Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Everything You Need to Know About the Pescatarian Diet

Episode Date: January 10, 2020

Plant-based diets are more popular than ever, and for good reason. Research shows that people who eat an abundance of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains tend to live longer and stay healthier than those who eat little. You probably know this and, understandably, are considering a major overhaul to your diet, but aren’t wholly sold on the idea of cutting out animal products entirely. How are you supposed to get enough protein? Will you be able to cover all of your nutritional bases with plants alone? Will you actually enjoy your meal plans? Well, the short answer to each of those questions is “yes,” but it’s not necessarily easy because certain animal foods make it much easier to improve your body composition and stay healthy. That’s why more and more people are turning to “modified” vegetarian diets like the pescatarian diet, which is simply a vegetarian diet that includes seafood. Some pescatarians also eat eggs and dairy, as well, which is technically known as “lacto-ovo-pescatarianism.” As you’ll see, pescatarian diets require a little more fine-tuning than regular omnivorous diets, but if you understand and address the downsides and limitations, you’ll have no problem using the pescatarian diet to build a lean, healthy, athletic body you can be proud of. By the end of this podcast, you’re going to understand . . . - What the pescatarian diet is - Its pros and cons - The most common muscle-building mistakes pescatarians make - How to use the pescatarian diet to maximize muscle growth, fat loss, and strength gains - What foods to eat on a pescatarian diet plan - And more! Let’s start by defining exactly what a pescatarian diet is. 3:31 - What is the pescatarian diet? 5:36 - What are the benefits of a pescatarian diet? 16:37 - What are the drawbacks of a pescatarian diet? 26:05 - Does the pescatarian diet help with weight loss? 28:00 - Does the pescatarian help with building muscle? --- Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

Hey, Mike here. And if you like what I'm doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their lives, please do consider supporting my sports nutrition company, Legion Athletics, which produces 100% natural evidence-based health and fitness supplements, including protein powders and protein bars, pre-workout and post-workout supplements, fat burners, multivitamins, joint support, and more. Head over to www.LegionAthletics.com now to check it out. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code MFL at checkout and you will save 10% on your entire order and it'll ship free if you are anywhere in the United States. And if you're not, it'll ship free if your order is over $100. So again, if you appreciate my work and if you want to see more of it, please do consider supporting me so I can keep doing what I love, like producing podcasts like this. As I'm sure you are well aware of, plant-based diets are more popular than ever these days.

which does show that people who eat an abundance of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains tend to live longer and stay healthier than those who eat little. Now, this is probably not a surprise to you, and you may be considering a major overhaul to your diet. Maybe you watched The Game Changers and you're thinking that you should go vegan. the Game Changers and you're thinking that you should go vegan. And if that is the case, I recommend you listen to the interview I did with Chris Kresser on the Game Changers because it'll give you some food for thought. But in this podcast, we're going to be talking about the pescatarian diet because if you aren't wholly sold on the idea of cutting out animal products entirely because of some of the problems that it poses like getting enough high quality protein and

covering all of your nutritional bases and actually enjoying your diet and enjoying your meal plans, then the pescatarian diet is a worthy alternative. It is something that you should consider. In fact, more and more people these days are turning to modified vegetarian diets because you could call them like the pescatarian diet, which really is just a vegetarian diet that includes some seafood. And some pescatarians also eat eggs and dairy as well, which is technically known as a lacto-ovo pescatarian diet. But as you'll learn in this podcast, the pescatarian diet in its different varieties requires a little more fine-tuning than just your regular run-of-the-mill omnivorous diet, but if you understand and address the downsides and

limitations going into it, you will have no problem following the pescatarian diet or a pescatarian diet, whichever specific version fits your needs best. And you also will have no problem using this style of eating to build a lean, healthy, and athletic body that looks and feels great. Let's start at the top with what exactly is the pescatarian diet? Well, if you do a search online for pescatarian diet, you're going to find many, many opinions on what exactly you're supposed to eat with this diet. Some people say that you can only eat plants and fish, period. Other people say you can eat plants and any kind of seafood, including fish, of course, but also including things like mussels,

