When it comes to belly-slimming
meals, there's nothing healthier than a nice piece of fish, right? Not if it's
one of these. That may have been true 100 years ago when Teddy Roosevelt was wrestling
wild salmon from the great rivers of the West. But while the seafood that shows
up in your supermarket or on your favorite restaurant menu today may look the
same as what our forefathers subsisted on, in many cases, it's not. While the
chicken of the sea can be an impeccable source of lean protein and
heart-bolstering omega-3 fatty acids, certain varieties and preparations can
bloat your belly.
It's all about context: Although
wild salmon is high in fat, it actually burns blubber, thanks to its muscle-building
protein and high amount of omega-3s, which regulate insulin and reduce
appetite. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish that are high
in omega-3s twice a week. But just as not all fat is bad, not all seafood is
healthy. In fact, these options qualify as worse than junk food. Plus, be sure
to consult our list of Every Popular Fish—Ranked for Nutritional Benefits!
6. Atlantic Salmon
Atlantic salmon is the Kid Rock
album release of the refrigerator section: Always bad news. Although wild
salmon is high in omega-3 acids, which fight inflammation throughout the body,
farm-raised salmon (all Atlantic salmon is farm-raised) is packed with
omega-6s, which actually increase it. Because salmon farmers feed their fish
soy, wild salmon has just 114 milligrams of omega-6s while farmed salmon has
around 1,900 milligrams. Not to mention that farmed salmon are usually dyed
pink, have been found to be high in PCBs, and have one-fourth the
belly-flattening vitamin D of their wild cousins.
5. Tilapia
With its astronomical level of
omega-6s, this fish is worse for your belly than bacon; a serving is more
inflammatory than a burger or a donut. Additionally, most tilapia is
farm-raised and fed a diet of corn instead of lake plants and algae, making them
the turducken of seafood: Junk stuffed with junk surrounded by junk.
4. Tilefish and Swordfish
These two varieties of fish
contain dangerously high levels of mercury, which acts as an endocrine
disruptor: A fake hormone that tricks your body into holding on to fat, burning
fewer calories, and reducing levels of leptin, a hormone that regulates
appetite. Tilefish has the highest mercury level among all varieties of fish,
with 1.45 parts of mercury per million (or 45% higher than the USDA allowed
maximum). Swordfish is the runner-up, with .995. Similarly, you should always
paddle away from shark, king mackerel, and orange roughy. As a general rule,
the smaller the fish, the lower its level of contaminants. Sardines, scallops,
and other pocket-sized sea creatures are among the lowest in mercury, according
to FDA data.
3. Spicy Tuna Rolls
Tuna is super-lean, and spices
torch fat, so combining the two in sushi should be a win-win, right? Uh, no:
The tuna is chopped up and bound with globs of mayonnaise, adding 290 calories
and 11 grams of fat per roll. (The white rice wrappers will do your belly fat
no favors either.) Other rolls to watch out for: anything called the
Philadelphia Roll, which is cream cheese, salmon and white rice (in addition to
sounding disgusting, it's basically a bagel on chopsticks) and the California
Roll, which can ring in at 520 calories and almost 20 grams of fat. As a
general rule, stick with salmon and tuna sashimi, which offers around 40
calories, 7 grams of protein and all good fats per piece. Supplement with brown
rice and nosh on the ginger that's often served on the side: It's a metabolism
booster. Check out our list of The Best and Worst Sushi Rolls for Weight Loss.
2. Shrimp Tempura
Don't be tempted by this
nutritional Mata Hari: Its exotic countenance conceals that it's essentially
french-fried sushi, or fish-and-chips without the chips. Battered with white
flour and bathed in hot oil, tempura's most common base is shrimp, although
there are also healthy-sounding options like eggplant and squash. If you want
to flatten your belly, avoid them all. A shrimp tempura roll can clock in at
508 calories and 21 grams of fat—nearly as much as a Big Mac. Meanwhile, the
vegetable tempura at the Ra Sushi chain has an eye-popping 1,500 calories and
103 grams of fat. If you must indulge, know what's inside the crispy coating:
Certain varieties include whitefish and skate, high-toxin fish that are worth
throwing back immediately.
1. Most Fish Dishes at Chain Restaurants
That might sound like hyperbole,
but it's not by much. The cardinal rule is that if it's not a simple grilled
fillet, skip it. Applebee's New England Fish & Chips packs 1,970 calories
and 136 grams of fat, while PF Chang's Kung Pao Scallops has 870 calories and
50 grams of fat. Even healthy-sounding options can be prepared with butter and
sauces that drive up the bad stuff: Applebee's Baked Haddock has 810 calories
and 32g of fat. You'd be better off eating two McDonalds' Filet-o-Fish. But
really, don't do that. A twist of lemon and pepper is all you need to bring out
the savory creaminess of salmon, and very little beats the clean energy that
tuna sashimi provides.
