Why Before What

One of the concepts emphasized in our Wellness Program is to always put the “Why” before the “What.”  In other words, we all know “what” we could be doing for better health and wellness, but until we have a big enough “why” to do those things, we probably won’t change our habits.  With this in mind, I’m still shocked at how many people I speak to that have never even considered supplementing with an omega 3 fatty acid such as fish oil; even when fish oils have been proven beneficial in reducing symptoms in everything from arthritis to Alzheimer’s.  The only logical reason is that they don’t understand why omega 3 fatty acids are truly so essential.

First of all, even though fish oils have been proven helpful in a long laundry list of ailments and symptoms, this is not why you should take them.  The only reason to take fish oil is to provide your body with the essential omega three fatty acids that are required to produce the hormones that reduce inflammation.  When you reduce inflammation in the body you effectively reduce your risk of every disease known to man.  Most every client I see is burdened with symptoms of chronic inflammation that is usually the result of prolonged low level stress and/or poor dietary choices.  The problem with omega 3’s is that your body doesn’t produce them – we must get them from outside sources.  Why shouldn’t we get these naturally from our diet?  The truth is, we should get omega 3’s from diet, but we’ve screwed this up.  Beef, chicken (and other meats) that are raised on grass are considered “free range” and produce healthy proteins that are rich in omega 3’s.  Unfortunately, most all our sources are raised on grains that are pro-inflammatory and produce omega 6 fatty acids.  Why do we need to take a fish oil capsule; why not just eat more fish?  Two reasons for this: first most of our fish is now farm raised and farmers have found a way to produce a pellet made from corn that fish will eat.  This is a pro-inflammatory grain that no self-respecting fish would normally ever eat.  Secondly, for various reasons, our water supplies have become so toxic with mercury that consuming the fish that would normally be our highest quality protein is not safe to eat more than 2-3 times per week.  Most fish oil is caught in the wild from the south of Africa and purified to eliminate all the mercury.

While I’m a big believer that we should be able to get everything we need naturally from a healthy and balanced diet, I just don’t see that we have a choice with these omega 3’s.  Vegetarians will often need to supplement more.  If you are a vegan and won’t do the fish oil, you will have to take larger amounts of things like flax seed, walnuts or algae oil to satisfy your requirements because fish oil is ten times stronger than these other sources.  Whatever the case, consider these healthy oils for better wellness.