shrimp, and so forth. And still others say that you can even throw eggs and dairy into the mix as well and still call yourself a pescatarian. Who's right? Well, I think we can start with the dictionary. Let's see if Merriam-Webster can help us cut through the confusion. And the definition of a pescatarian is simply one who eats a diet, including fish, but no other meat. So anyone who follows a plant-based diet and eats seafood, but no poultry, beef, pork, or flesh from other land animals is following a pescatarian diet. Now, most pescatarians also do eat eggs and dairy, but that's not always the case. Now, this term pescatarian comes from combining the Italian word for fish, which is pesche, P-E-S-C-E, however you pronounce that in Italian, with the word vegetarian. Some people

also refer to this style of eating as vegiquarianism, which is cute. It's a combination of the words vegetarian and aquatic. In most versions of the pescatarian diet, there are no restrictions on the kind of seafood that you're allowed to eat. So that means you can eat fish, mussels, shrimp, and anything else that lives in the water and that isn't a mammal. That said, many proponents of the pescatarian diet also promote eating wild-caught seafood whenever possible. And from what I've read about wild-caught versus farmed fish in particular, there's really not that big of a difference nutritionally. It seems to be mostly just marketing hype. All right, now let's talk about benefits. What are the major benefits of a pescatarian diet? The three main reasons to follow a diet like this is,

one, research shows that it can reduce your risk of developing a number of diseases like cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Two, it is also high in nutrients that many people lack, that many people are deficient in. And three, it's easier for most people to follow than a strict plant-based diet like a vegetarian or a vegan diet. So let's talk about each of these points in a little more detail. Let's talk about this first one. The pescatarian diet is generally associated with better health. You will hear people claim that proponents of this diet and they are correct. The scientific literature

does show that on the whole, people who follow a pescatarian diet do tend to be healthier than your average omnivore. A multitude of studies have found that those who get the majority of their calories from plants have a lower risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and just about every other modern ailment. A good example of this is a review study, which is a study of studies, so to speak. It is like a meta-analysis, just less rigorous. And in this case, it was conducted by scientists at the University of Oxford. And what they did is they analyzed eight large-scale studies that track the health of people following different types of diets. And 30 to 60 percent of the dieters in each study were vegetarian. And what this allowed the scientists to do is to

directly measure the rates of disease and death among vegetarians and omnivores. And while vegetarianism is not exactly the same as pescatarianism, it's close enough to expect similar health outcomes. What the researchers found is that on average, vegetarians and vegans had a lower risk of being overweight or obese, diabetes, heart disease, gut diseases, cataracts, kidney stones, and arthritis, just to name a few of the conditions. And that sounds compelling. And if you were to take research like that at face value, you would quickly conclude that avoiding meat is absolutely necessary for healthy living, or maybe even avoiding animal products altogether is. The truth, though, is more nuanced than that. It's more complex. You see, the reason why your average vegan or vegetarian or pescatarian is healthier

than your average omnivore isn't just because of how they eat. Instead, their superior health appears to be due to a few factors. Cutting out meat eliminates many foods that are high in calories, high in saturated fat, and potentially unhealthy ingredients like artificially produced trans fats. Eating more fish is tied to a number of health benefits, such as a reduced risk of heart disease and Alzheimer's disease, which are largely thanks to just having more omega-3 fatty acids in your diet. And people who follow pescatarian diets also do tend to live healthier lifestyles on the whole. That's been shown in research, and the same goes for vegetarians and vegans as well. All three of

these categories of people, pescatarians, vegans, and vegetarians, they tend to smoke less. They tend to exercise more. They tend to eat less junk food and more fruits and vegetables and whole grains. And they tend to get more fiber in their diets. And all of those things make for a much healthier body. So what we're seeing here is that people who generally are healthier and are more health conscious and do more to take care of their health are more likely to follow a vegan diet or a vegetarian diet or a pescatarian diet. And that point alone partially explains why pescatarians and vegetarians and vegans do tend to be healthier than your average omnivores and why those associations have been seen in research. All right, let's talk about the next benefit of the pescatarian diet, which is

that it is high in key nutrients. Now, if you are currently eating like most Americans, I would suggest you change this immediately and switching to a pescatarian diet will absolutely increase your micronutrient intake and will positively impact your health. For example, research shows that pescatarians get more vitamin A, B2, C, and E, as well as other nutrients like carotene, calcium, folate, phosphorus, and fiber than your average meat eater. Pescatarians also tend to eat less cholesterol and sodium, which aren't bad in and of themselves, we know that, but they are generally signs of high junk food consumption. And thanks to their high fish consumption, or at least above average fish consumption, pescatarians also get more omega-3 fatty acids than omnivores, which benefits

