Healthy Dieting

Fish is a dichotomy, because broadly speaking there are two main categories of fish: fatty fish and non-fatty fish.

Fatty fish

I can almost hear you yelling, Tut fatty fish are supposed to be good for your heart!’ Yes, this much is true. Research has shown that the two main types of oils contained in fatty fish can lower cholesterol levels, protect you against heart disease and i_mprove blood fluidity. However, the idea that something is ‘healthy is, once again, disease-specific. The consumption of fish oils should certainly be encouraged in cholesterol patients who are lean, not over-fat. However, if you are over-fat and have high cholesterol levels, all types of fatty fish should be eliminated from the diet.

Why? If you eliminate all kinds of fat from the diet, the effect will be that you rapidly lose body fat. This loss will have far more impact on your cholesterol levels than simply adding fish oils to the diet.

The body does not distinguish between different kinds of fat — all it knows is that fat is fat, and should be deposited on the hips, thighs and belly. To put it a different way, the wonderfully beneficial effects of losing a significant amount of body fat (achieved by following a fat-free diet) far outweigh any cholesterol-lowering effects that fish oils may provide. So if you are over-fat, with or without a cholesterol problem, you should also avoid fatty fish altogether.

These are the fatty fish to avoid:

• salmon
• trout
• salmon trout
• herring
• rollmops
• mackerel
• pilchards
• sardines
• kippers
• anchovies
• snoek

If you are unsure of whether a particular fish is fatty or not, do the `feel’ test: fatty fish has a slightly slimy texture to both skin and flesh.

Non-fatty fish

Even so-called non-fatty fish are not entirely fat-free, as they do contain minute amounts of fat. However, for the purposes of the diet, these fish are considered ‘fat free‘ because the amount of dietary fat they contribute to the diet is insignificant.

I am delighted to tell you that these firm fish can be eaten in very large quantities if desired: think of them as ‘free‘ foods. So if you feel like tucking into four baby soles, a whole kingklip or two tins _of tuna in brine, then by all means do so, and enjoy it! Please remember, however, that fish is fat free only if it is cooked fat free: serving your fish drowned in lemon-butter sauce or slathered in mayonnaise will defeat the object of the exercise!

Here is some more good news: shellfish, because they are to all intents and purposes fat free, are also permitted on the X Diet — and this includes prawns, crayfish and oysters! Cholesterol patients will frown here and say ‘But I though I had to avoid shellfish.’ Yes, shellfish does contain cholesterol. But whether or not it’s safe to include shellfish in your diet depends on the type of cholesterol problem you have. If you suffer from familial hypercholesterolaemia (a hereditary cholesterol problem that affects mainly Jewish, Indian and Afrikaans families in South Africa), you will definitely need to cut shellfish from your diet in order properly to control your cholesterol levels.

However, if you are not a familial cholesterol sufferer, and have high cholesterol because of Syndrome X, then shellfish may certainly be included in the diet.

The following fish are all permitted in unlimited quantities (as long as they are cooked and served without fat):

Bony fish

• hake
• kingklip
• barracuda
• sole
• kabeljou
• red roman
• haddock
• fresh tuna
• angel fish
• tuna tinned in brine (salt water)

Shellfish

• prawns
• crayfish
• lobster
• shrimps
• oysters
• mussels
• clams
• calamari (squid)
• crab meat
• scallops

Quick fish dishes

Frozen fish is of such high quality nowadays that it’s sometimes difficult to tell it apart from the real thing. Here are some ideas for preparing fat-free dishes from frozen fish in a hurry:

Heat a little fat-free milk in a saucepan and add a handful of fresh chopped parsley, half an onion, some peppercorns and a bay leaf. Add a few frozen haddock loins and poach gently until fish begins to flake. Remove bay leaf’, peppercorns and onion. Make a paste of cornflour and water and use to thicken sauce. Serve with boiled baby potatoes.

Place a few frozen hake fillets in an oven-proof dish and cover with a cup or milk, a punnet of sliced mushrooms and two tablespoons each of sherry and brandy. Bake at 180 °C until fish is just done. Remove fish with a slotted spoon and pour sauce into a small saucepan. Make a paste or cornflour and water and use to thicken sauce. Serve hot with creamed spinachand potatoes mashed with buttermilk.

Poach sole fillets in a little water mixed with a teaspoon of vegetable stock powder. Drain, then sprinkle liberally with fresh lemon juice, fresh chopped parsley and milled black pepper.

Tip a tin of tomato-and-onion mix into a saucepan. Add a few cloves of crushed garlic, a fresh chopped green chilli, a handful of fresh herbs, salt and milled black pepper and a cup of white wine. Simmer gently until thickened. Three to four minutes before serving, add a packet of frozen mixed seafood (prawns, calamari and mussels in their shells). Simmer until seafood is just cooked. Serve over hot tagliatelle.

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