My questions are hopefully simple ones and hopefully do not generate a lot of controversy and argument.
#1-What is the purpose as well as benefits of consuming flax seed oil and other oils.
#2-What are beneficial and recommended dosages.
#3-What has been some of your results from consuming some of these things.
I have heard a lot about these oils for quite some time and to be perfectly honest I usually skim right past those types of articles. Recently walking through my local supermarket some of these oils caught my eye and I decided to take a look at the prices of these oils and found that they seem to be fairly inexpensive. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
fatty acids derived from these sources help make up your cell membranes among many other things. flax and other omega 3’s (n3)are “anti-inflammatory” in nature, meaning, they are really good for ya if you have a crappy diet. and believe me, there are many here that have crappy diets that would boast having good ones, they just don’t realize what good really is.
anyway, recent research suggests that flax could have an effect on increasing risk of prostate cancer, so don’t go nuts with the stuff. i don’t think a tablespoon or so a day will hurt ya. but a good safe bet would also be olive oil and fish oil (like salmon or cod liver). all this stuff tastes grodie, but will make your coat shiny. there are some decent articles on here about this if you dig deep enough and have patience with the search engine.
fish oil is the best. cod liver oil for the winter. it actually has EPA and DHA in it, which flax and other plant oils don’t. i think the recommendation is for 9g of EPA/DHA per day. just don’t overdo the fish oils, cause you shouldn’t have a ton of polys in your diet.
you got it mr. sd. i use a modified version of massive eating. my food intake is between 3500-4000 kcal/day. what i mentioned about crappy diets has alot to do with the articles in tmag a few weeks ago about inflammatory foods, such as grains and animals that fed on grains. human need a 1:1 ratio of n6:n3 or very close to that. the average american diet…20:1 and that is conservative, causing a pro-inflammatory state. the results, you injure yourself due to trauma or to daily activities like training or sitting for that matter, your body produces a hyperinflammatory response…meaning more pain and most probably longer recovery time.
one4fire, boonedoc’s dead on 'bout the importance of increaseing omega 3 fatty acid consumption and how it reduces inflammation. Good info!
Fat is used to make hormones. It’s used in the membranes of (nearly) every cell in the body. It’s used to make the myelin sheath; the insulation, so to speak, around the nerve cells. (MS patients lose that myelin sheath.) The solid part of the brain (the non-water part) is about 60% fat.
Fat (for health), not talking about manipulating body composition, should run about .4g per pound of BW. If you want to be a bit more converative, I’d go with .4g per pound of LBM.
Fat should be a combination of saturated (found in the meat you eat), polyunsaturated [(like flaxseed oil, fish oil) and some of the omega 6s (corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil) and monos (olive oil)]. A good and tasty source would be your raw nuts, the uncooked variety.
As far as athletic benefits, go to the bookstore and read the chapter on athletes in Barry Sear’s book, the Omega Zone. You can expect cognitive benefits, increases in endurance and anti-inflammatory benefits from taking 6-10g of EPA/DHA found fish oil per day.
Bottom line, avoid the bad (transfatty acids, hydrogenated oil, fried food) and add in a little bit of all the good fatty acids mentioned above.