Why does New Zealand King (or Chinook) salmon have twice the omega-3‘s of Atlantic salmon? It’s all because of the rivers.

If you have to swim a long way up an icy river you need plenty of fat to fuel your journey. If the trip is short, you don’t need so much fat. It’s the fat where you find all the omega-3′s. NZ King (Chinook) salmon is not native to New Zealand. It’s native home is the Pacific north-west coast of America and far north-eastern Russia. Here, the rivers are long compared to the relatively shorter rivers on the east coast of America where Atlantic salmon originates.

In the 1900′s both Atlantic and Chinook salmon were brought into New Zealand but only the Chinook survived. As Grant Rosewarne, CEO of Regal Salmon said, “If we could have farmed Atlantic salmon we would have. It’s much easier.”

It’s called the no. 8 wire trait – the Kiwi knack for ingenuity.

Eat seafood twice a week. Most health organisations the world over tell us the same thing. Seafood is seriously good for you. Compared to people who don’t eat it, those who eat a couple of fish meals each week have around one third the chance of dropping dead from a heart attack, which for many people is the first symptom of heart disease!

Whether it’s your heart, your brain, your joints, or your baby, seafood helps keep it healthy.

Although I know the two times a week rule I have to admit that I don’t always do it. My seafood repertoire is often limited to tuna and avocado on wholegrain toast or salmon sushi. But today I have a healthy eating halo on my head. I have just returned from love.fish – a great little restaurant in the inner west bohemian suburb of Rozelle.  It specialises in sustainable, local seafood. If you don’t eat fish you can have the grass fed beef burger but the innovative menu is sure to entice even the novice fish eater.

We started with salmon poori rolls (pic above) – cute little chunks of warm salmon wrapped in very thin flatbread, fried and served with sheeps milk yoghurt and mango pickle.

If you’ve decided to cut back on bread in an attempt to control weight, think again. Wholegrains were one of a handful of winning foods in a new study looking at long term weight control. The researchers from Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health found that people who ate more wholegrains actually gained less weight over four years.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine this study of over 120,000 people found that people who ate more unprocessed foods, specifically wholegrains, nuts, yoghurt (reduced or full fat), fruit and vegetables gained the least weight over a four year period.

These people didn’t just keep on eating the same amount over the four years; they actually increased the number of serves of these foods they ate each day. More food means more kilojoules so why didn’t they gain weight? These foods are all high fibre (apart from yoghurt) nutrient rich foods which provide long lasting satiety. They keep blood sugars stable without the rapid spikes that experts now think contribute to weight problems. If you eat lots of these foods chances are you won’t feel quite so desperate to munch on crisps or slurp on a soft drink.

In an attempt to boost my body’s anti-inflammatory processes I have been eating more fish, especially salmon and the most delicious smoked trout from my local deli. It shouldn’t take a sprained foot to make me eat more fish. I know I should eat a couple of meals of oily fish each week to get the recommended 500mg of omega-3 fats a day but I have to admit that most of the time my seafood repertoire is limited to canned tuna with tomatoes for lunch.

Like all good Kiwi’s I have been watching the bone-jarring battle for the World Rugby Cup. Those boys could sure do with a few anti-inflammatory foods after a game. I hope they are eating plenty of New Zealand’s fantastic seafood – mostly because it tastes great but also because it’s packed with protein, nutrients and anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats.  Just one 150 gram portion of NZ King Salmon provides 2500mg -  enough omega-3′s to last a whole week.