Keep Them Guessing With Oil of EFA

Posted by: Janet on: May 23rd, 2006  »  4 comments

Your family doctor keeps bugging you to take cod liver oil to prevent colds and flu. The orthopedic specialist keeps telling you to bone up on salmon to ease your arthritis. The cardiologist has been carping on you to eat more fish to lower your cholesterol and prevent heart disease. Maybe you should take the bait!

Ta da! Fish oils, one of the richest and most absorbable sources of Omega-3 fatty acids, are my #1 Top Supplement for Optimum Health! And I’m sure if I did a survey of natural health practitioners, they’d agree with me wholeheartedly (and if they’ve been taking their fish oils, healthy-heartedly). Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of fat that your body can’t manufacture. You can only get it from food, and sadly, due to our poor eating habits and even poorer food manufacturing processes, North American’ diets are dreadfully deficient in them. And that’s not good. Omega-3 fatty acids are vitally important to our health. In fact, scientists are going cookoo over Omega-3′ because their list of health benefits is so long. Here are just a few benefits of these essential fatty acids:

  • they’re heart-friendly and cholesterol-lowering
  • they fire up our immune systems to protect against disease, especially cancer
  • they ease inflammation and arthritis, promoting healthy joints
  • Omega-3′s have shown promise in helping kids with ADHD, who are often deficient in this important fatty acid
  • If you have kids with allergies, Omega-3′s are now being used by practitioners to ease those conditions
  • they stabilize blood sugar levels, helping to control diabetes and insulin resistance
  • the kind of EFA in fish oil is very beneficial for the brain (better than other sources of Omega-3′s). It can help ease depression, can help to boost memory and concentration, and protect against Alzheimer’s.
  • They relieve constipation.
  • Studies are showing that they can ease PMS symptoms. Yahoo!

Heck, Omega-3 fatty acids can even help us to shed pounds! Studies have shown that fish oils help dieters to lose weight, and it’s mostly fat, not muscle, that’s lost. Imagine! Eat fat to lose fat! Pssst! Every woman reading this will want to dive headfirst into a vat of fish oil when they hear this–Fish oils are one of the hottest anti-wrinkle, anti-aging compounds around. You don’t need the Ponds, just the fish! Better than Botox, even world-renowned dermotologist Nicholas Perricone (author of The Wrinkle Cure) highly recommends fish to prevent aging. It promotes beautiful, youthful, glowing skin, and provides nutrients that help strengthen your skin’s cells, repair damage and create a youthful you from the inside out. Why raise eyebrows with an expensive visit to a plastic surgeon when you can get a natural face-lift at home?

Beauty aside, you can plainly see that Omega-3′s are, indeed, essential. Good food sources, besides fish, are flaxseed, nuts (especially walnuts), Omega-3 enriched eggs, and green, leafy vegetables. In a perfect world, you’d be able to get all the Omega-3′s you need simply by eating fish. Unfortunately, studies now show that eating fish regularly can potentially expose you to contamination with industrial pollutants and toxins like mercury, PCB’s and heavy metals. That’s where fish oils come into play. The high-quality ones that you buy in a health-food store are virtually free of contaminants, making them a great source of health-promoting essential fatty acids. The best choices are ones derived from small fish, ones at the bottom of the food chain. They have the lowest amount of pollutants. Look for formulations containing a combination of anchovie, mackerel and sardines, for instance (there are lots of brands available). Did your Grandma force-feed you with teaspoons of cod liver oil when you were a kid? Well, she was one smart cookie! Cod liver oil is a super choice because it contains not only Omega-3′s but also vitamin A and vitamin D. Great choice for those who live in climates where sunshine is limited, particularly in the winter months).

Finally, the latest rage in fish oils, the ultimate source of Omega-3′s, is Neptune Krill Oil. Krill is a tiny, shrimp-like marine crustacean that feeds the world’s largest animal, the whale. Because it’s at the very bottom of the food chain, and taken from the pristine waters of Antarctica, it’s pure of all toxins. It’s also super-rich in essential fatty acids. But what makes krill such a thrill is the fact that it’s also super-rich in antioxidants, those free radical scavengers that protect our cells from damage and prevent aging. You get two, two, two benefits in one! Other fish oils can’t boast that. The antioxidants in krill oil have been scientifically proven to be 10 times more effective than beta-carotene and 100 times more effective than vitamin E. This teensy-tiny fish sure packs a whallop! Krill oil oesn’t go rancid very easily, either. In fact, it’ll last for 2 years outside your fridge and 4 years in the fridge! Wow! Perfect for travelling. Plus, it’s more absorbable than other fish oils, so you can take 1/5 the amount compared to other oils. It’s the krill of my dreams!

Just try googling krill oil on the net if you want to read more about.

That’s it for now. Gone fishin’!

Comments (4)

  1. Reply

    Patty | May 24, 2006 at 12:43 pm →

    Janet,

    Thanks for the info on Omega 3 and fish oil. I have been reading a lot about them and have been trying to eat more of it (flaxseed bread, salmon, etc) I was wondering if you knew what the dosage levels are for adults and kids? My son was diagnosed with sensory integration disorder and there have been articles saying that Omega 3 helps with it, since it is a nervous system problem. And since it is so healthy, I thought we would give it a try. (Also, interestingly, he has these really dry scaly patches on the backs of his arms, which, according to one article, is a sign of Omega 3 deficiency.) I am unsure, though, how much a child should take. He is 3-years-old, by the way.

    Thanks!!

    Patty

  2. Reply

    Janet Podleski | May 24, 2006 at 6:39 pm →

    Hi Patty,

    Thanks for your comment and I’m glad my Omega-3 blog info was helpful. I’d love to be able to answer your question about the dosage for you, but I’m uncomfortable giving medical advice about your child, especially since I don’t know the whole case. I hope you understand. Do you have a natural nutritionist anywhere near where you live? Or a naturopathic doctor? They can evaluate your son’s case and give you specifically-taylored advice. What I can tell you is that a typical therapeutic dose of EFA’s for an adult is about 2 grams per day. (most of the capsules contain 500mg, so you’d have to take 4 capsules.) But the dosage for your child may be different, so I’d encourage you to talk to a professional. Okee dokee?

  3. Reply

    Albert Fortin | May 24, 2006 at 10:51 pm →

    Interesting your blog, have you ever tasted the cod liver itself? It does not taste the oil and it is spredable just like butter, very good on toast.

    Albert

  4. Reply

    Moe | May 25, 2006 at 2:38 pm →

    Hi,

    What brand of krill oil do you recommend? I just phoned a health food store and it’s $21.95 for 30 capsules of the Maxian brand and $52.95 for 90 of the Quest brand. With all the other supplements I have been buying as per your recommendations this is starting to get expensive but worth it, I’m sure.

    Thanks

    Moe

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