3 Major Seafood Myths The "Salmon Queen" Wants To Debunk

Gigi Ashworth eats 12 pounds of salmon per week—yes, you read that right. It might seem like overkill, but for an allergen-friendly food personality and cook affectionately known as "The Salmon Queen." we wouldn’t expect anything less! 

Ashworth's struggle with autoimmune disease led her to a passion for allergen-friendly and keto-diet-approved recipes, the majority of which feature the omega-3-rich fish. "Every single time I eat salmon, I just feel like a million bucks," she shares on this episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. 

Her adoration for salmon has sparked some curiosity (understandably so). Does she rank one type of salmon over another? Does she ever worry about her mercury exposure? How does she not get bored with seafood? 

"People slide into my DMs on Instagram and they're like, 'Are you poisoned by mercury?' I'm like, 'No, I'm not,'" Ashworth affirms. "Salmon is one of the lowest in mercury content." 

See, the higher up the fish food chain you go (aka bigger fish), the more likely you'll find higher levels of mercury. That's why experts recommend opting for smaller tinned fish and seafood like wild salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring. (A great acronym to keep in mind is SMASH!) 

"I avoid swordfish. I avoid shark. I avoid all of the high-mercury content fish," Ashworth explains. "But salmon is very, very low in the mercury world." Still, she calculated how much mercury she eats in a week with her 12 pounds of salmon. It turns out, she's under the FDA's reference dose (aka, the level of exposure that is assumed without risk), which is 0.1 microgram of mercury per kilogram of bodyweight per day1.

"There really is no such thing as sushi-grade," claims Ashworth. There is no official regulation for sushi-grade fish, she explains, so any label you see is likely marketing. In fact, 'All fish has to be frozen to a specific temperature for about two days, and then it can be thawed and consumed raw. That is the regulation in the United States," she explains. 

So unless you're actually in a Japanese fish market or any place where they catch and serve the seafood right in front of you, it's likely been frozen in transit. This is a good thing—the flash-freezing process is what kills any potential parasites. 

Ashworth wants to reshape the narrative on farmed fish. It's true that farm-raised environments have their issues—for instance, farmed salmon can harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria when grown on a farm that uses antibiotics2. 

However, not all farms are built on harmful fishing practices. In fact, many farms rely on sustainable and responsible methods to raise the most high-quality fish out there. "When I eat my farmed salmon, I'm researching up the wazoo: what they're fed, how they're made, how they maintain the cleanliness of the pens, their sustainability… All of those things I research and take into account," Ashworth explains.