Do you still think fish is a healthy food choice? Maybe it is time to do your homework to determine if the fish you consume is a health hazard or a healthy habit. Many advertisements, agencies, and articles proclaim the many benefits of eating fish. Be advised there may be a dark side to the story that you are unaware of. The concern for people who eat any food without reviewing how the food is grown, prepared, processed, and sourced can be a real risk to your health and well-being. Do you want to be part of the healthcare problem or part of the healthcare solution? It all starts with education, information, and intention.
“Consider this blog a wake-up call, to point out some serious health hazards caused by consuming fish, and specifically farm-raised fish.” —Michael Morningstar
When people invest energy and time to understand their food ingredients, preparation, and processing, they can make better choices for themselves and their families. Hopefully, the choices will also be healthy for the next seven generations and the planet. Remember…We are what we eat, so choose wisely.
These crazy coronavirus conditions may be the perfect time to watch less mind-numbing negative news and begin a quest for health, truth, and wisdom. It is a great time to research and review your circle of life to discover what things sabotage you and what things support you. It is essential to find the things that contribute to being happy and healthy or contribute to sadness, sickness, and stress. These crazy coronavirus conditions may be a wake-up call to make better lifestyle choices to take better control of our health and well-being. We cannot trust others to make our health decisions for us because most people have an ulterior motive and conflict of interest when making the best decisions regarding our health. It is up to us to put our health, maintenance, nutrition, and wellness needs at the top of our decision and destiny directives. This blog is designed to helping more people look closely at the fish and seafood choices out there to see which ones may or may not be optimal for you. Learning to choose healthy food for you and your family to eat can be challenging at times, but it is one of the most important decisions we make every day.
Fish as a Favorite Food
For many people, fish and seafood have been a favorite food for many centuries and reasons. Fish and seafood have been abundant sources of healthy essential fatty acids, food, and protein since the dawn of humans. Fish were abundant and provided a reliable reserve of food that was relatively easy to access with minimal effort, equipment, and expenditure of energy. The lakes, oceans, rivers, and seas were a constantly available source of fish and seafood because most people lived near a source of water that provided them.
Over time people became more fond of fish and seafood. As the population grew the demand for fish grew to become a major global food industry. Fish and seafood harvesting systems became more sophisticated as demand increased for the constantly increasing population. Originally the lakes, oceans, and seas appeared to be an almost infinite source of fish and seafood. The oceans and seas were so massive and vast, they seemed to be able to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for fish and seafood. Now the oceans and seas are overfished to the point of collapse. Countries are fighting over and illegally harvesting fish from disputed waters. Most people do not even think about the dolphins, porpoises, sea turtles, and whales that are killed by fishermen’s equipment such as long lines, nets, and seines. Yes, even whales get caught in lines, nets, and ropes and drown, suffering a slow and painful death.
Fish Found in Filth
Unfortunately, the oceans and seas also became a dumping ground for medical waste, sewage, and trash. Ships often dump their human waste and empty their bilge pump tanks and oil-contaminated water into the water. Barges and ships often dump land trash and waste into the oceans. Drilling barges, rigs, and ships have dumped chemical products into the seas as well as have accidents and spillages. Do you remember the Deepwater Horizon rig, drilling for British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico? It exploded and sank resulting in the largest oil spill in the history of marine oil drilling operations? Petroleum products ships like the Exxon Valdez have sunk and dumped millions of gallons of crude oil into the oceans. Companies have dumped barrels of toxic chemicals into the oceans to get rid of them. Did you know a chemical deepwater dumping site sits off the coast of Los Angeles and has been used for decades?
Not to mention all the chemical antibiotics, fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, and poisons used in agriculture and cities that run off into the rivers and end up in our oceans. Then think about the petroleum products, pollution, and poisons that eventually find their way into our oceans and waterways. The burning of fossil fuels has released large amounts of lead and mercury into the atmosphere and oceans so that heavy metals have become a major health hazard. What do companies and people think will happen with all of these toxic products washing into our lakes, oceans, and seas where the fish eat, live, and swim?
Another massive problem has occurred because of all the plastic bottles, products, and waste that have been dumped or finds their way into our waterways. Many of these plastic items end up entangling fish and animals or being ingested which can result in a painful and slow death. As plastic breaks down they create microplastic particles which are also ingested by animals, birds, and fish resulting in their death. Small fish have small amounts of chemicals, heavy metals, and plastic in them. But as the small fish are eaten by larger fish the chemicals, heavy metals, and plastic are accumulated to higher and more toxic levels.