the body in many ways, including reducing the risk of various types of disease like heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes in particular, decreasing systemic inflammation, improving mood, cognitive performance, and brain health, helping prevent weight gain, and even optimizing fat loss and muscle building. Now, research shows that a combined intake of about 500 milligrams to just about 2 grams of two crucial types of omega-3 fatty acids per day called EPA and DHA, icicosapentaenoic acid EPA and docosahexaenoic acid DHA, is adequate for maintaining sufficiency and health, but there are additional benefits that can be seen up to a combined intake of six grams per day. Now, research shows that most people's diets provide just one tenth of the amount of EPA and DHA recommended just to preserve

health and prevent disease. So with most people, even a moderate increase in EPA and DHA intake can provide significant long-term benefits. And fish, of course, is a great way to get in your omega-3s. A single serving of fresh or frozen salmon, for example, has anywhere from about 0.7 to 1.5 grams of total omega-3s. So it doesn't take much to hit the recommended amounts. Other fish that are rich in omega-3s include mackerel, sardines, and herring. Not my favorite. I would stick to salmon, as well as other high-fat fish that live in cold water. So the bottom line here is that the pescatarian diet is rich in several nutrients that the standard American diet is deficient in, especially omega-3 fatty acids,

which that alone explains many of the improved health outcomes that have been shown in research. Let's talk about the third benefit of the pescatarian diet, which is that it's easier to follow than strict veganism, for sure, and even vegetarianism. Now, as I've mentioned in this podcast and in many others, vegan and vegetarian diets definitely have their merits and they get a lot right, but many people also find them very hard to stick to because not only do these diets mean giving up some of your favorite foods, it means you also have to get creative to get enough high quality protein every day. And it means that you are probably going to struggle to find appropriate foods to eat when you are

dining out and when you are socializing. And the pescatarian diet, on the other hand, is easier to follow because it's more inclusive, to use a popular word these days. In other words, it is more flexible and more accommodating and thus more enjoyable and easier to stick to. Most restaurants, for example, have at least a few seafood-based options that would fit a pescatarian diet. So no matter where you go out to eat, you won't feel left out or tempted to turn to the dark side. You can also take any vegetarian dish or just about any vegetarian dish and add a small serving of fish or some other seafood to it and add some protein, some omega-3s and make it tastier. And finally, including fish in your diet gives you many choices when creating

your own meal plans because this can be tough when you are trying to only eat plants. And again, especially when you are training your muscles regularly and you're trying to eat a fair amount of protein every day, you know, somewhere around a gram per pound of body weight per day. And especially if you don't want to supplement with any vegan protein powders, it can be tricky. Try it. Again, it can be done, but you are going to have to get used to eating a lot of a relatively small number of foods. a lot of a relatively small number of foods, and you're probably also going to have to supplement with a plant-based protein powder as well. If you don't, what you will find is your calories and your carbs and your fats just don't work unless you can eat a shitload of food every day and not gain a bunch of fat unless you are very, very active otherwise. So the bottom line on the benefits of the pescatarian diet is that it is leagues ahead of how most people eat.

And if everyone here in America were to become pescatarians tomorrow, we would see a long-term decline in just about every major disease and dysfunction that currently plagues us. It wouldn't be the panacea, of course. It wouldn't solve all of our problems because we'd also need to see a dramatic rise in the amount of time people spend exercising every week and a dramatic drop in average BMI or body fat percentage if you wanted to look at it that way. We would need to see a very major improvement in body composition. But the diet change alone would be a great start. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth so if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well please do tell them about it it really helps

me and if you are going to post about it on social media definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at MuscleForLifeFitness, Twitter at MuscleForLife, and Facebook at MuscleForLifeFitness. So those are the major reasons to consider following a pescatarian diet, but there are a few drawbacks that you should understand and you should address if you're going to do it. So the three main problems with this diet are one, it can be high in mercury. Two, it can be lower in certain key nutrients than a diet that includes meat. And three, it's harder to follow than a plant-centric omnivorous diet. So let's look at each of these issues in more detail. Let's start with the first one, mercury. Now, if you work out regularly and you want to follow a pescatarian diet, you're going to have to eat quite a bit of fish to get enough high quality protein. And that's great for getting plenty of

omega-3s and other nutrients, but many fish also have high levels of mercury. For example, big eye tuna contains around 0.69 parts per million of mercury or around one gram of mercury per 1,500 kilograms of tuna. Now, that doesn't sound like a lot to understand because those are just abstract numbers. But if we compare those numbers to scallops, for example, we find that scallops on average contain just 0.003 parts per million of mercury or around one gram of mercury per 350,000 kilograms of scallops. Now this isn't exactly a problem if you're only eating a couple servings of fish per week, even big eye tuna per week, but it can become unhealthy when you are eating a couple servings per day or even more as some pescatarians do.

