This blog post was sent in by one of our campers, Sudeep Jain.  If you are want more information and how to contact him, see the info at the end of this message.


SHOULDER

This is a joint we take for granted. Its stability, position, alignment, and mobility determine not only the function of our arms but also the head and upper trunk. It is the most versatile, mobile joint in the body considering all the directions it can move in. Point of caution, its mobility is also its weakness.

Figure A

Figure B

We all know this as a “ball and socket” joint. Otherwise, a
ball that rotates and moves inside a socket. Keep in mind
too that the “socket” is really not a “socket”, rather a
spoon shaped piece flanked by two bony finger-like
protrusions. On the outside, looking at the shoulder, it
clearly appears to attach the arm directly to our body or
torso while also shaping the neck and upper back (figure
B). In reality, the arm is NOT attached directly to the body,
it is attached directly to the shoulder blade (figure A). The shoulder blade is secured on to the rib cage by way of the upper back muscles primarily (figure C) yet also impacted by the pectoralis (chest muscle) (figure D) on the front end.

Figure D

Figure C

Finally, the most impactive muscle on the shoulder in all its function, positioning, control/stability is the rotator cuff muscle group (figure E). As the name implies, it rotates the shoulder such as when you bring your hand behind the head or around the low back. The location of the muscles also stabilizes the ball in the socket so it does not keep hitting the top or front end of the socket during any arm motion. The sustained or repeated occurrence of this is how pain and damage typically occurs.

Figure E

Having an understanding of what is in there is important to understanding the impact of correctly and incorrectly performed exercises. Stability and movement is a balance pair of components to the integrity of any joint system. To add to this, the middle part of a muscle’s length between full elongation and full contraction is where you get BOTH maximum muscle fiber activation AND joint protection. There is value to coming close to the end part of the joint’s or muscle’s motion, but with the caveat to require greater control from other muscles surrounding it.


To elaborate on this, I will pick on a common position (plank or pillar) and exercise (push up) (figure F) that we do in our favorite ROCK STAR BOOT CAMP.

Figure F

Figure G

Here is an example of the WRONG (figure G). Notice how the elbows are PAST the shoulders in figure F. This pushes that ball forward in the socket and starts to smash one of the tendons of the rotator cuff along with other parts of the bony socket. If one tries to stay in the correct position (figure F, H, and I), you can see how there would be a more productive demand placed on the chest, shoulder, abdominals, upper back, and arm muscles within in the middle of their range of motion, intact with the greatest number of muscle fibers, and without the compromise to the joint. Additionally, the most effective demand will also be placed on the buttock, hamstring, and quadriceps muscles to hold the lower torso and legs correctly.

1. Your legs should be straight with your feet close together.
2. Your hands should be aligned with your chest (below shoulder level).
3. Your elbows should be directly over your hands.
4. While keeping your core tight and your head up, lower yourself until your shoulders reach your elbows. Inhale as you do this.
5. Exhale and push up to the start position.
6. Perform repetitions with slow controlled motions.



This will give you a basic, yet comprehensive, introductory over view of the shoulder, how to protect it, and how to work it during our exercises and daily activities.

Figure J

Please let me know if there are any questions and/or additional one-on-one attention needed. I have been seeing clients/patients on a fee for service basis for the last 7 years. This has included all levels/ages of athletes and weekend warriors, general orthopedic/neurological difficulties. I can provide documentation to help you seek insurance coverage on your own. I am in the process of setting up a website and new name to my practice.

Currently, I can be reached at my phone number 602-421-7273 and current email heal_touch@hotmail.com. I will keep all updated as this develops.
_________________________________________________________________

If you are interested in being a guest blogger, please contact either Rachelle or Erika.

Don't forget to join the Rock Star Boot Camp Fit & Healthy group on Facebook

Rock Star Boot Camp and the Phoenix Mercury brought you the Biggest Transformation Contest earlier this summer. Five finalists were personally selected by Curtis and Rachelle to participate in this life changing adventure. Not only are their great "prizes" at stake (2013 season tickets to the Mercury AND a membership to continue on at RSBC), most importantly they are winning a new lease on life. This contest is not only a measurement of physical change but also a transformation of the mind. OVERALL the contestants must show a total body/mind shift in the direction of a healthier lifestyle. Not a diet, a lifestyle change.

