Infrequent consumption of seafood, aversion to organ meats, and over-reliance on processed omega-6 oils in foods have led to deficient levels of omega-3 fatty acids in most people today.
The seeds of grasses, with all their absorption-blocking and inflammatory effects just add to the problem.
Once grains are removed, omega-3 fatty acid absorption may improve.
Intake typically remains low for most people and supplementation is necessary to achieve healthy blood levels. The omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil accelerate the clearance of fatty acids from the bloodstream and keep levels lower.
Cholesterol panels and other laboratory assessments are best avoided during weight loss and for 4 weeks after weight loss has plateaued. This is to avoid confusion, including the perplexed look of your doctor, eager to whip out the prescription pad. If a cholesterol panel was checked during active weight loss, you would see high triglyceride levels, since triglycerides transport fatty acids— a natural part of the fat mobilization process of weight loss.
There are plenty of reasons to supplement omega-3 fatty acids.
Fish oil is the only reliable & sufficiently potent source of EPA & DHA.
There is an abundance of clinical studies that demonstrate that omega-3 fatty acids, as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) obtained from
fish oil, yield reductions in:
- Sudden cardiac death
- Heart attack
- Heart rhythm disorders
- Autoimmune inflammatory conditions (especially rheumatoid arthritis and lupus)
- A variety of cancers.
Our need for omega-3 oils reaches even further as we require them for:
- Brain development
- Protection from dementia
- Cellular signal transduction
- A multitude of other bodily functions.
While linolenic acid— found in flaxseeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and other sources— is biochemically an omega-3 fatty acid and is, for other reasons, a truly healthy oil, it does not yield the same benefits provided by EPA and DHA from fish and fish oil.
Krill oil, while interesting for its astaxanthin content (a carotenoid like beta-carotene), provides only a trivial amount of EPA and DHA. Krill oil is often marketed as having a more highly absorbed phospholipid form of omega-3s, which is true, but it contains so little that you’d have to consume an entire bottle every day to yield a sufficient quantity of EPA and DHA.
Recently, concerns have been raised that the widespread use of statin drugs for cholesterol reduction may impair the potential for omega-3 fatty acids to yield benefits. Statins preferentially divert fatty acid metabolism to yield higher levels of omega-6 fatty acids.
Omega-6 fatty acids, such as linoleic (not to be confused with linolenic) acid, are among the essential fatty acids. But, today many people are overexposed to omega-6s due to our widespread reliance on corn, mixed vegetable, safflower, cottonseed, and other oils— a situation that amplifies the potential for inflammatory phenomena. My choice, whenever possible, is to avoid the use of statin drugs while preserving the natural health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.
This quantity yields an ideal level of omega-3 fatty acids in the bloodstream (i.e., a RBC omega-3 index of 10% or greater), subdues the flood of fatty acids that occur with weight loss or after eating, provides maximal protection from cardiovascular disease, dementia, and yields anti-inflammatory benefits. On their own, the EPA and DHA of fish provide plenty of benefits. But in the context of all combined Wheat Belly Total Health strategies, they yield extravagant, synergistic benefits. This is why I stress over and over and over again that each and every component of the Wheat Belly program needs to be included and we never cherry-pick among the strategies.
Yours in grainless health,
Dr. William Davis
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What fish oil do I buy? Help!
Kathy Candelaria wrote: «What fish oil do I buy?»
Open to the public, the 🐟Fish Oil Quick Reference article on the Inner Circle has some product suggestions.
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How do I talk to you? I don’t do face book or twitter
I live in NZ and can’t buy a lot of ingreds in your recipes.Is there an outlet here?
I’ve signed up for your recipes etc and I don’t get them why is that?
Glynne Petterson wrote: «How do I talk to you?»
For a modest volume of questions, you can ask here in the blog, on any thread open for comments, much as you just did.
«I don’t do face book or twitter»
I don’t either.
«I live in NZ and can’t buy a lot of ingreds in your recipes.»
You may need to make some. If you can’t, for example, buy almond flour locally, you can just finely grind actual almonds. I just took a look at amazon dot com dot au, and they don’t even have a grocery department, so yes, things look a bit grim in your region.
«Is there an outlet here?»
Doubtful. I see that the Canadian partner of Wheat Free Market Foods (thelowcarbgrocery dot com) does export, but shipping charges, import duties/taxes, and import controls on foodstuffs might throw up insurmountable roadblocks.
«I’ve signed up for your recipes etc and I don’t get them why is that?»
The “YES! SIGN ME UP!” dialog at right is supposed to result in periodic summary emails. I’m getting them at two separate email accounts. They usually include a recipe or two lower in the content.
