If you enjoy seafood, you’ve definitely tried shrimp. It’s delicious, can be prepared in many ways, and packs a good dose of vitamins and minerals. They also provide you with a lot of protein, which makes them filling and satisfying.
But, if you’re following a low-calorie diet that’s aimed at losing weight, you might be wondering if you should add shrimp to your dietary plan. So is shrimp fattening, or can it actually help you lose weight?
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Is Shrimp Fattening?
Shrimp doesn’t contain too many calories per single serving, making it a weight loss-friendly food. Shrimp is also high in nutrients, such as protein, that help you stay full and prevent overeating. Along with all the vitamins and minerals it contains, eating shrimp as part of a healthy, balanced diet shouldn’t cause any weight gain.
How many calories are in shrimp?
A single three-ounce serving of shrimp, cooked using moist heat, contains 84 calories. This is not a lot, especially that almost all of these calories come from protein. This macronutrient helps you stay full by preventing overeating and weight gain. Because of that, shrimp isn’t fattening and may actually help you lose weight, especially if you eat it with some healthy fats and fresh veggies, such as spinach or asparagus.
The number of calories you’re consuming from shrimp varies depending on the cooking method. For example, if you fry your shrimp using a lot of butter or oil, you’re adding unnecessary calories that can greatly increase how many calories you’re consuming.
Because of that, the healthiest ways of cooking shrimp are using dry heat, moist heat, or grilling. These methods also yield the most flavorful shrimp.
Is shrimp healthy?
Shrimp is not only high in protein but also other essential nutrients. For example, a three-ounce serving of this type of crustacean provides you with around 48% of your daily recommended need for selenium.
This mineral acts as a powerful antioxidant that helps flush harmful chemicals and free radicals out of your body, preventing oxidative stress and damage. Selenium may also reduce the risk of certain types of cancer as well as cardiovascular problems.
Eating shrimp also helps you load up on vitamin B12. This micronutrient helps keep your blood and nerve cells healthy while aiding in producing your genetic material.
Because of that, ensuring that you consume enough vitamin B12 is essential for good health and the prevention of many serious ailments and diseases. Aside from shrimp, most other seafood, as well as beef and chicken, are a wonderful source of this vitamin.
Another nutrient that shrimp is a great source of is iron. This mineral helps preserve many bodily functions, including gastrointestinal processes, immune system, body temperature regulation, and energy levels.
It also helps prevent anemia by making hemoglobin, which is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. As a result, an iron deficiency can be very dangerous for your overall health, so it’s important to consume enough iron-rich foods.
Additionally, shrimp contains powerful antioxidants, such as astaxanthin and carotenoid. These two are responsible for reducing the risk of several chronic diseases along with protecting your body from inflammation.
What’s more, a recent study shows that these types of antioxidants may even increase the levels of ‘good’ cholesterol, thus improving heart health. As a result, adding shrimp to your diet may be incredibly beneficial for your cardiovascular system.
Shrimp is also one of the richest sources of iodine, which is a crucial mineral that many people are deficient in – particularly those who live in landlocked regions. Iodine is essential for proper thyroid function and brain health.
Because of that, consuming iodine-rich foods (or supplements if needed) can be beneficial for growing children and teenagers as this mineral helps improve and preserve cognitive function.
Can you gain weight from eating shrimp every day?
Shrimp is low in calories and high in essential nutrients. Because of that, you’re very unlikely to gain any significant weight from adding shrimp to your diet. What’s more, the high protein content also means that you stay fuller for a longer period of time, making you less likely to overeat. As a result, shrimp can be a great addition to a diet that’s aimed at losing weight in a healthy way.
The best way to ensure that shrimp won’t be fattening is to cook it without too much oil. Most recipes recommend using moist or dry heat or frying shrimp with some butter and garlic.
Doing so keeps all the nutrients and flavor in the shrimp, allowing you not to consume too many calories but still stock up on essential nutrients. It’s also important to include some healthy fats and fresh greens to maintain a varied diet.
Is it bad for your health to eat shrimp every day?
A single serving of shrimp contains a rather large amount of cholesterol. Because of that, people particularly sensitive to high-cholesterol foods shouldn’t consume shrimp and other seafood every day.
For the rest of the population, consuming the type of cholesterol that shrimp contains shouldn’t be harmful as studies show that it doesn’t negatively impact your heart or cardiovascular system as a whole.
Another thing to keep in mind is that seafood is known for containing large amounts of mercury, which can be toxic to your nervous system if you consume a lot of it. But shrimp actually contains the least mercury out of most seafood, so it’s one of the safer choices if you’re worried about the toxicity of this element.
What’s more, it’s best not to consume any seafood and fish (especially those high in mercury) as they may be harmful to the healthy development and growth of the baby.
Shrimp is one of the least fattening protein sources, making it an excellent type of food for people trying to maintain or lose weight healthily. Shrimp is also loaded with essential nutrients that contribute to good health and the prevention of various serious diseases. So, as you can see, there are only benefits to adding some of this delicious type of seafood to your diet.