Pesco-vegetarianism

[Mylez]

Hi all,

I am considering changing my diet to favor pesco-vegetarianism. Due to a recent battle here regarding diets (both animal and human!) I thought I might find other people who are pesco's and could refer me to some literature or websites so if I did it I could do it right.

Vet school is taking enough out of me that I think a diet change would be helpful. 😀 Any thoughts/remarks/suggestions are appreciated!

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[alonepear]

I believe my diet falls under that title, although I'd never call myself that because I don't really consider it a form of vegetarianism since I feel like you really need to not consume any meat to earn the title of vegetarian. Since the change in your diet will probably just be dropping out red meat and poultry, I doubt you'd have too many problems in terms of continuing to get the proper amounts of nutrients.

I pretty much eat like this because I know red meats aren't very good for you, most meat these days is laden with all sorts of processed chemicals and/or antibiotics, and I would like to be a vegetarian or vegan for the ethical reasons, but I am far too addicted to my sushi and baked goods!

The big thing to worry about in my opinion is the amount of toxins you may ingest from consuming more seafood. They always say to purchase farm-raised fish to help with over-fishing problems, but then they say to purchase wild-caught fish to avoid the toxins. 😕

Sorry I'm obviously not contributing much in the way of help, but I figured I'd share why I eat this way... and I'm procrastinating studying for virology... Good luck!

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Sidenote: As someone who used to (and yeah, sorta still does) want to get into aquatic medicine/production and all the crazy piscine diseases associated with that, I've always had an interest in which is "better" - farmed vs wild, both for human health and for the environment.

The main problem with farmed fish is not mercury or toxins...it is that they have to catch all the little wild fish (anchovy and things like that), that make up a very important part of the food chain, in order to make pelleted food for the farmed fish! In reality, farmed fish hurts the wild population MORE because it depletes the basic food supply. So basically....try to go wild because at least then you are going from the top of the food chain down (or at least more so than with farmed). It still contributes to fishing problems, but until we find a way to farm fish in a ecologically sound way, it is the "lesser of two evils"

 

[biienemaja]

I have been an ovo-lacto-pesco vegetarian for ten years now. Keep in mind that you have to get in all essential amino acids - fish and soy products are good for that. Don't forget that eggs and shellfish are high in cholesterol - but those foods are cool if you exercise daily (according to my biochem professor). take a multivitamin daily - this way you don't have to worry about all vitamins and minerals so much. i have my blood checked for anemia regularly. since i started taking iron pills daily my levels went up towards normal again meaning i am not anemic anymore. also, when you take iron pills avoid dairy approx. an hour before and after you take one. take it with vitamin c. excess of vitamin c you will pee out. just recently i had my cholesterol levels checked - they could not have been better. i find one website useful in a way that it tells me the nutrients and minerals plus vitamins for all foods.🙂

www.nutritiondata.com

 

[Hollycozza]

I having nothing useful to add to this conversation (I am lacto-ovo vegetarian myself) except to add that I am a fan of the term "vegaquarian" because it is a cool name for it 🙂

 

[PiddlingFish]

"Pescetarian" is the more widely used name I think (at least it is in my vegetarian/vegan groups). It tends to help battle the idea that vegetarians eat fish.

Don't have too much to add since fish on my plate was never that enticing. Chicken was (ironically) the last animal I stopped eating.

If you happen to be on Livejournal, there's a pescetarian group on there. I'm not sure how active it is, but it could be worth a shot.
http://community.livejournal.com/pescetarian/

Good luck! 🙂

 

[CookieBear]

Sorry, I must be the only one who keeps thinking this, but, every time I look at the title of this thread... all that enters my mind is "Popesko"...

 

[Mylez]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone! I got so entangled with midterms that I totally forgot that I had posted this. My biggest concern with moving toward a new diet is that I would screw up and do some form of nutrient deprivation. (Bad!) but it seems like pesco is the way to go (at least for me).

I have heard a lot about farmed vs. non-farmed animals. I know that there is a Seafood watch list out there somewhere that tells you which fish to buy that will be the kindest to the environment (for some it is farmed, others it is wild caught). If anyone else is interested that would be the place to look.

Thanks again everyone.

Midterms! 😕

 

[ri23]

Sorry, I must be the only one who keeps thinking this, but, every time I look at the title of this thread... all that enters my mind is "Popesko"...

Nope, definitely not the only one. I'm glad to hear others are using Popesko - I remember I asked if anyone had ever heard about it this summer on this forum and people kept asking if I meant Pasquini. The pictures in Popesko are amazing, especially for equine.