With the new year already here, many of us have made a New Years resolution, or are trying again at the resolution that we have made last year. It is important to stick with the goals you make for yourself, and not make excuses on why you can not do it.
If you promised your self that you were going to eat healthier this year, and you need a good place to start, try starting with salmon! Aside from being absolutely delicious, salmon has quite a few health benefits, and here is just a few:
1. Salmon is good for your heart
Salmon is a really good source of Omega-3 fatty acid’s, which have been known to help reduce your risk of heart disease, and lower your cholesterol. If you were to eat a 4 ounce serving of wild caught salmon, you would be taking in approximately 55% of the daily recommended value of Omega 3’s.
2. Salmon can help us maintain a healthy digestive system.
In that 4 ounce serving of wild caught salmon we talked about earlier, there is a 236% daily recommended value of vitamin B12. B12 is necessary in maintaining a healthy digestive system. Vitamin B12 also helps prevent certain types of cancers, and keeps hair, skin, and nails healthy.
3. Salmon can help improve your memory.
Remember those Omega-3 fatty acid’s we talked about earlier? If you don’t, you should start eating more salmon right away! Omega-3’s have been shown to improve memory and reduce the risk of dementia.
4. Salmon can help improve brain power.
The Omega-3’s, along with lots of other vitamins can help improve various brain functions, and even help to prevent Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.
5. Salmon can help preserve eye sight.
And it is all because of those Omega-3’s. They can help in preventing glaucoma, and other eye related issues that could mess up your vision, and even cause blindness.
6. Salmon helps promote bone health.
Salmon is an excellent source of Vitamin D, which is needed to keep your bones nice and strong. Without a proper amount of Vitamin D your bones can become very weak, and brittle.
7. Salmon is a good source of protein.
We all know how important protein is. It helps build muscle, and can help boost your metabolism. It also helps to keep you fuller longer so you don’t have the urge to snack all day long. A 4-ounce serving of salmon can give you more than half of your daily recommended value of protein.
8. Salmon can help promote healthy skin, hair, and nails.
The vitamin B12, Omega-3’s, and protein are all responsible in helping keep your hair, skin, and nails healthy. This is more important than just staying pretty. These all help protect your body in different ways, so you should help protect them as well.
It is important to mention that when I refer to the daily value’s of all of these amazing vitamins, and other nutrients that are found in salmon that I am referring to wild caught salmon, and not farm raised salmon. There has been studies that show the nutrient levels in farm raised salmon are much lower, and that they also have risk’s of having mercury, and lead in them as well.
While even wild salmon poses a risk of pollutants due to polluted water, the risk is much lower. Most experts recommend buying only Alaskan caught salmon.
One last benefit salmon has is that it is super easy to make!
What you’ll need:
- 6 (4) ounce salmon filet’s
- 2 tablespoon’s lemon juice
- 1 cup fresh sliced mushroom’s
- 1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
- 1/2 Cup of water
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly butter one 9×13 inch baking dish.
- In a cup, combine salad dressing mix, water and lemon juice.
- Arrange salmon fillets in a single layer in the prepared baking dish. Pour the water mixture over the top and place the sliced mushrooms over the salmon.
- Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes, basting with cooking liquids.
This recipe, as well as many other’s will taste so good that you will almost forget how much good you are doing for yourself!
Featured photo credit: PaelmerPhotoArts via pixabay.com
