Why become pescatarian

In the US alone, over million acres of forest has been cleared to make room for crop fields, which are used to feed livestock.

However, it is a global practice that is not just confined to the US. According to Earth Talk, for every hamburger that came from an animal raised on rainforest land , approximately 55 square feet of forest was destroyed.

The question then becomes, what can I do? Well, you can adopt a Pescetarian diet, and your individual action will have a direct and measurable impact.

Farm animals are conscious beings that have a plethora of emotions. By becoming pescetarian, you are actively helping to stop animal cruelty.

For some time now, there has been videos roaming around on social media that show the horrors of slaughterhouses. To put it plainly, these animals suffer a cruel and painful death, and rarely, are humane practices put into play.

From electrocution, to starvation , to having their throats cut while still conscious. If you have a pet, what differentiates them from livestock? Absolutely nothing. They are conscious, they have emotions, and they can feel pain. By adopting pescetarianism, you do your part in stopping animal cruelty. You can clearly see the difference between the teeth of a human and a carnivore. Since we consume a variety of plant and animals, we have been dubbed to be omnivorous creatures, but this is completely anatomically incorrect.

Our teeth, jaw, and nails prove that we are not actually supposed to eat meat. As opposed to a true carnivore, we lack the long canines, and sharp tough nails. By: Stephanie Vermillion Aug 3, Fad diets have been part of the health and fitness industry for as long as, well there's been a health and fitness industry.

But eating a pescatarian diet isn't one of them. As a pescatarian, you can eat as much fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy and beans as you want. It's essentially a vegetarian diet — you're just adding fish and seafood and cutting out beef, poultry, lamb and pork.

This way of eating is not new. It's been popular for decades and is a way of life in places like the Mediterranean. But in the United States, it's becoming more popular. In , global market and research firm Mintel found that 31 percent of Americans go meatless several days of the month, and 35 percent get most of their protein from foods other than red meat.

But still, just 6 percent of North Americans consider themselves as vegetarian and less than 3 percent as vegan. Perhaps they're really pescatarians and don't know it.

I had no idea I was a pescatarian when I ditched meat 10 years ago. I had no clue there was a term for my new lifestyle. But I'm not alone. The Pescatarian Society because, yes, this diet is established enough to have its own society estimates there more than 1 billion of us in the world.

I decided to go pescatarian in after several failed attempts at becoming vegetarian and vegan. I just wanted to save the pigs I'd come to love through the movie "Babe," and so I ate extra tofu, plants, beans, nuts, fish and grains to adapt.

More resources, including The Pescatarian Society, have helped me realize several important things to consider when becoming a pescatarian. Here are five I wish I'd known before I adopted my new dietary lifestyle. Whenever I tell someone I'm pescatarian, the first thing they warn me about is mercury poisoning — and it's a valid concern. When mercury dissolves into water it creates methylmercury; sea creatures can absorb this methylmercury just by swimming, and their mercury quantities increase as they eat smaller sea critters who've also been exposed.

If you ingest too much mercury, it can cause debilitating mercury poisoning. Symptoms include nervousness, irritability, numbness and physical tremors; left untreated, it can cause muscle weakness, difficulty breathing and long-term complications like neurological damage and coronary heart disease. But fear of mercury poisoning is no reason to forego a pescatarian diet.

These benefits to eating fish include lower blood pressure and cholesterol, decreased risk of diabetes and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. The best thing to do is just avoid — or limit — your intake of predatory fish like swordfish or King mackerel, as these fish often consume other fish that might also been exposed to mercury. Just like meat, not all seafood is sourced sustainably.

Another study concluded that pescatarians had a lower risk of developing diabetes at 4. Additionally, one large study looked at people who ate meat rarely or were pescatarians. In contrast, producing fish and seafood has a lower carbon footprint than producing any type of animal meat or cheese 6. Ethics can be a major reason why people choose to go vegetarian. It can be a major reason for pescatarians too. Some of the ethical reasons people choose not to eat meat include 8 , 9 :.

Eliminating land animals from your diet addresses some of these ethical concerns. That said, aquaculture and overfishing can also be problematic. There are several reasons people choose a pescatarian diet, including concerns about health, ethics and the environment. A healthy pescatarian diet is largely made up of minimally processed plant foods, plus seafood and possibly dairy and eggs. Many people are concerned that completely excluding animal products or avoiding animal flesh could lead to a low intake of certain key nutrients 10 , 11 , In particular, vitamins B12, zinc, calcium and protein can be somewhat harder to get on a vegan diet 11 , Adding seafood, including fish, crustaceans and mollusks, to a vegetarian diet can provide beneficial nutrients and variety.

Fish is the best way to get omega-3 fatty acids Some plant foods, including walnuts and flaxseeds, contain alpha-linolenic acid ALA , a type of omega-3 fat. DHA and EPA have additional health benefits, helping not just the heart, but also brain function and mood Humans only need about 0. For instance, oysters are extremely high in vitamin B12, zinc and selenium. Mussels are also super rich in vitamin B12 and selenium, as well as manganese and the rest of the B vitamins For example, just 3 ounces of cod provide 19 grams of protein and less than a gram of fat.

Cod is also an excellent source of selenium and a good source of phosphorus, niacin and vitamins B6 and B12 If health at least partially motivates your food choices, then becoming pescatarian will give you more options.

Adding seafood to a vegetarian diet gives you more options and is a good way to get protein, omega-3s and other nutrients. Fish, especially larger species, can contain mercury and other toxins 22 , For this reason, the US Food and Drug Administration FDA recommends that young children and women of childbearing age, especially pregnant and nursing women, should avoid tilefish, swordfish, shark and king mackerel These populations should also limit albacore and yellowfin tuna to one palm-sized serving or less per week.

For instance, it can be easy to overeat carbs, especially if you rely on lots of processed grains. There can be some drawbacks to eating a pescatarian diet. Additionally, this way of eating provides more flexibility and some additional nutrition compared to a standard vegetarian diet. Fish is a very healthy food, but some cooking methods make it healthier than others.