Eating fat is essential for health. In the last few years researchers have begun to understand the fundamental role that essential fatty acids (EFA’s), play in health and wellness. Without these EFA’s life would not exist. So what are essential fatty acids?
By Zoe-Bingley Pullin www.nutrionaledge.com.au
EFA’s are called essential because the body needs them but cannot produce them on its own. Essential fatty acids must come from our diet. There are two EFA’s, both of which are especially important to cardiovascular health: alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (omega-6 fatty acid). The current diet has changed the balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids because the refining process used for commercial oils has removed nearly all omega-3 fatty acids.
You need to include EFA’s in each of your meals. Flaxseed, extra virgin olive oil, sesame, sunflower, wheat germ oils, avocado, LSA and fish (in capsule, meal or liquid form) are great sources of EFA’s. These oils are essential for health and have been designed to return the balance back to optimum levels.
Essential Fatty Acids can help you reduce your blood pressure, blood cholesterol, helps muscle tissue recuperate, lubricates the joints, and reduce triglycerides, even reduce pain and inflammation caused by arthritis.
An Australian study has determined that daily doses of fish oil containing omega-3 fats can, when combined with exercise, act as an aid to weight loss.
The study examined 68 overweight and obese people over a period of three months. They were divided into four groups: one that took fish oil but did no exercise, one that exercised (45-minute walks or running three days a week) but took no fish oil, one given both, and one given neither.
Those who both took fish oil and exercised lost an average of 4.5 pounds over the course of the study, even though they were given no dietary restrictions. None of the other groups lost any weight at all. The combination worked because the omega-3s increased fat-burning ability by improving the flow of blood to muscles during exercise.
Omega-3s have also been shown to boost brain functioning and cut the risk of stroke.
The Age July 31, 2006
News-Medical.net July 31, 2006
Reuters July 28, 2006
The evidence continues to roll in about all the good things fish oil can do for your health. Omega-3 fats are high in two fats that are crucial to your health — DHA and EPA. Scientific research indicates that these compounds may help prevent a variety of very serious diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and more.
Now it looks like a daily dose of fish oil, coupled with a moderate exercise plan, helps you lose weight too.
I suspect future studies combining fish oil and lengthier periods of exercise (currently in the planning stages) will provide even stronger evidence of benefits. The key to getting better results — apart from taking a high-quality krill oil daily — is learning how to use exercise as a precise tool that must be prescribed accurately to achieve the maximum benefit.
And, if don’t think you have enough time to exercise, I urge you to review the suggestions of fitness expert Ryan Lee. He has some amazing products that show you how to effectively exercise in less than five-minute sections a day.
In the meantime, be sure to get enough omega-3 fats in your diet, and be especially sure to balance them with the omega-6 fats found in most vegetable oils. Your ancestors subsisted on a diet with a healthy balance, in which omega-6 and omega-3 fats were approximately equal (about a 1:1 ratio).
But the current Western diet has an omega-6:3 ratio closer to 20:1, occassionally as high as even 50:1. This spells potential health trouble with near absolute certainty.
When omega-6 fats predominate, this encourages the production of inflammation-causing chemicals in your body; omega-3s promote the production of substances that fight inflammation. Since so many diseases have now been linked to chronic inflammation, this really is one of the most important nutrition concerns to get right with your health.
In fact, many scientists believe that one major reason for today’s high incidence of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, premature aging, and some forms of cancer is this profound imbalance between our intake of omega-6 and omega-3 fats.
There are a number of good fish oils on the market, but one of the best new ways to get omega-3 fats is from krill oil.
