Get Your Omega-3s From Natural Sources
By Al Sears, MD
On a recent trip to the grocery store, I noticed a tub of margarine with the label "Now with added omega-3s!" Whenever a new trend hits the market, companies everywhere try to capitalize on it. In this case, it’s a bandwagon you’ll want to jump on yourself.
You’ve heard about the heart, brain, and joint benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. Getting enough in your diet is critical, because without them your risks of heart disease and cancer skyrocket. But getting omega-3s from a product as processed and unnatural as margarine is wrong on many levels.
First, no one knows what happens when omega-3s are isolated from their natural sources. I doubt very much that they have the same disease-fighting benefits. Second, processed foods are still an untested experiment - regardless of the nutrient you try to add.
Margarine is a tub full of chemicals, put together in a lab. Despite what the label says, it will never be natural. The same is true for many of the other products that are now claiming to have added omega-3s, like breakfast cereals and processed cheeses.
For the real benefits of omega-3s, go to the original sources. Fish and nuts are good places to start. Whole-food supplements like cod liver oil are ideal. They’re effective and affordable. What’s more, they’re natural. And natural means they have been tested by evolution.
You can easily add nuts to your lunch salad or grab a handful as a snack. Walnuts are particularly good sources of omega-3s. For an even more potent natural mix of omega-3s, take five grams (one tablespoon) of cod liver oil daily. Make sure you get a brand tested to be free of mercury and PCBs.
__________________________________________________
Word to the Wise: Troglodyte
A "troglodyte" (TROG-luh-dite) - from the Latin name for a primitive group of cave dwellers - is a person who is regarded as reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish.
Example (as Michael Masterson used it recently): "Marketing ideas are like romantic opportunities: The light of the next day often transforms sirens into troglodytes."
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #1969, 02-19-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
On a recent trip to the grocery store, I noticed a tub of margarine with the label "Now with added omega-3s!" Whenever a new trend hits the market, companies everywhere try to capitalize on it. In this case, it’s a bandwagon you’ll want to jump on yourself.
You’ve heard about the heart, brain, and joint benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. Getting enough in your diet is critical, because without them your risks of heart disease and cancer skyrocket. But getting omega-3s from a product as processed and unnatural as margarine is wrong on many levels.
First, no one knows what happens when omega-3s are isolated from their natural sources. I doubt very much that they have the same disease-fighting benefits. Second, processed foods are still an untested experiment - regardless of the nutrient you try to add.
Margarine is a tub full of chemicals, put together in a lab. Despite what the label says, it will never be natural. The same is true for many of the other products that are now claiming to have added omega-3s, like breakfast cereals and processed cheeses.
For the real benefits of omega-3s, go to the original sources. Fish and nuts are good places to start. Whole-food supplements like cod liver oil are ideal. They’re effective and affordable. What’s more, they’re natural. And natural means they have been tested by evolution.
You can easily add nuts to your lunch salad or grab a handful as a snack. Walnuts are particularly good sources of omega-3s. For an even more potent natural mix of omega-3s, take five grams (one tablespoon) of cod liver oil daily. Make sure you get a brand tested to be free of mercury and PCBs.
__________________________________________________
Word to the Wise: Troglodyte
A "troglodyte" (TROG-luh-dite) - from the Latin name for a primitive group of cave dwellers - is a person who is regarded as reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish.
Example (as Michael Masterson used it recently): "Marketing ideas are like romantic opportunities: The light of the next day often transforms sirens into troglodytes."
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #1969, 02-19-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
posted by Oak Stone at 10:15 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home