I'm on a bit of a health kick right now, and am diggin' canned tuna. Which is the best/healthiest?

I am VERY brand loyal when it comes to tuna. Only Chicken of the See solid white albacore. Chunk white is just not the same. Hard to find in these parts, only one supermarket here carries it. My mother says don’t eat it too often because of the mercury.

The ones canned in spring water, not oil.
Also the ones which don’t kill dolphin(s).

Another thing you might try is tuna in the meat/fish section. The whole thing (filleted of course) instead of the canned stuff.

no such thing. but I’m biased towards facts, :)

Get low sodium. Tuna is loaded with it.

Somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I think that I’ve heard that chunk light tuna has less mercury than solid white.

Three Diamonds…be sure it is packed in water.

@tedibear39 But chunk light to me is cat food. Yuck.

Okay, better question. I’ve cut back on meat, and am back into running (want to feel fit/strong again). What is something healthy that will fill me up (and is high in protein/low cal)?

The water packed tuna is best. You can spice it up a bit with tiny chopped tomatos, little onion and chilli’s chopped into it. You can also get low oil low sodium mayo too which makes it a bit tastier.

I am not sure if you get the pre packed tastic rice there? If so choose the low fat one 0.02% fat or just mix in with brown rice and vegetables. Cayenne pepper is also said to speed metabolism. When I stick to this as part of a particular eating plan my whole body changes shape! And quickly too.

@jjmah you can also buy prepacked steam fish low fat (the fat content must not be more than 2%) taken with brown rice and vegetables. Not corn, carrots.

Why is water packed tuna such a hit? The whole point of fish is the oil.
I like it packed in olive oil. Olive oil is also very good for you. Sure it makes you fat, but it reduces your bad cholesterol. Eat olive-oil-packed tuna ( twice as expensive – that should reassure you) and forego the Ben & Jerry’s.

@susanc
The oil they use to pack the tunafish is anything but healthy.

@jjmah I like omelettes. I use real eggwhites and egg beaters mixed, about half and half. I think it is closer to real eggs than just egg whites or egg beater alone, without the cholesterol. Also legumes are high in protein, black beans, etc. with rice.

I get my tuna fresh.

If you’re at all concerned about mercury or other toxins that get concentrated into the tissues of fish, keep in mind that the lower you eat on the food chain, the less concentrated your mercury dose will be. If you choose smaller fish or plant-eating fish like herring/sardines, you will be giving yourself all the benefits of high-omega-3-fatty-acid animal food, with substantially less toxins.

Boneless tinned sardines in olive oil from Trader Joe’s are great: taste a lot like tuna, to me.

By the way I had a mercury blood test and it was normal. I probably eat a can of tuna per week.

@jjmah
This cereal has a lot of protein – if you eat it with one full glass of soy milk – you will get over 15 grams of protein
Kashi GoLean Crunch Cereal Honey Almond Flax
For high protein snacks, I like chocolate protein shakes with acai berry and apples in it and I also carry unsalted/salted peanuts with me around – one serving – 7 grams of protein!

@jjmah eat gluten free, wheat free cereal you’ll see a big difference. Also check sugar content and sodium content in everything incl. cereal.

I eat Golean and add frozen berries, flaked almonds, ground flaxseed oil, cinnamon (and if I liked honey, I would add that also.”

Very helpful, Jellies. Thank-you!

I was surprised how much better foil packed tuna is over canned. Though the price difference usually means canned tuna for me. I stock up when solid white albacore is on sale @ $1/can.

I love canned tuna. It’s the perfect quick lunch!

I get StarKist usually, or Bumblebee. And I actually prefer the chunk light over albacore – and always water over oil. If I wanted my food floating in grease I’d go to McDonalds. They say that Albacore has a higher mercury count, but you’d literally have to eat pounds of it every day forever before you’d get mercury poisoning. Srsly.

I used to get solid white albacore in water but have switched to chunk light because of the mercury issue and also, I believe I read, it is from less threatened fish. I buy the bags too. I think tuna once or twice a week is fine if you are not pregnant.

@janbb Light is from a different fish than white? I thought it was just a different part of the same fish?

Let me do some reading and get back to you.

@janbb I didn’t mean you had to do any work, I just had never thought of it, I was working under my own assumptions with no real background on the subject.

Several sites confirmed what I thought I remembered, here’s the most reliable of them. They are from different kinds of tuna. (Don’t worry about me doing work; it’s a busman’s holiday!)

@janbb Thanks for the link :).

The fresh one…

@davidbetterman: organic extra-virgin Spanish olive oil…
TOLD you it was expensive!

@janbb Thanks for the link, I was wondering about that also.

If you are eating it often, eat the white chunk tuna. The albacore has more mercury.

I randomly stumbled on this. Though it’d be of use
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1836029/officials_meet_to_discuss_tuna_other_animals/index.html

@Simone_De_Beauvoir

I did hear on NPR that the BlueFin Tuna has been declared endangered. It’s cool, though. I prefer sockeye salmon, anyway. ^_^

@Seek_Kolinahr good for you.

I have problems reading so I asked a new question.