Health Benefits of eating Wild Caught Fish

Traditional Okinawa =  one of the world's "Blue Zones"

"While the average life expectancy in the United States is 76.4 years, it’s 84 years old in Japan – and five times as many people from Okinawa live to be 100 years as their peers in the rest of the country" (Link). The traditional Okinawan diet includes soy, beans, sweet potatoes, green tea and fish (among other foods).

How much fish do Okinawans eat?

"The traditional Okinawa diet actually only includes three servings of fish per week. Consuming these omega-3s boasts many anti-inflammatory benefits, including supporting healthy blood pressure, heart health, and brain function" (Link).

Omega 3 deficiency problems:

Now let's look at a single case study of a long-term raw vegan who had a stroke (anecdotal evidence, I know). When they looked at his blood, they found that his omega 3's were incredibly low. Here's the video.

At about 30 minutes into the above video, Mr. Norman discusses how algae supplements are often inferior, simply because it's hard to find the deep sea types of algae that salmon often eat. Also, hexane is often used in processing the oil from the algae. Of course, some algae supplements are better than others.

Humans have eaten fish throughout history, evidenced by our need for omega 3 fatty acids, B12, iodine and many other foods. Sure, some people do great on a vegan diet. However, others do far better eating our ancestral and "species specific" diet that includes some animal products (such as wild caught fish).

Here's a link where RFK talks about eating Northern Pike on a daily basis.

1) Eating wild caught fish can improve mood. Wild caught fish is high in B12, vitamin D, vitamin A, iodine and Omega 3 fatty acids. All of these things work together to improve mood (Link).

2) Eating wild caught fish can improve libido. (Link)

3) Eating wild caught fish can improve your eyes. (Link)

Do you like whales? 

Did you know that whales eat roughly 5,500 pounds of fish per day (link)? Now that you know this fact... do you still like whales? I guess my point is that eating your ancestral diet (for health reasons) does not inherently make you "evil."

Vitamin B12 Rich Foods and Bioavailability

Vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin that is found in animal foods such as dairy, meat and eggs. B12 helps provide energy, reduce stress and regulate and rebuild your body's DNA. Because B12 is naturally found in animal foods, most vegans will end up needing to take B12 supplement. Vitamin B12 it is also often added in supplement form to many name-brand cereals. 

It is important to remember that, even though a certain food may have a lot of b12 within it, not all of the b12 within that food is bioavailable. For example, "Eggs contain a substance that inhibits absorption in the intestines. Although each egg contains 0.6 micrograms of vitamin B12, it is only 9% available, so the effective dose from eating one egg is only roughly 0.06 micrograms. The vitamin B12 within milk, cheese, and yogurt is only 65% bioavailable. Of the 1.5 micrograms in one cup of yogurt, only .98 micrograms gets absorbed." (Link) Also, "vitamin B12 bioavailability should decrease significantly with increases in the intake of vitamin B12 per meal" (Link).

Free range eggs have much  more B12 than eggs from factory farms (Link). So while a typical egg from a factory farm might have 0.6 micrograms of B12, a free range egg might have 1.3 micrograms.

"Good sources of vitamin B12 for vegetarians are dairy products or free-range eggs...Fermentation in the manufacture of yoghurt destroys much of the B12 present. Boiling milk can also destroy much of the B12" (link).

Note: For most adults, the recommended daily intake of Vitamin B12 is 2.4 micrograms per day (Link)

Food	B12 Content	Bioavailability
Beef Liver 1 slice Chicken Liver 100g 3 oz Salmon 1 large Egg 1 Organic Egg 1 Cup Cottage Cheese 1 Cup Yogurt 1 Cup Plain Yogurt 8 oz. Cup of Milk 1 Oz. Swiss Cheese 3 Oz. Chicken or Turkey	63 micrograms 21 micrograms   2.4 micrograms 0.6 micrograms 1.3 mg - 5 mg (link) 1.6 micrograms 1.5 micrograms 1.4 micrograms 0.9 micrograms 0.9 micrograms 0.3 micrograms	60% (% goes down  for larger servings) 60% (% goes down  for larger servings ) 42% 9% 9% 65% 65% 65% 65% 65% 60%

For a B12 calculator, check out this awesome link Here!

For an extensive B12 bioavailability list, check out this link Here!

Affordable High Raw Pescatarian Dinner

In keeping with "Raw Until Dinner", my first two meals today consisted of 100% raw vegan foods. So for dinner I decided to have some cooked foods with my raw foods. This fits in with the "High Raw Diet", though every day may look different for different people!

Wild Caught Salmon - $1
Fresh Organic Carrot Juice - $1
Grapefruit - $0.75
Organic Salad with Organic Blue Cheese Dressing - $1

Total = $3.75