25 Benefits of Being a Pescatarian Among Omnivores & Herbivores

Tired of being a meat eater but not looking to spend your days eating grass?

Then you might want to consider the benefits of being a pescatarian.

Pescatarians get the best of both worlds. They get to enjoy all the perks of being a vegetarian. And, instead of feasting on land animals, they turn to the ocean for food.

It’s actually a brilliant solution.

Unfortunately, people are quick to debate the flaws and benefits of being a vegetarian or omnivore. But you would be better off ignoring all that noise.

There are many reasons why you’d want to be a pescatarian. You could be looking to lose weight, live longer, protect the environment, or follow a religious norm.

The reality is, the best option is the one that works for you. The one you choose. The one you can live with. The one you won’t have any regrets about.

It’s kind of like choosing your husband or wife. The only difference is, if you hate being a pescatarian, you can choose another option without all the legal fees and heartache.

Anyways, if you’re stuck and need more info to make a decision, the following list of benefits will help you decide.

The Benefits of Being a Pescatarian

1. Keeps Your Heart Healthy

Do you think about your heart when you sit down to eat?

If you consume dark green leafy veggies and seafood, there’s nothing to think about. That type of diet will have a positive impact on your heart health.

According to the American Heart Association (AMA), foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and death from coronary heart disease. But that’s not all…

Studies have shown that it also decreases the risk of irregular heartbeats (Arrhythmia) which can cause sudden death.

2. Helpful Against Cancer

It’s no secret that inflammation plays a major role in the development of certain cancers.

In fact, it’s what motivates people of all ages to adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet.

And while those diets do a good job of reducing the risk of many health issues, they still come up short. For instance, you miss out on nutrients like iron, zinc, vitamin D, and selenium.

All of those can be found in seafood like oysters. And studies even suggest that pescatarians are protected from cancer much better than vegetarians and vegans.

3. Seafood Has Lots of Vitamins & Minerals

Iron. Omega 3. Vitamins and Minerals. Those are just some of the powerful nutrients packed into seafood.

There’s actually such a stupendous amount of nutrients in seafood that you can full a whole encyclopedia.

Yet, despite this well-known fact, people still load up on things like multivitamins and other OTC pills from their local pharmacy.

Time and time again studies have shown that eating whole foods trumps lab-made vitamins every time. And when you combine it with green veggies, you’ll become virtually bulletproof!

4. Promotes Healthy Bones

Chances are you’re going to be stuck behind a desk for well over a decade. So you might as well start caring about your bones and joint health today.

While exercise can help, a seafood and veggie diet is way more beneficial.

You see, there’re these things called enzymes which attack the cartilage in your joints. And over time, they’ll cause joint pain.

But as a pescatarian, you’ll get a healthy dose of DHA and EPA from cold water fish. Those are highly unsaturated fats that protect your joint cartilage from enzyme breakdown.

5. Boosts Your Sex Life

Increased blood flow to your genitals and all parts of your body can dramatically improve sex.

There are certain nutrients that can enhance your libido, which increases the sensations you feel during sex. Two of those nutrients are arginine and zinc.

Arginine increases your nitric oxide levels which causes your blood vessels to expand sending blood to places that umm… matter. Zinc also boosts testosterone to give you a higher sex drive.

And you don’t need magic pills to get either of them. You can just eat fish like a healthy pescatarian.

6. Keeps Your Hair Healthy

Who doesn’t want strong, voluminous hair?

Having a lush mane does wonders for your confidence.

Perhaps the only thing worse than having dry, brittle, and tangled hair, is having no hair at all. Yes some folks have this problem. But if you’re looking to maintain beautiful, silky smooth hair, you can forget the beauty products.

Being a pescatarian means you get significant amounts of vitamins, iron, zinc, protein, and more. All of which have been known to give you healthy hair.

7. Improves Your Skin Health

How many beauty products do you own?

It may not be a lot for guys. But some women can open their own cosmetic business with all the products they have!

The point is, you focus more on that stuff instead of natural remedies like food. But if you weren’t blinded by ads and consumerism, you’d know that foods like kale, fish, avocados, etc, can do wonders for your skin.

Those are examples of what you can eat as a pescatarian. And studies have shown that natural food can give your skin a healthier glow than most beauty products.

