Is Fish Safe to Eat?

Ask any mermaid who wants to trim her sails with a low-carb diet: fish is the perfect choice! With all the warnings these days about polluted seas and high mercury levels in fish, though, you may have second thoughts when it comes to making fish part of your low-carb diet.

The good news: there are many safe varieties of fish that taste great and are good for you. Here's the dish on the ones to avoid and the ones to give the green light to.

Researchers report that shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish contain high levels of mercury. And the classic tuna fish sandwich made with albacore tuna? Fuhgeddabout it! Sorry, Charlie, but albacore tuna, so popular in canned tuna products, lives longer, is larger, and tends to swim in contaminated waters, resulting in higher concentrations of mercury. Chunk light tuna, also found in some canned tunas, is a much safer version to go for.

So how much is safe, and which kinds? If you're in your preteens or older, and not pregnant, two to four servings of fish each week, totaling 12 ounces or less, is safe. Choose from a variety of fish, such as salmon one day and then, a few days later, sardines.
The bonus you get with eating zero-calorie fish dishes: fish contains omega-3 fatty acids, which have been show to protect you against a variety of diseases. And if you choose sardines or shrimp, you're getting calcium as well.

The following fish and seafood are considered safe to eat just as often as you eat chicken, according to the experts:
- Anchovy
- Blue crab
- Mid Atlantic Catfish
- Clams
- Cod
- Pacific Flounder
- Sole
- Herring
- Ocean Perch
- Oysters
- Farmed Pollock
- Pacific Rockfish
- Pacific Salmon
- Wild Alaskan and Californian Sardines
- Scallops
- Shrimp
- Tilapia
- Trout