Concerns about toxic fish

[Lisa2]

Hi everyone, thanks for the suggestions. Mistry (Brenda), in answer to your question, I actually found out about macrobiotics about ten years ago after reading “The Macrobiotic Way” by M. Kushi. Everything just seemed to make sense to me, and I tried to transition to macrobiotics at that time. I was young, however, and I don’t think I was really ready or mature enough to make that kind of a change in my life at that time. I have been a vegetarian for about 12 years (just recently started eating fish again), but I still wasn’t eating all that healthy. I kind of went through phases. I’ve also always felt very connected to nature/the environment. Instead of a particular religion, I find the natural beauty of the environment very spiritual. I actually wanted to be a primatologist (I love spider monkeys), but I ended up in medicine instead (long story). Anyways, my values seem to fit closely with those of macrobiotics, so I’m trying to transition to this lifestyle permanently this time. It’s nice to have the support of everyone on this forum. I look forward to the journey ahead.

Lisa

[Katie20MA]

Hi,
I would recommend reading the book "You are all Sanpaku". It was written by Sakurazawa Nyoiti a.k.a. "George Ohsawa". It's very awe inspiring and it talks about how the English interpreter found his way to macrobiotics and how it saved his life and others. It also talks about the six conditions: 1. freedom from fatigue, good appetite, sound sleep, good memory, good humor, and precision in thought and action.

I also eat macrobiotically, and fast on water which helps eliminate poisonous toxins, and colon cleansing which can take out all the bad toxins from the intestines from foods that have been sitting in there since decades.

kind regards,
Katie

[bckiceman]

Originally Posted by Dawn

According to Dr. Sherry Rogers farm raised fish have almost no Omega 3s because they are fed some kind of pellet food. Also, I suppose you should check where farm raised fish come from. The coastal waters of the US (especially East Coast) are often very polluted. I eat wild caught salmon from a can. I'm not happy about eating canned food, but no fresh fish in central Arizona!

I agree with you on this one Dawn. Roy is off base in his recommendation for farm raised fish. The omega 3 profile is different and there is a large amount of disease in these fish. It's similar to the difference in free range beef, and corn fed beef. The latter is definitely less healthy.

I do agree with his mercury recommendations, eating just 2-3 cans of tuna per day can put your mercury levels in the toxic range.

[bckiceman]

Originally Posted by mistry

Hi....new here
My husband and I were taking cod liver oil capsules as well as consuming fish, but got concerned about pcb's.
see "are fish oil supplements safe?" at:
http://www.nutrition.cornell.edu/nut...t/fishoil.html
"Consuming vegetable oil instead of fish oil may decrease your exposure to PCB contamination. However, keep in mind that plants contain compounds which can affect adult hormonal status -- and in particular thyroid and sex hormone status -- directly or indirectly, in what appears to be much the same way as PCBs."

So we decided to use flax seed oil, but found that ground flax seeds sprnkled on food is recommended over oil.
see: http://www.go-symmetry.com/flax-seed.htm
"Flax seed oil is the world's richest source of omega-3 fatty acids at a whopping 57% (over two times the amount of omega-3 fatty acids as fish oils)."
"Dietary essential fatty acids common to flax seed oil are ultimately converted to hormone-like substances known as prostaglandins,"
"The combination of both flax and borage seed oil ....providing nature's best of the omega-3 fatty acids in flax with the best of omega-6 fatty acids in GLA rich borage oil."

All this gives me a headache...
LOL
Mistry

Fish oil is fine, you just need to pay the price for a high quality brand, one that is "molecularly distilled". This eliminates contaminants like mercury, pcb's, etc.

[garymill]

The thing to keep in mind regarding what Roy wrote about farm rasied fish is that this post was written about two yrs ago, far before we all have the common knowledge about how bad farm rasied fish generally are for you. Not all farm raised fish are bad mind you as some use high quality feed within their farms, while others use the more common ground up fish. In the case of salmon, the dye within the food that will give the salmon an artifical red color is the worst part of the mix. I am sure that if Roy will posting today he would advise against farm raised fish. Though much of what you find within the forums or articles by Roy is a few years old, most of it is still highly relevant. Just last week a small sea weed company asked permission to use an article Roy wrote a few years back on Sea Weed. So though Roy no longer posts within the forums, I am greatful that he did post within them for over 6 years.

Gary

Originally Posted by bckiceman

I agree with you on this one Dawn. Roy is off base in his recommendation for farm raised fish. The omega 3 profile is different and there is a large amount of disease in these fish. It's similar to the difference in free range beef, and corn fed beef. The latter is definitely less healthy.

I do agree with his mercury recommendations, eating just 2-3 cans of tuna per day can put your mercury levels in the toxic range.

This is 2005 now. I hear that Carlson fish oil is pure, i.e., no contaminants.