A question to vegetarians(not the animal rights activist kind).?

Question

whats wrong with seafoood as protein? I told my doctor that I dont' want to eat any white or red meat... she said that seafood is a great source of protein and beans and nuts are not enough.. what do you think?

OH yeah, I don't want an answer from that one lady with the picture of an ugly girl that has a taped up face.

Answer 1

I'm going to start with a disclaimer that I'm not a veg*n - I eat seafood every once in a while, usually shrimp or scallops.

Seafood is a great source of protein, but it's also a great source of biphenyls and mercury. Try to limit your seafood intake.

Your doctor's incorrect - beans, tofu, soy milk, nuts, wholegrains, lentils, chickpeas, eggs, milk, cheese - all of these give you plenty of protein. If you want to ask questions about your dietary health, see a registered dietitian - they tend to know more about diet and food than your doctor does, and can work with your doctor to tailor a dietary plan for you.

My sister in law is a cardiologist, and she's also been a vegan for more than 12 years, and she does plenty of yoga and manages 16 hour shifts at the hospital quite fine. She has her own dietitian, and she's one of the healthiest people I've ever met.

You can read a bit more about protein intake here:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/apr/dairy.htm

Answer 2

Humans are also a great source of protein. Probably the best source as they would contain all of the nutrients required by other humans.

Would you want to eat one?

Maybe what your doctor meant is that beans do not have every essential amino acid (the building blocks for protein). In that case, sure... beans aren't enough. But, beans and rice is enough. And beans and bread is enough.

Your body will store amino acids to be combined later. You do not have to eat seafood for protein. If beans and nuts weren't enough, why would vegetarians still be around. Wouldn't they all have died out by now. Obviously, they are enough.

You should consider finding a new quack.

Answer 3

Nothing is wrong with it. Most of the world's vegetarians eat either fish/seafood or poultry or a combination of the two.

Seafood is a wonderful source of many nutrients. In fact a recent study said the benefits of pregnant women eating 12 oz/week of fish/seafood far outweights the "danger" of accumulated heavy metals.

Ounce for ounce, seafood provides more protein and other nutrients than beans and nuts. But your diet has to be balanced and moderate.

Answer 4

Fish has advantages and disadvantages. I'm going to leave out what some people think is wrong with it from a moral perspective because I'm assuming you know it and don't want to hear it.

From a health perspective: while fish, especially oily fish has lots of omega 3s and is a good source of protein, there is a problem with mercury levels in fish. Farmed fish can also have their own set of contamination problems in addition to the mercury. Here is a link that helps you find seafood that is a safer choice: http://www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm?subnav=bestandworst
Also, if you have cholesterol problems, shrimp and lobster are pretty high in it, but this concern only applies to people needing to watch that sort of thing.

Environment: Some people don't eat fish because of concern for the environment. A LOT of fisheries are and continue to be over fished. Farmed fish create a lot of problems for the environment, both with regards to the waste produced and the epidemic of sea lice that spreads to wild fish. An article regarding this can be found here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,391523,00.html

With regards to beans and nuts not being enough, there is always soy and wheat gluten and hemp protein as well A lot of people, Dr.s included, had a notion that people need a lot of protein and that somehow plant proteins are deficient. One critque of this can be found here: http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/apr/dairy.htm
Note that this is just one Dr.'s opinion- I encourage you to do your own research using the sources from the link above as a possible starting point.

Answer 5

Your doctor is wrong in saying that "beans and nuts are not enough". That is bullsh*t! Dried beans contain about 25% protein (except soybeans which contain 40% protein). How do many people around the world get by without ever eating seafood or meat?

What is "wrong" is that fish feel pain when killed, just like any other animal.

Answer 6

well seafood in considered another type...technically it isn't really a meat...kinda like how some ppl think your vegetarian if all you eat is chicken. I chose not to eat any of it but i used to love seafood....It is a source of protein but like shrimp..or crayfish are considered bugs. Well, I don't really know what else to say but that U can get protein from egg whites, nuts, protein bars and so forth...If you eat a protein bar or a few things with protein and iron in them a day then i think you would be fine. Remember that everyone is different though.

Answer 7

Considering most doctors get almost zero nutritional training during their eight years of school, I would take that with a grain of salt. There are doctors who have studied nutrition, but if yours hasn't, she probably has less nutritional knowledge than the average person on the street.

Most people--even vegans--get more protein than they really need. Ask your doctor if she's ever come across a case of protein deficiency--if she's ever even heard of someone in an industrialized nation who has protein deficiency. Everything I've read indicates that as long as you eat enough food, and it's not all junk food, it's almost impossible not to get enough protein.

As for what is wrong with seafood, much of it is tainted with mercury from industrial waste. When fish are netted, there is a lot of bycatch that dies as a result--remember the flap over dolphins drowning in tuna nets? Well, it isn't just dolphins dying, but other animals. Fish do suffer when pulled from the water. I'm not trying to go all AR on you, but the same thing that's wrong with eating cows and chickens is the same thing that's wrong with eating sea animals. And farmed fish are a lot worse than wild-caught fish because it takes four pounds of wild-caught fish to produce a pound of farmed fish flesh (try saying THAT three times fast!).

Answer 8

Nothing's wrong with seafood as a source of protein. If you want to eat it, go ahead.

In general, beans and nuts are adequate protein for most healthy people. If, however, your doctor said that you have a protein deficiency, then you should raise it one way or another. Eat eggs, more protein-rich vegetables, or take a supplement.

Answer 9

They would say that its not right because it involves the death of a living being.

There are other sources of protein, but ideally if one is using the argument that meat is environmentally unfriendly then one should only get food from your local area than have it flown in rather than pollute the air with transportation.

But back to the question, you can get protein from nuts, wheats, gains, cheese, eggs, quorn, tampua and milk.

Answer 10

You can get plenty of protein without the fish. The question really is if you want to include seafood in your diet or not. You can stay healthy either way. But regardless of what you do the key to everything is making sure you get variety.