8. Improves Mental Sharpness

Quick… what’s 2×2÷2-2×1?

Maybe it’s not fair to use math as an example to highlight mental sharpness. But regardless of what’s fair, the point is your brain health is important. It needs constant stimulation or else it will shrink.

Yes your brain can shrink! This will affect you in the future.

But studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids can enhance the function of the neurotransmitters in your brain. When combined with mental exercises, it may give your cognitive processes a boost.

9. Fish = Protein Powerhouse

Whether you’re on a mission to lose belly fat or build lean muscle, one thing’s for sure… You. Need. Protein.

In addition to carbs and fats, protein is a staple in human diets around the world. If you’ve read this post on amino acids, you already know the importance of protein. Without it your body would stop functioning and you’d essentially be dead.

As a pescatarian you can enjoy delicious fish such as salmon, tilapia, and tuna. All of them have well over 20 grams of protein.

Are you ready to shred fat and build muscle yet?

10. Lots of Antioxidants

Antioxidants have the ability to delay or prevent various types of cell damage. They attack free radicals to prevent them from having chain reactions that can destroy your cells.

Free radicals occur when oxygen interacts with various molecules in your body. They threaten to ruin your DNA and other cells, causing them to function poorly or die.

But if you’re getting enough beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium, you can prevent free radical damage.

The foods in a pescatarian diet have lots of antioxidants.

11. Guards Against Alzheimer’s & Dementia

Research in the field of memory loss continues to teach us more than our ancestors knew.

But there’s still a lot more to be discovered because the human mind is the most complex computer on the planet.

So far there have been studies which show the relationship between higher fish consumption and Alzheimer’s disease.

Results like this one suggest that it has an impact in reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s. Though not 100% conclusive, experts agree that it’s better to get your nutrients from healthy food instead of pills.

12. Promotes Healthy Pregnancies

If you’re thinking about bringing another human into this world, that’s awesome!

Hopefully you’re going to remember set aside a few minutes to plan your dietary needs.

And part of that diet should provide two important nutrients – DHA and EPA. They are two omega-3 fatty acids, which are difficult to get from other foods.

But the low unsaturated fat in fish and high amounts of protein, vitamin D, and other nutrients, are key to a healthy pregnancy. They’re also important for your baby’s development.

13. Develops Smarter Kids

Of course you can’t just eat a bunch of healthy food and produce the next Tony Stark. Many factors play a roll in that.

However, experts from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recommend fish for your baby’s mental development.

Studies have also shown that women on fish based diets exhibited higher IQs, good social and communication skills, and better motor skills, than women who ate less fish.

So if you want a smart family, think about that pescatarian life.

14. Better Gut Health

You’ve probably heard about probiotics from television commercials, magazines, or the Internet. But what do you know about prebiotics?

If you somehow knew that they trigger the growth or activity of helpful microorganisms, you’re a scholar. That means you know that one of the major areas to benefit from prebiotics is your gastrointestinal tract.

That’s right, prebiotics improve your gut health.

Those microorganisms nourish the probiotics, which provides nutrients for your colon cells and gives you a healthier digestive system.

15. Benefits Your Immune System

In addition to adopting a healthy diet, people are starting to focus more on boosting their immune system. And being a pescatarian definitely gives you access to a nutrient rich diet.

For example, magnesium and vitamin B6 are two nutrients that can improve your immune system.

Magnesium supports the creation of antibodies and helps cells protect themselves from attack. Vitamin B6 helps over 100 enzymes to prevent your immune system from breaking down.

Kale, bananas, nuts, etc. all contain high amounts of both nutrients.

16. Improves Blood Sugar Balance

If your blood sugar fluctuates like crazy it can cause serious problems.

Too low and you start feeling tired and weak. Too high and you can pass out. In both cases, death is an extreme possibility.

However, by balancing your macronutrients you can control your blood sugar levels. That’s the beauty of the pescatarian diet. You don’t have any serious restrictions.

So it’s easy to find the right combination of food without too much fuss. A combo of grains, protein, and veggies can help prevent wild fluctuations in your blood sugar.

17. Helps Your Mood

It’s true that certain foods can improve your mood.

Chocolate can give you a boost but its sugar will cause you to crash 45 minutes later and crave more. But if you eat something like kale, your energy level improves dramatically, which improves your mood.

