Tips on choosing the healthiest seafood
MARIETTA, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - If you're trying to eat healthier, fish is a good choice.
It's high in protein, vitamins, and minerals.
The American Heart Association recommends eating fish twice a week, especially fatty fish like salmon, lake trout and albacore tuna. Those fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for brain and heart health.
So how do you shop for the healthiest fish? Beverly Demetrius, an Associate Professor at Life University, who specializes in nutrition, says be picky.
"It shouldn't be slimy,” Demetrius says.
Fish like salmon, she says, should be brightly colored and moist, not washed out or sunken in.
"I would say, in general, there is no fish that you have to avoid,” Demetrius says. "It's really the preparation that you have to worry about. It's the frying that gives them a bad name."
So, instead of frying, Demetrius recommends broiling or baking seafood.
Shrimp tacos are a favorite.
"Again, you have a nice squeeze of lime, you have a little bit of hot pepper maybe and greens, and you're good to go,” she says. “It's really colorful, it looks good and it's really tasty."
Salmon, especially Alaskan salmon, tops the list of healthiest fish.
Demetrius keeps her salmon recipe simple, flavoring it with rosemary, garlic and lemon.
Instead of heavy cream-based clam chowder, Demetrius says, try its much lighter cousin, the tomato-based Manhattan clam chowder.
And watch your portion size, she says.
You should be eating about 3 to 4 ounces of fish in a serving.
"Most restaurants that is probably half of what they serve,” Demetrius says. “So share that with someone that you go to dinner or lunch with."
Some fish can be high in the toxin mercury.
Women who are pregnant or nursing and young children should limit fish that can be high in mercury.
The Food and Drug Administration publishes a list of fish the agency considers the best choices, good choices, and choices to avoid for pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children.
To read the full list, visit https://www.fda.gov/food/consumers/advice-abou