Seafood is an ideal choice for those on GLP-1 medications and wanting to manage their body weight. Being nutrient-dense, providing essential proteins and healthy fats (omega-3s), and a good source of vitamins like B12, D, and iron, seafood is an ideal food for those on GLP-1 medications like Ozempic or Wegovy.
GLP-1s are designed to promote weight loss, which is good. However, without the right diet and activity, it’s possible to lose muscle along with the fat, which is not good.
Seafood helps prevent muscle loss and also keeps you full. So really, it’s good for all of us! But for those taking GLP-1s, seafood helps manage nutrient gaps caused by reduced appetite and smaller meals. Seafood is nutrient dense without giving you empty calories.
If you’re taking a GLP-1 medication, it’s likely that you’re feeling fuller faster, eating less, or sometimes forgetting to eat altogether. Which is good for weight loss. However, it makes consuming nutrient-dense foods more important than ever, as you might fall short on nutrients on a daily basis. Protein plays a particularly important role in healthy weight loss and overall health, as it helps maintain muscle mass and supports strength that you will need for everyday health. Eating high-quality protein, like seafood, can also support the function of GLP-1 medications. In addition, incorporating healthy fats, like the omega-3 fatty acids in wild salmon, sablefish and other seafood, can improve how GLP-1 medications control blood sugar levels.
Strongman and strength and conditioning coach Alec Petrone notes how important seafood is for both strength training and injury mitigation and why athletes are increasingly seeing seafood as an important part of their training routines in this post.
Salmon, like our coho salmon, is a highly recommended protein, providing 22 grams of protein in 3.5 ounce serving, along with heart-healthy omega-3s. Our canned tuna is a pack of nutrition that you can carry with you. With 48 grams of protein and 5 grams omega-3 fatty acids per 7.5-ounce can, you’ll be good on your nutrient load when you make seafood a part of your weekly nutrition routine.
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center notes that eating healthy fats and omega-3s—like those found in fatty fish like wild salmon, halibut, sablefish, and tuna—increases GLP-1 release and also helps you feel full. Protein and fiber both help you feel full and can help stabilize blood sugar. A lean protein, like fish, helps keep your body from losing muscle instead of fat. Seafood also perfectly fits into the Mediterranean diet, which includes lots of fruits and vegetables, where you can get the recommended fiber. Plant-based diets that include seafood, such as a Mediterranean-type diet, are scientifically proven to be one of the best dietary approaches for the prevention of chronic disease and the improvement of overall health through nutrition. In particular, combining plants and seafood together as part of a regular diet creates a powerful nutrient synergy that not only includes the aforementioned protein and fiber, but fills in nutrient gaps, such as EPA, DHA, Vitamin D, and B12, that can be missing in exclusively plant-based diets. This nutrient synergy achieved with plants and seafood also improves absorption of essential nutrients that the body needs.
Eating seafood also has a beneficial role for those with type 2 diabetes by reducing insulin resistance while helping to increase weight loss. Reducing calorie intake, along with consuming both lean and fatty seafood has been shown to increase weight loss. Marine-derived polyunsaturated fats (aka seafood) appear to be particularly useful because of lipid mediators such as endocannabinoids and oxylipins, but other constituents of seafood such as the fish protein per se, trace elements or vitamins also seem to play a largely neglected role in weight loss, as one study noted. Polyunsaturated fats are essential healthy fats (omega-3s and omega-6s) that the body cannot produce on its own, yet are necessary for brain function, cell structure, and heart health.
Lean and fatty fish are both considered nutritious and a great source of protein, iodine and various vitamins and minerals, but fatty fish contain some important nutrients in higher quantities such as n-3 fatty acids and vitamin D.
Please discuss with your doctor eating seafood as part of your nutrition needs if you are taking any GLP-1s. But it is recommended to eat 90-120 grams of high quality protein like salmon, tuna or scallops, which are “power proteins.” And again, you’re getting lots of other high-quality nutrients in seafood, like vitamin D, iron and vitamin B12.
