Canned fish is a remarkably convenient food, quick and easy but also incredibly healthy.  First off, it’s a great protein, up to 28g per 100g in the case of tuna, and then they are low in carbs, with almost non-existent levels of sugar, and very low in saturated fats.  What’s not to like!

You might have heard of the benefits of oily fish?  Well guess what – salmon, anchovy, mackerel, sardines, herring and sprats all qualify as oily fish.  An oily fish means it’s rich in Omega 3 fats.  This is an essential fatty acid in nutritional terms.  Essential means you can’t make it up from what you eat, your body needs to find it in a food state.  Omega-3 fatty acids are associated with decreased inflammation and help to maintain the overall health of our immune systems, specifically targeting eye health, as well as brain, nerve and heart function. 

Now our modern diet tends to be massively over-supplied in Omega 6 and we need to balance our diet out with Omega 3’s.  Omegas 3 and 6 are basically processed by the same mechanism in your body and here’s the tricky bit: consume too much of Omega 6 and it will crowd out the Omega 3.    Don’t get us wrong Omega 6 is one of the good guys, like Omega 3 it’s a poly-unsaturated, fat but too much Omega 6 can prevent the metabolism of Omega 3 and induce inflammation. 

So, recommendation 1 is to decrease vegetable oils in your diet, especially those that might be hidden like in bakery products or a ready meal.  On which point be very aware you should only consume virgin cold pressed, preferably organic, vegetable oils because cheap oils are heat treated and chemically extracted.  Recommendation 2 is: eat more oily fish.  We say go for a couple of cans a week.  Mix it up, add it to salads or staples, ours are all delicious and special with lashings of Omega 3.

Nutritionists often talk in terms of macro nutrients and micronutrients.  Macronutrients are the ones you might find yourself being told to count and the ones readily available in a nutrition table: carbs, of which sugars, fats and protein.  They are what gives your body energy.  As the main nutrients found in food, macronutrients maintain your body’s structure and functioning. You typically need a lot of macronutrients to keep your body working properly.  Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals and are normally measured in miligrams or micrograms.   These are harder to track but are also absolutely vital in keeping yourself healthy and full of vigour.

Now we believe that nutrition should come from food not supplementation.  Some minerals and/or vitamins need each other to be well absorbed, and some vitamins are water soluble whilst others are fat soluble – A, D, E, K – which means they are better absorbed in your blood stream.  Then there’s been new learning on the block and that concerns your microbiome.  This stuff is probably above our pay grade but it’s fascinating learning.  The main take away is your gut health is also critically important and to feed your good bacteria and let your microbiome thrive you need to avoid hyper-processed foods as much as possible and eat a high-fibre diet.  That means leafy greens, fresh fruit, pulses and switching some of your carbs into wholegrains.  Fortunately, canned fish works fabulously in salads, with pulses and with grains.

One last bit of learning that’s worth remembering is the concept of nutrient-density.  Some people who talk in classic terms about feeding people are really talking about stuffing them to keep them from feeling hungry – and that stuffing is BAD nutrition.  A simple rule of thumb is if it contains ingredients you couldn’t find in your own kitchen, which means that you could not cook from scratch, then handle with care.  Two really simple examples that have nothing to do with fish.  Look at a ready-made cake or ice cream and look at the ingredients on the back of pack.  Most of them will be weird chemical concoctions you’ve literally never heard of.  Eating lot of home-made cake won’t do much for your waistline (!) and isn’t particularly healthy but the key ingredients you will use will be wheat, butter, eggs and then chocolate or nuts or fruit so anything more than that on pack, you should start wondering what the hell you’re putting into your body.  The same goes for a quite a lot of pre-prepared ready meals and something we’ve all grabbed on the go, the humble ready-made sandwich.

Nutrient density is the opposite of all this.  And it takes us roundly back to the small miracle that is held in each canned fish.   Looking for a superfood?  Look no further than the humble sardine.  Not only is it a great protein and very rich in those super healthy Omega 3 but it is also packed full of vitamins and minerals.  100g of sardines gives you more than your daily recommended shot of Vitamin B12, about 2/3rd of the Vitamin D and Selenium you should consume and ½ of the phosphorus as well as a healthy dollop of calcium.  Micro-nutrients?  Nutrient density?  In that 100g of sardines, give or take, that’s a can, you also get iron, potassium, magnesium, Vitamin B3, B2, B6, B5, B1 and E, copper, zinc, manganese.

Don’t worry about counting all these up – just think and act healthy.  The basics are easy to get your head round.  Variety, wholegrains, pulses, fresh vegetables, salads and fruit, nuts and seeds.  So, here’s a healthy habits two steps tip to start now: 1. stack your cupboard up with canned fish + make sure you have lots of the other healthy stuff too, 2. ditch that ready meal and fast food take away habit and keep it for special.  You might not help the multi-national food conglomerates but you’ll be helping yourself to a great way of eating and a healthy lifestyle.