Omega 3 Fats’ Importance in Your Diet
Some experts promote vegetable source omega-3s such as flaxseed, nuts, and seed oils as perfect sources and fail explain the important difference between “short” (vegetable source) and “long” (marine source) chain omega-3s.
In the past I have met some people that have had a major influence on changing my thoughts on nutrition, some of which I knew, but when explained to me by them it seemed to make more sense. Dr. Gordon Chiu explained the importance of eating clean and the benefits of choosing foods that are raw, really fresh, or cooked properly; for example not microwaved or fried (ok, sure I knew this, but sometimes you have to hear it from the right person, at the right time, for it to sink in).
He liked to say “Remember that it is not only what you eat, but where it comes from!” Dr. Gordon taught me to not eat foods with preservatives in them, because your body does not make any enzymes that can break it down so it creates fat to surround the intruder, preservatives, and then stores it as fat. On assignment in Alaska I met Vital Choice Seafood President Randy Hartnell through Dr. Gordon and he had really driven home to me the importance of increasing your omega-3s in your diet and lowering your omega-6s. To increase your omega-3s and lower your omega-6s your fish should be wild, not farm raised, so it is eating the food it was meant to eat, not grain or vegetable oil that farm raised fish eat which increases your omega-6s which are bad for you.
In the past I have met some people that have had a major influence on changing my thoughts on nutrition, some of which I knew, but when explained to me by them it seemed to make more sense. Dr. Gordon Chiu explained the importance of eating clean and the benefits of choosing foods that are raw, really fresh, or cooked properly; for example not microwaved or fried (ok, sure I knew this, but sometimes you have to hear it from the right person, at the right time, for it to sink in).
He liked to say “Remember that it is not only what you eat, but where it comes from!” Dr. Gordon taught me to not eat foods with preservatives in them, because your body does not make any enzymes that can break it down so it creates fat to surround the intruder, preservatives, and then stores it as fat. On assignment in Alaska I met Vital Choice Seafood President Randy Hartnell through Dr. Gordon and he had really driven home to me the importance of increasing your omega-3s in your diet and lowering your omega-6s. To increase your omega-3s and lower your omega-6s your fish should be wild, not farm raised, so it is eating the food it was meant to eat, not grain or vegetable oil that farm raised fish eat which increases your omega-6s which are bad for you.
Some experts promote vegetable source omega-3s such as flaxseed, nuts, and seed oils as perfect sources and fail explain the important difference between “short” (vegetable source) and “long” (marine source) chain omega-3s. In short, to utilize the recommended short-chain omega fats, the body must first convert them into the long-chain form, which is a notoriously inefficient process: typically only 3-5% of the short-chain ingested is ultimately converted. In contrast, the body can readily use 100% of the long chain EPA and DHA omega-3s found in fish and fish oil. Omega-6s, when consumed in excess (as they often are) effectively cancel out omega-3s. Determining the optimal daily intake of omega-3s without considering dietary omega-6s, is like trying to figure out how much water it will take to keep a leaky bucket full; you first have to know the rate at which it’s leaking.
While omega-3s have been called “mother nature’s anti-inflammatory,” omega-6s are their pro-inflammatory counterpart, and compete with omega-3s in the body for enzymes needed to accomplish their many respective tasks. Ideally one wants a dietary balance where each are allowed to conduct their metabolic assignments efficiently and effectively. But when, as is typically the case, omega-6s dominate the diet all kinds of problems occur. While historically the ideal dietary ratio is thought to have been about even, or perhaps 2-1 in favor of omega-6s, presently the ratio is often 20 or even 40 to 1. As a result most persons consuming the Standard American Diet today are suffering from chronic “silent” inflammation, and will ultimately face one, or more, of the many related diseases, including cancer, heart disease and diabetes. We must correct this ratio to try to improve our health.
While omega-3s have been called “mother nature’s anti-inflammatory,” omega-6s are their pro-inflammatory counterpart, and compete with omega-3s in the body for enzymes needed to accomplish their many respective tasks. Ideally one wants a dietary balance where each are allowed to conduct their metabolic assignments efficiently and effectively. But when, as is typically the case, omega-6s dominate the diet all kinds of problems occur. While historically the ideal dietary ratio is thought to have been about even, or perhaps 2-1 in favor of omega-6s, presently the ratio is often 20 or even 40 to 1. As a result most persons consuming the Standard American Diet today are suffering from chronic “silent” inflammation, and will ultimately face one, or more, of the many related diseases, including cancer, heart disease and diabetes. We must correct this ratio to try to improve our health.
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