Quintessentially Quilly

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of HealthyTuna.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

Tuna is one of my favorite foods.  Canned or fresh, cooked or raw; I love tuna. I grew up eating tuna and to this day it is a mainstay in my diet.

The controversies surrounding tuna — indeed surrounding most fish these days — has given me pause. What is and isn’t safe to eat? And how can we be certain we are getting the best information on the quality of our foods?

Let me start by telling you that commercial fish — the stuff you find on the shelves and in the freezer case of your local grocery store — has been inspected and tested. If it made it into your local market, especially if it arrived there canned, it has been tested and is deemed safe for your family to eat. That is true whether you are adult or child, male, female, pregnant or nursing. Have a nice healthy tuna sandwich and enjoy it.

Fish is one of the best proteins you can ingest. It feeds your heart and your brain, and it provides essential omega-3 fatty acids. In fact, according to the FDA’s and EPA’s new seafood advisory, “Fish and shellfish are an important part of a healthy diet… So, women and young children in particular should include fish or shellfish in their diets due to the many nutritional benefits.”

In addition, according to the National Fisheries Institute: “Canned tuna and many other oily, ocean fish contains DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid that is essential for the healthy development of the fetus and young child. According to scientific studies, DHA comprises approximately 40 percent of the polyunsaturated fatty acid content in the cell membranes in the brain and 60 percent of the cell membranes in the retina and is transferred from mother to the fetus at a high rate during the last trimester of pregnancy. Our bodies don’t make omega-3s and so we need to eat foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and fish is by far the best food source.”

And, according to a 2008 released by Harvard Medical School, “Compared with women who ate the least fish, women with the highest fish intake (2 ounces per day on average) had children 25% more likely to have higher developmental scores at 6 months and almost 30% more likely to have higher scores at 18 months. “

But the real kicker is:

Published in July’s issue of Epidemiology, the study of more than 14,500 pregnant women shows that those who ate fish at least three times per week had the lowest level of risk for symptoms of depression. Most American women, however, miss out on this important benefit because they eat on average only one-sixth this amount. Depression during pregnancy can have serious effects on a woman’s health and that of her baby; emerging science suggests that depression during pregnancy may increase the risk of:

* Having a caesarian section
* Delivering a premature or low-birth-weight baby
* Lowering cognitive test scores and babies’ brain and behavior development
* Having depression after pregnancy

So, while it is wise to be extremely cautious about ingesting too much wild-caught (sportfishing) seafood, and it is best to avoid shark, mackerel, swordfish, and tilefish — especially while pregnant — avoiding fish altogether is actually detrimental to your health.  Go make a tuna sandwich.  Enjoy.

Here is my favorite tuna spread recipe:

Tuna Salad Sandwich Spread

• 1 -5oz. can chunk white albacore tuna
• 1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
• 1-2 whole dill pickles, diced
• Mayonnaise to taste

Mix the above ingredients the evening before you wish to eat them so that the flavors have enough time to blend. This is a moist filling sandwiches are best eaten shortly after they’re made. If you are making these sandwiches for a picnic, remember they need to be kept cool.