The best natural sources of omega 3
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As covered in my earlier article omega 3 fatty acids are important for health. Recent research has shown though, that the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 might not be of such importance after all.
What seems to be important is whether the fatty acid is long branched or not. The short branched fatty acid ALA (alpha linolenic acid) is an essential fatty acid and could be converted in the body to more long branched fatty acids like the more known EPA (eicosapentaenoic) and DHA (docosahexaenoic). The problem is that the body can only convert a small amount of ALA to the proven healthy longer branched cousins. If this was not the problem we could have all been eating tortilla chips, which is on top of the list of ALA omega 3 sources.
Even though there are some interesting longer branched omega 3 fatty acids like ETA (20:4 n-3), the USDA only have measurements of the more studied sources, EPA (20:5 n-3), DPA (22:5 n-3) and DHA (22:6 n-3).
Here are the top 10 lists for natural sources of long branched omega 3 by content as found in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (content per 100g is shown in parantheses):
EPA:
- Fish oil, menhaden (13.2)
- Fish oil, salmon (13.0)
- Fish oil, sardine (10.1)
- Oil, bearded seal (Oogruk) (Alaska Native) (9.7)
- Fish oil, cod liver (6.9)
- Fish oil, herring (6.3)
- Oil, spotted seal (Alaska Native) (3.9)
- Oil, beluga, whale (Alaska Native) (2.8)
- Fish, caviar, black and red, granular (2.7)
- Fish, mackerel, salted (1.6)
DPA:
- Oil, bearded seal (Oogruk) (Alaska Native) (5.6)
- Fish oil, menhaden (4.9)
- Oil, spotted seal (Alaska Native) (3.4)
- Fish oil, salmon (3.0)
- Fish oil, sardine (2.0)
- Oil, beluga, whale (Alaska Native) (1.6)
- Fish oil, cod liver (0.9)
- Fish oil, herring (0.6)
- Fish, salmon, Atlantic, farmed, raw (0.4)
- Fish, mackerel, salted (0.4)
DHA:
- Fish oil, salmon (18.2)
- Oil, bearded seal (Oogruk) (Alaska Native) (12.4)
- Fish oil, cod liver (11.0)
- Fish oil, sardine (10.7)
- Fish oil, menhaden (8.6)
- Oil, spotted seal (Alaska Native) (6.5)
- Fish oil, herring (4.2)
- Oil, beluga, whale (Alaska Native) (3.9)
- Fish, caviar, black and red, granular (3.8)
- Fish, mackerel, salted (3.0)
Krill Oil has recently become the next big thing. There are some studies indicating that it might be better than fish oils for omega 3 uptake. I will wait until the buzz is gone before choosing a different omega 3 source than fish oils.
Find your fat burning sweet spot
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I have earlier told you that I love high intensity interval training (HIIT) if you are in a hurry to lose weight and are short of time. So why should you even consider doing other kinds of fat burning activities?
HIIT can be quite taxing if you do it the correct way with full intensity. If you do HIIT over 2-3 times a week you have no energy left for other activities. If you have sufficient time you should seriously consider doing steady state cardio for sessions.
In a comparative study of traditional interval training and long run cardio, the trainees doing long run cardio lost the most fat. In a different study the training intensity was studied to see which intensity resulted in the greatest fat loss. They discovered that an moderate intensity (62-63% of VO2max or 70-75% of HRmax) gave the best results. This is a little bit higher intensity than what is usually suggested.
So how do you find your fat burning sweet spot?
- Calculate your HRmax, or better, measure your VO2max
- Calculate the intensity necessary to lose the maximum amount of fat
- Use a heart rate monitor to stay at the sweet spot
All calculations can be made by typing in your age below:
So buy yourself a heart rate montitor, set the the fat shedding intensity according to the above calculations and start exercising. Exercise on a close to empty stomach, which has shown to give the best results. You could pick working out on a treadmill, an exercise bike or choose your favourite activity outdoors.
Now stop reading and start doing!
Omega 3s – Why care?
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I am generally not very interested in supplements. I must admit that I used to be earlier, but after reading a lot about performance enhancing legal supplements and trying out some of them throughout the years there are not many products that seem to have a value for the average Joe. As soon as some new magic pill appears there is some study that shows the content has no function. On top of that supplements are usually quite expensive.
There are three supplement groups that I still regard as valuable: proteins/important amino acids, omega 3s and creatine monohydrate. I have written som articles on the benefits of proteins. Creatine has a benefit for some people on the ability to lift heavier lifts, and should be considered as something extra. This article will be about omega 3s.
Imagine that there is a raging war inside your body. The war is about who is gonna win the battle between good and bad fatty acids. One one side there are the omega 6s and on the opposite side there are the omega 3s. Omega 6s are closely related to inflammations in your body and omega 3s try to fight this happening. The problem is that the omega 6s get reinforcements every day.
This is not far from the truth. Even though omega 6 is essential to your health and can only be obtained by consumption they are not difficult to get. Most foods found in the grocery store contain high amounts of omega 6, only a few are good sources of omega 3, and your body is not able to produce them by other sources. This is the reason why the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 found in the body could be as high as 30 to 1. Originally the 6 to 3 ratio was more like 1 to 2 for the early hunter and gatherer man.
