course their lists of best fish, best alternatives, and Must Avoids!

The second resource is Green America, a good resource for a variety of green-related information.  Specifically, they have their own fish lists which related to health.   This is the website for their Safe Seafood Wallet list, make sure to visit it because again there is info on best fish, best alternatives, and make sure to avoids!

Both their lists are great resources of information and you can see that their top-fish lists are somewhat different.  Here I list common fish between the two.

List of Top Fish to Eat, with respect to health and eco-considerations:

• Clams
• Dungeness crab
• Lobster (spiny/rock)
• Oysters
• Salmon (wild, alaskan)
• sardines (pacific, US)
• Scallops, Bay (farmed)
• Shrimp, white and US farmed
• Tilapia, US farmed

I hope you found this article useful.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Article by Afshin Mokhtari, Acupuncturist at BayTree Wellness Center.  You can read more of Afshin’s articles at his site: www.acuafshin.com.  You can reach afshin via email on our  Locations page.

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