Omega 3 6 9 Benefits

Did you know fat is necessary for our bodies to function properly?  After years of being told we should eat low fat diets, we’re now realizing that fat is necessary.  There are a ton of Omega 3 6 9 Benefits and they can help keep you healthy.

Are Saturated Fats really good for you?

Fat makes everything taste better.  To me, I’d rather have full fat sour cream than low fat.  It’s the same with ice cream and milk.  When I was growing up, we used 2% milk and as I got older, I heard that we need to eat low fat so I switched to skim milk (even though initially I thought it was too watery). I got used to it and that’s all I used because I thought the full fat version of anything was bad for me.

As with most things, moderation is the key.  Since as long as I can remember (around the 1990’s), though, we’ve been told not to eat any saturated fats because this could lead to heart disease and high cholesterol.

Now we hear that this isn’t quite true.  We actually NEED saturated fats to live!  Here are a few reasons why:

• Helps our immune system – who would have thought?
• Guards against free radical damage – we all need this as we age!
• Helps our metabolism – maybe this can be a partial solution to those of you who are having trouble losing weight?

This was music to my ears because when I realized this, I was so happy.  I started to go back to the full fat version and I was delighted because these taste so much better.  If the full fat version can help keep us healthier, look better, and stay slimmer, I’m in!

Examples of different saturated fats

Below are a list of saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated and the Omega Fatty Acids.  This will help you decipher what you can or shouldn’t eat.  I know it has helped me make choices when I’m at the grocery store / planning my meals.

Saturated fat foods, some good / some bad:

• Animal protein – especially if grass fed.
• Whole dairy
• Butter
• Coconut oil
• Lard
• Corn, canola, soy oils (these are actually bad for you!)

Monounsaturated fat:

• Olive oil
• Avocado

Polyunsaturated fat:

• Nuts
• Seeds (Pumpkin seeds Omega 3 rockstar!)
• Seafood (especially Omega 3 and 6)

Omega 3 6 9 Benefits of Fatty Acids

Our bodies aren’t able to manufacture Omega 3 6 9 fatty acids, whereas they can make others by what we eat.  For this reason, these Omegas are called essential – and hence, essential fatty acids.

You should eat foods with these essential fatty acids on a regular schedule because they can help with PMS symptoms, cramps and migraines.  In addition, they can help our brains and our stress levels.  Eat foods such as flaxseeds and walnuts to get your ALA’s so it can be made into what’s called EPA’s and DHA’s.  They can be found in certain fishes like salmon and sardines plus mussels.  I’m not so much a fan of sardines but I do like salmon and the occasional mussel.

For Omega 6’s, some are good and some are very bad.  The good ones are coconut oil, pistachios and sunflower seeds.  But, as mentioned in the saturated fat section above, the canola, corn, and soy oils are very bad for you.  What’s unfortunate is that we all heard from the media and the marketing companies that we should to use canola oil because it was ‘heart healthy’.  Sadly, this was not true.  Does this sound familiar?  Cosmetic companies have stretched the truth with deceiving product labels.

For this reason, our diets have become too high in Omega 6’s.  We need to reverse that and eat more Omega 3’s.

For Omega 9’s, these are monounsaturated and can be found in olive oil and avocados.

So, there are a ton of Omega 3 6 9 benefits but it all boils down to which ones I eat and how often.