Listen to your Grandmother and Get Fishoil in Your Diet!
Some of you readers may be old enough to remember when your mother, following grandma’s advice, forced a tablespoon of foul smelling cod liver oil down your throat every day. That practice went out of fashion decades ago, but is having a resurgence today, now that medical science has finally caught up with what grandma already knew: fish oil is good for you!
When you read the scientific literature about beneficial versus harmful fats in your diet, it can be very confusing. Especially if you’re a diet conscious person, you may think that “fats are fats” and that they are all, well, fattening. So, when you read about fish oil and read that fishoils are rich in “polyunsaturated fats” and “omega 3 fatty acids,” you might be put off. Don’t be! It’s not fat that is good or bad for you, it’s the type of fat you consume.
Polyunsaturated fats have a high concentration of omega 3 fatty acids in them. This is a good thing for anybody, including dieters. These types of fats are not produced naturally in the body and have nothing to do with weight gain or loss. These are fats that are essential to our health but are currently severely lacking in our western diet.
While grandmother prescribed cod live oil because she had found that it helped her own arthritis and knew that it prevented and cured rickets, she was also giving you one of the best brain foods known to man. This is not some old wive’s tale – it has been demonstrated by science. The fats in cod liver oil (and other fish oils) have been shown to assist in brain development and improve cognitive function. They help prevent depression and the occurrence of ADD, Alzheimer’s and a host of other brain disorders.
In addition, unlike the processed saturated fats and oils we consume by the bucketful, the fats in fish oil help to regulate and control cholesterol levels in the blood and help prevent heart disease. In other words, take grandma’s advice. Take a fish oil supplement!
Great advice and i will start to incorporate fish oil into my diet. I have known in the back of my head that it was good for me for a while, but it didnt click until now.
oh yes, I do remember those foul smelling liq and capsules… not fond memories!
Perhaps my living too far inland has to do with not developing a taste for fish, I an a devoted fish oil supplement user these days, hoping to preserve the brain.
A lecturer on PBS suggested omega 3 was needed to offset the effect of the bad omegas from soy oil which has increased in diets by a factor of something like x100 sd s manufactured food ingredient.
Too bad it gives you fish breath. Flax seed oil can give you similar nutrients but I don’t think its quite as healthy
What I like on the fish oil vitamin is the OMEGA 3 which is good for the heart. Thanks for sharing.
At that time the grandmother is very good advice, because at the time of our grandmothers are still easy to research on fats and their effects have not yet exist and can distinguish good fats and bad fats where the condition is now so all we Sudak grandmother’s advice was not valid anymore.
Fishoil ? That sounds not very yummy. Is it eatable ?
Sounds just like my grandmother – she swears by it to this very day, and she is a very wise lady.
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My choleterol has spiked, and went on fish oil. Dropped 10 points already!
My mom always is talking about fish oil. She is pretty healthy, and so is my grandma, who at 80 still drives around regularly. Amazing what a healthy diet will do for you and adding years to your life.
Love that in the middle of all these travel posts you talk about fish oil! If you don’t stay healthy how are you supposed to travel lol…
Fishoil ? That sounds not very yummy. Is it eatable ?