Eating fish always seems easier on the stomach than eating a piece of meat cooked/served a similar way (ex: just grilled). Biologically why is fish easier to digest than say chicken or red meat?
In: Biology
I’ll try to ELI5 the best I can.
Imagine you have two kinds of toys: one is made of light, squishy foam, and the other is made of heavy, chunky blocks. Eating fish is like playing with the foam toys—it’s lighter and easier to handle. Fish muscles are different from those of land animals because fish don’t spend their lives fighting against gravity. This makes their muscles and the white layers between them much more delicate. Plus, fish store their fat as oils within their muscles and organs, while land animals have fat as thicker tissue.
Fish move their whole bodies from side to side to swim, so their muscles are more uniform, like a smooth piece of fabric. Land animals, like cows and pigs, have to deal with gravity and need a bunch of different muscles for all sorts of movements, making their meat less uniform and tougher.
So, when you eat fish, it’s like eating something made of light foam, while eating meat is like munching on those heavy blocks. Your tummy finds it easier to break down the light foam (fish) and it doesn’t sit as heavily as the chunky blocks (meat). That’s why fish feels less heavy than meat!
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