O-M-Ga 3

You’ve probably heard about omega 3 fatty acids, and you’ve probably heard that you should supplement…at least you should have heard both of these statements, especially from the person in your life you hold responsible for helping you make decisions that actually improve your health, this ought to be your doctor, possibly your medical doctor. If you haven’t then there’s two things you need to do. First, find a new person who actually understands what it takes to be healthy to help you wade through all the so called “health” information that floats around.

I’m not saying get rid of your medical doctor. Oh no no! I’m saying allow him/her to do what they’ve been trained in, diagnosing and treating illness. They are awesome at that, let them do what they do best. Let’s be clear that diagnosing and treating illness is NOT the same as creating health and preventing disease.

The second thing you need to do is get comfy and read this article. I’m going to let you in on a secret that will literally change your life, both quality and quantity. You ready? This one supplement is essential to the function of every one of your cells! That’s right, every single cell that makes up your entire body needs this nutrient. So if you want a body that is healthy (most people do I think), then you need to have cells that are healthy, in that they function as they were designed to. Once you understand that, then you know you need to feed your cells appropriately and now we need to understand why Omega-3 fatty acids are one nutrient you cannot afford to miss out on.

There are several kinds of fats. Let’s be clear, despite the celebration of “fat-free” foods, not all fat deserves being demonized. It also is worth mentioning at this point that fat doesn’t necessarily make you fat, in fact, being deficient in (meaning, not getting enough of) certain fatty acids can actually contribute to being overweight/obesity. That’s right, I said certain kinds. There are several kinds of fats. We can call them the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The Good are those fats that are essential, meaning our body needs them for appropriate function and therefore health and our very survival depends on getting these essential fats from our diet because we don’t have little Good Essential Fat factories in our bodies. Omega 3 falls into this category. We get omega-3 fatty acids from fish and flax, but also from grass-fed meat.

The Bad are those fats that aren’t so great for us, especially when over consumed. This leads to obesity, heart disease and other inflammatory diseases. Omega 6 fats fall into this category. We get these fatty acids from grains and grain fed beef. (Notice it matters what we feed our beef. Beef are fattened up on the feed lot by being fed grains. The same thing happens to humans when we eat an abundance of grain…what was the bottom of the food guide pyramid again? I’ll expand upon that in a later article)

The Ugly are those fats that don’t even occur in nature, meaning these are man made. These types of fats are hydrogenated and trans-fats. Surely you’ve heard these kinds of fats be demonized and rightly so. These are found in almost all junk food and unfortunately in a few so-called health foods. Therefore its crucial that you read labels beyond the fancy meaningless labels you find on the front of the box. What’s the point of eating organic trans fat? I’ll call that a bad choice rather than a really bad choice.

So, let’s get back to the Good fats, the Omega-3 essential fatty acids. What’s so great about these and why do each and every one of your cells need them? Because omega-3 fatty acids are integral to the cell membrane, the very structure of the cell. You should have learned about this in high school biology. The one thing I remember most from Mr Thom is “Structure equals Function” He drilled that into our heads.

Omega 3 fatty acids allow the cell membrane to maintain it’s fluid structure. It’s allows the cell membrane to be some what flexible so that as cells travel through blood vessels they can do so with ease. That sounds important to things like blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks. This is likely why a lot of people think about heart health when they hear about omega-3, but it’s important to EVERY cell, not just cardiovascular cells.

The shape of cells is also important when we talk about receptor sites that function a lot like pieces of a puzzle. If the receptor site is deformed then the necessary component can’t fit in to finish the masterpiece called Health. Insulin is a hormone that depends on a healthy cell receptor site. Insulin resistance occurs when insulin is unable to attach to appropriate cells.

Also, the integrity of the cell membrane is sorta like a bouncer at the club. It controls what is allowed to go in and out of the cell. It keeps the junk out and allows the good stuff in.

