The 14 Best Fish Eating Benefits

Eating fish comes with incredible health benefits. Let’s have a look at the best fishing eating benefits and how it can help you to stay healthy. Most dietitians will tell you how eating fish has its essence in being a healthy part of a diet. They recommend that you eat between 4 ounces to a single serving of 8 ounces each week.

What Fish Give You the Biggest Health Benefits

In particular, the fish with more fats will have the best benefits because of how it’s a healthy fat. You will see omega-3 fatty acids that will have the greatest benefits. For that reason, some of the fish that you want to try include:

• Salmon
• Tilapia
• Tuna
• Rainbow trout
• Sardines

Eating Fish Helps with Diabetes?

Some dietitians recommend that people eat fish because of how it can control their blood sugar better and lessen the dangers of diabetes. The protein will provide for some of your needs energy-wise. Commonly, doctors have found how diabetics tend to have low levels of Vitamin D. Having fish will add this to your dietary intake.

Researchers also believe that those who eat fish will have a lower rate of type 2 diabetes.

Improved Sleep Quality

Sleep disorders have a negative impact on 70 million Americans across the country. The problem continues to increase across the country. Some researchers believe that the problem comes from an ever-increasing exposure to blue light.

Eating fish, however, has been said to improve your sleep quality. For example, one study found how when a group of 95 men in the middle-aged category started to eat salmon three times per week, they saw an improvement in their sleep quality and daily function in general.

Many researchers believe that the improved sleep comes from the fact that fish has Vitamin D in it, and evidence suggests that this could help you to sleep better. Some studies have found how a lack of sleep could be attributed to low Vitamin D levels.

In general, for Vitamin D, you want to get 1,000 UIs for every 25 pounds of body weight. The upper intake level has been set at 4,000 UIs. You don’t want too much more than that because of how it can cause weakness, vomiting and nausea.

Fish Have High Nutritional Value

When you eat fish, you have access to a nutrient-rich food. Some of the nutrients that you get from eating fish include:

• B2 vitamin
• Calcium
• Phosphorous
• Zinc
• Iodine
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Omega-3 fatty acids

What nutrients you get will depend on the species of fish chosen, but you can refer to the fish I outlined above as some of the most nutrient rich fish species. Eating fish will help you to remain healthy. The fatty fish species have especially been recommended because of how fish tend to be high in good fats.

In particular, you need omega-3 fatty acids because of how this will be essential for the best body and brain function. It has wide-reaching effects throughout that will be positive for you. You lower the risks of many diseases. Not to mention, you get high quality protein from fish.

Lowered Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack

Strokes and heart attacks have become one of the most causes of pre-mature death in the world. You want to lower the risk as much as possible. Doctors consider fish the healthiest food for the heart. Based on studies, researchers have learned how those who eat fish have a much lower risk of having a heart attack or a stroke.

Fish have been called one of the most heart-healthy foods around by both doctors and dietitians. Especially if your family has a history of heart problems, you can lower the risk through eating more fish. That doesn’t mean that you won’t have heart problems, but it lowers the risk of getting them.

Nutrients Essential to Development in Kids

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to growth and development in children. In particular, it helps with the eye and brain development. Doctors even recommend that pregnant mothers get enough omega-3 fatty acids because of how this lowers the risk that the child will be born with a birth defect.

You do, however, have to exercise some caution with eating fish because of how some have high mercury levels in them, and this can be harmful to development. In general, you want to go for the fish low in mercury such as sardines, trout and salmon. You will also want to limit your intake to no greater than 12 ounces per week. In addition, don’t eat raw fish because of how it could have microorganisms that could hurt the baby.

What to Be Aware of When Eating Fish

Despite all the positives that come with adding more fish to your diet, you should also be aware of some of the dangers. In general, fish classify as one of the healthiest foods that you can eat, but as I previously stated, some fish will contain high levels of mercury.

Researchers have linked this with dangerous health problems, such as:

• Brain problems
• Depression
• Parkinson’s disease
• Anxiety
• Alzheimer’s

In general, the fish with the highest levels of mercury in them will include:

• Shark
• Swordfish
• Marlin
• Bigeye tuna
• King tuna
• Marlin
• Whitefish

Linked to Aiding against Depression?

On a global scale, depression exists as one of the worst problems where millions of people suffer from it each year. You have some people who have it worse than others, but it can eventually lead to suicide.

You could characterize depression as having low energy, sadness, low mood and a loss of interest in life. Eating fish regularly has been shown to decrease your risk of depression. To be clear, this doesn’t always help, but it can lower the risk when you have a chemical imbalance in your brain.

The omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to be extraordinarily beneficial to different mental health conditions like bipolar disorder and depression. Even if eating fish doesn’t necessarily take away all the depression, they have shown it to help with making your antidepressant medication more effective.

Protecting Your Vision in Old Age?

As I’ve stated already, fish tends to be good for both the brain and the eyesight. For that reason, it should come as no surprise that eating fish protects your vision as you get older as well. This could come from the fact that fish have a richness in omega-3 fatty acids, and this wards off the risk that you might suffer macular degeneration later in life.

Over time, macular degeneration will steal your central vision, and this helps with the essential tasks like driving or reading. One study showed how women who were taking fish supplements had a 42 percent lower risk of developing macular degeneration.

Because of how fish increases the omega-3 fatty acids within the body, it decreases the risk that you will you will suffer from age-related macular degeneration later in life.

Fish Taste Incredible on the Dinner Plate

As any fisherman knows who fell in love with the sport, eating fish has become one of the best parts about going fishing. After you have caught a few, you can cook them up and put them on the dinner plate. They taste phenomenal.