So why are inflammations such a big deal? Aren’t they like the swelling that occours when spraining your ancle, you might ask. Well actually inflammations are linked to several more severe conditions:
- heart attacks
- thrombotic stroke
- arrhythmia
- arthritis
- asthma
- tendonitis
High omega 6 to 3 ratio has also been linked to:
- cancer (breast and prostate)
- osteoporosis
- mood disorders (depressions)
Omega 3 has shown to reverse many of these disorders. That is the reason why they should matter to you.
In order to balance this ratio and to obtain a better health you need to change what you eat. Cold water oily fish and grass fed beef are known to be good sources of omega 3. Don’t make the mistake of using vegetable sources like flax seed oil for omega 3. Even though they contain contain high amounts of omega 3, they are not long branched fatty acids, which are the sources shown to have a health benefit.
So now you have no exuse to not go hunting for some omega 3 the next time you are in a grocery store.
I cheated – Will I get fat now?
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This is the natural question to ask when you have binge eaten. You have followed a strict diet of proteins, little or no carbohydrates and plenty of fibers and healthy fats and for a month, and suddenly you feel like all your effort was wasted within an hour of stupidity. Then you look in the mirror and can see you belly bulging out – how stupid could you be…
The next day you look in the mirror again and feel a little lighter. You measure your body weight and see that it has actually gone down instead of up. That’s really strange!
In the days following the cheating you are expecting to get the punishment for your sins. But the mirror and the scale do not lie – you have lost fat.
The body is really complex. What happens if you remove food for a period is that it goes into energy saving mode. It will try to save as much muscle and fat as possible, but with no energy something has to go. So both muscle and fat will disappear, but the fat burning will go slower than usual.
If you bring back the food, and especially the carbohydrates, the fat burning will kick start. If you continue eating for more than the cheat the fat burning effect will be taken over by fat storing.
There was a buzz about cheat dieting few years ago in the fitness community. I read a nice article about Joel Marion’s book “The Cheat to lose diet” where he introduced how cheating could help you shed fat and was convinced. Many fitness nutrition experts now seem to agree that planned cheating once in a while is actually good for fat burning.
Now Joel Marrion seems to have developed a complete system called “Cheat Your Way Thin”. For those who don’t know Joel Marrion he is the 2001 body-for-life champion and a highly regarded fitness guru. His system seems to have quite a few followers. If you would like to know more about the “Cheat your way thin” diet you can find more info here.
I’m so fat. How can I lose 10 pounds in 30 days. Please help me!
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I see variations of this question over and over on health forums. People just don’t know what they should do to lose weight and are desperately looking for a solution. They have tried every diet there is: grapefruit diets, drop all fat, eat only two meals a day etc. Usually these diets that they have tried have done them worse than good.
People who has a considerate weight problem, who are either overweight or obese have more or less the same problem: They just are not eating correctly. You can exercise as much as you like, but it doesn’t matter as long as you are eating the wrong stuff.
When you have put on some weight your body usually have a low insulin sensitivity, meaning that when you eat something the body need to produce more insulin than normal to absorb the food. The pancreas get’s tired after a while and you are in risk of getting diabetes II. On top of that fat tissue is “hungry” for energy. If you already have some body fat, the food you are eating would rather go to your fat tissue to produce more fat than to give your muscles energy. That is the reason why overweight people seems to only get in worse and worse shape. The good thing is that this is reversible if you change your diet and start exercising.
I have touched the subject of weight loss earlier. Here are my general answers to the question of how you could lose weight:
Look at your current calorie consumption by doing a calorie count and find out what you need to eat to lose weight.
Avoid eating sugars, high glycemic index foods and saturated fats.
Do not eat 2-3 big meals a day. Make sure that the meals you are eating are smaller and contains proteins, fibers and healthy fats. Healthy fats are unsaturated fats and fish fats. You get fibers from grains, fruits and vegetables. Make sure that the foods you are eating have a low glycemic index. Look up lists of glycemic index to get an idea.
Eat as many as 6-8 meals a day. That will make you feel fuller throughout the day and keep you from getting carbohydrate cravings. Another reason for eating smaller protein containing meals is that the body has a powerful hormone called leptine. Leptine will not be produced if the body detects that there are no proteins available. That leads to bad carbohydrate cravings, muscle breakdown and production of hormones that make you easier get injured or catch an illness.
Start exercising on a regular basis. Try to involve your lower body because the biggest muscles are located there. Exercise has shown to give a great benefit to insulin sensitivity.
Here are some additional tips on how to keep the fat coming off:
- Clear the house of any junk food. You will come back to them at times when you are craving.
- Never eat in front of the television. That will lead to you eating more than normal.
- Eat at a slower pace than you are currently doing. It takes about 20 minutes for your body to recognize that the stomach is full so eating slowly will make you stop eating earlier.
- Put on smaller portions than you normally are doing. Filling up your plate is a guarantee for you to eat more than you need.
If everybody lived by these rules they would have no problem with their weight.