The United States Department of Agriculture says twice a week, make seafood the protein on your plate. Increase the amount and variety of seafood consumed by choosing seafood in place of some meat and poultry.
My mom - who is not exactly an enthusiastic fish eater, but who is an avid bargain hunter - noticed several species of seafood on sale for $7.99/lb at our local grocery store earlier this week. Flash forward to dinner last night and she's going back for seconds of Alaskan cod tacos with chipotle cream.
It brings me embarrassing amounts of pleasure to see a loved one eating wholesome foods and liking it. What keeps people from buying and eating the nutrient-rich foods they know darned well they should is complex. I've always put so much emphasis on taste (hence the crowd-pleasing shrimp-stuffed jalapeños > one raw shrimp + light cream cheese + diced red onion per bacon-wrapped jalapeño), but sometimes it's other factors like price and marketing that stand in the way.
I recently heard a researcher present on overcoming barriers to eating right and he made the point that if all Americans cared about is taste, why do we buy so much bottled water? Most would agree it tastes just like filtered water from the tap. Convenience, marketing, habit...all these things play a role. Kind of a sticky pickle. But public health efforts can work. Look at smoking rates over the decades - they're almost half what they were in the Don Draper days.
I am a registered dietitian with the National Fisheries Institute, so fish is my nutrition forte. I earned my BA in Communication from Southwestern University, just outside of Austin, TX. During college, one of my very favorite evening outings was a leisurely trip to the grocery market. My passion for food was undeniable, so I combined both of my interests by earning my MS in Nutrition Communication from Tufts University in Boston, MA. As well as my Registered Dietitian (RD) credential through the University of Delaware.
Beyond reading scientific studies about docosahexaenoic acid and selenium, I love to entertain, travel, watch reality TV, grill outdoors, and go to spin class. I live in Kailua, HI on the island of Oahu where my husband serves as a US Marine Corps JAG.
People in Hawaii eat more fish and shellfish than average, but over 80 percent of typical Americans don't eat seafood at least twice per week. Doctors and dietitians like me say that's the goal, so BlogAboutSeafood is here to show you just what plenty of seafood looks like in an RD's real-life diet.
Photo by Marco Garcia
