Friday, March 13, 2009

Essential Fatty Acids




Lee made some comments about french fries for the depressed, and attributed salt as the mood elevator. Hyponatremia (low salt) CAN cause a whole pile of medical problems including dpression. There are better ways to get salt. A much more important focus on diet, though is oil.
Essential fatty acids are called that because you HAVE to have them and your body can't make them. There are two main groups of EFA's---Omega 6, and Omega 3. (Omega 9's are necessary, but aren't called 'essential' because you can manufacture them yourself. Eat olives.)
Ideally, the ratio between 6's and 3's should be around 4:1. The american diet has evolved though, through 'convenience' foods; the levels of omega 6's have doubled since 1940, and many people's ratio is 30:1. So what???
Too much Omega 3 is fine, though you still need omega 6's. Your body can utilize lots of 3's in 6's place. But too much omega 6 leads to heart disease, cancer, asthma, diabetes, depression, obesity, arthritis and breast cancer.
This goes a long way in explaining why the Mediterraneans are much more healthy than Americans. Foods rich in Omega 6's are safflower oil, sunflower oil, corn oil; hydrogenated oils concentrate it further. Trans fats. Meat is very rich in Omega 6... Oils that can get really hot for frying. Consuming sugar or alcohol makes metabolizing 6's difficult.
Good news---omega 3's can displace omega 6's. Seafoods, cold pressed canola oil (heat destrys it so think salad dressing or margarine substitute) flax seed, brazil nuts, dark green vegetables and kale are all goods sources of omega 3's.
I learned long ago that diet is sort of like religion and politics. People don't want to hear about it unless they agree with you. The take away here is, eat whatever you like, but if you like french fries, order a small once in awhile and eat plenty of the omega 3 sources.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Your a foodist!

Tina said...

I agree with the diet talk being very similar to politics & religion.

Everyone SAYS they want to lose weight - but they typically don't want to hear what you have to say about it.

Being a member of a TOPS club, I am happy that I have a group that I can discuss diet & exercise; & get kudos vs. contempt :)

Outside of TOPS, I wait for someone to ask me how I'm managing vs. 'offering advice' when they complain about their weight. At least I try my best...

Tina said...

Oh -if you ever get up here, you gotta come with us to Alexander's Greek restaurant. It's AWESOME!!

flyingvan said...

We do like greek food. Aesop's Tables is one of our favorites.

Anonymous said...

Wow good information - I didn't know about these details on omega 3 vs. 6. Interesting to see how this intake has changed over time.