The fab-five became the chosen ones!

The finalists are Amber, Colleen, Erin, Leisa, and Thomas. The contest is nearing it's end and the "winner" will be announced within the next few weeks. I've compiled a few photographs that showcase the hard work and success they've had during the challenge. The first set of pictures are each of them at Day 1 and at the 5 week mid-point check-in.

Amber

Amber

Colleen

Colleen

Thomas

Thomas

Erin

Erin

Leisa

Leisa

Here are a couple of them chugging along like the true rock stars they are. The weight vests are a part of their regular work out wardrobe!

After a just a short time Colleen lost enough inches to cinch up her vest that at one point was at it's longest length. Success!!

Flipping tires... like a BOSS!


Phoenix Mercury players Alexis Hornbuckle and Lynetta Kizer showed up for Curtis' "Hell On Earth" work out.

Gettin' scrappy

Looks like Colleen is openin' up a can...

 JUDO CHOP! Look at the intense focus on Amber's face. She's not messing around!




We don't usually dance at boot camp but Amber brings her own flare to her work outs. What's that you say? HAMMER TIME!

Ha Ha!! Sorry Amber, I just had to!

They're all doing so well and are really determined. It's going to be a close call on who will be the winner but if you ask me, they're all winners in my book.

If you keep up on Facebook and join the Rock Star Boot Camp Fit & Healthy Group, you will be able to read about their day to day successes and struggles. Make sure to join!!

When the contest wraps up there will be another "before and after" shot from the beginning and end. Even though the contest will be ending, I have a feeling this is only the beginning for a few of them!

The common topic I see/hear floating around Facebook, grocery stores, Wal-Mart/Target, parking lots..(you get the point) is STRESS. Over what? Back to school, work, the gym, food, finances.. the list goes on forever. For parents with school age children back to school means either relief that the kids are in school several hours, giving them a break during the day to get some stuff done; or the opposite, now they need to work in drop off/pick up, after school activities, making sure homework gets done.. shopping. And then there is work place stress. Performance on the job, arriving on time, promotions...

So is stress completely toxic, or to some point necessary?



Necessary?! uhm, no.

Well in my reading, I find that stress can be pretty crappy for your health and can lead to some awful things, (like insomnia, depression, and suicide). All of those things sound like an awful time any day of the week. What I found interesting though is that in some cases, some level of stress in necessary and beneficial. Weird, I know. Lemme explain, there is a happy medium.

When someone has too much stress in their life, they tend to have increased blood pressure, can develop asthma, skin conditions may occur, arthritis, depression and suicide if it’s not treated. Too much stress is caused when multiple occurrences of overwhelming tasks are on your plate with little to know break from them. In relation to your exercise schedule, stress can even hinder you from successful weight loss as your body releases several hormones to help combat stress. One of those buggers is cortisol which at heightened levels can actually slow your metabolism and increase fat storage. Aside from preventing weight loss, it can actually lead to weight gain when the combination of stress-related hormones insists your brain you’re hungry, despite not having burned any additional calories.

Stress levels have gotten so bad that OSHA has declared it a hazard in the work place.



One thing that we can be sure of is too much stress is no good. If you feel super stressed out, try to decrease it in other aspects of your life or even just take a day off to recuperate.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is an issue when someone has little to no stress in their life. I know you’re thinking I’m a nut job who can’t read a textbook properly but I swear it’s true.
In our makeup we have been designed to face and deal with stress. Today we aren’t stressing over how to flee from the woolly mammoth but we still get stressed. When we are never faced with stressful situation, we actually tend to get depressed that there has been no stress or change to challenge us. Ultimately, you may become bored and depressed about your non-dramatic life and become complacent in moving forward.

 ”We fall so we can learn how to pick ourselves back up again,” -Thomas Wayne (Bruce Wayne aka Batman’s pops).

