Picking some up this weekend, starting T-Dawg tomorrow. How many of these am i gonna need to take daily?
With most brands, 12-15 caps a day.
John Berardi recommends 6-10 capsules per day!
max, i just started taking cod liver oil and get ~7g/day, beradi reccomends 6-10g per day so unless you get high strength tablets that’s a lot of pills.
look up a string about hiding the taste of cod liver oil with my name and there are some good suggestions on the brands to use.
also check out beradi’s lean eatin for the best advice.
hope that helps STU K
It depends on how many grams of EPA/DHA are in the caps. Berardi recommends 6 grams of EPA/DHA per day. Most of those caps only have like 300 mg, which is why you have to take so damn many. You could also buy it in pure liquid form and drink it, mix it in oil to make a salad dressing or something. I recently went that route, and am still looking for the optimal recipie where I can’t taste the oil as much. Even though its lemon-lime flavored, the fishiness still is overpowering- I had to eat my salad last night with my nose pinched so I couldn’t taste the foul fish oil! 
Nick, have you tried your fish oil over canned tuna? I really find it ENHANCES the flavor of the tuna. No clothes pins for MY nose!!! (grin)
Terry, the tuna will be my next plan. I dumped it over cottage cheese last night and it was BRUTAL. I’ve made a concoction of 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp fish oil, balsamic vinegar, italian spices, and a pinch of spicy mustard dressing for my salad, which I’ll be trying out at work later today- wish me luck!
I tend to use the Ocean Essentials brand essential fatty acids (EPA/DHA) derived from fish (at least until Biotest releases their version and then we’ll see) along with some of Udo’s and some Olive oil. I’ll take 4-6 caps of Omega 600 (400mg EPA/200mg DHA per cap) and then 2 tablespoons of Udo’s. Add a little Olive oil to the Tuna and salad and I find that it helps me alot when leaning out. I have never gotten a nasty taste from the caps but Udo’s is on the borderline.
But everyone has their own favorites!
To get 6grams - 9grams of DHA/EPA component that John Berardi recommends you got to take a minimum of 20, 1 gram fish oils a day. Each capsule I get is 30% DHA/EPA. I personally try to take 20 at least 5 days a week and I pay $25 Aussie dollars for 400. I have never been so lean at my current bodyweight of approx.200lbs@7% bodyfat, with no prohormones in site! I believe fish oils are essential to gain lean mass or get cut. You can take less but I believe results will be compromised. If I could I’d take 30 a day I would especially around contest time.
nick and terry, i did a post on this earlier in the week and “solved” the problem of shit tasting oils, basically mix it with dbl volume of orange juice, shake it tin glass jar and slam it like a tequila, i’ve been doing this since monday and haven’t had to taste that nasty fish for a whole week, yippee. i feel sorry for those people at work having to suffer your lunch, i thought my concoctions were bad!!
TopKat, do you take all 20 at night like some people do or do you spread them out during the day. Also, I am just curious but how long were you taking the 20 grams before you really noticed that it was impacting your physique? Thanks. I am currently taking 20 grams a day. split up twice into 10gram doses with meals. But i have only been doing it for about 2 weeks.
I take plenty daily too. I was just wondering what about all those capsules themselves? I always cut one up when I get a new bottle and they are thick!
Any of you gys ever wondered what they do to the body? The nutrition chart doesn’t list carbs or anything but it’s pretty significant (probably more than the oil itself).
Creative solution, there, Stu. I’m not a strong advocate of cod liver oil, due to the impurities, but whether it’s liquid cod liver oil or fish oil, there are a number of people who want to take it, but gag at even the thought. Much better than a clothes pin. (grin)
The things we’re willing to do to improve our physique or performance, huh? (grin)
Thanks Stu. Well, my salad dressing still tasted like ass, and I even followed Terry’s suggestion of putting it on Tuna and that tased even worse. Looks like I’ll be taking this like a tequila shot at night. Interesting thought about the orange juice. Since I’m on the Berardi plan, carbs in the OJ and the fat in the oil won’t work for me unfortunately. I’m going to try to find a nice sugar-free mix that has a really stong taste that maybe can cancel out the “nasty”. I’ll keep y’all updated. Meanwhile, where the heck is this EFA supplement Biotest promised us so I can stop doing this ?!?!?
I’m hearing so many people here complaining about the taste/smell of their fish oil, but no one seems to consider changing brands. First off, my understanding of any fish oil is that if it smells or tastes like fish, then it is bad (read: rancid). This includes pills. I think you would all be better served buying some higher quality stuff… at least until Biotest releases theirs. The cod liver oil I take tastes like oil, not fish, so I drink it straight. It should be a red flag to you guys if yours makes you gag.
Tyler, I agree 100%. But the odd thing is in this case NickM and I are using the same brand. I think it tastes “delish” but unfortunately for Nick, it makes him gag.
EXCUSE MY IGNORANCE BUT WHAT EXACTLY DO FISH OIL CAPSULES DO?
This is an excerpt from “Biology Bash In Barrie” by John M. Berardi.
" Omega 3 fatty acids (like fresh water fish oils) haven’t gotten the medical attention they deserve because they don’t lower blood cholesterol. However, they do lower blood triglycerides and platelet aggregation. Platelet aggregation is an indicator of how likely the platelets are to stick to the walls of your arteries, which causes plaque build-up, leading to eventual artery blockade (arteriosclerosis).
Taking three grams of fish oil per day for only 30 days will decrease blood triglycerides by 35%.
Taking nine grams of fish oil per day will decrease the severity of mental disorders such as mania and depression.
Inuit (an Eskimo people) eat diets low in fruits and vegetables and also high in saturated fats and animal protein. Although this diet doesn’t seem “heart healthy,” these people have a very low risk of CV disease. Why? Well, the average Inuit eats 130 g of marine foods per day (1000 mg of fish oil) while the average North American eats only 13 g of marine foods per day (100 mg of fish oil).
When fish oil is taken regularly after a myocardial infarction, there’s a 40% reduction in subsequent death rate.
Fish oil is rapidly burned in the mitochondrion (the cellular “power houses”); therefore it’s not likely to be stored as body fat."
Here’ another excerpt from “Lean Eatin Pt II” by Berardi, from issue 210.
“What this tells us is that fish oil allows the body to burn more fat and store more muscle glycogen, repartitioning fuel away from fat cells toward muscle cells.”
Read the article for further info: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION
You’re right, Terry, we’re both using the same brand. Funny thing is too, I ordered it, and it was delayed for a few days, then got the bottles, with a handwritten note on the invoice saying “sorry it was delayed, we ran out- these are very fresh, they just came in”. So unless they’re playing games, it is fresh and the problem is ME. By the way, did my tequila, er, fish oil, shot last night before bed. Holding the nose and chasing it down with massive amounts of water actually wasn’t painful at all. If I’m not mistaken also, there’s been a few threads around here the last few days about how taking it all before bed is supposed to maximize its effects also, right? Why is that again?
Dear DanS. It took about a month or so during the off season from competing to realise that I wasn’t getting fat as usual even though I’d been having at least two cheat meals per week on a 3000-3500 cal diet. Charles Poliquin on a post somewhere told someone to take 3 at each meal but I’ve done both with same result. Just take them even when you over eat. Dr Lonnie Lowrey wrote an article relating a experience where Lonnie didn’t eat that well but still stayed lean. You got to take them but see what works for you. The older you are the higher the dose. I THINK YOUR CONVERSION DECREASES WITH AGE. aBOVE 30 YEARS OLD i’D SAY 20 AT LEAST. hOPE THAT HELPS.