Kristina K. Carlton wrote:
> I know supplements are not paleo but I do take some. As for fish, I would
> worry about eating fish at this point due to mercury or other harmful
> substances.

Heavy metals and other toxins in fish are easy to avoid by staying
away from farmed fish and fish that are high on the food chain.

Wild caught herbivorous fish are perfectly safe!  Also very young
wild caught fish of nearly any species are safe.  This is because
the concentration of pollutants in the oceans is not really that
high... the problem comes from the fact that carnivorous animals
concentrate toxins over time.  So the most dangerous fish to eat
are long-lived species of fish that themselves eat high on the food
chain, i.e. shark, tuna, swordfish.  A 20 year-old tuna may have
already eaten more than 10,000 kg of smaller carnivorous fish in 
its lifetime, meaning that it may have concentrated all the mercury 
from countless millions of liters of sea water in its meat.

On the other extreme are brisling sardines... very young AND 
herbivorous, they are a lot less likely to have any heavy metal 
contamination than almost any other meat, including meat from
mammals.  A baby calf is already contaminated with whatever
pollutants were in its mother's food, a baby sardine has spent
its short life in the still basically very clean open sea.

But in general... don't be paranoid about sea food, just be 
informed and careful.  Just stay away from known problem fish 
and mullusks.  Overall sea food is still some the best stuff 
you can put in your body.

:j