Nothing could be more true. If we never fall or face situations where our ass-kicking instincts can save the day, we can never grow as a person. For some this may sound like a dream but to many, including myself, plateaus are a death wish.

Whether you choose a high-stress career, have a high-stress relationship or just watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey, be sure to balance some levels of stress and drama with a work out at Rock Star Boot Camp and maybe a bit of yoga and zen.

You know what else is a great stress reliever? Talking with friends and like-minded people. Head on over and join our Rock Star Boot Camp Fit & Healthy group on Facebook.

Being that it's consistently blistering hot outside, I think it's safe to say that many of you are thinking about the same thing... ice... cold...watttteeerrr...ahhhh, refreshing. I drink lots and lots of water daily but am I getting enough? Some days, I'm not. The other day I woke up with a screaming headache, zero energy (after a good 8 hours of sleep), foggy brain, and my eyes seemed like they were shaking because my vision was blurry. Have you ever been startled awake and you're jumpy, anxious, confused... as if there was an earthquake while you were dead asleep and you don't quite know what's going on yet? That's how I felt for most of the day. It wasn't until later in the evening that I thought "hmm maybe I'm dehydrated?" Well that would make sense because it was 4pm and I'd only had a few cups of water, if I'm being generous. I felt like my brain was shutting down so I needed to do something quick. I grabbed 3 bottles of water and chugged. It only took about 30 minutes for me to start feeling somewhat better. What was I thinking? It's 8000 degrees outside! The FEW cups of water I drank I'd probably already sweat out, not to mention my negative oz deficit from my coffee. Smart, I know. I wont make that mistake again that's for sure.

So how much water do you actually need?

Everyone's water need is different. It depends on how much you weigh, your activity level, where you live, and your overall health. I'm sure you've heard "drink eight 8-ounce cups per day" right? Well yes, that's fine... if you're 130 lbs. The 8x8 rule is easy to remember so that's what many people shoot for. I've read many articles that recommend a simple formula that is personalized to every one's individual need for water maintenance. Maintenance. That means at the minimum, this is how much water your body needs to maintain optimal organ function, not including what you need to add with heavy exercise or other exerting activities. So what is it already? Easy. Take your body weight and divide that in half. The number you get is the minimum amount of water YOU need to drink just for your body to work properly. So for example (and because I like to look at numbers because I'm math geeky) if you weigh 125lbs ÷ 2 = 62.5oz of water. See that is just about 8oz of water a day, but wouldn't you think a much larger person would need much more? Lets look at another one... 225lbs÷2=112.5oz of water. One person needs only 8 cups, while the other needs close to double at 14. Just for optimal function.

What if you exercise...outdoors...in Phoenix? While it's hard to recommend a one size fits all solution because everyone exerts a different amount of energy and sweat and need different amounts of fluid to replenish, here is a little chart with some basic guidelines. I say though, after drinking your minimum and you feel like you need more while you're getting your butt kicked at boot camp, go for it. Drink up, buttercup!
* if you weigh your self before you workout, use the same scale afterwards.

You might ask yourself, "How can I possibly DRINK that much water?" Good news is you don't have to actually drink it. Because that could get boring. Keep in mind that you can drink your water with fruit, as green tea (some research says that caffeinated beverages count against your daily intake because it is a diuretic and causes you to lose fluid, some says otherwise...so take it with a grain of salt), coffee (again...diuretic), and don't forget that ice in your water counts towards the total. It's a little harder to measure, but you don't need to be exact. One of my favorite ways to get my water is FOOD.

Which foods have a lot of water?

Watermelon contains 92% water, 8% natural sugar, and essential electrolytes. Watermelon is rich in Vitamin C, beta carotene, and lycopene which will give the body protection from UV light.

Grapefruit contains only 30 calories and is comprised of 91% water. Phytonutrients, called limonoids found in grapefruits, can be detoxifying and may inhibit tumor formation of cancers.


