Looking to make healthier choices? Perfect! This is Day 11 of 30 of my 30 Day Paleo Plan. For more information on 30 Day Paleo as well as 30 Minute Paleo, check out the get started page. Post each day on your 30 Day Paleo journey to Twitter or Instagram and show me by tagging me with @dranthonygustin — get after it!
Fish oil is one of the three “essential” supplements we recommend. (We’ve already covered vitamin D, which you can read about here.) Unless you’re eating properly sourced wild fatty fish on a daily basis, only eat what you grow and cook, and are consuming a ridiculous amount of vegetables, you should probably be supplementing high quality fish oil. We’ve gone in depth about fish oil before, but here is a succinct refresher.
When we covered the benefits of grass-fed butter and ghee, we highlighted the importance of fats your in your diet. As a refresher – healthy fats aid in recovery, make new cells, and positively affect hormones. The omega-3 in properly sourced fish is the mother of all “healthy” fats.
Additionally, omega-3 can lower inflammation, increase brain and heart health, decrease depression, prevent dementia, stall prostate cancer and reduce ADHD. There are many more reasons why you should be taking high quality fish oil, but these should provide sufficient incentive.
Make sure your fish oil is properly sourced. If it is not, you risk consuming fats that are actually NOT the healthy omega-3 you think you’re paying for. Another concern is that heavy metals accumulate in old and large wild fish, as well as farmed fish. More often than not, companies that use high quality fish oil sources will list the fish on the label. Why wouldn’t they? Just like growing “organic” produce, it is much more expensive to yield high quality fish oil, so produces selling the good stuff will want you to know it and will use it marketing stance.
When supplementing, split the doses in the morning and the night. Shoot for a total of about 3-5 grams daily, less if you are little and more if you are big. For longer shelf life, toss your fish oil in the fridge.
If you want more detailed information on why you should be supplementing with fish oil, you can read our detailed article here.
Unless you’re eating properly sourced wild fatty fish daily, get some high quality fish oil and supplement 3-5 grams per day.