Salmon – What kind of salmon do you really want to be eating?

Is salmon good for you?

The short answer to that question is:  maybe, or it depends.

We hear so often: Eat salmon; Salmon is full of omega-3 fatty acids; Salmon is full of fish oil; Salmon is good for you.

People don’t necessarily realize that eating the RIGHT kind of salmon matters.

Farmed salmon and wild salmon do not have the same nutritional make-up; they don’t live in the same environment or eat the same food. It’s really not the same fish at all. Farmed salmon, not only doesn’t have the same properties, it’s actually BAD for you.  I’ve encountered enough people who eat salmon, especially out, and think they are doing themselves a favor, when in fact, it’s actually harmful.  Farmed salmon is harmful.

If salmon is WILD, then it has a bunch of wonderful characteristics that we are looking for:  fish oil and a good ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Also, wild salmon is higher in minerals, including potassium, zinc and iron. Farmed salmon has high concentrations of antibiotics, pesticides, and lower levels of healthy nutrients.

The technical info; if you don’t like technical details, skip this paragraph:

A big problem with the typical diet these days, is that our fatty acids have gotten out of balance.  Historically, we evolved eating a ratio of 1:1 of omega-3 and omega-6, but the Western diet is now skewed to 1:15-17. This is part of why we are not healthy, the new imbalance.  Today we eat way more omega-6, which are the man-made oils: safflower oil, corn oil, processed oils, sunflower oil, margarine, trans fat, hydrogenated oils.  Repeated studies have shown that this imbalance can contribute to cancers, inflammation, and other issues. Lowering omega-6 and getting closer to 1:1 also has a positive impact on disease and inflammation.

Short version:  to have a better balance of omega-3 fatty acids, eat WILD salmon.  Never eat farmed salmon which is bad for you.

I can already hear you:  wild salmon is so expensive.  It is.  Trader Joe has frozen salmon which is a little less expensive; Costco has wild salmon for even less if you buy a big piece – share it with your neighbor.

Know that to get the benefit of salmon, you need to be eating wild salmon and avoiding at all costs farmed salmon.  NO salmon is better than farmed salmon.  Most places we eat out, if it doesn’t specifically say WILD, it’s probably farmed.  Be sure to ask.  Your good health is at stake.

Main points to consider if you want some details:

• Ratio of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids in your diet: Human genetic patterns were established on a diet with a 1:1 ratio of omega-3 and omega-6; Western diet is typically low in omega-3 fatty acids and high in 6. (average Western diet is more like 1:16) These fats are known as essential fatty acids and our bodies don’t produce them; we must obtain them through our food.
• Too much Omega-6 in the diet: Promotes many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 PUFA (a low omega-6/omega-3 ratio) exert suppressive effects.
• Farmed salmon has almost 6 times more omega-6 fatty acids than wild salmon (1944 mg vs 341 mg). This is only adding more to the diet of something we eat too much of already and wipes out the good you would get from eating the omega-3 in the farmed salmon. Wild fish eat fish; farmed fish eat grain and soybeans and only some ground fish; this makes the omega-6 levels go up. And the situation is getting worse; an October 2016 study found omega-3 levels in farmed salmon are rapidly dropping and are half of what they were five years ago. (salmon farm feed contains less ground anchovy than previously).
• Contaminants in your food: fish accumulate potentially harmful contaminants from their environment, in the water they swim in and the foods they eat. One study investigated over 700 salmon samples from around the world and found that on average, the PCB concentrations in farmed salmon were eight times higher than in wild salmon. Researchers suggest that if the EPA guidelines were applied to the farmed salmon they tested, recommendations would be to restrict farmed salmon to no more than once per month. Besides PCB, dioxins, mercury, and other contaminants are at a higher level in farmed salmon. Most salmon marketed as “Atlantic” salmon is farmed, meaning fish are raised in conditions that have been shown to be ridden with pesticides, feces, bacteria and parasites.
• Fish farms threaten other sea life: fish farms contribute to over fishing of smaller wild fish. Salmon are carnivores; it takes about 2 ½ to 4 pounds of other fish to create the salmon chow needed to produce 1 pound of farm-raised salmon. The over fishing of wild sardines, anchovies, mackerel, herring and other fish upset natural ecosystems.

Call or email self-help back pain specialist Dot Spaet for a free Get Out of Pain phone consultation:
415 892-6605   |     Contact Dot

Dot Spaet teaches her clients exactly what to do to get rid of their back pain and keep it gone so they can become empowered by their vitality instead of being limited by their pain. She provides self-help moves that enable her clients to become the owners of their own wellness.

The great majority of back and neck pain is caused by tight or injured muscles. The Spaet Method of back pain relief effectively re-engineers the body so the body becomes balanced. Once the body is balanced, you will move more freely with greater range of motion and less pain.

You leave your session with Dot with a hand-written, personalized exercise and movement program. After a few weeks or months of following her program, the great majority of her clients find lasting back pain relief. In fact, her success rate is 91%.

• We ask you lots of questions.
• We ask input from you.
• We go back and forth with you trying different moves to see what works best for you.
• It’s your feedback that determines how we proceed.
• We provide a tool kit rather than having us physically work on your body. This is huge because you will learn when you start to feel pain coming on, exactly what you need to do to short circuit it and have it never arrive.
• We love acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic care when they are appropriate. Our work helps the benefit of these modalities hold and last longer. This is true because we explain to you exactly what your body is doing, and how you can assist it in going in a healing direction. This way, you become more a part of your own process and the awareness you gain is critical.
• Our work is actually a hands-off approach; we direct you into different positions. You can continue this work totally on your own which is very empowering. You now get to duplicate the Spaet Method and take the Specialist home with you.

We ask you what you like! My clients have been amazed by this. After all, if you don’t like what we give you, you aren’t going to do it. You would rather be sitting than on the floor? Fine. You want moves to do in your bed in the morning? Fine. I am a problem solver. I will figure out what works for you that you like so you will do it. You want to do moves that you can do while you are out hiking? Fine.

When I had Sciatica, I came home from the Physical Therapist with a paper that made no sense to me after 1 week. I tried to duplicate the moves and I found them annoying. Do you think I kept doing them? I’m sure I’m not alone here. We want you to like what we give you, so we work with you to make it comfortable and more user friendly. I have heard repeatedly from clients just how much they appreciate our working with them in a way that would work in their lives.

A story to illustrate this: One of my clients was a new dad. He told me he didn’t have any time at all to do anything; he could barely keep up watching the baby. When we unraveled how he was spending his time, it turned out that some of it was sitting down next to the baby’s crib just watching. I asked if that was a time he could be practicing a couple of moves. Sure was, and that was his ticket to a pain-free back.

Contact Dot for your complimentary Get Out of Pain phone consultation HERE.

Self-Help Back Pain Specialist Dot Spaet is a sought after speaker; audiences love her for her passion, knowledge and enthusiasm. She is easy to listen to, engaging, funny, incredibly informative.

If you belong to a group that brings in speakers, invite Dot to present. You will be glad that you did. Dot has a way of making her material simple and accessible; people walk away with specific tools that help them make changes that work.

80% of the population experiences back pain at some point. Most people do not know what they can do to get their own back pain to go away or what to do to stop getting reinjured. Dot’s work is unique in that she utilizes her troubleshooting skills to analyze your body and figures out exactly what it takes to get your particular body out of pain. This is incredibly empowering since not only do you end up pain-free, you now know the specific actions to take to keep your back healthy.

Contact self-help back pain specialist, Dot Spaet for a free Get Out of Pain phone consultation HERE