For example, research shows that high intake of mercury can cause nerve, brain, and DNA damage and especially in developing babies as many people probably know. here though is most of the fish that people like to eat on a regular basis really aren't that high in mercury with the worst being the following. Tilefish from the Gulf of Mexico, swordfish, shark, king mackerel, big eye tuna, orange roughy, marlin, Spanish mackerel, grouper, and then just tuna, any other kind. Tuna comes in at number 10. And then on the flip side, you have seafood with the least mercury include scallop, shrimp, clam, oyster, sardine, tilapia, canned salmon, anchovies, fresh or frozen salmon, and squid. So generally speaking, the smaller the fish, the less contaminated it is due to the principles of biomagnification. So what happens is the small fish gets eaten by the bigger fish and the bigger fish gets eaten by the bigger fish. And this

continues on and on. And the contaminants contained in the fish being eaten, of course, are then passing into the fish eating them. And this, repeated over and over and over time, causes contaminants to concentrate in higher and higher levels as you move up the food chain. Now, you may have also heard that fish contain other toxins like dioxins and PCBs. And while that is definitely true, research shows that the levels in fish and seafood are similar to that of other animal products and are generally too small to really matter, especially at the level of fish intake that we're looking at. If you were eating a ton of fish, it could become a problem, but you don't have to eat that much fish on a pescatarian diet.

And studies have also shown that the risk of these extra toxins are so small that the benefits of simply eating more seafood just far outweigh them. So the key takeaway here is that so long as you minimize your intake of the fish that are highest in mercury and you prioritize fish that are lowest, you should be totally fine. All right, let's talk about the next downside to the pescatarian diet, which is that it can be lower in certain key nutrients. How does that work? Well, by avoiding all poultry and meat, you are going to be reducing your intake of several nutrients, including vitamin D, vitamin B12, and iron. And as far as vitamin D goes, the pescatarian diet does fare better than a strict plant-based diet because the primary dietary sources of vitamin D are fatty fish, fortified dairy foods, and fortified breakfast cereals. And even then, most people who eat those foods don't get enough vitamin D despite eating

them and they don't get enough sun exposure to make up for it and really should just be supplementing. That's most all of us. But the pescatarian diet is going to get you more vitamin D than the average plant-based diet because some seafood is high in vitamin D, like salmon, for example, and herring and sardines. But other kinds of seafood are not, like shrimp, clams, and tuna. Those have very little. So if you are going to follow the pescatarian diet, it is a good idea to eat several portions of salmon or other fatty cold water fish per week to get great protein, to get omega-3 fatty acids, and to get some vitamin D. But keep in mind that even if you do that, you probably are going to need to supplement with vitamin D to keep your intake where it needs to be. Now, as far as vitamin B12 goes, this is something that

you want to watch out for on the pescatarian diet because vitamin B12 deficiency is most common among people who have cut out animal foods from their diet. And as far as fish go, they are not a good source of B12. Most fish have very little, but sardines, mackerel, and salmon are good sources along with dairy and eggs. So if you are going to be eating salmon, and if you're also going to be including some dairy and eggs in your diet, you should be okay. But if you do not plan on eating salmon, dairy, or eggs, then you may want to consider taking a B12 supplement to make sure that you don't develop a B12 deficiency. Now, as far as iron goes,

despite what you may have heard, pescatarians actually get more iron in their diet than most meat eaters. But there is a problem because they get the majority of their iron from plants, a problem because they get the majority of their iron from plants, which only contains a type of iron known as non-heme iron. And this form is not absorbed as well by the body and doesn't confer the same health benefits as the kind of iron that's found in meat called heme iron. Now, unlike vegans, for example, pescatarians do have a simple solution here. They can just regularly eat oysters, clams, shrimp, or other shellfish, which tend to be higher in iron. Okay, let's talk about the third and final drawback of the pescatarian diet, and that is it's harder to follow than a plant-centric omnivorous diet. So think about how many popular cuisines and dishes include plentiful amounts of beef, pork, poultry, and dairy. That's a pretty long list, right? Well, accordingly, the more of those foods

