Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: getting enough protein on an IBS diet

The issue of consuming mercury in fish is something you should be aware of but not something to put you off fish forever. Different types of fish have different levels of mercury - crudely put, larger predator fish have more of it than smaller prey fish. So swordfish, for example, is high in mercury but flounder is not.

Here's a link to an old post I did. It contains links to some Websites that explain which fish are high in mercury and which aren't and provides guidelines for how much of the different kinds of fish you can eat and still be okay. The link to the American Heart Association website is particularly helpful because it gives specific recommended amounts per week to eat of the various fish - even the ones that are relatively high in mercury:

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(I strongly believe that if you are pregnant or nursing or planning to become pregnant, you should discuss this issue with your doctor regardless of what the various guidelines say. Similarly, these issues should be discussed with a child's pediatrician.)

So, no, eating fish 14 times a week is probably not a good idea even though the ones you're eating - salmon and tuna - are relatively low in mercury (assuming your tuna is light rather than white/albacore). Try some other fish especially ones like sole and flounder and don't forget about shellfish like shrimp and scallops.

I have never really worried about hormones in my chicken and when I checked around I discovered it has been illegal to use hormones in chicken production since the 1950s. Antibiotics are used but purportedly:

This quote is from Wikipedia which has a whole write-up on chicken production.

I get my morning protein from an egg white. For lunch, I eat a tuna sandwich, a pasta chicken grape salad, some type of hummus or other bean dip, soup with beans or chicken or milk substitute, dinner leftovers. For dinner, I'd say I eat fish once a week, shrimp once a week, something with ground turkey (burger, spaghetti sauce) twice a week, and chicken the other three nights of the week.

Don't forget about beans as a protein source. You could try a rice and bean dish. I've been told this is the perfect food because the nutrients in the rice "complete" the protein in the beans. I can't vouch for that but I do find rice and beans to be a most satisfying meal.

HTH.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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