WaiDiet - Fish and Eggs

Fish and Eggs

In the beginning it's necessary to be careful with eating raw fish and egg yolks, because one needs to get used to the bacteria. Later this becomes far less of a concern.

Fish
Fish can be eaten raw, the Japanese have been doing that for ages. They call it "sashimi". Things to consider with fish are the freshness and parasites.

Freshness
The safest, but also most expensive, is to eat sashimi in a Japanese restaurant, preferably run by Japanese or with a Japanese cook.
The older fish gets, the more 'fishy' it will smell, and the flesh will become less and less firm. The easiest to judge freshness is with whole fish. The gills should be moist and bright red (except for mackerel, whose gills are brown). The scales must be both intact and shiny, and firmly attached to the body. The cut edges must have a fresh scent and be moist. If you lightly jab your finger into the meat, it should bounce back. Fresh fish have convex eyes that aren't bloody, but bright white - with shiny black pupils. Fresh fish does not smell.

Parasites
The risk of absorbing parasites that can cause ill effects is extremely small. There are three possible kinds of parasites:
1. Flukes are too big to remain unnoticed. They also are extremely rare.
2. Nematodes look like big, but short human hair (25-150 mm long, 2 mm in diameter). They lie perpendicular to the fishes' muscle striations (the pattern of striae in the flesh) and have a white translucent sheen. Nematodes cannot survive in humans, and only may cause temporary ill effects, such as bloating, cramping and diarrhea.
3. Tapeworms the only type of worms that can survive in humans, but their intake can be easily prevented. Tapeworms are found in the internal organs (especially the intestines) and body cavities of the fish. Avoid ingesting them by only eating the flesh of the fish, staying away from all organs. Tapeworms can be easily eliminated with certain drugs.

Eggs
1. Don't wash the eggs before storing them, as washing the shell allows bacteria and molds to enter the egg.
2. If there is a crack in the shell, don't eat it.
3. Before cracking the egg, check for freshness.
4. To be able to properly judge the freshness of an egg, it's contents need to be at room temperature; eggs that are stored in the fridge and are opened right away seem fresher than they are. The eggs that you want to check freshness of, should be kept outside the fridge for at least an hour prior to opening them.
5. Use one or more of the following methods:
- Check all the eggs by rolling them across a flat surface. If they don't roll wobbly, they are not fresh.
- Shake the eggs; when they dash, they are not fresh.
- Immerse the eggs in a pan of cool, salted water. If an egg rises to the surface somewhat, it's not fresh. If the egg emits a tiny stream of bubbles (which means the shell is porous/contains a hole), don't consume it.
6. Open the egg and separate yolk and white. The egg isn't so fresh when:
- the egg white is watery instead of jelly-like
- the egg yolk is not convex and firm
- the egg yolk bursts easily
7. If the yolk smells 'different', don't eat it.
8. Consuming not-so-fresh egg yolk can give cramps and the runs.

Do not eat raw egg white, for it contains substances (Avidin and Ovomucoid) that inhibit the absorption of vitamins.
Do not eat the 'bag' containing the yolk and the string attached to it.
Egg yolk can be eaten separately, or combined with banana, orange juice, etc.

The first 3 days consuming fresh raw egg yolk, take only one teaspoon of it, so that the immune defense system has the time to adapt to the small amount of bacteria in the egg. The next 3 days take one whole egg yolk. The next 3 days after that one yolk more, and so on. That way the immune defense system will be properly trained to fight bacteria.

[BACK]


Wai World