Question:
I have two questions. Firstly, I am wondering whether I have too much seafood in my diet and whether I am going to pay for it later in life. I eat seafood almost every day, sometimes twice a day. I'll have the following multiple times over the course of a week: tin of tuna or salmon; fillet of salmon; smoked or raw salmon sushi roll or a cooked or raw tuna sushi roll; seafood platter with prawns, mussels, calamari, squid, scallops or fish of the day at a restaurant; and prawn rice paper rolls. I don't really eat other types of fish. Secondly, I drink coffee with artificial sweetener and have diet/sugar-free versions of everything, including soft drinks, alcopops, gum and yoghurt. I am starting to get frightened with all the talk about aspartame going around and I'm wondering if I am harming my body. I usually have two large coffees a day with four sachets of sweetener per coffee and two cans or bottles of Diet Coke or Sprite Zero a day. I can also go through a 14-pack of Wrigley's Extra in two days.

Answer:

It is not wise to eat too much farmed salmon, there are a number of issues associated with it. Do a search of the Internet for information on farmed salmon and see what you think. If the seafood you eat comes from an environment where it has been bred under hygienic conditions, it is safe, but it is important to know where the seafood you are eating comes from. Wild seafood is always the best.

I would be very concerned about your intake of artificial sweeteners. It is very high and certainly not good for you. Did you know that it is suspected that artificial sweeteners are just as fattening as sugar? I wonder why you have such strong sugar cravings; are you eating regularly enough? Try having a high-protein snack between meals; that can do wonders for the desire for sweet food.

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