Avocado is comprised of not only healthy monounsaturated fats but also 81% water by weight! Results from a 2010 NHANES study show that the absorption of two key carotenoids, lycopene and beta-carotene, where increased by 200 to 400 percent when fresh avocado was added to meals. This is important to athletes in an effort to decrease recovery time.

Cucumbers have a 96% water content and a good balance of electrolytes. The mineral silica found in cucumber is essential for healthy, lubricated connective tissue, which includes muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and bone.

How does drinking enough water help with weight loss?

Drinking water can be one of the best tools in aiding your weight loss. When you exercise, your body breaks down fat, you need to drink lots of water to flush out all the fat that is being released. FLUSH THE FAT! Drinking plenty of water can also increase your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your body has to process the water and burns calories to do so. Studies show that drinking ice cold water burns even more calories because your body first has to bring the water up to your internal body temperature. You might be wondering just how many bathroom breaks you'll be taking if you'll be increasing your water intake drastically after reading this. The answer is A LOT. Just think though, all the upcoming frequent pit stops will be a part of your exercising program! Imagine how many sqauts you'll be doing, the cardio you'll get running to the john, stretching and hip-hinging while pulling up/down your pants, except the guys... lucky. After about 2 weeks though, you're body will most likely be used to it's new level of hydration and the pit stops will level out.

Drinking enough water helps your kidneys and liver function at optimal capacity. This is important because these organs are directly related to weight loss and more importantly fat loss. If you're not getting enough water, your kidneys can't function properly. When the kidneys don't function properly, the liver steps in to take on some of the kidney's work.

One of the liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into energy. If the liver is helping the kidneys, it can't function as its optimal capacity, which results in less fat being metabolized.

So in conclusion......DRINK MORE WATER! For more guidelines, tips, advice, recipes, health and fitness chit chat, make sure to join us on Facebook in our Rock Star Boot Camp Fit & Healthy group.

Horny Toad Farm has teamed up with Rock Star Boot Camp to provide their own C.S.A (Community Supported Agriculture) program! Pick up is on Saturdays at the Roadrunner Farmers Market. See the flier for all the details (such as how to sign up!) and of course, please feel free to ask questions. Sign up and payment is due by July 7th. Thank you camper Anastasia for putting this together for us! View the Announcements & Events page to stay up to date!

(click the image to enlarge)

If haven't already, take a minute to join our Rock Star Boot Camp Fit & Healthy group on Facebook, a place for support, advice and encouragement throughout your fitness journey.

"As an extension of Rock Star Boot Camp, this group will focus on nutrition, over all health, and our daily fitness journey. The group will not berate anyone on their eating habits; nor push one type of diet over another. Suggestions will be made, questions will be answered, and knowledge and experiences will be shared by all - but all aspects will remain positive. If you aren’t meeting your fitness goals, you will know why as you look back on your fitness and nutrition progression. Awareness is a large part of the battle. Be purposeful. Make smart choices and pay attention, day after day. Tracking these decisions will be the “writing on the wall” as to why you are, or are not, meeting your fitness and nutrition goals during this most-tempting time. We will be here to help along the way."

Welcome all new members of Rock Star Boot Camp! If this is the beginning of your weightloss/fitness journey, I encourage you to snap a "before" photo of yourself so in a few weeks you can look back and see how much progress you've made! I will be writing another Before/After picture post in the next few weeks so if you're interested, get snapping!

Ever find yourself standing in the produce department of the grocery store deciding between the $.88 carton of conventionally grown strawberries and the $4.99 carton (the SAME SIZE!) of organically grown strawberries? How do you choose? Is it really worth the $4.00 difference to buy organic? For some fruits and vegetables, the answer is yes.

Eating organic isn't as easy for some as it is for others. The price factor alone is hard to get past, but since the "organic era" is a relatively new concept, a lot of people aren't aware of the health factors of eating organic. Let's start at the beginning and hopefully after you're finished reading, you'll have a better understanding of the benefits of eating organic foods vs. non-organic, conventionally grown foods.


