Yes, there is such a thing as eating too much food. This is why you use portion sizes which help you figure out how much you and your guests can eat for meals.
It will help you reduce the chances of over or under-eating. Both of these cause problems because they can lead to you gaining excessive amounts of weight.
Sometimes, people tend to do this with meat, and one meat people do this with is shrimp. In this article, you’ll find out how much each person gets, if you can eat too much shrimp, and finally, what are the benefits.
Contents
How Much Shrimp Does Each Person Get?
Like with other meats, there is a certain amount of shrimp every person could get. You do need to keep in mind the size of the shrimp and whether it has been raw or unpeeled first.
If you are getting a frozen meal with shrimp that just needs to be heated up in an oven, then the portion size will be right on the box, but outside of this, you need a general estimate.
When you go to the store, you should purchase about 1 pound of shrimp per person if it’s raw and unpeeled. If the shrimp is already cooked and peeled, then consider getting ½ to 1/3 pound per person.
Shrimp is a very delicious food, so you might be tempted to get more than necessary. We would advise against this because seafood can easily go bad in the fridge, and too much seafood isn’t always good for you.
This is something we will touch on in the next section because no one wants to get sick!
Can You Eat Too Much Shrimp?
Unfortunately, eating too much shrimp can cause grave issues for your body. Eating a lot of shrimp can cause you to get high cholesterol. This is an issue because high cholesterol can cause a lot of issues for your heart.
With high cholesterol, fatty deposits form on your blood vessels, and then there isn’t enough blood flow in your body. It can lead to heart attack, chest pain, and, finally stroke. All of these are profoundly serious.
The issue is there aren’t many symptoms. The only way you are going to find out is if you go to the doctor and have them do the blood test. Once you get to a certain age, they do this all the time, so don’t worry.
Another issue that can come about with eating a lot of shrimp is iodine poisoning. Iodine poisoning is when you have too much of the chemical in your system.
To end up with iodine positioning, you’d have to eat about 207 pounds of shrimp in one sitting to get this. So, the chances of this happening are pretty slim, but you never know what can happen, so it’s best to be on your guard.
Symptoms of iodine poisoning include stomach pain/diarrhea, not eating, coughing, delirium, fever, gum/tooth pain, and a metallic taste in the mouth. Remember, this is very rare for you to get, but just keep in mind that it could happen from eating too much shrimp.
It doesn’t hurt to be prepared! For the most part, however, there don’t seem to be many consequences of eating too much shrimp aside from getting high cholesterol. Because of this reason and this reason alone, you should consider not overdoing it when shrimp is involved.
There is nothing wrong with moderation. Remember that next time, you go for seconds.
What Are the Benefits of Eating Shrimp
You will find that there are a decent number of benefits to eating shrimp. They include:
- If you are on a diet or want to lose some weight, shrimp is a great way to help maintain or lose weight. Shrimp is exceptionally low in calories and has a lot of potassium and phosphorus in it for your body. Not a bad trade-off, huh? Of course, if the shrimp is fried, then the number of calories in it will increase, but you can say this about any fried food out there.
- While you can have too much iodine, shrimp does provide your body with a good amount of iodine and also has omega-fatty acids. Iodine alone is great because it can help keep your thyroid and brain functioning properly.
- Shrimp has a lot of antioxidants. The great part about antioxidants is that they can help improve your health in many ways. Shrimp is high in astaxanthin, in particular.
- Astaxanthin can help strengthen your arteries. This is good because it can help lower the chance of heart attacks. You want your heart to be as healthy as possible because you only get one!
- Another thing astaxanthin can do is help with your brain health. It could prevent damage to brain cells and lessen the chances of memory issues. The biggest thing about the heart and brain health findings is that they need more research to prove this without a doubt.
These are the biggest benefits of eating shrimp. Shrimp is a delicious food, and when eaten in moderation, it can help boost a lot of things in your body.
Of course, keep in mind a seafood allergy is quite common. Shrimp falls into this category, and you don’t always have to have it from a young age. Sometimes it can come on when you are older just out of nowhere, so just be aware.
Final Thoughts
And there you go, all you shrimp lovers out there! The first thing we touched on was how much shrimp each person should get for their meal.
This way, you won’t get your guests sick. The next subjects we touched on are if you can eat too much and the general benefits of eating shrimp.
There can be too much of a good thing, and food falls into that category. By following portion sizes, you’ll make sure your weight will stay under control.
Well, that, and you won’t have to risk feeling overly full. It’s not a pleasant feeling.
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I have been smoking and grilling meat from an early age and enjoy sharing my knowledge and expertise through the hundreds of articles I have written about BBQ. I hope to make everyone’s BBQ journey that little bit easier.