that you cut out of your diet, the harder it is to keep your meal plans interesting. And while a pescatarian diet offers more choices than a strict plant-based diet or a vegetarian diet, and if you have to make on-the-fly eating decisions, if you don't have a lot of time to give to planning your meals out and prepping your meals, you may get tired of eating the same few things day after day and week after week and month after month. And you may also find it difficult to stick to your diet if you are eating out a lot. On the other hand, if you don't really care about variety and if you are fine eating a small number of foods that you enjoy over and over and over, and if it takes you a long time to get tired of those foods, then this may not be an issue at all. You may

find a pescatarian diet just as easy to follow as an omnivorous diet that focuses on getting a lot of calories from plant-based foods, which is the smart way to be an omnivore, of course. So in this way, there's not that big of a difference between healthy and intelligent omnivorous eating, which is getting most of your calories from fruits and vegetables and seeds and legumes and whole grains, and then including some lean protein and maybe some dairy. That's really what it comes down to. There's not that big of a difference between that and replacing your lean proteins, your chicken and turkey and beef and whatever else you might like in terms of meat with fish and keeping dairy

or cutting it out, depending on your personal preference. There is no health benefit to eliminating dairy from your diet, and it is a good source of nutrition. It's particularly a good source of calcium, for example. And so if you are flexible with your pescatarian dieting, if you do eat dairy and you do continue eating eggs, if you currently eat eggs and you really then are just switching out your meat for fish, you should do just fine regardless of whether you desire a lot or a little variety in your meal plan. Now, many people who reach out to me to ask about the pescatarian diet are usually asking in the context of weight loss. Now, if you are familiar around here, you know that energy balance dictates weight loss more than anything else. And if you are not on board

with that, or if you don't really know what I'm talking about, just check out my podcast feed and search for energy balance, and you will find a long episode that I recorded on it and how it relates to losing weight and gaining weight. And so of course that doesn't change with a pescatarian diet, but I think it's fair to say that a pescatarian diet is conducive to weight loss, that it can help in your weight loss efforts by making it easier to control your calorie intake and to control your snacking in particular. Research has shown that and to make sure that you are eating enough protein so that you are losing as much fat and as little muscle as possible. And those are a few of the reasons why studies have shown that pescatarians do generally maintain a lower body

weight than regular meat eaters. So while I'm not really a fan of cutting out whole food groups to lose weight, I'm not a fan of restrictive diets because they just don't work well for most people. If you are going to follow a more restrictive eating plan, then a pescatarian diet plan is not a bad choice. And it is definitely more logical and it's going to be more workable than cutting out dietary boogeymen like lectins, carbs, gluten, and other quote-unquote toxins that people try to avoid to lose weight. Because while that can work if it results in a lower calorie intake, if it results in an energy deficit, it is generally not going to work as well as something like the pescatarian diet. Now, what about the pescatarian diet and building muscle?

Fewer people ask about this, but I figure I might as well address it quickly as we wrap up here. Now, as far as muscle building goes, so the quick answer is a pescatarian diet can work great for building muscle because the primary dietary factors that impact muscle building are calorie intake and protein intake. And then secondary to those things would be carbohydrate intake. Fat intake doesn't really even make the list because it doesn't impact muscle building much at all. Yes, you do need to make sure that you get enough fat in your diet because it's going to affect your general health, but particularly your hormonal health. But this is not hard to do, and you don't have to eat that much fat to do it.

