I Eat Fish

Anyone else?


It's SOOOO good for you and doesn't, like red meat, plug up or rot in your tummy.


Just curious.

If you do, why?  I know that some people HAVE to because if they cut out meaty things, they'd nearly die.

I love seafood, and I have to eat it anyway because I'm super anemic.

But even if I weren't I think I would.

Does anyone here consider pescatarians non-veg?

Original Post by svea9:

The discussion on mercury is very troubling. I suffered for YEARS before my doctors finally performed a toxicology panel. I was severely elevated in mercury. I was chelated in 2004-2005, and am still suffering the side effects of my poisoning. I got the mercury PURELY from eating fish. All fish has mercury in it...mercury is in the environment. It doesn't settle on selected bodies of water. It is, however, much more concentrated in larger fish, as they live longer, thus ingesting more mercury than smaller fish. The "books" telling people to eat more fish mean eating two small portions twice a week. Have you seen the serving sizes when you go out? Due to blood disorders that have stemmed from this, I am required to weigh and record all the foods I eat. When I go out, a 4 ounce serving of salmon is almost always at least 6.5 ounces. Be careful. You might want to be careful where your sources come from. This has been a very painful and difficult time as a result of "these books".

wow that doesn't sound very good. i usually only consume a small amount of fish, as they are pretty good about portion sizes compared to america not to mention everything is overpriced. a serving size is usually 3 oz.

however my question is, are some of us more susceptible to mercury poisoning than others? is there a way to tell just how bad it is? i am going to get these fillings out eventually.

That's an interesting question, and while it's true that people react differently to mercury as it accumulates in the body, nobody is more or less susceptible.  It affects everybody.  It's a heavy metal, so it accumulates, and is has a very difficult time leaving the body.  Not even chelation helps completely, as the drugs (typically Succimer is prescribed) cannot cross the blood-brain barrier.  This has been a nightmare!  3 ounces isn't bad, even when eaten twice a week.  Also, stay away from tilefish absolutely.  They are very dangerous varieties.  Here's a website my toxicologist suggested, and it has helped me enormously:  it's simply "gotmercury.com".  It allows you to enter your weight, height and fish consumed (along with the serving size), and tells you how it rates for the weeks guideline.  Hopefully, you'll find it useful, too. 

I'm scared now!

Never knew there were problems with eating fish =/

Original Post by laura_louise:

I'm scared now!

Never knew there were problems with eating fish =/

 

 i dont think svea was trying to scare us, just informing us. it seems from her (i assume you are a she) post eating 3oz twice a week isn't too bad.

im more scared cuz of my fillings tho. a friend just said i can get it done a lot cheaper in poland tho. might have to take a holiday there just to get my teeth fixed.

actually svea, that site doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Oh, goodness, no!  I wasn't trying to scare you!  Everything in moderation (as trite a phrase that is, it certainly is true!).   It can be very good for you.  Also, I was told that removing fillings is sometimes more dangerous than having them in your  mouth, due to the release of mercury.  It all gets so confusing, I know, but just, as mentioned, eat everything in moderation.   Use wine, for example, when we drink it  in the moderate amounts, it is very positive, healthwise.  When we drink too much of it,  the opposite is true.  Sorry about the mercury website, it's actually Gotmercury.org.  I hope this helps.

Wow, well based on that calculator, I can eat as much freakin seafood as I want! I guess the trick is, the kind I want are typically low mercury, like salmon. In fact, the calculator says I'd still be at a low exposure to mercury if I ate 20 oz of salmon a week! 20 oz! That's like 5 nights a week eating 4 oz servings! It also said I could have 10oz salmon, 6oz tilapia and 3oz sole in a week, and be at the same low exposure for mecury.

So, I guess as long as I'm not eating tuna all the time I'm okay?

PS, on the question of whether or not someone who consumes fish is vegetarian, i have a question myself:

After how many days of not eating meat is one considered a vegetarian?

There is no specificity that I'm aware of regarding that matter, therefore in theory, one can be vegetarian one day and not the next...this is assuming, by the way, that the said person has no ethical issue with meat. It DOES matter because in that way, eating meat at all would violate said person's self definition.

So anyway, I don't see a reason why a person could be vegetarian most of the time, but opt to have a fish meal or two every month when they feel their body needs it? Just because they eat a couple of fish meals doesn't mean they'd eat fish every time it was put in front of them, or that they would want to eat fish every day or consider it a huge part of their diet.

I dont think there is a set time, I think that as long as someone decided not to eat meat anymore then they are vegetarian

My favourite type of fish is tuna! lol, I don't eat it a lot but found out from that website that its like the worst one for mercury

i think to classify yourself as a vegetarian you have to make a conscious decision to never eat anything that used to be alive. no, i don't think you can be a veggie and still know you will eat fish 'every now and then.' fish have feelings too. they feel pain.

but enough of the preaching!

Original Post by mashed_tatties:

i think to classify yourself as a vegetarian you have to make a conscious decision to never eat anything that used to be alive. no, i don't think you can be a veggie and still know you will eat fish 'every now and then.' fish have feelings too. they feel pain.

but enough of the preaching!

yes thank you, please enough preaching. hmmm, i think when we start picking the term vegetarian apart, it kind of falls apart with everyone's reasoning. but i fully agree that my diet is not vegetarian.

As a raw foodist, that is an interesting issue I've been dealing with.

We like to eat foods that are still alive; i.e. we sprout seeds before we eat them, or we'll soak nuts so that the protective 'sleep' layer on the outside is washed off and the nut is alive again and ready to sprout. There is a large focus on living foods.

Which also means that we are actively killing everything we eat, in a sense. We cannot escape from Death energy. In raw foodism, everything is about 'the light' and 'life force energy', but the truth is, in that light and in that life force there is darkness, and ultimately Death.

Saying that vegetarianism is not eating anything that used to be alive is not accurate. There are studies that show that plants DO feel, just not in the same way as us. But who are we to say it is any better or any worse for us to kill a plant?

Anyway, that has been hard for me to come to terms with, the fact that death is necessary to support my existance.

Original Post by edamame3:

As a raw foodist, that is an interesting issue I've been dealing with.

We like to eat foods that are still alive; i.e. we sprout seeds before we eat them, or we'll soak nuts so that the protective 'sleep' layer on the outside is washed off and the nut is alive again and ready to sprout. There is a large focus on living foods.

Which also means that we are actively killing everything we eat, in a sense. We cannot escape from Death energy. In raw foodism, everything is about 'the light' and 'life force energy', but the truth is, in that light and in that life force there is darkness, and ultimately Death.

Saying that vegetarianism is not eating anything that used to be alive is not accurate. There are studies that show that plants DO feel, just not in the same way as us. But who are we to say it is any better or any worse for us to kill a plant?

Anyway, that has been hard for me to come to terms with, the fact that death is necessary to support my existance.

 a little too philosophical for me this time of morning.