Some who stop eating meat continue eating fish in the belief that it’s good for them and that fishing is less cruel and destructive than farming - nothing could be further from the truth. We need fats called essential fatty acids for our cell membranes, brain and nervous system. They help regulate blood pressure, blood-clotting, immune and inflammatory responses and are called ‘essential’ because we can’t make them in our bodies, we must get them from food. ALA is an omega-3 essential fatty acid found in plant foods such as flaxseeds, rapeseeds, soya, walnuts and their oils. We convert it, in our bodies, into the longer-chain omega-3s EPA and DHA. These are also found in oily fish, which they obtain from algae. Conversion rates in the body can be low, which is why some people insist that fish oils are essential for health. They are not, in fact, they could be doing more harm than good. UK guidelines recommend that we should eat at least two 140g portions of fish a week, one of wh...