Yes!
Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids are Essential fatty acids (meaning we must have them but our bodies cannot manufacture them), so we must consume them in our diets. Omega 9 fatty acids are not essential. Our bodies need omega 9 fats, but we can manufacture them from other sources.
Essential fats in the form of Omega 3, 6 and 9 are critical to good health. They contribute to the efficient functioning of the brain and the body on a cellular level.
Omega 3 fatty acids prevent strokes, heart disease, and the complications of heart attack. People who take omega 3 fatty acids have a lower mortality rate after heart attack than those who do not.
The Omega 3's have anti-inflammatory and anti-coagulant properties so they also provide protection against cardiovascular disease, arthritis, skin conditions, depression and other mood-related disorders.
Omega 6 can help with the bloating and pain associated with PMS. It also maintains healthy skin, hair and nails and generally helps to bring about hormonal and emotional balance.
Because Omega 3 and Omega 6 interact with each other, a healthy balance of the two affects the production of hormonal type messengers called eicosanoids which impacts all body functions at a cellular level. Together they combat inflammation, the culprit for speeding up aging process in our bodies and on our faces.
Omegas actually help to prevent fat storage and burn stored body fat anytime, especially helpful during less than healthy meals. Omegas have a two pronged system for blocking body fat storage. First is to prevent a large insulin spike; second is to fill fat cells with optimal material instead of items that will cause fat cell growth.
The essential fats contained in the Omegas will moderate blood sugar levels which is a key factor that the body uses to determine how much insulin to release. Insulin and other fat-storing hormones shoot up when calorie heavy meals are consumed. Limiting the amount of insulin released by the body is a crucial tool to avoid body fat accumulation.
The unique ingredients found in Omegas fill fat cells with welcomed material. These essential fats are the preferred cellular fuel. As a result, fat cells will shut off admittance to elements in the blood stream that will cause body fat to increase.
Cravings are also better controlled. Essential fats are needed to produce many hormones, but are also responsible for producing certain neuro chemicals in the brain such as serotonin. Serotonin helps to regulate appetite and feelings of satisfaction from food. This substance is rapidly reduced while dieting, especially during low fat diets, the most common diet on which we put ourselves. Omegas provide the raw material needed to produce optimal levels of serotonin and other elements needed to lower cravings and avoid a state of depression that often leads to massive binging and diet abandonment.
Take care though about the kind you buy. Manufacurers often leave them in someone's hot warehouse where they spoil. Furthermore fish oil products in particular are made with a few different standards. Most companies go after unfiltered fish oil which means that the refinement process is pretty crude. Fish are simply pressed for oils without any “cleansing”. As a result, the fish oil contains all the dangerous toxins encountered by fish such as PCBs and other pollutants found in waters across the world.
Buy a good brand and store them in the refrigerator. Take them with meals or a shake and spread the dosage out throughout the day. You will be fighting the increase of bad body fat, staving off a number of critical diseases, and postponing the aging process.
Seriously, what could be easier to do than popping a few pills for something so important?
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Feeling Old
I took a fall on the ice a couple of months ago and hurt my hip and knee. I have had to be on big time pain meds and a cane, which makes me feel about 100 years old.
Because the injuries were not resolving themselves, and I was exascerbating the problem with nonstop travel and lots of walking, I finally went to the doctor who insisted on not running around like a gypsy so I could get some quality rest and going to physical therapy for some targeted exercise that would HOPEFULLY improve the problems.
I was told the expected when I got to the physical therapist. I had damaged deep tissues and that I had worsened the problem with my mobility because I walking strangely to compensate. He prescribed exercises and ice for inflammation. I got some remarkable news too when I told him I had hypothroidism disease, and it was not good.
It turns out that hypothyroidism not only adversely impacts the rate of metabolizing food so gaining weight is easy and losing weight hard, but it also prevents hormones from feeding and repairing muscles and deep tissues.
