Fish Oil Benefits: Give Your Body a 'Lube, Oil and Filter'

What are fish oil benefits? Do you remember being given that delicious cod liver oil when you were younger? Nowadays, we don’t recommend cod liver oil because of the vitamin A content, which we now know can accumulate to high levels in the body.
However, fish oil is an excellent supplement to take. It is full of fish oil benefits essential for heart health and normal functioning of the body.

Think of your body as a car, what happens when you don’t give it oil? It sputters and groans and doesn’t run well just like your body. Feed your body fish oil and provide the essential lubricant that makes it run smoothly.

Fatty Acids
Cold water fish contains two essential fatty acids called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

These fatty acids are omega-3 fats which the majority of us are deficient in. These fats cannot be made by the body and must be consumed through supplements or food sources. The best source of EPA and DHA fats are found in fish oil.

Fish oil benefits for your heart
Eating deep sea fish ,such as mackeral, salmon, tuna or sardines three times a week is a great way to increase your omega 3 intake for heart protective effects. If you do not like fish take a fish oil supplement.

Research shows that fish oil supplements protect the heart, decrease blood fats, diminish blood clots, and improve circulation.

In a high dose (3 grams +) fish oil works as a blood thinner. Drugs such as aspirin, Heparin and Coumadin also thin the blood, but are not as safe as fish oil.

Omega 3 and omega 6 imbalance
Did you know that omega 3 fats in fish oil are anti- inflammatory and refined omega 6 fats, which we eat too much off, create inflammation in the body?

Research indicates that our ancestors consumed a diet that contained a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 of about 1:1. Today, the typical American diet is too high in inflammatory omega-6 fats and too low in omega-3 fats, estimates are that the ratio today is more likely 20:1 in favor of omega-6.

This distorted balance of fats is the root cause of many inflammatory conditions and chronic diseases such as: heart disease, arthritis, cancer asthma, skin conditions, obesity and depression.

To reduce inflammatory omega-6 fats in the diet, avoid refined vegetable oils such as sunflower, safflower, and sesame oil and add more deep sea fish and fish oil supplements to your diet.

Other sources of omega-3 fats include flax oil, flaxseed, walnuts. However these foods do not contain EPA and DHA like fish oil, instead they contain ALA which your liver has to convert to the active ingredients EPA and DHA. With fish oil you have the concentrated active ingredients, EPA and DHA, because the fish has already done the conversion for you!

Fish oil is a very concentrated source of omega-3. Research suggests you need to take almost 10 times the amount of flaxseed oil to get the same amount of DHA and EPA found in fish oils.

Best Fish Sources of Omega-3
Eat more deep sea fish to reap the benefits of fish oil. Choose wild varieties versus farmed raised fish when possible.

Do you need more fish oil in your diet?:
Chances are that you are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids like almost 80% of the North American population. Typical omega-3 essential fatty acid deficiency symptoms include: dry skin, dry hair, dry brittle splitting finger nails, dry eyes, constipation and inflammatory skin conditions.

Fish oil supplements:
I recommend supplementing with a minimum of 2-3 grams of fish oils per day to make sure you are getting enough clean omega-3 fats.

There has been concern that fish oil supplements may contain dangerous PCBs and dioxins, however for the most part, they do not.
An independent company called ConsumerLab.com, tested 41 different types of fish oil capsules for toxicities. None contained detectable levels of PCBs or dioxins. However, it is important to always seek out a high quality supplement. When buying a fish oil supplement, make sure:

1) It has been molecularly distilled to ensure its purity.
2) It is derived from smaller fish which have a shorter lifespan and are, therefore, less likely to be toxic.
3) It is enteric coated to prevent that “fishy repeat” taste and to optimize digestion.

Have you heard about Krill oil??

krill oil is a different fish oil that has been in the news recently. The research on krill Omega-3 looks very promising. Personally I have started using the krill oil as recommended by my partners at ProGrade . Their oil is very clean and high quality, here are some interesting articles from these folks:

Make it a priority to add this oil to your diet and reap all the fish oil benefits, your body will thank you.

Fish Oils Help You Burn Fat Video

The truth About Saturated Fats

Go on...you know you want to click.....this is an excellent health and weight loss program I fully recommend!


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