Get the right balance of fats in your diet with our tips and notice a change in your mood, skin, and overall wellbeing!
- Learn the right ratio between types of good fats and why it is so important for your health
- How to know if you need more Omega-3
- Discover this perfect omega-3 food!
WHAT ARE OMEGA FATS?
Omega-3 and Omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are essential for human health. Our bodies cannot make them, so we need to get them from food.
Omega-3 Foods:
- Oily fish (salmon, herring, trout, sardines)
- Shellfish (oysters, mussels, crab, lobster)
- Chia seeds
- Flax seeds
- Walnuts
- Eggs
Omega-6 Foods:
- Vegetable oils (olive, sunflower, corn, soybean, safflower)
- Nuts (Brazils, almonds, peanuts, pecans)
- Seeds (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower)
- Avocados
- Olives
We need a good balance between Omega-6 and Omega-3 fats to stay healthy, but modern diets are typically very low in Omega-3 fats and high in Omega-6. This is because vegetable oils are added to virtually all processed and restaurant food.
“Damaging, low quality vegetable oils are added to virtually all processed and restaurant food.”
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The ideal ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fats is 1:1, but today the average is 20:1 in western society!
This imbalance leads to inflammation in the body, increasing the risk of many chronic degenerative diseases including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, dementia.
WHY YOU NEED OMEGA FATS
The functions of essential fats:
- Energy – EFAs are a great source of energy for all our body’s needs.
- Building new cells – they provide an essential component of all our cell membranes. Our bodies are constantly making new cells, especially in tissues like the skin and digestive tract, when healing from injury, repair from daily wear and tear! Plus we need essential fats to make immune cells, hormones and more.
- Cell signalling – EFAs produce eicosanoids, that are messengers to regulate your heart, blood pressure, blood thickness, communication for hormones, nerve transmissions, digestive function and many more. It’s understood that omega-3 fats were the key factor in the evolution of smaller Neanderthal brains to our now large and powerful human brains!
“Omega-3 fats helped small Neanderthal brains evolve into our large and powerful human brains!”
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These functions mean you need essential fats to maintain:
- Healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels
- Balanced hormones
- Effective immune system, including switching off inflammation (this function fails in chronic inflammatory disease).
HOW DO I KNOW IF I NEED MORE OMEGA-3?
Common signs of omega-3 deficiency include:
- Skin dryness and damage – due to water loss from the cells, eczema, psoriasis
- Joints – pain, swelling Inflamed digestive tract
- Behavioural difficulties in children
- Low mood, depression, higher risk of mental health issues
IS CHIA THE PERFECT OMEGA-3 FOOD?
Fish and chia both have a long history in the human diet. Chia was a key component in the diet of many ancient civilizations in America, including the Maya and Aztecs.
- Chia seed contains between 29 and 33 per cent oil. The oil contains the highest percentage of alpha-linolenic acid known.
- Chia is a good source of B Vitamins
- Chia contains zinc, magnesium and iron that all help the conversion in the body from ALA to important EPA and DHA.
- Chia has a strong antioxidant activity, making it a stable source of Omega-3 fatty acids.
- No artificial vitamin antioxidants are needed and oxidation is minimal to zero.
- Unlike flax seeds chia does not need to be ground for its nutrients to be absorbed properly.
Organic Burst Chia grows in Bolivia, where the ideal growing conditions create supreme chia with higher percentage of protein, fiber and Omega-3 essential fatty acids.
LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK
If you’ve learnt something new here or have something to add, please share it with your fellow Bursters!
