Foods Containing Omega 3

Eating more foods rich in omega 3 is important for the majority of Westeners. Natural health experts believe that the high rates of many diseases today suffered by people in the United States is because their ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids is severely out of balance.

They postulate that an optimal ratio should be abou 1:1 but that many of us are actually consuming a ratio of 20:1 (20 parts Omega 6, to 1 part Omega 3). This is spelling out nothing short of a health disaster in the making, they argue....leading to degenerative diseases, including heart disease.

Foods containing omega 3 fatty acids were once prevalent for our ancestors. This is for several reasons, but the two biggest are:

• meats our ancestors ate were grassfed, free range, which led to a natural high omega 3 fatty acid content. Meats we eat are mass produced and grain fed, which leads to low omega 3 content.
  
• Fish that comes from the Ocean is almost always polluted with toxins in the flesh. Farm raised fish have low or no omega 3 content because they do not eat their natural diet, but are fed pellets

In short, foods sources of omega 3 are much more rare nowadays.

Fish is still the best source, but because of pollution, the best way to get omega 3 fatty acids from fish is to take a fish oil supplement that's been purified. This gives you the pure omega 3 fatty acids without the toxins.

Other foods containing omega 3 fatty acids inclue:

• flaxseeds
• squash
• collard greens
• nuts -- especially almonds and walnuts
• broccoli and cauliflower
• spinach
• seafoods and fish -- especially scallops, tuna, halibut, shrimp....but because of heavy metals and pollutants, opt to take a fish oil supplement instead.

One last point: often, plant sources of omega 3 fatty acids come in the form of ALA. Omega 3 fatty acids in good fish souces come in DHA and EPA form.

Plant sources are looked at unfavorably compared to fish for the simple reason that ALA needs to be converted by our bodies into DHA and EPA.

This conversion doesn't always happen smoothly for some people, especially those in less than optimal health.

This has led to many natural health experts to advocate purified fish oils first and foremost as the best source of all foods containing omega 3.

The key is to look to purchase only molecularly distilled, pharmaceutical grade fish oil. Molecular distillation is the process by which fish oil is purifed and all toxins are removed.