You won’t have a hard time incorporating this into your diet because of how they taste so good to begin with. Wild caught fish taste much better than the farm variety because of how they were eating a greater variety of foods. Not to mention, wild fish will have more omega-3 fatty acids in them than what those in the fisheries will have. You only have to eat fish once or twice per week to get the benefits of eating them.

What if You Don’t Like Eating Fish?

Maybe you have decided that you dislike eating fish. I would recommend that you have it cooked in a few different ways. Not to mention, I recommend that you try to eat a few different fish species because not every species tastes the same. While my mother loved the taste of sunfish, she hated the flavor of northern pike, which was why we rarely fished for them when I was a kid. We went more for the sunfish.

I liked the taste of salmon, and recently, on a trip to the Philippines, I had a taste of yellow-fin tuna, where I couldn’t get enough of this fish. You have to try multiple fish species because they don’t all taste the same. When it comes to cooking options, you can try many different options, and each of them will taste different. You can bake the fish, fry it, sear it or boil it.

Each choice will give you a different flavor. Fish cook well with vegetables, which makes for an even healthier choice in ensuring that you get your nutrients.

Could Eating Fish Help with Asthma?

La Trobe University conducted a study where they found how sardines, trout and salmon could help to lower the risk of asthma symptoms for children. Asthma has been characterized as a respiratory disease where the air passageways get inflamed, and this makes it harder to breathe.

As pollution rates keep climbing, the rate of people getting asthma has only increased. When you eat fish, studies have found how it decreases your risk by as much as 24 percent in children. You might be wondering, “What about adults?” Unfortunately, research has made no similar link between adults and fish.

You have a couple of different studies that have been conducted on this, and they have all found the same thing. For example, another study took place at James Cook University in Australia, and they learned how eating fish could help with the prevention of asthmatic symptoms. In this study, they tested a fishing village where eating fish was common, and they found how those in that village who ate a lot of fish a lower incidence rate of it than in other parts of the country.

Increase of Grey Brain Matter

As you start to age, you brain function begins to deteriorate, which is normal. You have some serious neurodegenerative diseases that you could face, such as Alzheimer’s, which can be devastating to a family. When researchers looked at the evidence, they found how those who ate more fish had a lower risk of developing cognitive decline, which is quite common in the elderly.

One of the things that this could relate to comes from having more grey matter in the brain. This functional tissues helps to process information, and stores memory. Some of the regions in grey matter include hearing, memory, emotions, speech, self control and decision making. As you can see, this will have a big impact on you. Studies have shown how those who eat more fish on a regular basis will have an increase in grey brain matter.

It will reduce the cognitive function as you start to age. Fish, in general, are good for the brain. You have one of the healthiest foods around, and if you go fishing, you get all the other benefits that come with going fishing as well. You can learn how to fillet a fish with my article, “How to Fillet a Carp.”

Helping in the Fight against Autoimmune Disease

As I had previously stated before with eating fish helping in the fight against type 2 diabetes, eating fish helps with fighting back against a variety of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and sclerosis. Important to note, research has only discovered a weak link between eating fish and fishing autoimmune diseases, and some people don’t believe in the link at all.

Still, if you want a method where you could lower some of the risk that you or your child might develop diabetes, you might eat more fish.

Promotes Skin, Hair and Bone Health

Once you start to age, your bone health will begin to decline. You may have to take measures to protect yourself like taking supplements to prevent diseases like osteoporosis. Fish, however, give you a natural way of getting your calcium without having to take supplement, and they give you many other benefits as well.

Fish will also contain other good minerals like zinc and Vitamin D, which both encourage strong bones.

Second, it helps to improve your skin and hair because of the omega-3 fatty acids. The fatty acids will improve the health of the cell membrane. This serves as a system of defense, but it can also serve as a passage for the nutrients coming in and out of the body.

Lowers the Risk of Cancer

Believe it or not, some studies suggest that eating fish could even lower your risk of developing cancer. However, we should emphasize that this will be particular fish species that have a possibility for doing this. Some of the fish that may be able to lower your risk include:

• Mackerel
• Salmon
• Anchovies

Researchers found how it lowered the risk of developing cancer because of the nutrient-rich food with omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin D. Important to note, again, while researchers did find some evidence to suggest that eating fish led to fewer incidences of cancer, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the link found was conclusive.

Higher Sperm Count in Men

One of the more interesting things that researchers discovered with fish and men came from how it tended to increase their sperm count. In one study where 188 men participated, they found that the men who ate fresh fish and vegetables and whole grains and fruits had a higher sperm count.

Those with less healthy diets didn’t seem to have as many. This only serves as preliminary data, but more research will likely follow in the coming months and years. Most likely, the increase in a sperm count could come as a result of men getting better nutrition through eating fish. The shape and mobility of the sperm improved in men who ate fish.

Understanding More About Omega-3 Fatty Acids

One of the best nutrients that you can get from fish is the omega-3 fatty acids. Intended as part of a well-balanced diet, this will give you excellent protein and nutrients. Let’s have a look at some of the benefits of getting your omega-3 fatty acids:

• Lowers blood pressure
• Slows the rate of accumulating plaque in your arteries
• Lowers the triglyceride levels
• Decreases the risk of heart disease
• Lowers the risk of an abnormal heart rate
• Decreases the risk of sudden cardiac arrest

When pregnant mothers eat fish, it can be extraordinarily beneficial because of how the nutrients will get passed onto the developing child. You have many good nutrients, but you also have to remember not to each too much for fish. It’s best to speak with your doctor for a plan on how to proceed.

Through keeping these things in mind, you can determine for yourself how to add eating fish into your diet. You have many fish eating benefits that make them worth putting into your diet. However, you have to remember not to eat too much fish either because this can also be harmful. In general, a serving of 8 ounces of fish per week will be best for your health.