A pescetarian is someone who follows a vegetarian diet but includes fish or seafood. Some controversy surrounds the term, as some vegans and vegetarians consider fish to be meat. Eating fish can be healthy, but it’s important to be aware of the risk of contamination and to avoid certain types of fish. Fish can provide important nutrients that are hard to find in plant-based foods.
A pescetarian, or piscetarian, is an individual who eats a vegetarian diet but includes fish or seafood. Their diet may be predominantly vegan, excluding all other animal products such as eggs or dairy or lacto-vegetarian, and include some animal products. Pisces or pisci, the Latin roots for fish and vegetarian combine to make a pescetarian, sometimes called a pesco-vegetarian. Other terms include seagan, fish-vegetarian, and aquarian. Note that a seagan will not include other animal products in their diet. They are modified vegans which include fish or seafood.
There is some controversy over the term pescetarian. A good number of vegans and some vegetarians consider fish to be meat, as fish and shellfish are animals. Some vegans find the term pesco-vegetarianism offensive as it implies that the person in question is a vegetarian. Some pescetarians consider themselves vegetarians because they avoid land animals. Your personal point of view goes a long way in defining the world around you. In the end, it’s important to remember that a pescetarian chooses to eat the way they do for a variety of good reasons. Those reasons are varied but include the desire to reduce pollution from livestock farming and slaughter, eating cleaner foods, and eating less meat in general.
The main problem with eating cleaner and eating pescetarian is that fish, even wild-caught, are subject to any contamination they are exposed to in the waters where they are caught. Some carnivorous fish have higher levels of mercury and PCBs. Avoid shark, swordfish, tilefish and mackerel as these fish have high levels of mercury. Check with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for local warnings about fish caught in your area. The EPA and the FDA or Food and Drug Administration recommend eating no more than 12 ounces (340 grams) of fish per week.
Vegetarians and vegans who actively incorporate a wide variety of foods have one of the healthiest diets available. Despite the risk of toxins, a fish-based diet isn’t far behind and may soon prove to be even healthier. High-fat fish like salmon have an edge over land animals due to high concentrations of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Shrimp and oysters are also good sources of trace minerals and nutrients that can be hard to find in plant-based foods. It is the addition of these fatty acids that recent research is showing that gives some anglers an edge over vegetarians.
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