Many studies have shown the effects that healthy nutrients like Omega-3 can have on depressed individuals. In virtually all cases the subjects were less depressed and felt slightly better.

Try it for yourself and see. The results will blow your mind.

18. Great For Brain Development

Healthy fats ensure the proper development and function of your brain cells. This is why doctors recommend that pregnant women consume foods rich in folate and omega-3.

Folate is essential for the development of your baby’s nervous system. Without it, they can suffer from congenital birth defects.

Similarly, omega-3 impacts brain development. And studies have shown it’s post-pregnancy effects.

Both nutrients help longterm brain health. Foods like grains, salmon, nuts, and green leafy veggies contain folate and omega-3s.

19. Benefits Mother Earth

Humans can’t have nice things. Slowly but surely we’re doing our best to kill the planet.

For example, it takes about 55 square feet of forest to make a single quarter-pound hamburger. That’s cray cray!

And it’s only a matter of time before the Earth decides to do something about it on a massive scale.

At least pescatarians are doing their part to protect the environment. Eating seafood and veggies instead of meat, is one of the cheapest ways to reduce your environmental footprint.

20. Improves Your Circulation

Did you know all your blood vessels can go around the world 4 times? Well now you do.

All those blood vessels face many obstacles. Things like high blood pressure and thrombosis can threaten your life.

Fortunately, the nutrients in seafood have the ability to prevent a number of circulatory related issues. Especially because of the rich supply of omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA. But that’s not all…

Seafood also boosts your nitric oxide (NO2) levels. This expands your blood vessels to enhance your body’s blood flow.

21. Easy Low & High Fat Meal Planning

If you’re following something like the Keto diet, you probably had to figure out your fat ratio.

However, like many people, you may have had a few miscalculations which you fought to make up for on other days.

As a pescatarian your fat options are simple. Fish like tuna and cod are examples of low fat options. While others like salmon and shark are high in fat.

Even though most of it is Omega-3 fat, you may need to make adjustments based on your calorie ratio. Ideally though, your diet should have a mixture of low and high fat fish.

22. Promotes Healthy Lungs

Breathe in. Breathe out. That’s what it’s all about.

If you’re having an intense sweat session catching a breather between sets gives you a chance to recover. But if your lungs are in bad shape, you’ll be struggling to suck in enough air, which would cut your workout short.

Assuming you’re not a smoker and don’t have a lung condition, how do you improve your lung health?

Simple. Increase the amount of fish, veggies, fruits, and whole grains you consume. One study did this with thousands of people and the results were amazing.

23. Supports Animal Rights

Slaughterhouses exists for one reason: to murder animals so humans can enjoy their meat.

For some people, that’s okay. But what’s not okay, is the disgustingly inhumane treatment that animals endure behind those closed doors.

They get stacked in crates like you see at the pet store. Except one crate is stuffed with multiple animals. Then there’s the smell of shit everywhere, which attracts insects and flies. And that’s only a sample of the conditions.

If animals could talk everyone would become a pescatarian.

24. Keeps Your Vision Sharp

As you get older, your health slowly starts to creep up on your list of priorities.

Why you’d wait until you’re old to start giving a damn is a mystery. But if you knew you could potentially go blind, you’d pay attention though, right?

Well one of those health issues is age-related macular degeneration. It’s an incurable disease that destroys your retina and causes blindness. It affects more people than cataracts or glaucoma.

But studies have shown that consuming foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids (like fish) can prevent macular degeneration from happening.

25. Improves Your Longterm Health

Would you like to live a long healthy life?

Of course you would. The thought of aging like fine wine intrigues everyone.

You can watch your kids grow up, kick them out the house, then invite them back so you can spoil your grand kids.

But none of that can happen if you’re pumping all sort of junk into your system. At the rate you’re going, you’d be lucky to hit 60 looking and feeling great. You’ll have so many health issues that getting up daily will feel like a full-time job.

Now imagine how better your life would be as a pescatarian…

Final Thoughts

You’ve just learned about the benefits of being a pescatarian.

Now you can decide whether it’s right for you or not.

Just remember that being healthy is a lifestyle choice that requires sustained effort. And like most things in life, it’s going to require patience and balance.

So don’t obsess about things too much to the point that you forget to enjoy life.

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