What are the Pros and Cons of the Pescatarian Diet?

The pescatarian diet has gotten loads of attention over the past couple of years and continues to hold the spotlight in the health and nutrition industry to this day. So what is this diet and what are the pros and cons?

The pescatarian diet is essentially a plant-based diet where a person’s main source of protein comes from seafood. There are no strict guidelines for this diet plan. There are no rules as to how much or how little of seafood you have to eat to be considered a pescatarian.

Here are some examples of what you CAN eat on the diet:

Fruits

Vegetables

Grains

Seeds and Nuts

Seafood

Legumes

Here are some examples of what you CAN'T eat on the diet:

Poultry

Red meat

So now that you know what the pescatarian diet entails, let's look into the pros and cons of this diet plan.

The pescatarian diet has a lot of health benefits associated with it. It can improve your heart health, reduce the risk of diabetes and inflammation, and be a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.

Supplemented with the right exercise, hydration, and sleeping patterns, the pescatarian diet can be good for weight loss, as shown in some recent studies.

However, with each diet plan, there are bound to be some negatives associated with it as well.

The biggest concern and con of the pescatarian diet are the high levels of mercury presented in seafood.

The good news is that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that mercury does not pose a risk for most people. It is, however, important to be aware of which types of fish you should avoid and which ones are good to eat.

The types of fish you want to avoid include the following:

King Mackeral

Orange Roughy

Marlin

Shark

Swordfish

Tile Fish

Tuna, Bigeye

The types of fish that are safe to eat on a weekly basis include the following:

Salmon

Anchovy

Scallop

Shrimp

Lobster

Crab

Catfish

Another con to the pescatarian diet is how expensive and pricey it can get.

The reality is, seafood is by no means cheap. It is relatively more expensive than other types of protein sources, such as chicken, at the grocery store.

But something to understand about this is that you don't need to buy seafood for every meal you make in a day.

You can eat a plant-based meal with tofu or tempeh as your source of protein for lunch and then include seafood for dinner. This would cut the cost of seafood significantly.

As you can see, the pescatarian diet is very well-balanced and reaps many benefits. Knowing the cons and risks associated with the diet is important to understand to be able to implement this style of eating into your life in a safe manner.

The pescatarian diet is also a great way to ease your eating habits towards other diets such as being vegetarian, vegan, paleo, keto, and many more.

If you want to learn more about what the pescatarian diet is as well as my personal experience with it for one and a half years, go ahead and check out my article: What is a Pescatarian Diet

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I am a health and fitness specialist who advocates and educates others on living a healthy and sustainable lifestyle!