Go Wild for Salmon!

Everywhere you turn—magazines, websites, news shows—there are lists of “12 superfoods”, or “eat these 5 foods every day to lose weight”.  While we here at Fitness Together North Buckhead do not always support the latest fads or diet crazes, some of these lists do include some great foods.  One such food that appears on many of these lists is salmon.  Perhaps if you have been following our nutrition blogs, you have seen it there, as well.

There are many great reasons to add salmon to your diet (and by diet we mean your daily food consumption, not whatever the latest celebrity trend is), or continue to include it in your weekly food planning.  Due to sustainability and contamination concerns, we recommend wild salmon over farm-raised.  

Besides the possible dangers of mercury and PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) content in farm-raised varieties, wild salmon has up to three times higher levels of vitamin D.  

Salmon is considered an excellent lean source of protein, with 6 grams of protein and only 3 grams of fat per ounce.  Adding a variety of lean protein sources to your daily food consumption helps maintain healthy blood sugar, stabilizing energy and hunger levels to help you reach your fitness goals.

Most of the fats found in salmon are healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.  By now most of you have heard the benefits of consuming sufficient levels of this healthy polyunsaturated fat.  They include lower risk for heart disease, stroke, and possibly cancer, as well as helping to lower bad cholesterol (LDL).  Due to these anti-inflammatory benefits, it may possibly help ease the symptoms of arthritis and asthma, as well.

The fish is a good source of the mineral selenium, which also helps with inflammation.  All these anti-inflammatory benefits make salmon a great post-workout food, especially when paired with some colorful vegetables and whole grains to get the full complement of nutrients your muscles need to repair and refuel.  Some of the other vitamins and minerals found in salmon include iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin E and a number of the B vitamins.

While fresh wild salmon may be out of some people’s weekly grocery budgets, you can get all the same benefits in canned salmon.  At a lower price point, you can use salmon as an excellent alternative for tuna.

Katie Jensen, CSCS

NPTI Graduate

Fitness/Nutrition Coach