What did I get myself into??? A couple of months ago I told my business partner that I will no longer be eating meat when 2013 comes around. I came to this conclusion because of my upcoming half marathon and I wanted a clean body, meaning a clean diet without meat. Taking meat out of the equation is not impossible because me and my best friend back in college vowed to never eat meat again it was only until we meet our meat-eating husbands the vow was broken. But eliminating chicken and turkey has been challenging, why on earth did I eliminate chicken!!!

Chickens are sometimes raised in adverse conditions and because of its high demand they are injected with antibiotics that get deposited into the individuals consuming the chicken. When the body is over exposed to antibiotics we build up tolerance and drugs become less effective. Also chicken is packed with cholesterol, this lipid (fat) causes cardiovascular disease.  So maybe I will stick to my diet, 30 years of eating chicken my body deserves a break.

It turns out my diet has a name Pescetarian,  according to Webster  a pescetarian diet shares many of its components with a vegetarian diet and includes vegetables,  fruit, nuts, grains, beans, eggs, and dairy, but unlike a vegetarian diet also includes fish and shellfish. This sounds healthy but lets research its side effects, everything has side effects.

Since consuming a large amount of fish, mercury toxicity can become a problem. Mercury is a contaminant found in fish that can affect brain development and the nervous system. A wise pescetarian makes sure to eat a variety of fish and should be educated about which fish has the highest mercury levels. So typically I should avoid eating marlin,  orange roughy, swordfish and ahi tuna.  But shrimp and lobster have low levels of mercury but cost more at the supermarket. This diet is expensive…..

Recent research indicates that a traditional pescetarian diet aka  Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduced risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), memory problems that are a known precursor to Alzheimer’s disease, as well as later developing Alzheimer’s. This gives me some motivation to continue, after this year I may take it a step further and become a vegetarian….stay tuned!