What does “organic” mean?
Organic refers to how farmers grow and process food. Organic farming methods differ from conventional farming in several ways:

• Conventional farming uses chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth, while organic farming employs manure and compost to fertilize the soil.
• Conventional farming sprays pesticides to get rid of pests, while organic farmers turn to insects and birds, mating disruption, or traps.
• Conventional farming uses chemical herbicides to manage weeds, while organic farming rotates crops, hand weeds, or mulches.
• When raising animals, conventional farmers give animals antibiotics, growth hormones, and medications to spur growth and prevent disease. Organic farmers feed their animals organic feed and allow them to roam. They also will make sure the animals have a balanced diet and clean housing.

Why it costs more
The biggest criticism of organic food is its cost. There are several reasons it’s more expensive. Organic farmers pay more for organic animal feed, and the farming is more labor intensive, since farmers avoid chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Because farmers don’t use herbicides, for instance, they rely more on hand weeding. And since they avoid chemical fertilizers, they use compost and animal manure, which is bulkier and more expensive to ship. This also means their crop yield is usually lower. Conventional farming also uses every acre of farmland to grow crops, while organic farmers rotate their crops to keep soil healthy.

All of these production costs mean organic farming tends to be more expensive than conventional farming, and this is reflected in how much you pay at the grocery store. However, when you take into account the true “cost” of food production from conventional farming, including replacement of eroded soils, cleaning up polluted water, health care for farmers who get sick, and environmental costs of pesticide production and disposal, organic farming might actually be cheaper in the end.

In this economy, we would all like to save a few bucks on our groceries. Spend $4 extra on strawberries? No way, that money could be used towards the rent, or car payment, or filling up out gas tanks with these crazy prices! So how do you choose?  I like to approach every big change with baby steps. A change as big as your food type consumption can be very difficult considering you've known one way your whole life.  So your first baby step to leading a healthier, toxic free lifestyle is to eat as much organic as you can. I know it wasn't in my budget to add a few hundred a month (or week!) when we first started eating organic food.. With that, let me introduce you to the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15.

The Dirty Dozen is a list of fruits and vegetables with the highest percentage of pesticides. Most have a soft penetrable skin and flesh so that when chemicals are sprayed on them, they soak it up like sponges and it seeps deep into the meat of the fruit. Note: although not listed in the dirty dozen, ALL berries should be organic. Print this little cheat sheet off and take it with you to the store next time. If you ONLY buy these 12 items organic, you'll be significantly reducing your pesticide consumption.

On the other side of the chart you see the Clean 15. These are just the opposite of the Dirty Dozen: they have the lowest-zero percentage of pesticides. I read somewhere that onion plants are just not preferred by critters so farmers don't NEED to use chemicals on them. You'll notice that the Clean 15 items have a hard, thicker peel, pesticides can't penetrate down into the fruit so once you removed the peel, you have very little exposure. Lemons and limes are not listed but just note that if you'll be using the peel for zest, buy organic.

Probably the best way to acquire your weekly provisions is through a local farmer’s market. The food travels a shorter distance, which means less carbon emissions and food that hasn’t been shipped hundreds of miles or processed to keep it preserved during transport. The food comes from small farms where the farmers are usually conscious of their impact on the earth and care about the food they’re producing. By purchasing food from them, you also support the local food economy and know where your food is coming from. According to the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, food in the United States travels an average of 1,500 miles to make it to your refrigerator. Why take an apple off the truck when you’re a step away from plucking it off the tree?

Rock Star Boot Camp has teamed with Horny Toad Farms in providing a weekly CSA food bag pick up at the Road Runner Park farmer's market. The latest cycle is ending soon but another will be starting again mid-July. I'll make sure to send out more information on that as soon as it is available. The flier and information will also be posted in the Rock Star Boot Camp Fit & Healthy group on Facebook: a great resource of fitness, health, nutrition chit chat and community support and motivation. (JOIN NOW!)

