What fish to eat

There are three considerations to take into account when choosing fish: environmental impact, mercury, and nutrition. Actually, all fish are great sources of lean protein. They also all provide high amounts of B-12, which is relatively low in most other protein source that are low fat. Fish, in general, provide good B-vitamins and some minerals. Oily fish are generally good sources of Omega 3 - though some CR society members avoid the long chain form found in fish and eat only the short chain plant version.

A nice guide to the environmental and mercury aspects of common fish can be found at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium site : recommendations. The best choices include Pacific halibit, Alaskan wild caught salmon, and farm raised catfish, tilapia, striped bass, sturgeon, and rainbow trout. Bigeye and yellow tuna are also good - but these are not common. Light tuna is okay, but all tuna has significant mercury, and should be eaten once a week or less.

Farmed shrimp are not environmentally friendly, but farmed oysters, mussels and clams are. All shellfish are safe for mercury - they are at the bottom of the food chain.

Nutrition-wise, oysters have fabulous amounts of B-12 and minerals for the calories. 100g of oysters has 5 times the RDA of B-12 and almost 4 times the RDA of zinc.

Many popular fish have either an environmental or mercury issue. Avoid Chilean sea bass, swordfish, Atlantic flounder, halibut and cod, orange roughy and red snapper.