The final straw that may convince you to eliminate or at least greatly reduce the consumption of fish and seafood is the radioactive waste from coal plants and the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident. There was a significant amount that escaped originally and more waste is being released over time. These radioactive “hot particles” can end up in fish and seafood and many of them have very long half-lives that can be a serious health risk to humans. Unless you feel that radioactive particles are no big deal and ignore the link to cancer and other health issues, you may want to avoid ingesting them.
Farmed Fish are Fed Fake Food
Another tipping point occurred when commercial fish farms were created to raise fish and shrimp. Most farm-raised catfish, salmon, shrimp, and tilapia are confined in net pens or ponds and fed an artificial diet of fake food. Sometimes the diet may include harvested fish that is ground into fish meal. Often the fish meal is mixed with GMO corn or other GMO seeds to create fake food to feed them so they become fake fish food. They often add antibiotics to the food to help keep the fish and shrimp from dying due to disease that occurs due to being crowded and fed unnatural fake food. In southeast Asia, the ponds are often near chicken and pig farms so the fish can eat the animal waste. These containment nets and ponds produce unhealthy fish that will be eaten and the people may also become unhealthy. Did you know an artificial chemical dye is given to farm-raised salmon to make it look salmon-colored?
Fewer Fish and Frankenstein Fish
While people may think farm-raised is a safe choice, after a little research it appears this is not the case and it is a health hazard. A new concern that is occurring is the introduction of GMO Frankenstein fish into the food supply system. While some people may feel that GMO seeds and GMO fish are the solutions to our growing food needs, the intelligent person might want to avoid all farm-raised fish and shrimp. As a person who grew up eating fish and seafood, it has been a constant shift to make better choices. First, it was avoiding farm-raised fish and shrimp. Then it was time to avoid eating the big fish like king mackerel, swordfish, bluefin tuna, and wahoo with higher mercury content. I am now consuming smaller fish like wild-caught salmon, sardines, and squid to minimize chemicals and heavy metals. After the Fukushima nuclear contamination, even that is beginning to feel less appealing. safe or smart. We may be coming to the tipping point where humans will be better off significantly reducing and soon replacing seafood with healthier food substitutes instead.
Finding and Fixing Faux Fish for Food
Luckily many people are committed to their health and a healthy planet so they are advancing their evolution, progress, and thinking. With creativity, a food processor, and a little imagination it is possible to fix fabulous and favorite foods that closely resemble the taste and texture of fish and seafood options people enjoy. The book the Raw Gourmet by Nomi Shannon has some amazing and delicious recipes to consider. Here are some additional options to consider that have become popular over the last few decades.
Hemp heart seeds mixed with chlorella or kelp powder make a nice faux fish pate. You can use finely juiced pulp or finely shredded cabbage, carrots, or celery mixed with dulce or kelp flakes to make a tasty “Faux Fish” or “Mock Tuna”. You can also use a food processor to finely chop soaked nuts (almonds or walnuts) and seeds (pumpkin or sunflower) to mix with some shredded veggies and seaweed flakes to roll in nori paper for a mock seafood sushi roll. Seaweed combined with other nuts, seeds, and veggies can make a delicious and nutritious healthy alternative to many fish and seafood products we consume. Kelp can grow several feet a day so it is a perfectly economical, regenerative, and sustainable food. Edamame, miso, mushrooms, natto, tempeh, and tofu can be delicious alternatives when properly prepared with organic ingredients. Seaweed salads and soups are becoming more popular. Algae, sea veggies, and seaweed have the fishy and salty taste many people crave and combined with other healthy whole foods can provide incredible health benefits.
Passion for People & Planet
The passion and purpose of Morningstar NEWS are to condense hundreds of hours of rewarding research down to two minutes of education, information, and inspiration for a happy and healthy lifestyle and mindset. This blog warns about the health hazards of farm-raised fish and how even wild fish are becoming contaminated with chemicals, heavy metals, microplastic particles, and radioactive particles.
“We claim to be intelligent beings, yet we are poisoning and polluting our lands, oceans, and waterways turning them into giant septic tanks and toxic waste dumps. Eating fish contaminated with chemicals, heavy metals, plastics, and radioactive waste harms our emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Will we stop the insanity and start being sustainable in time to save our planet and species or will we disappear like the dinosaurs? —Michael Morningstar
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