Take your Fish Oil!
18. Mar, 2010 
3 Comments
If you are serious about bettering your nutrition then fish oil should be your second priority; food being the first.
But why take Fish oil?
Fish oil is a rich source of a category of fatty acids called omega-3s (specifically EPA and DHA). The ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to another category called omega-6s is important to the function of a whole lot of hormonal and cellular processes in the body–including a lot of things having to do with insulin response (and the chain of hormonal reactions that it sets off), inflammation, blood cholesterol management, and immune-system, cardiovascular, and neurological function, etc.
Unless you supplement with omega-3s, pretty much everyone in the U.S. gets way (way!) too many omega-6s and not enough omega-3s. Fish oil is an easy–and relatively inexpensive–way to help restore the balance. The super-short answer is: it’ll help you lose weight, control cholesterol and blood pressure, regulate hormone levels, and generally stay healthier.
How much should I take?
It will vary from person to person depending on body weight. Here are the recommendations by nutrition guru Robb Wolf.
- Start off with 5 Grams spread out through the day. If you end up getting the Costco brand, it is 300 mg per pill and it will come out to 16 pills though out the day. So if your eating 4 meals a day, just take 4 caps a meal.
- Ideally, you will work your way up to 1 gram per 10 lbs of body weight. So, if you weight 150 lb then you will be taking in 15 grams.
This may seem like a lot but these are the amounts you will need to get to that 2 to 1 Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio. Here are a couple things to consider.
- If you are eating large amounts of grass fed meat, Omega 3 enriched eggs, or sea food then your fish oil consumption should be less then the recommendation above.
- The best deal I have found is at Costco where it is 400 pills for about 10 bucks.
- If you want the best quality fish oil, Nordic Naturals is very good.
- If you are getting fish burps then you can keep the bottle of pills in the freezer. This freezes them and lets the pills go farther into your intestines before breaking.
- If this is just way to many pills for you to handle, you can try liquid fish oil. Depending on the brand and potency you will only need 2-4 spoonfuls a day.
Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. – Hippocrates
Author
Because I have had a reaction to Fish Oil pills in the past at the advise of my doctor I now purchase the MegaRed Omedga-3 Krill Oil softgel pills from Costco, about $18 a bottle. Such a difference, you don’t have the nasty fishy taste, and if you want you can freeze them for better digestion. Just a suggestion to anyone who may not be so keen on the Fish Oil idea.
Excellent article Chris, keep up the great work! I’ve tried different brands of fish oils including Finest Natural (found in Walgreens), Wild Alaskan Salmon OIl (found in Costco), and Nordic Naturals.
Recently, Jackie discovered Fortifeye Super Omega-3 Fish Oil working in an optometry office. They recommend it to patients for dry eye treatment.
I don’t recommend a lot of products, but this brand is top quality, even better than Nordic Naturals. One serving (2 softgels) contains 860 EPA/580 DHA which is the reason for taking fish oil in the first place. They are very pure, lacking the Ethyl Esters (http://bit.ly/avmxcb) found in mass produced, lower quality fish oils. Simply put, you can take less pills because each one is more potent.
Here’s the link for Fortifeye: http://bit.ly/cQojgx