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Thursday 3 September 2015
3 Reasons NOT to eat fish...
Apologies for the lack of posts recently! I have been working on my dissertation all summer and then working at night in the restaurant which was reeeeeeeeally busy in August. BUT now I'm finished! :D Unreal feeling! I want to spend this free time in September posting educational and helpful blog posts for people who are becoming more aware about the global food industry and for people who want to be more aware.
Mercury is a toxic substance that can destroy the nervous system, which leads to lower IQ and weak fine motor skills. It too can deform foetuses, damage the heart, and even lead to death. According to the Food and Drug Administration of the USA (FDA), all fish is laden with Mercury.
People with high mercury levels were also shown to have higher total and LDL cholesterol levels, both of which predispose people to heart disease and heart attack risk.
In addition, this might shock some people, fish oils have been shown to be of no benefit whatsoever to people with heart disease!
Another mass marketing strategy by big industry.
And although there has been a trend in recent years for people to switch from red meat to fish in the hope of being healthier and losing weight, all fish has fat in it. 52% of calories in salmon come from fat and nearly a third of calories comes from fat in other fish like trout. In regards to heart disease, studies show that fish-heavy diets don’t help arterial blockages but they continue to worsen in patients who eat fish! Furthermore, the regular consumption of fish contributes to a build-up of toxins and is also linked to diabetes.
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/radiation-and-mercury-in-fish-should-americans-be-concerned/
https://www.navs-online.org/animal_issues/fish_fishing/troubledwaters.php
Something that I only recently became aware of was the destructive impact that commercial fishing has on our oceans. It was after watching Cowspiracy (which I recommend everyone watch) and seeing how many dolphins, turtles, and other sea animals are killed through fishing practices that I began to think about it more. I havn't eaten any fish since Spring 2003 but I didn't know why...my aunty just told me it was bad so I stopped!
So for this blog post I did some research on why fishing is actually very unethical and unhealthy!
Sorry if I am bursting anyone's bubble...! Here are my top 3 reasons not to eat fish.
*Please note I did not include the fact that the protein in fish is damaging to us because I already did a blog post on protein and that includes fish protein, not just meat and dairy!
1. ETHICS
Researchers have found that rainbow trout possess pain receptors and react to harmful substances with “profound behavioural and physiological changes…”
Fishing methods are mot definitely abusive: they are hauled up from
a such a huge depth and the sudden change in pressure causes painful
decompression that causes their gills to collapse and their eyes to pop
out. :( And then as soon as they are taken out of the water they start to
suffocate….just as we would if we were pulled down under the water in a big net
or by a hook…
Farmed fish are fed pellets which are designed to cause
unnatural weight gain to the fish, in a short period of time (like the animals
in factory farms). Under these abnormal intensely crowded conditions the fish
suffer from stress, infection, parasites, oxygen depletion, and gas bubble
disease (https://en.wikivet.net/Gas_Bubble_Disease).
And again, just like farm animals in factory farms, to
prevent spread of disease among the fish producers give them huge amounts of
antibiotics.
And if you were horrified at the images of the dolphin and
whale slaughtering festivals in the Faroe Islands and in Japan you should know
that for every 1 pound of fish caught, up to 5 pounds of unintended marine
species are caught and discarded as by-kill in commercial fishing nets.
This includes dolphins, whales, sharks, sea turtles and sea birds.
Scientists estimate as many as 650,000 whales, dolphins and
seals are killed every year by fishing vessels.
2. POLLUTION
Industrial and urban waste and agricultural chemicals are flushed into the oceans and the fish absorb this!
“Pollutants
that concentrate in fish include pesticides; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs);
toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, and arsenic; dioxins; and
radioactive substances such as strontium 90. Because of biological
magnification during movement up the food chain, pollutants can reach levels as
high as 9 million times that of the water in which they live.”
These chemicals
and pollutants have been linked to impaired behavioural development in
children, cancers, nervous system disorders, foetal damage and so many other
damaging health effects.
One of the
top plant-based doctors out there, Dr. Neal Barnard (whose website I’ve linked
to a good few times on this blog) describes fish as "a mixture of fat and
protein, seasoned with toxic chemicals."
“Higher
mercury levels in mothers who eat significant amounts of fish have been
associated with birth defects, mental retardation, seizures, cerebral palsy,
and developmental disabilities in their children. A U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) analysis released in 2004 indicated that about 630,000
of the 4 million children born annually in the U.S. are at risk of impaired
motor function, learning capacity, memory, and vision - due to high levels of
mercury in their bloodstreams.”
Apparently pregnant
women can pass on fish-flesh contaminants to their foetuses, impairing mental
development and immune-system function. Two studies also reported elevated
levels of PCBs, and certain chemicals, including flame retardant, in flesh from
“farmed” salmon.
3. HEALTH
Men with high levels of mercury in their bodies were shown to have a 60% increased risk of having a heart attack and a 70% more chance of dying from any sort of coronary event.
People with high mercury levels were also shown to have higher total and LDL cholesterol levels, both of which predispose people to heart disease and heart attack risk.
In addition, this might shock some people, fish oils have been shown to be of no benefit whatsoever to people with heart disease!
Another mass marketing strategy by big industry.
And although there has been a trend in recent years for people to switch from red meat to fish in the hope of being healthier and losing weight, all fish has fat in it. 52% of calories in salmon come from fat and nearly a third of calories comes from fat in other fish like trout. In regards to heart disease, studies show that fish-heavy diets don’t help arterial blockages but they continue to worsen in patients who eat fish! Furthermore, the regular consumption of fish contributes to a build-up of toxins and is also linked to diabetes.
Those reasons are definitely enough for me to give up fish. And I used to love fish! I never really ate meat, even before I went veggie...I had fish for most dinners believe it or not. So it was a big deal to stop altogether. But how could I not knowing it was basically radioactive!!
Here are some videos that you can watch to get a more authoritative and clear explanation on the whole fish debate:
Web sources referenced:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/radiation-and-mercury-in-fish-should-americans-be-concerned/
https://www.navs-online.org/animal_issues/fish_fishing/troubledwaters.php
Wednesday 2 September 2015
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