It's time for another installment of....
I know, I know...its been way too long since I continued with this blog series. So here we go!
Check out this picture....
Can you tell which filet of salmon was caught in the wild and which was raised at a fish farm?
I'll give you a hint...look at the color. Have you ever described something as "salmon-colored"? I think we have our answer. The one on the right is the wild one.
Here's another question - which one is more nutritious for you?
Answer: the wild one....by far!
Another question - which one tastes better?
Answer: another one for the wild caught fish.
Yes, today's "worst food" is:
This particular filet was purchased by me on accident...after some research I wouldn't purchase a farm-raised filet intentionally. But I thought I would use the opportunity to delve into the truth about farm-raised fish.
If you keep up with nutrition at all, you know that salmon is considered especially nutritious due to good fats called omega-3s. You may have also heard the term DHA thrown around. This is an especially desirable omega-3 fatty acid. Pregnant woman are often prescribed some prenatal vitamin that has DHA in it and told to eat cold-water fish once a week. Another fatty acid that is less commonly know is omega-6s. These are also in salmon and important for the body, however, with the modern diet, omega-6 fatty acids are consumed in too high amounts. Just store this for a moment while we discuss what is so bad about farm-raised fish (in particular, salmon).
1) Salmon are carnivores: obviously this means they eat meat (and some "veggies" so mostly carnivore and a tiny bit omnivore). Wild salmon feed on little tiny shrimp, other little fish, algae, and seaweed. Yummy! This translates into tasty, healthy, salmon. What are their farmed friends fed? Well, its less than appetizing: fish meal, fish oil, even poultry by-products AND, because this is not sustainable (seeing as how it takes 3 lbs of fish meal/fish oil to produce 1 lb of salmon), they also feed these salmon (who are carnivores) grain, soy (both which can be genetically modified and are often laced with pesticides), even plastic. Yikes! It is true, you are what you eat - this is true for salmon as well. Because of their horrendous diet, their meat is much higher is the omega-6s - not what you want. They are also lower in vitamins A and D. And, of course, they don't taste as good.
2) Salmon are pink: okay, we have touched on this a little bit. But, the scandal of farmed fish thickens. To make farmed fish appear more "salmon colored", they feed these fish 2 red dyes: canthaxanthin and astaxanthin. These dyes naturally occur in different crustations (some of which wild salmon feed on, hence giving them the rich "salmon" color). The dyes that are fed to the farmed salmon are definitely not natural, in fact, it is big business to develop the best dye. The problem is that the FDA doesn't require them to label it. So don't be fooled! Artificially colored food = no good! When buying salmon, always make sure it is WILD CAUGHT and then buy the pinkest one you can find!
The bottom line is that salmon raised in captivity, unable to eat their normal/natural diet and exercise, develop a different, nutritional make-up than wild salmon. This is really true of all animals - the beef, chicken, eggs, and pork that we eat. Grass-fed, free range is the way to go! Obviously, with higher quality comes a higher price tag, so look for sales!
Ironically, while farm-raised fish are one of the "worst foods", wild-caught salmon are one of the "best foods".
So there ya go, installment #2 of "worst foods". I truly hope this was helpful. If you have any questions, comments, etc feel free to ask!
P.S. While taking these photos (with my back turned for 2 seconds), this is what my daughter did to entertain herself.
Love her!
