Birth defects

Even though the amount of mercury you can ingest from a piece of sushi is very small, if you eat sushi on a regular basis this can be a cause of concern for you.

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A is caused by a virus that can inflame your liver and damage its functionality. Your liver is basically what fights infections and removes harmful poisons from your body, so if you contract Hepatitis A, it can greatly weaken your body’s natural ability to fight off germs.

Hepatitis A can be contracted by eating the raw shellfish, such as crab and shrimp. Symptoms include fever, nausea and loss of appetite.

However, it is treatable. You can get a Hepatitis A vaccine shot to help prevent the virus from attacking your body. Or, if you do contract the virus, by taking proper medication and resting, you can fully recover.

Worms and Parasites

Even though sushi chefs are trained to identify worms and worm eggs in raw fish, they can still slip by the preparation process.

Most fish have some type of worm or parasite in the, but they are killed when the fish is cooked. So eating raw fish offers an opportunity for worms and other parasites to travel into our digestive tract and attack our intestines. This can cause abdominal discomfort, weakness of the limbs and fatigue.

But don’t’ worry, the probability of contracting worms and parasites from raw fish is often slim to none. Mercury is still the larger concern.

High Calories

Yes, sushi has fish and vegetables in it, which are healthy by our standards, but when combined with other fancy ingredients, they can add up to an unhealthy amount of calories.

A California Roll, which has imitation crab stick, avocado and cucumber in it, has about 350 calories in it, whereas the popular Spicy Tuna roll, which includes tuna, hot paste and red pepper flakes blended with mayonnaise, has a whopping 450 calories! Not exactly a light lunch.

This information is not meant to scare avid sushi lovers from eating their favorite meal. In fact, sushi’s popularity will only continue to grow because it’s such a tasty and convenient food to eat, and we’re all about convenience here in America.

The purpose of pointing out these hazards is to show people that everything that we put into our bodies, especially the food that we eat, can have a dramatic effect on our eco-lifestyle.

In order to live greener, we need to take care of our environment so that whatever we get from it can keep us pure and healthy.