Yoji and the Foodies

While stuck in traffic, I saw this:

Fish on a stick, anyone?  Tee-hee

For Catholics, the Lenten season is a time for sacrifices. To some, it’s giving up something that they perceive they can’t live without even for a short period of time. Some people I know vowed to give up “sinful” treats for 40 days. They could very well be talking about food, or just about anything that you can categorize as sinful. Catholic priests and nuns make it a point to remind parishioners to practice abstinence and fasting. This, of course, is a difficult to do (hence, the sacrifice). Fasting would be a huge sacrifice for me and I fear that I would just wither and die. So I’m taking the other route and abstain from eating pork, beef, and chicken. So that means veggies and fish until black Saturday.  Will I survive? Maybe.

Grilled Fish with Atchara

(Reyes Barbecue – SM Center Las Pinas)

Marko99 sent a link to the article clarifying that Tilipia is indeed safe to eat. A few months back, there were reports that Tilapia is rich in Omega-6, which was then considered as the BAD fatty acid. Here’s what the experts had to say:

In explaining the specifics of the omega-3 versus omega-6 debate, the researchers note that omega-6s are not only found in fish like tilapia, but vegetable oils, nuts, whole-wheat bread and chicken. They go on to highlight the fact that the American Heart Association and the American Dietetic Association agree that, “omega-6 fatty acids are, like omega-3s, heart-healthy nutrients which should be part of everyone’s diet.”

There. That clears things up. Many of us were led to believe that eating Tilapia is a no-no. I’m one of those who stopped eating Tilapia after I read the reports and then stuffed myself with greasy fast food meals. How idiotic is that?

I’d like to make an apology to the Tiliapia-kind and I promise to put back Tilapia in the family menu. In fact, I’ll have a Tilapia party this weekend! I <3 Tilapia.

Image from:http://www.robdoyle.co.uk/fish.gif

Thanks Marko99 for the heads-up.

Unless you are living under a rock, you will find headline news about food very disturbing. First, there’s the worldwide problem of increasing food prices as a result of low food supply and insanely high oil prices. Second, there’s this issue of 143 million pounds of contaminated meat being recalled due to E.coli outbreak. Third, there’s the fishy problem of farm-raised Tilapias having massive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids. Fourth, salmonella has hit tomatoes and possibly other vegetables.

This situation leaves us with only a few food choices until the said food items are cleared for eating. Why worry if you are not in the US, you might ask.  Well, a lot of our food are imported from God knows where and I like to believe that most of the food we get are smuggled into the country.  That in itself is a red flag. Smuggled food items do not pass any checkpoints and whether they are fit for consumption or not is the least of the smugglers’ worries.

So, the question remains, what’s left to eat?

Not good.

A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association suggests that farm-raised Tilapia can actually be bad for our health because they contain omega-6 fatty acids which is the BAD fatty acid. We should be having omega-3 fatty acid. The fish in the market don’t have omega-3 and omega-6 labels so just shopping for a fish is already dangerous in itself. And if you had been eating Tilapia for the longest time (like me), then that means you have had a crazy amount of omega-6 deposited in your body. So, you already have lost a couple of years in your life span…all because this important information was withheld from you (and me).

So, the American Heart Association should revise their call to eat fish twice a week and make it…”Eat non-tilapia fish twice a week”. This should make them immune to lawsuits.

Tilapia is relatively cheaper hence it is our choice of fish if we feel like eating one. In light of this disturbing discovery, the family would have to switch to tuna or salmon. Boring but it will make us live longer.

Source: US News