Fish eaters-how many servings a week?

zeejane03

I'm transitioning to a more whole foods, pescetarian woe right now and I have it stuck in my head that you shouldn't eat a lot of fish due to mercury levels etc. I've done some reading online and it looks like there's an agreed upon list of fish that are safe to eat all the time (salmon, whitefish and tilapia would be the three I'd eat most often which are all on the list), so now I just need to get over the mental hurdle.

If fish is a staple in your diet how many servings a week do you eat? What kinds?

laurenq1991

I'm pescetarian and I eat fish around once a week or less. So far I usually eat salmon or canned tuna. Cooking fish is annoying so I usually have it when eating out and those are the two most common types. I know tuna has more mercury and is bad for environmental reasons, so I want to transition to other fish instead. I also plan to eat sardines because I really liked them in the past and they are low in mercury. I don't think I've ever tried other fish such as tilapia but I would try them in the future. Unless you're eating it every day mercury isn't a huge concern. It's a shame that we even have to worry about it though.

lemurcat2

I eat smoked salmon at breakfast sometimes, fish for dinner usually 2-3 times per week, sometimes more, sometimes less in that I do leftovers often (made salmon on Tuesday night and had leftover salmon last night).

My favorites and most common are salmon (I grew up partially in Alaska), trout, and cod. I will have shellfish too.

I love most fish, however, grew up eating lots of it. I don't really care for catfish (but it's not like it's common where I live), didn't like tilapia the times I've tried it (it's not horrible, just has no inherent interesting taste), and hate canned tuna (although I like tuna steak, which is bad for mercury). I will usually have a wider range when eating at a restaurant, especially if it's known for fish. (Not because of cooking, more price and me being a creature of habit -- I taught myself to feel comfortable cooking fish from Bittman's Fish cookbook, which I highly recommend as a helpful book, and will still look at what he says about different types and cooking when I do something different.)

I am old enough that mercury is not a major worry of mine -- I think it's more of an issue for women of child bearing age and younger people. I do try to pay attention to the sustainability lists.

zeejane03

lemurcat2 wrote: »

I eat smoked salmon at breakfast sometimes, fish for dinner usually 2-3 times per week, sometimes more, sometimes less in that I do leftovers often (made salmon on Tuesday night and had leftover salmon last night).

My favorites and most common are salmon (I grew up partially in Alaska), trout, and cod. I will have shellfish too.

I love most fish, however, grew up eating lots of it. I don't really care for catfish (but it's not like it's common where I live), didn't like tilapia the times I've tried it (it's not horrible, just has no inherent interesting taste), and hate canned tuna (although I like tuna steak, which is bad for mercury). I will usually have a wider range when eating at a restaurant, especially if it's known for fish. (Not because of cooking, more price and me being a creature of habit -- I taught myself to feel comfortable cooking fish from Bittman's Fish cookbook, which I highly recommend as a helpful book, and will still look at what he says about different types and cooking when I do something different.)

I am old enough that mercury is not a major worry of mine -- I think it's more of an issue for women of child bearing age and younger people. I do try to pay attention to the sustainability lists.

I'm 40 and done having kids so maybe it's not such a big issue for me either? I'll get an annual physical this spring and I'm going to ask my doctor what he thinks (he's a nutrition/food geek so he'll probably have some sort of opinion lol).

Right now I'm eating around a serving (4 ounces) a week of salmon, I'm thinking of bumping this up to 3-4 servings a week though, mostly of salmon and then other kinds for variety. Wild caught salmon is also cheap at Aldi, so that's a plus. I'm working on reducing my chicken/beef/pork intake right now and fish would be an easy protein substitution. Just need to figure out how much is ok