Essential fatty acids such as omega-3 is CRUCIAL for proper neurological function. Think about your nerves like an electrical plug. Surrounding an electrical plug is plastic. If the integrity of that plastic is lacking, then the electrical function of the plug is greatly diminished and sometimes with disastrous consequences. The “plastic” on your nerves is made up of omega-3. Without this we see problems with memory, concentration, muscle coordination and strength. We label these conditions as dementia, Alzheimer’s, ADD and ADHD, depression and then go on to treat these diagnoses with medicines….

Finally, the balance between our consumption of omega-3 and omega-6 is critical for maintaining appropriate inflammation in our body. Inflammation is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a necessary immune function to bring about healing properties to an injured site. However, widespread, chronic inflammation is a terrible thing. Omega-3 tend to be anti-inflammatory and omega-6 are PRO-inflammatory. Ideally, our dietary intake ought to be about 1:1 or 2:1 (omega6:omega3) However, the Standard American Diet has the appropriate acronym of SAD. We are dangerously toxic in Omega 6 and dangerously deficient in Omega 3 so that our ratio is more like 20:1. This is dangerous, because chronic inflammation is the basis of almost all chronic diseases: diabetes, heart disease, even cancer. But it doesn’t stop there, autoimmune and atopic diseases such as Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel, psoriasis, eczema, allergies, fibromyalgia, lupus and multiple sclerosis. Even dysmenorrhea (pain and cramping with the menstrual cycle) is due to high inflammation. Finally as a chiropractor, I see so many people with arthritis, back pain, neck pain and headaches. Is it really ethical for me to keep adjusting these people to alleviate pain without talking to them about the role their deficiency of omega-3 is playing in not just their non-life-threatening musculoskeletal pain, but all their other life-threatening health problems? No. It’s not ethical.

Now, what if you don’t have any of the above mentioned symptoms or diseases? Do you still need to take omega-3? Not if you’re getting enough from your diet. Dietary sources include: fish, flax seed and grass fed beef.

To get enough omega 3 from fish, we’d have to eat fish several times a day. This is not typical of the SAD. Even if it were, so much fish is farm raised that its deficient in nutrients. Secondarily, all fish is toxic with a variety of environmental pollutants as well as heavy metals such as mercury, which is why pregnant women must be so careful with their fish consumption.

What about flax? This is a common question I get, and it’s a common marketing message. The simple answer is we cannot convert enough usable omega-3 (EPA/DHA) from flax (LNA/ALA). If you want the chemistry you can read about it here.

So, is it possible to get enough non-toxic omega-3 from your diet alone? No. It’s highly unlikely that you can manage this. So even though you don’t currently have symptoms, if you continue to starve your cells of omega-3, illness and diseases is inevitable, even if it takes years to develop. Shall we wait for disease to develop before it’s diagnosed and treated, or shall we prevent disease and maintain health while we’ve got it, thus allowing us to have a greater quality and quantity of life?

I can’t answer that question for you. But you now have the knowledge to answer that question for yourself. But knowledge is nothing without action. Now that you know you aren’t meeting your Omega-3 requirements for not only preventing disease but optimizing your health potential it’s time to add omega-3 supplementation to your diet.

But not so fast. Not all omega 3 is created equal. I’ve chosen to offer not only my patients, but my family – my children, my parents, my husband, and myself – Innate Choice. Innate Choice came to be not because there was not a supplement company that didn’t offer high quality supplements, but because all these companies didn’t focus on creating health as much as they focused on treating disease. There’s a big difference. So, Dr James Chestnut set out to make not a cheap quality supplement that “will do”, but the most pure fish oil in the most natural form so that the human body can become sufficient without toxicity. Just click on the link below and read all the information he provides about why we need omega 3 and how he came to develop his products. What other company does that?

May 2017 Update: I removed all links to purchase this product via Amazon. After multiple email exchanges with the company, I clarified that despite “Innate Choice” being listed as the Amazon seller, it is NOT actually Innate Choice or an authorized reseller. Therefore, the quality control measures taken so seriously by Innate Choice cannot be guaranteed. To purchase Innate Choice products, visit http://www.innatechoice.com/practitioners.cfm to find a local reseller or you can order directly from their website. *Barto Family Chiropractic Practice members – I offer a 15% discount on Innate Choice products to all members who actively follow my care plans.