Fish To Eat And Fish To Avoid!

by Eric Bakker N.D.

Now, let’s talk about fish. There’s something fishy going on, I’m telling you about fish. Lots of people don’t eat fish anymore. It’s really sad. People are scared. You know, they say, oh, it’s got mercury in it. It’s got toxins in it. I’m reading that fish could have PCBs in it or different chemicals that have come from the ocean. A patient told me a long time ago, she wouldn’t touch fish because she said it’s full of microplastics.

What do you do? What do you eat? Do you eat fish? It’s a fantastic protein. It still is a really good protein to eat, but what species can you eat, and what should you leave? Right? You can look at a whole bunch of different websites, and you can read all sorts of information, but if you use this up here, it will take you a long way, put it that way. Think carefully about this, the older the fish, the bigger the fish, or the larger the fish and the older it is, the longer it’s lived for, the higher the chance it’s going to contain toxins in it. You know?

One fish I like to eat, which is not really that good to eat, is called orange roughy. Now 95% of the orange roughy fish globally is caught in New Zealand. Yeah? New Zealand catches these fish under the Marine Stewardship Council, MSC. Lots of the orange roughy fisheries, actually by the… I think mid to late 1990s had collapsed and gone. There’s a very strict quota on these fish. They’re caught between eight and nine hundred meters, up to about 1200 meters deep. Some websites falsely claim they’re a warm water fish, when in fact they are quite a cool water fish, very high in Omega-3. But here’s the problem. Orange roughy can live to 200 years plus, all right?

I’ve got a friend, or patient friend, who used to be a fisherman, catch lots of fish, South Island on the west coast. But he’s mentioned to me that the orange roughy, he’s a beautiful fish, but they’re really worried about overfishing these fish, but he won’t touch them himself. And I said, why? And he said, well, if a fish is going to live a hundred years, 200 years, it’s going to contain a lot, potentially, of toxins in it, so… You know, the same goes for shark. The same goes for tilefish. The same goes for marlin, like those really big marlin and that people catch on boats, spent eight hours playing around with these fish. Those fish generally contain a lot more mercury than a smaller fish will contain.

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Safest fish to eat? Sardines and anchovies. They don’t live a hundred years, okay? They live in a higher water strata, and closer to the surface, not so deep, easily caught, short life span, lower toxins, and very high Omega-3. All right? Very high in Omega-3. Anchovies and sardines would be two of the better kind of fish to eat.

You’ll also be warned not to eat shellfish, like scallops, clams, crabs, lobsters, crayfish, and all that kind of stuff. Keep away from it. They’re filthy fish, they’re bottom feeders. Well, that’s sad news for people who say that in New Zealand, it’s a little bit cleaner than elsewhere, but there are still pockets around the world where you can still eat this kind of seafood. A lot of these crustaceans contain very high levels of zinc, which is very good for the body. So high levels of zinc in a seafood can also allow the body to detoxify things like mercury.

So, let’s talk about tuna. Okay? Bluefin, yellowfin, albacore. The smaller tuna tend to have less mercury than the bigger tuna. So, sushi, for example, if you’re eating sushi or sashimi, the fresh fish from a large tuna, there’s chances it will have some levels of mercury in it. But again, how much of that fish are you going to be eating? You’re only going to be eating small amounts regularly.

So here’s what you do. You eat small fish, small white fish that haven’t lived a long time. Not a lot of mercury in them. There’s plenty around. If you go to fish markets, you can still see small white fish for sale. Generally reasonably clean, all right? In my mind, fish is still one of the best proteins you can eat because of its low fat content. It hasn’t been fiddled with. Fish out of the ocean may contain some mercury, but it’s still a good fit of protein to eat.

You’re not going to be eating 50 pounds of fish a day. Small amounts here or there, two or three times a week, should be perfectly fine. Now the FDA has laid down guidelines for pregnant or nursing women, for example, things like this, but it’s common sense when you eat a protein like fish, just like it would be if you were eating chicken or beef. How much do you want to have? I mean, are you a bodybuilder? You know, do you want to gain 50 pounds of muscle? Are you going to eat like seven cans of tuna a day? Then you’ve got a problem. Then you need to look at other sources of protein. You know, vegetable proteins, legumes, tofu. There are many different ways you can get protein in your diet. You don’t need to eat meat.

Fish does taste good though. Fish contains Omega-3. Fish contains a lot of minerals you won’t necessarily get in other foods. It’s still today considered a good food to eat. But remember, stick with small fish, high Omega-3 levels, you won’t have a problem. People watching this video in a hundred years from now will probably think, wow, they used to have fish in the oceans back then. It’s a shame they’re all gone. Eat them while you can.Thanks for tuning in.

About Eric Bakker N.D.

Eric Bakker ND has completed almost ten years of study and has almost almost 25 years of clinical experience in natural and integrative forms of medicine, and has pursued continuous post-graduate study in Australia, America, India as well as in New Zealand.

Eric is the past Vice President of the NZ Natural Medicine Association and is currently on their editorial advisory board.