If you have school age children in the house, you’ve probably been introduced to the new and improved “Food Pyramid” courtesy of the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture). A great deal of research goes into developing the basis for a balanced diet, what we need to eat and why we need a variety of nutritious foods.

When we think of the food groups, we often think of protein first. It’s a big category that includes the heavy hitters - meat and poultry. However, fish is an important part of this food group and not just as an alternative to meat or poultry. Fish should be included in every well-balanced diet along with, not instead of, meat and poultry.

So isn’t all protein alike? If I eat a steak or a chicken breast I’m getting my protein, so why should I add fish to my diet? Does fish offer something other than what I’m getting from the other protein sources? What if I don’t eat fish… what will I be missing?

If you are living on a diet that includes meat and poultry as your only source of protein, you are missing out on the fatty acids, or “good fat”, that you need for a healthy heart. By including fish as one of your proteins, you will be adding an essential nutrition that you can’t find in a diet that consists of only meat and poultry.

Technically speaking, MUFAs (monounsaturated fatty acids) and PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) are essential for your health, and you cannot create these elements in your body from other fats that you eat. We’ve all heard of the “omega-3 fatty acids”, which is believed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Salmon, trout, and herring are said to have a high level of this healthy fatty acid.

If you have not served your family a lot of fish in the past, it’s never too late to start. Depending on where you live, you should be able to find either fresh or frozen readily available in your grocery store. Watch the sales and fill your grocery cart with a variety of fish. Then, look through some recipes and pick a few simple ones to try.

You can start as simply as making some Pan Fried Fish, or going all out with a more complete Oven Fish Dinner. One of my favorites is a classic Fish Chowder. Don’t forget the very versatile tuna. Making a Quick and Easy Tuna Casserole may be a good first try, but I’d move on to something more interesting like Tuna Cheese Puffs just to keep the family from getting tired of the same kinds of dishes. Don’t forget to give Salmon Patties a try, too, as they are a real treat and may even become your family’s Sunday dinner favorite.

Start serving fish each week by trying a few simple recipes and you may discover that you and your family enjoy having a little more variety at meal time. Make notes about which types of dishes your family enjoyed, and which ones were not so much of a hit, and soon you’ll be collecting your very own favorite fish recipes.

Tags: c, cooking, cooking fish, e, exercise, f, fish, Fitness, h, health, Health & Fitness, homemaking, i, Nutrition, o, r, recipes, tuna

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 4:02 am and is filed under Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.