Why You and Your Family Should be Eating Fish More Often

If this was a one-line post, and I didn’t have to go any further than explaining why you and yours need to be eating more fish, it would be as simple as saying that fish is very healthy. There are indeed some reasons for eating fish more often, beyond its health benefits. And since fish does indeed make for one of my favourite ingredients to cook with, I’ll be happy to get into it all.

“Clean” source of protein

As far as getting your recommended dietary portion of protein, it seldom gets “cleaner” than fish as a good source. Depending on the type of fish you’ll be cooking of course, fish is almost as pure as protein can get in its natural form and this is largely due to the fact that fish as they occur in nature are often on the move and so build up lean muscle tissue while their constant need to be on the move has them eating all the time for their energy. That’s why fish pretty much doesn’t have any fat to speak of, with even something like a fried fish dish making for a very healthy source of protein.

So something like deep sea hake will do well for your family’s source of the closest thing to pure protein as you can get, without going the supplements route.

This Chick Cooks

Very healthy

Pilchards in particular come to mind as another variety of fish which is extremely healthy, very rich in Omega-3 fatty acids which aid in the development and functionality of the brain amongst other things. Canned pilchards often don’t taste too good however and this is often the case no matter how they’ve been canned (precooked and canned in tomato sauce, etc).

So, if you can get them fresh – or as fresh as you can – then a good fish curry with white rice and an island coconut salad will do. And if you’re feeling fancy, you can switch out your regular recipe with some alaskan salmon, just for that extra bit of flavour to make it a bit more exciting.

Going back to the health factor, however, you only have to look at countries such as Japan where fish is a major part of their diet in that part of the world and if you were to go there now you wouldn’t find too many obese people. Fish is filling and healthy, making for a great main for any meal.

Many ways to prepare fish

This is one of the biggest reasons why I personally love fish and why I think you and your family should be eating it more often. There are about a million ways to cook just one variety of fish and in each case the dish can come out tasting completely different from the next dish which features the exact same fish variety.

Season your hake with fresh lemon and garlic on one occasion for example and then on the next occasion you could season the same hake with fish spice and you’ll have two dishes of the same fish variety which taste completely different. You can also use sake if you want a healthy alternative to vinegar.

Even something like frying over microwaving, boiling or smoking will have the same fish dish tasting completely different, more so if it’s served with different sides.

Sam Roberts