I have had a lot of questions lately about Omega-3 supplementation and I am always happy to discuss this subject! I think that including a source of Omega-3′s in your daily nutritional plan is extremely important. You can do a Google search and come up with loads of awesome benefits that have been proven by science. That list includes:
- Improved heart health
- Improved fat burning potential
- Improved blood pressure
- Improved joint health
- Improved recovery time
- Improved blood sugar readings and insulin sensitivity
And THAT is the short list! There is SO much more! So as I said in the title of this blog, I will include a source of Omega-3′s in my diet every single day for the rest of my life. The benefits are just too awesome to not do this!
So now lets talk about some of my top Omega-3 sources:
- Whole Food Sources: When we want to get Omega-3′s from whole foods you want to shoot for fish (ocean fish, tuna, salmon), flax seed based foods, or omega-3 enriched eggs. With the fish the main concern is mercury levels so you want to avoid farm raised fish as much as possible as they will have the highest levels of mercury. You can find flax based products pretty easily but if your goal is weight loss/fat loss you may want to purchase a “flax meal” and add that into recipes that fit your diet plan specifically. Omega-3 eggs are a great option and you should eat the whole egg, not just the whites, if your goal is to get all of those awesome omega-3′s. If your nutritional plan has you only eating egg whites I would NOT recommend purchasing omega-3 enriched eggs. Most of the omega-3′s will be in that yolk. Just go with regular cage-free/organic egg options.
- Liquid Supplementation: Some people prefer to supplement with a liquid. The liquid options are nice because you can get a large concentrated dose of omega-3′s without a lot of chewing. These are great additions to a protein shake or smoothie. Once again you need to watch for mercury levels in any fish based product. My favorite liquid omega-3 product is Carlson’s Fish Oil. This is a high quality liquid that is also available in lemon flavor (avoid the fishy burps!). If you want to go the Flax based route I prefer Barlean’s Organic Flax Oil. You don’t have to worry about mercury with flax based products but you DO have to worry about pesticides, etc. So going with a high quality organic product is important. You can find both of these liquid products in many health food stores. You can usually find a solid price online so I would search there first, factor in shipping costs, and see if your local store will price match.
- Pill Supplementation: The ultimate option for omega-3 convenience is in the pill form. You can take these on the go……..just don’t keep them in a hot car or you will come back to a fishy surprise! My two favorite pill for supplements for omega-3′s are Flameout (purchase at www.biotest.net) and Optimum Omega which we now carry at our NGPT studio! We had recommended Flameout since 2009. It is an outstanding product but the thing that always got me was the high price. So I’ve always kept my eyes open for a less expensive, but high quality product and that is what I found in Optimum Omega. This product is almost half price compared to Flameout and it has some nice bonuses like added ingredients that aid in the digestion so that you don’t get the fish burps. I also discovered that they use krill as their omega-3 source. The neat thing about that is krill are at the bottom of the food chain in the deep sea ecosystem. This means that they contain little to no mercury with no potential for mercury build up because they do not consume smaller organisms. If you prefer to go the Flax route, Barlean’s makes a solid product but I do think that it is a bit over priced.
A final word of caution: Beware of “big box” grocery store supplements. They are super cheap AND cheaply made with little regard to mercury levels and product quality. I’ve seen studies on big box store omega-3 supplements and many came out with levels of mercury that are high enough to out weigh the good that is done by the omega-3′s.
This is one area where you should look to spend around fifty cents to one dollar per daily serving that you consume. So you should be looking at products in the $20-$40 range if that is a one month supply.
Once you have researched the options that I’ve listed above, pick out the one that best fits your nutritional plan, fitness goals, and price range. Be consistent with your daily omega-3 consumption and you will see the long term benefits!