So even though I am eating good food intended to nourish my muscles, none of it is being used properly. Instead, my thyroid deficient body tells those nutrients that they are not really necessary and can instead be stored as fat. How is that for insult to injury!
Additionally, I learned that doctors are reluctant to prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs now for some injuries because they can actually slow the process of healing, so be sure if your doctor prescribes them that they will not harm further.
As I've grown older and so constantly busy, exercise is not the joy it once was for me but more of a chore, but I've been told it is the answer to managing this problem. We'll see.
Because the injuries were not resolving themselves, and I was exascerbating the problem with nonstop travel and lots of walking, I finally went to the doctor who insisted on not running around like a gypsy so I could get some quality rest and going to physical therapy for some targeted exercise that would HOPEFULLY improve the problems.
I was told the expected when I got to the physical therapist. I had damaged deep tissues and that I had worsened the problem with my mobility because I walking strangely to compensate. He prescribed exercises and ice for inflammation. I got some remarkable news too when I told him I had hypothroidism disease, and it was not good.
It turns out that hypothyroidism not only adversely impacts the rate of metabolizing food so gaining weight is easy and losing weight hard, but it also prevents hormones from feeding and repairing muscles and deep tissues.
So even though I am eating good food intended to nourish my muscles, none of it is being used properly. Instead, my thyroid deficient body tells those nutrients that they are not really necessary and can instead be stored as fat. How is that for insult to injury!
Additionally, I learned that doctors are reluctant to prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs now for some injuries because they can actually slow the process of healing, so be sure if your doctor prescribes them that they will not harm further.
As I've grown older and so constantly busy, exercise is not the joy it once was for me but more of a chore, but I've been told it is the answer to managing this problem. We'll see.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Cutting at the Top
For the last several weeks, we teachers have been preparing for the worst--losing manageable class sizes, losing preparation periods, losing benefits, and ultimately losing jobs.
Everything that could happen to make teaching our children harder than it already is; that could water down the educational system even more than it is, and that could impact whether anyone would ever choose this profession was on the horizon.
Teacher fairs and recruitment events at universities were cancelled. Newly hired teachers knew they would be cut first and were already putting out feelers for new career paths, and older teachers were going to doctors with stress related health complaints. It has not been a pretty picture.
But I must give props where they're deserved and they go to the Arlington District Superintendant. Despite a multi-million dollar shortfall, he decided not to fire teachers, but instead to cut from the top--administration positions and their support.
Though it was obviously tough to terminate his own colleagues, he put the cause of educating children first. His goal is obviously not to impact the classroom any more than he has to for as long as he can.
Congress could take a lesson from our Superintendant as they deal with the government's budgetary crisis. Instead of curtailing Medicare, Social Security and other social programs that benefit the most vulnerable in our society, cut from the top--your salaries, your benefits, and your perks. I'll bet that would go a long way to solve the problem of no money with which to run the country.
Everything that could happen to make teaching our children harder than it already is; that could water down the educational system even more than it is, and that could impact whether anyone would ever choose this profession was on the horizon.
Teacher fairs and recruitment events at universities were cancelled. Newly hired teachers knew they would be cut first and were already putting out feelers for new career paths, and older teachers were going to doctors with stress related health complaints. It has not been a pretty picture.
But I must give props where they're deserved and they go to the Arlington District Superintendant. Despite a multi-million dollar shortfall, he decided not to fire teachers, but instead to cut from the top--administration positions and their support.
Though it was obviously tough to terminate his own colleagues, he put the cause of educating children first. His goal is obviously not to impact the classroom any more than he has to for as long as he can.
Congress could take a lesson from our Superintendant as they deal with the government's budgetary crisis. Instead of curtailing Medicare, Social Security and other social programs that benefit the most vulnerable in our society, cut from the top--your salaries, your benefits, and your perks. I'll bet that would go a long way to solve the problem of no money with which to run the country.
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