Seafood is extremely nutritional and contains high levels of protein and fish oils, primarily omega-3 which is an essential fat required as part of a good balanced diet.
Different types of seafood obviously contain the essential oils, vitamins and minerals in differing amounts but it is recommended to include one variety or another in our diet to keep healthy.
Preparation and cooking of seafood can deter us from trying some of the more unusual fresh varieties but there are plenty of cooking shows, books and websites
to help. Your fishmonger can also offer advice and will be glad to take care of the gutting of any fish that you require. You may be pleasantly surprised how easy cooking it really can be. Seafood can be cooked by almost any method you can imagine. The simplest and most healthy option is steaming or broiling but you can also be as creative and as complicated as you want to be.
Seafood has become more and more popular and is more widely available thanks to improved transportation and refrigeration techniques but we are often nervous about preparing it ourselves and rely on readymade meals or eating seafood in restaurants.
There are so many different types of seafood that it doesn’t just mean fish and there is more likely to be a variety of seafood that appeals to most tastes. I know that there will still be those who say they don’t like seafood but have you really tried them all? Two of the main categories of seafood are saltwater and freshwater.
Freshwater applies to seafood that originates from lakes and streams and saltwater seafood comes mainly from the seas and oceans. Shellfish are another type of seafood that can come from either freshwater or seawater but have an outer crust or covering, not always a typical shell, such as clams, prawns and lobsters.
We are all becoming more aware of the need for a healthy diet and seafood provides essential nutrients that we cannot obtain by eating any other food. Instead of buying bottles of supplements, why not try a new variety of seafood. You may well find you love it, if not there are plenty more to choose from next time!
S. Stammberger is editor of Lose Weight
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