Something around 0.3 grams per pound of body weight per day is all you need. If you look at your calorie intake, though, and how that impacts muscle building, it is dramatic. muscle building. It is dramatic. If you are not regularly in a calorie surplus, if you are not regularly eating more calories than you're burning, you are going to find it very hard, if not impossible, to gain muscle unless you're new to weightlifting. If you're not new though, if you have at least a year or two of effective, proper, heavy and hard weightlifting under your belt, you have probably already learned this. You know that you can no longer recomp, you can no longer chase lean gains. If you want to make considerable progress in your physique, in your body composition, in your muscularity,

you are going to have to consistently eat a bit more food than you want to. You are going to have to consistently be in a calorie surplus. And that's really what it feels like. The feeling is that you are essentially kind of force feeding yourself every day. Similarly to when you're in a calorie deficit, it feels like you are under eating because you are. And when you are trying to maximize muscle growth, you are overeating. That's how it feels. Now, of course, you can accomplish that just fine on a pescatarian diet, just as well as an omnivorous diet, really. And as far as protein goes, something around one gram per pound of body weight per day of high quality protein is all you need. And you can do that very easily on a pescatarian diet with eating fish. And especially if you are eating dairy and eggs as well. And if you are

supplementing, that makes it even easier, even if it's just throwing in anywhere from one to three scoops of protein powder per day, that can go far in helping you hit your protein target. And as far as carbs go, generally speaking, more carbs are better for building muscle. The more carbs that you're eating, the better your workouts are going to be and the more anabolic your body is going to be. I've written about this and I've spoken about this in detail before. I don't want to rehash it here, but research shows that higher carbohydrate diets generally result in more muscle and strength gain than the lower ones. And there are a number of reasons for that that I don't want to get into here. But as far as a pescatarian diet goes,

of course, it's very easy to eat as many carbs as you need to. And then lastly, you have fats. And because you are going to be eating a fair amount of fish or seafood on a pescatarian diet, your fat intake is going to just take care of itself, really. You take the fish that you're eating, and then you add in the other healthy foods that you should be eating, and they are also going to provide some good nutritious fats. And you may not have to supplement with omega-3 fatty acids either. You may not have to take fish oil if you're eating enough fatty fish every week, for example, which is a benefit, it is going to be cheaper. And many people don't like swallowing pills every day. So not having to do

that, or at least not having to swallow as many pills every day is generally considered a plus. So that's really it as far as the pescatarian diet and muscle building goes. It can work just fine. You just have to go through the process of making a proper meal plan like you would have to with an omnivorous diet. So those are all the main points I wanted to cover on the pescatarian diet. Really, you can think of this diet as a flexible vegetarian diet that allows you to combine the benefits of high protein and plant-based and omega-3 rich diets. That said, a pescatarian diet is not necessarily better in any way than a plant-centric omnivorous diet. Yes, a pescatarian diet is definitely healthier than how most people eat, but many of the health benefits that is associated with a pescatarian diet per se or a vegetarian

diet or a vegan diet stem not so much from avoiding meat and animal products, but more from just reducing the intake of shit, of highly processed, high-calorie junk foods, and replacing a lot of those calories with good stuff like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and healthy fats. So the pescatarian diet gets my stamp of approval. It is not an unnecessarily restrictive and extreme fad diet like the keto diet, for example, and it is not an unhealthy and potentially even dangerous option like the carnivore diet. And it's not a scientifically and ideologically flawed diet like the paleo diet. Instead, it is a simple and nutritionally

sound way to eat. And so if you like seafood and you want to stop eating meat, then the pescetarian diet might be perfect for you. And I recommend that you give it a go. That said, do remember the downsides that we discussed, the vitamin D, the vitamin B12, and the iron issues. If you don't do anything to make sure that you are getting enough vitamin D and B12 and iron, and you just eat kind of willy-nilly according to the simple guidelines of the pescetarian diet, you may end up developing a deficiency or two or three over time. Fortunately though, you can easily prevent that with supplementation or just making sure that you are eating enough of the key foods that provide enough of those key nutrients. Legion Athletics, which produces 100% natural evidence-based health and fitness supplements,

including protein powders and protein bars, pre-workout and post-workout supplements, fat burners, multivitamins, joint support, and more. Head over to www.LegionAthletics.com now to check it out. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code MFL at checkout, and you will save 10% on your entire order. And it'll ship free if you are anywhere in the United States. And if you're not, it'll ship free if your order is over $100. So again, if you appreciate my work and if you want

to see more of it, please do consider supporting me so I can keep doing what I love, like producing podcasts like this. All right, well, that's it for today's episode. I hope you found it interesting and helpful. And if you did and you don't mind doing me a favor, could you please leave a quick review for the podcast on iTunes or wherever you are listening from? Because those reviews not only convince people that they should check out the show, they also increase the search visibility and help more people find their way to me and to the podcast and learn how to build their best body ever as well. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then simply subscribe to the podcast and whatever app you're using to listen, and you will not miss out

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