For a few weeks now I've been eating a very low fat diet because of some gallbladder issues I was having (That's here on my blog: Honey, I Shrunk My Butt). I've been struggling with what I should be doing with my diet, I just couldn't wrap my mind around the topic for some reason. I started getting overwhelmed with all the terms.. no-fat, low-fat, trans fat, good fat, bad fat.. fat fat fat. So instead of worrying about it, I basically cut out as much fat as I could, even the "good fat." Then a discussion came up in the Rock Star Boot Camp Fit & Healthy Group on Facebook {JOIN NOW!} that reminded me that I NEED good fat. In order to be successful in weight loss and health, your body needs fat. It's a little hard to swallow because in our society it's hammered into our heads that fat is bad. So I did some asking around and searching on the interwebs. What is good fat and what is bad fat?

I found this article called Choosing Healthy Fat (<--- read that, it has SO much great information!) and I really liked how the author sums up the no fat/low fat debate in my head:

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Want More??

Rock Star Boot Camp is the official boot camp of the Phoenix Mercury! This is an exciting new partnership and we are proud to be associated with such an amazing sport and group of athletes. Watch for us at all the home games, on the Phoenix Mercury website, on TV and hosting several on-court events. We're also launching a Biggest Transformation Contest in conjunction with the Phoenix Mercury. More details will follow, but needless to say, it's a fabulous time to be a Rock Star!

The following blog post is an old one, already published by Curtis in 2009 but I was reading it and it's hilarious so I figured I' reblog it in case you missed it!


Summer (aka ‘swim suit & bikini season’) is approaching fast. Are you ready?



One of the best ways to get your mid-section looking strong and sexy is by doing high intensity workouts using full body exercises. One of our favorite camp traditions is to include a “finisher” to our already smokin’ workout…something to really ramp up fat loss to start showin’ off the abs.

Oh, and here’s a secret...in our camp workouts, you will NEVER...EVER do a traditional sit-up. Pretty cool, huh? ;)

Check out 3 of the best “ab” exercises that aren’t typically known as “ab” exercises at all…see what I mean here:



Alrighty...let's expose 2 of the biggest "ab exercise" myths on the planet:

Myth #1: Doing ab exercises will make you get six pack abs.

WRONG!

Fact: This is a complete misnomer and one that’s been around forever, and yet...walk into any commercial gym, and what do you see? Misguided folks plugging away at the crunch machine in hopes of revealing the magic 6 in the mid-section.



Let's cut to the point. The most important thing to do, is to GET RID of the fat surrounding your belly. That will reveal the Holy Grail of Abs.

Bottom line: No amount of crunches or sit ups are going to get you to burn fat around the belly. And since there is no such thing as spot reduction, the best way to get rid of belly fat is by doing high intensity exercises that helps boost your metabolism and burn fat throughout the day. Got it? Good. Now check out #2.

Myth #2: Side bends/oblique twists will thin and trim your waist.

WRONG!

Fact: If you are stuck on the crunch or ab/oblique twisty machine thing at the gym...stop it - for fat loss and revealing your slim and trim abs, this is a waste of time.



You want to spend a little extra time training your abs for strength and endurance, go right ahead.

But focusing on this for fat loss? Forgettaboutit.

Bottom Line: The only way to a lean out and thin your waist is by scorching the fat around your belly.

-Curtis

For more tips on getting lean and eating clean for bikini season, make sure to join our Rock Star Boot Camp Fit & Healthy group on Facebook!

Don't forget to check out Rock Star Boot Camp's Fit & Healthy Group on Facebook!

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Summer is here and you know what that means: pool parties, BBQ cookouts, and lots of sunblock! Grilled fish is a healthy alternative for your next cookout menu. Eating fish three times a week has been linked to better brainpower, lowered risks of some cancers, and a number of other health benefits too long to name. But what's the big fuss about farm raised fish or wild caught? Besides the taste (which, I can TOTALLY tell the difference) there are quite a few things to consider.

Farmed: PROS

Farmed fish are raised on land, usually in pools or tanks, but they can also be raised in offshore fish farms—areas of ocean that are netted off to keep the stock fish from escaping. The major plus of farmed fish is that they allow for a high yield of fish without the risk of over-harvesting and depleting wild populations.

