Love seafood? Want to try a healthier way of eating? Consider the pescatarian diet. A pescatarian, or pesco-vegetarian, is a vegetarian who eats seafood as an additional protein source. Though a pescatarian diet excludes meats or poultry, some pescatarians include dairy and eggs in their diet. Other pescatarians modify meat or poultry dishes to fit their diet, creating dishes such as bangus sisig. Here, you’ll find a healthy bangus sisig recipe with the rich flavors of traditional sisig but without the high fat and cholesterol content.

A pescatarian diet has many health benefits, such as:

1. Better Heart Health: The pescatarian diet reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke.
2. Better Nutrition: Pescatarians eat more fiber and healthy polyunsaturated fats. They also consume less saturated fat and sodium.
3. Reduces the Risk of Some Cancers: Studies have shown that the risk of colorectal cancer goes down when you incorporate fish in your diet. It is probably due to the anti-inflammatory effects of fatty fish rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.
4. Reduce the Risk of Diabetes: A pesco-vegetarian diet helps bodies respond better to insulin.
5. Good Source of Calcium: Pescatarians get more bone-building calcium than vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores.

Lady’s Choice Bangus Sisig

Cook up a weeknight winner! Learn how to make bangus sisig with healthier ingredients and less than an hour of cooking time.

Bangus sisig ingredients:

• canola oil, as needed
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 (1-inch) piece ginger, chopped
• 500 grams bangus fillet, cut into small cubes
• 1 green chili, sliced
• Knorr Liquid Seasoning, to taste
• 5 tbsps Lady’s Choice Real Mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp spring onion
• 3 calamansi
• bird’s eye chili, sliced, to taste

How to cook bangus sisig:

1. Heat canola oil in a pan. Sauté onion and ginger. Add fish and sauté until cooked. Add chilies and season with Knorr Liquid Seasoning (to taste).
2. Remove from heat. Add Lady’s Choice Real Mayonnaise and mix well.
3. Top with spring onions and serve immediately with calamansi and bird’s eye chili on the side.

Dealing with Mercury in Fish

Pescatarians gain the same benefits from their diet as vegetarians do. But a pescatarian diet is more flexible and, thanks to the high amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids, can better combat ailments such as heart disease and diabetes than a strictly vegetarian diet. The only true downside to a pescatarian diet is that you need to be mindful of mercury levels in your body. Mercury accumulates in fish since they absorb it from the environment. Varieties of seafood that usually have the most mercury content include:

• King mackerel
• Marlin
• Orange roughy
• Shark
• Swordfish
• Tilefish
• Ahi tuna
• Bigeye tuna

However, the benefits of eating seafood regularly outweigh the drawbacks according to experts. Think that the pescatarian diet is for you? Try making our bangus sisig to see just how simple—and delicious—becoming a pescatarian can be.