Salmon for dinner, mercury toxicity for desert? (part 2)

This post will be a brief nutritional breakdown of the dinner I had a few nights ago.  I think for my next few posts I'll be going over a few more fundamental things about macro nutrients (fats, carbohydrate and protein) and what effect they have on your body and your health.  So with that out of the way, lets get this show on the road.

Starting with the pumpkin, it's chock-full of B vitamins, vitamin C, super high in vitamin A, magnesium, potassium, soluble fiber, low glycemic starches, and the seeds contain one of the highest natural sources of zinc.  Who knew pumpkins were so good for you and NOT just for carving at Halloween.  Throw some pastured butter on top and you have some healthy fats, more vitamin A and some vitamin K2.
 
As for the kale, as many of you know, it has a LOT of antioxidants and amazing anti-inflammatory properties that aid in a variety of disease prevention.  It has a lot of the same micro nutrients (vitamins and minerals) as pumpkin with a lot more vitamin K.  Kale is rated as one of the most nutrient dense foods because of its low caloric content and high nutrient value.  Making kale chips in either melted coconut oil or olive oil is another source of healthy fats.  Many of the vitamins you get from veggies are fat soluble, which means you actually NEED fat in order for your body to absorb them.  So when you order your next salad, make sure to NOT avoid the full fat dressing. 
The salmon in the meal is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and a very well absorbed form of vitamin D.  Our bodies need Vitamin D for almost every cellular function in the body and thus for those cultures living in a place of little sunlight, eating cold water fish is a very effective way to keep vitamin D levels up.

Now I wanted to share a bit of information I myself just learned.  I was listening to the weekly podcast from Chris Kresser about mercury toxicity from eating fish.  I'll try and keep it fairly simple and understandable.  Firstly, mercury itself doesn't cause so much direct damage to your body, but remember all those anti-oxidants in the meal above? Well for your body to make use of anti-oxidants (which help prevent or reverse damage from various oxygen related processes) it needs enzymes from selenium.  Therein lies the problem with mercury, it binds to the selenium so there is none available to help your body make use of those beneficial anti-oxidants you guys are eating, right?.  Fish is pretty high in mercury so that must mean then, that you shouldn't eat fish, right?  Not so fast.  Ocean fish, and most fresh water fish, actually have much more selenium than mercury, thus providing more than enough selenium for the mercury's use while leaving plenty for your body to use for the assimilation of anti-oxidants.  The good news for us is that most fish you find in your local grocery store or market has more selenium than mercury.  So believe me, the benefits of eating fish FAR outweigh any negatives.  There is a great documentary about 20 minutes long, from the University of North Dakota, that does a great job of explaining in more detail if anyone is interested.  It can be found by clicking here.  So basically I am saying, stop reading this and go eat some fish.. 2-3 times a week at least. 

 All the best,

Matt