Farmed fish are also usually considerably less expensive.

Farmed: CONS

Thousands of fish are crammed into pens, which leads to the growth of diseases and parasites that require antibiotics and pesticides. With offshore farms, nitrogen and phosphorous from feed and waste lead to algae blooms that can contaminate surrounding water. On land-based farms, heavy rains and floods can cause nitrogen to run off into nearby waterways, although many land-based systems use recirculated water that has been treated to remove high levels of the chemicals. Also, food fed to farmed fish is partially composed of wild-caught fish that may be contaminated with chemicals such as PCBs and cancer-causing dioxin. 

Wild Caught: PROS

Aside from chemicals like PCBs and dioxin, wild fish are free of all the problems listed above.

Wild Caught: CONS: Over-harvesting is a serious threat to many species of our favorite fish, such as blue-fin tuna. Thanks to technology and improved gear, ocean fisherman have increased their catch 400 percent in the last 50 years, leading to the virtual collapse of some species, such as New England cod. In addition to that, the techniques used by ocean fisherman lead to the destruction of other ocean ecosystems and to unintended by-catch (other sea creatures caught and killed in the fishing process).  Wild caught fish is pricier.


So what's the answer? Should you eat wild or farmed raised fish? It's not as simple as to choose one or the other for all seafood. Some fish-farming operations are better and more responsibly managed than others, and the same can be true for wild fisheries. HOW fish are caught is another thing to consider.

LOOK FOR THE LABEL! To find the most Eco-friendly fish,  look for the Marine Stewardship Council label, which is applied to responsibly managed wild fisheries.


In my opinion, consuming food from nature is always the best option. We like our vegetables without pesticides and genetic modification right? Well I like my fish to come from the ocean where they originate. You can really tell a difference between farm raised and wild caught fish!

I was born in Rhode Island and lived there for the first half of my childhood. I remember eating some of the BEST fresh caught crab. Crab all day. Crab salad, crab sandwiches... I was pretty spoiled with the fresh REAL crab meat. When I moved to Arizona, I didn't have the luxury of eating fresh coastal fish anymore so I'd lost the acquired taste for it. From the age of 6 to 21 I could not STAND fish. The smell, taste, look.... all of it just grossed me out. Odd for someone born in a coastal state, right? In 2009 I went on vacation in Hawaii. I promised my husband I'd try some fish, if I didn't like it then I wouldn't have to eat it, but I at least had to be open to trying. So I did. We went to a local fish market. The guy behind the counter told us what was available, and when it was caught (THAT MORNING)! Talk about fresh! So I sat at the table, ready to take my first bite... I was dreading it. If I remember correctly it was Opakapaka (red snapper) and IT.WAS.BLISS. I couldn't get enough! From then on, I ate fish the remainder of the trip. The thing was... it was fresh. Came right out of the ocean. Clean water, natural habitat food, and no pesticides or hormones.

When play time was over and had to return to reality we went to the fish counter at grocery store and tried to find something that resembled the most amazing fish we had been eating in Hawaii. No luck. We only found smelly, foggy-eyed fishies that you could just tell had been dead for a while. Whole Foods had wild caught fish on display so we tried that. It was good, (nothing like Hawaiian fish, but what is?) but still wasn't the best we'd had. I found that eating the frozen wild caught fish tasted the best. In Arizona, we have no surrounding oceans (obviously) to deliver us fresh caught fish, in a reasonable about of time from catching. So I believe that if they are flash frozen when caught and THEN delivered to use, we have a better chance of not eating decaying, smelly fish. That's just my two cents.

One fish that is a MAJOR staple in my home is canned tuna. Not Bumble Bee or Chicken of the Sea... I'm talking about the GOOD stuff! Wild Caught, Pole caught, Low mercury, packed in it's own juices and oils, no additives.. get the picture? Our favorites are American Tuna and Wild Planet. We get Wild Planet Skip Jack Tuna. The flavor is unmatched.

Try it and let me know what you think! Do you have a favorite fish recipe? Post it in the comments below!