One question which gets asked a lot is “Is salmon good for you?” In short, the answer is a resounding “Hell Yes!”
Can you tell that I just LOVE salmon? 
Tinned or fresh, I love it all the same, although will use tinned mainly for lunch and fresh mainly for dinner recipes.
I know I can’t expect you to be convinced just by that answer, since you’re probably thinking how can something that has sooooo much fat be healthy?
That’s because of the type of fat which salmon contains – there’s fat and there’s FAT if you didn’t know that.
So Why IS Salmon Good For You?
OK so salmon does contain a lot of fat – but it’s the right kind of fat! That’s why salmon is good for you.
Omega 3 Fatty Acid
Salmon contains Omega 3 fat, which is polyunsaturated and is essential for both adults and kids alike. There’s been a lot of research into the Omega fats and the findings strongly suggests that incorporating more Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet helps prevent heart disease. It doesn’t only prevent heart disease either. If you’ve already had a heart attack, you can dramatically cut your chances of having another heart attack if you increase your Omega 3 fat consumption even after the dreaded event.
Omega 3 fat also promotes healthy skin, and healthy joints.
You can get Omega 3 fat from other fish sources of course, but generally salmon contains a higher proportion of this life giving fat than other fish sources, such as yellow fin tuna, although mackerel does contain more than salmon.
Just as a comparision, meats such as chicken, pork and beef contain almost no Omega 3s!
Saturated Fat
Everyone knows that saturated fat is bad for you. So it’s good to know that salmon not only tastes great, but contains approximately 1/3 of the saturated fat that beef contains, and only 1/2 the saturated fat that chicken will give you.
High Protein
Salmon is good for you because it’s a high protein food.
You can get as much high quality, complete protein from a mouthful of salmon as you can from a mouthful of chicken, beef, pork or tuna.
Protein contains amino acids which is essential for body growth and maintenance of muscle tissue. If you’re looking to lose weight, then you need an active metabolism, and amino acids help promote that.
Cost Effective
Although Salmon can SEEM expensive when you look at the price per pound or kilo compared to other fish or meats. In reality it really isn’t expensive since 100gms of salmon is actually really filling, even for a grown man.
My tip would always to buy salmon fillets with the skin ON. It’s actually really quick and easy to take the skin off the salmon if you don’t like it, compared to the cost of buying salmon already skinned. Any food you buy which is pre-prepared in any way, you’re going to pay more for.
A really good tip for skinning salmon, or any fish for that matter, is to coat the end of the fillet with coarse sea salt so you can get a firm grip, otherwise it can be quite slippery. Once you have a firm grip of the tail end, take a sharp knife, angled, and start to come between the skin and the flesh of the fish. Keep working your way along the fish, bit by bit, gripping further up as you go until the skin is totally separate from the flesh of the fish.
Conclusion
All in all, salmon is truly a gift of nature – natural, nutritious and above all – tasty! Check out one of my family’s favourite salmon recipes here.
Hopefully, now you’ve read through this article, if someone ever asks you “Is salmon good for you?” you can confidently answer that question with a resounding Hell YES!