Rediscovering Super Sardines

My travels along the boulevard of “Healthy Eating” have hardly been fast, focused and smooth. Instead, you’ll find patches of burnt rubber, skid marks, lots of tire tracks leading off-road, along with countless, rather shameful detours into the parking lots of such unspeakably delicious destinations as ice cream parlors, cake stores and donut shops. My GPS confirms I am, indeed, on the boulevard, but, to most people speeding past, it appears I’ve stalled, or broken down.

Here’s my reality; I like eating healthy food I like and will not go out of my way to eat healthy food I do not like. I am also exceptionally lazy when it comes to cooking! I’ve been doing decently with the fish thing. The suggestion is that we eat fish twice a week. I’m on it. They are a lean, healthy source of protein and they come with heart-healthy and brain-healthy omega-3 fats.

When my former morning television co-host, Camille, told me I could place a filet of salmon on aluminum foil, sprinkle on pepper and be done, I thought, “sold!” Peppered salmon on a bed of brown rice has been part of my weekly diet since then! I’ve been devouring tuna since I was a child. I used to enjoy kippered snacks, smoked herring, right out of the can. They are packed in oil, which now deters me. I must say, the Pacific mackerel I’ve been eating, canned in China, doesn’t always look that appetizing when it slides out of the tin. Thinking it’s a healthy option, every now and then, I treat myself to a shrimp stir fry in the Montreal Trust food court.

Websites will tell you that when it comes to omega-3 fatty acids, not all seafood is created equal. It turns out the unglamorous sardine is way out in front! Who knew? It packs more omega-3 per 3 ounce serving than salmon, tuna or any other food! It’s also naturally high in vitamin D, which is great for bones because it helps increase the absorption of calcium. Sardines, I’ve learned, offer phosphorus, also good for bones. On top of all that, the tiny, inexpensive, sustainable sardine is a good source of vitamin B12, which promotes cardiovascular health.

How can you argue with that?

The canned version only has about 400mg of sodium, which is not much at all. I’m in the process of rediscovering sardines and I’m buying them packed in mineral water. I can’t remember why, but I stopped eating sardines years ago. Now, not only do I see them on lists of healthy foods to eat, they are being hailed by some experts as an outright superfood! Oh, sardine superfood, my apologies for the snub and, by all means, let’s spend some time together.

On the boulevard of “Healthy Eating”, that's got to be worth a lurch forward.