Your complete guide to the delicious pescatarian diet

Fish and chips on a Friday may be a staple in your household, but did you know that tweaking your diet to include more fish, and less meat, can have plenty of health benefits too? Enter: the pescatarian diet. Here’s everything you need to know about fish-based eating, including easy ways to weave more fish into your week.

What is the pescatarian diet?

The pescatarian diet focuses on eating plenty of plant-based foods like vegetables, fruit, grains, beans, nuts and seeds, while still including seafood such as fish and shellfish. Meat and poultry, however, are off the menu.

The term pescatarian became popular in the 1990s and combines pesce, the Italian word for fish, with vegetarian. It's a flexible way of eating that swaps meat and poultry for fish and seafood, while still leaving plenty of room for plant-based foods. Whether you're reducing your meat intake for health, sustainability or simply to try something new, the pescatarian diet is an easy way to bring more variety to your meals.

What are the benefits of the pescatarian diet?

One of the biggest benefits of the pescatarian diet is that it naturally encourages you to fill your plate with more nourishing, plant-based foods, while avoiding red and processed meat. This means you may get more fibre, vitamins and minerals from colourful vegetables, wholegrains, beans, nuts and seeds. All this plays an important role in supporting your overall health and reducing your environmental impact.

Seafood brings its own nutritional perks too. Fish is a great source of protein, along with key nutrients like vitamin D, which can sometimes be harder to get from a vegetarian diet alone. Oily fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines and herring are a source of omega-3 fats, which can support heart health.

What’s the difference between the Mediterranean diet and the pescatarian diet?

At first glance, the Mediterranean and pescatarian diets have a lot in common. Both are built around plant-based ingredients like vegetables, fruit, wholegrains, beans, nuts and seeds. The biggest difference comes down to the types of protein they include.

The Mediterranean diet is fish-forward, but still makes room for meat. Each week, it recommends eating 2 to 3 servings of fish, with meat – especially lean options like chicken and turkey – appearing on the menu once. The Mediterranean diet also gives suggestions on the amount of dairy and types of fats to consume.

The pescatarian diet doesn’t offer  guidelines around dairy  or saturated fats, but does mirror the NHS national guidelines to eat at least 2 portions of fish a week, one being oily fish such as salmon or sardines.

Is the pescatarian diet expensive?

While fresh fish can sometimes be one of the more expensive items on your shopping list, the pescatarian diet doesn't have to cost the earth. There are plenty of budget-friendly options that make it easy to enjoy the benefits of seafood without overspending. 

Tinned fish, including sardines, mackerel and tuna, is an affordable and convenient way to add fish to your meals. Equally, frozen seafood is generally much cheaper than fresh, without losing any of the nutritional value. Swap tuna and cod out for cheaper cuts like basa and pollock too.  

How to get started on the pescatarian diet

Changing how you eat can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to happen overnight.

Start by giving your favourite meals a pescatarian twist. This could look like:

• Swap chicken for salmon in pasta dishes.
• Add prawns or white fish to your favourite weeknight curry.
• Prep some delicious sandwich filling for your lunches, using tinned tuna or salmon.
• Make a healthier version of pescatarian comforting classics such as oven-baked fish and chips, creamy fish pies and fish cakes.

Once you've found your feet, you can have fun discovering new recipes and ingredients along the way. We have a bank of pescatarian recipes to get you started.

If you'd like to make the switch even easier, a recipe box can help take the guesswork out of mealtimes. At Mindful Chef, we offer plenty of nutritious recipes each week that fit into a pescatarian lifestyle. Simply pick the meals you want to eat, and we’ll take care of the rest, sourcing the best ingredients and delivering them straight to your door.