I don’t always follow EVERY guideline as it comes down the pipeline to the consumer. To be fair, most of the time I am already doing what is recommended. Other times, it doesn’t apply to me. In this case, the seafood guidelines that were released by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in January of 2017 did not apply to me at all. In fact, they NEVER will as I doubt that I will become pregnant anytime soon.

HOWEVER,

Often times I have found that the advice given to PREGNANT mothers is often great advice for most of us.

The FDA and EPA rated 60 species of fish into 3 categories that ranks fish into “best choice”, “good choice”, and “choice to avoid”.

Expectant mothers have been warned about the dangers of eating shark, king mackerel, swordfish and tilefish from the Gulf of Mexico, but added to the list of “choices to avoid” are marlin, orange roughy and bigeye tuna.

I would go slightly beyond this recommendation and add this… If a fish eats OTHER fish, then it should be avoided as well.

WHY?

The larger the fish, the larger the quantities of smaller fish that it eats.  This makes it  more likely it is to be contaminated with heavy metals and other undesirable contaminants.

Another great thing about the new ratings chart is the” handy” serving size section. By following this serving size tool and applying it to ALL ANIMAL PROTEIN, it will greatly help you with portion size control.