Scratch that. I think 90% of the people out there have heard the message over and over: diet and exercise but the conflicting messages you get, coupled with famous people talking about good health but oh yeah, they are SELLING the very products they tout, make a muddied mess in your brain about what you really need to do for good health.
This is because no one REALLY knows. That's right, I said it. You can use your best guesses based on past knowledge and this study or that study, but no one really knows. It is a crap shoot.
When DH and I went to the nutritionist after his stroke, we expected to hear something we DIDN'T know. Now, we are not idiots and I have been interested in nutrition for many many years and its effects on health. She was a personable, fairly young woman. I mention her age group so you will know that it has probably been about 5-7 years since she was in school. We heard all the usual: eliminate white flour/sugar but she also said: Do not eat nuts, and essentially eliminate oils/fats from your diet, and please do not eat eggs. According to most learned people today, this is old-thinking in the worst way. The Mediterranean Diet that so many doctors recommend today touts nuts, (yeah, yeah, not those Planter's Mixed Nuts in deep fried oil bliss) healthy oils, eggs, and yes; fish, poultry, and lean red meats.
It's no wonder you go nuts thinking about nuts AND OILS. Anyway, back to The Omegas (sounds like a singing group) What are they? Why are they "essential"? I turned to the greatest authority in the land: The internet.
(When doing research online, please be aware that a lot of
those sites are TRYING TO SELL YOU SOMETHING.)
Omega 3: Alpha-linoleic acid (ALA)is the "parent". Your body cannot it on its own, this makes them "essential". These get metabolized into EPA and DHA (eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). You thought it was some sort of environmental agency, right? Nope, they perform lots of good things for your body, not the least of which is anti-inflammatory properties.
You can find these in certain "fatty" sea foods such as mackerel, oysters,wild salmon, and sardines. But if you are a vegetarian, you can find it in flax seed, hemp seed, walnuts, canola oil, eggs, pumpkin seeds, algae. How much should you get a day? I have always been a huge believer in diet over supplements, but maybe you hate fish and don't eat a lot of veggies. If you eat fish twice a week, this should give you all you need! If you don't, consider a supplement of 800-1000 mg of Omega 3's. BEWARE: not every supplement makes this clear. Some say for example "contains 1000 mg of fish oil" but that doesn't mean they contain 1000 mg of Omega 3's. Another problem, as you age, your body has a harder time converting the ALA into EPA and DHA. UGH.
Omega 6: The "parent" is Linoleic Acid which is an "essential"fatty acid. Guess what? We get this in spades in our diet which often results in an imbalance of 6's to3's. You can find this in sunflower oil, Safflower oil, Canola oil, Soybeans, and eggs as well as just about every processed food out there.
Sounds good, right? What's the problem here? Well, Omega 6's are known to cause inflammatory responses. So, if you have arthritis or auto-immune disorders, you just sucked in your breath. If you don't have those, here's another problem: Inflammatory responses can also bring on heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimers, oh the list goes on! So, a relatively healthy person should sit up and take notice: Inflammation: BAD, balance: GOOD. In most cases, we draw plenty of old Omega-6's, so you might want to pay attention as to how much is too much.
Here are some good internet sources not trying to sell you anything that go more into depth about Omegas 3-6-9:http://www.umassmed.edu/healthyhearts/tipsheets/omega3.aspx
http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/differencebetweenomega369.aspx
Now onto Omega 9, which is really why I wrote this today. In Dr. Oz's column today, he wrote about the benefits of Omega 9's and its great source of olive oil, not to be confused with Olive Oyl, Popeye's gal pal. However this picture of Olive Oyl demonstrates how olive oil might be a good heart-healthy oil.
http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/12/drs_oz_and_roizen_olive_oil_ju.html
Well obviously this is an essential oil, right? Turns out I had this ALL wrong. It is not considered "essential". WHAT???? What "essential" means in this context is this: Our bodies make plenty from unsaturated fats in our body. So, you most likely do not need a supplement. Hmm, doesn't this fly in the face of all you thought you knew? It pretty much slapped me upside the head. Truly. But here is something interesting: When your body does not produce enough 3's and 6's, it draws on 9's. Isn't that a kicker? So it appears what might be lacking in our diets is not the 6's or the 9's but that pesky Potion No. 3, the Omega 3's. But it is so confusing when you go read labels. For instance, we were told by DH's PCP to get on flax seed and fish oil supplements for his cholesterol levels ( long before his stroke). No guidelines of how much or explanation of what they do. We traipse off to Costo: Provider of all Supplements to check it out. I am sitting here looking at the bottles and realize that John/Jill Doe would not have the slightest idea what to look for.
Bottle one:Fish Oil 1200 Mg...what does THAT mean? That there are 1200 mg of Omega 3's? Look on the back: 2 capsules provide 2400 mg of fish oil but that equals 720 mg total of Omega 3's or 360 EPA, 240 DHA and 120 of "other". To top it off, the fish is from Peru. Not that there's anything wrong with that per se, but we are careful not to get fruits and veggies out of season from foreign countries, due to poor regulatory guidelines, is fish oil the same?
He also takes something called Triple Omega providing 3-6-9 all rolled into one. 1 capsule provides 434 mg of 3's, 276 mg of 6's, and 170 of 9's. It is from fish/flax seed/safflower/olive oil. The fish (no origin stated) is from anchovies and sardines If we go on the recommended ratios, he is getting way too much 3's and not enough 6's and 9's. Confused? Ideally, you should get two to four parts 6's to 1 part of 3's. Huh? what about the 9's? Here's the fun part: If you are getting enough 3's and 6's, your body converts it to 9's readily, but since our bodies are somewhat deficient in 3's or they are overly heavy in 6's, that is where the problem seems to lie.
If you are vegan or vegetarian and don't want to take fish oil, there are some other alternatives. Here is a link that helps explain it far better than I can.
http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/veganepadha.aspx
I am re-thinking all that I have known/heard/surmised. Here's our newest plan: We plan on adding 2 servings of fish per week, up the hemp seed (sprinkling it on other foods), eating more avocado, we already use olive oil almost exclusively in cooking, but heating it up you lose some valuable properties, therefore we will eat more added to salads "cold" .
Do you worry about whether it is "Extra Virgin"? No, this is not a porn movie, but EVOO is the first pressing (which can mean pressing or centrifuging by mechanical means, not chemical means) of the olives. If you buy "pure olive oil" you may be getting olive oil that has used charcoal as a filter, so look for EVOO for taste as when you are using on salads.
"Virgin" olive oil, is also produced by pressing or centrifuging, just not the "first" pressing. Believe it or not, there is an International Olive Council that determines these designations, but the US is not a part of it. One thing the US requires is that there is the country of origin on the bottle. If you are thinking that they are all from Italy, "Credo che ancora bambino": (Think again, baby) You may be getting oils from all over the world mixed together. Just be watchful if this matters to you.
I plan on tackling other food/diet related things in the upcoming days as we try to sort out the huhs from the whats and whys. Happy Eating! And by all means, read those labels!
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