If you’ve done that, and nothing showed up for a month, the email may be being treated as spam by either your ISP or your email client (e.g Outlook). Check any spam or junk mail folders. If you add “do-not-reply@doctorwilliamdavis.com” to both address books, that might fix that.
Failing that, most of the give-away recipes are also found either at Wheat Free Market’s web site, or on the Recipe section of this blog.
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Thanks Bob , I”m glad I asked first. I think I will try the extract.
Thank you so much Bob. I think I will try grinding my own hazelnuts, or use the extract. I’m glad I asked.
Can someone recommend a safe Hazelnut coffee to buy? I’m not sure if it is in the Wheatbelly guidelines. Thank you.
Patti wrote: «Can someone recommend a safe Hazelnut coffee to buy?»
I’d need some refinement of what you’re looking for to answer that. Is it?
☕ bean coffee with hazelnut flavoring
☕ instant or pod coffee with hazelnut flavoring
☕ a hazelnut syrup to add to regular coffee
☕ a hazelnut-based coffee
Flavored beans usually don’t have enough added ingredients per cup to amount to a problem.
The instant beverages (I hesitate to call some of them “coffee”) are often sweetened, so both the amount and form (e.g. artificial) need to be checked, as well as other adverse junk, principally fake fats. The Starbucks pods, for example, appear to be just coffee and “natural hazelnut flavor” (which may not be actual ground hazelnut, or the package would just say “hazelnut”).
The hazelnut bottles (unless “extract”), such as those at coffeehouse condiment kiosks, are almost entirely sugar syrup, or adverse artificial sweetener syrup (with some sort of thickener), and need to be avoided. Find a safe flavorant and bring your own. Extracts may be expected to have alcohol, and may have sweetener.
When I want a hazelnut coffee at home, I toss some actual hazelnuts into the grinder and give them a head start on the bean grinding. You could also drip some hazelnut extract into the carafe before brewing.
I can also tell you that in terms of concerns with coffee and coffee-like beverages, my priorities are:
1. the water it’s made with
2. adverse additives
3. the provenance of the beans
4. contaminants in the filter paper
Municipal water is in general not something that’s wise to drink, cook with or brew with. The rising use of the extremely persistent agent chloramine appears to be a particular problem.
Interestingly, Starbucks shops reportedly all use a serious RO filtration system effective against chloramine. At any other chain, you’ll need to ask the senior barista. Restaurants may be presumed to be clueless about this, and chloramine is not removed {promptly} by heating the water, and I doubt that the coffee beans or filter paper trap much of it. It’s a definite microbiome hazard and a probable thyroid hazard.
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Thanks Bob, Just wanted to know about the ground Hazelnut in the bag at the local grocery store.
Patti wrote: «Just wanted to know about the ground Hazelnut in the bag at the local grocery store.»
Odds are it’s no problem. If you want to post the brand name and product ID details, I’d be happy to take a deeper look (assuming I can find info on line).
Thanks for raising the question. It provided an opportunity to get some information out there, that is not just about coffee.
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I usually drink Choc full O nuts brands, so I guess I would stick with that.
Patti wrote: «I usually drink Choc full O nuts brands…»
It appears that the Ingredients are:
100% ARABICA COFFEE WITH NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR
which is not the same as:
100% Arabica coffee with actual hazelnut
This is definitely OK from a macronutrient standpoint. If a serving had more than a gram of any macronutrient, the product would need a Nutrition Facts panel.
So it’s not organic, and the hazelnut flavor may be largely or even entirely fake. “Natural flavor” can actually be synthetic chemicals that are bio-identicals. Artificial flavor is of course artificial.
Various food-minder sites will downgrade a product like this because the flavoring ingredients are not identified. Whether they are concealed due to being The Precious trade secret, or because you wouldn’t buy the product if you knew, is your call.
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Dr Davis and Team,
I receive invitations to attend seminars but I live in Australia.
I would dearly love to meet Dr Davis as he is a very important figure in my life.
But alas, distance keeps up apart!
If I do not respond to his invitations, this is the reason.
Kind regards,
Jennifer
I am a vegan. Is algal DHA a significant source of omega-3?
Bill Ferguson wrote: «Is algal DHA a significant source of omega-3?»
It can be. There are some things to keep in mind:
► The Wheat Belly recommendation is for 3000-3600 mg (3.0-3.6 grams) of EPA+DHA combined per day. This might be an economic issue with a vegan product.
► An algal supplement may be DHA only, a subject on which the jury may still be out. Dr. Davis has discussed, at various times, EPA:DHA ratios in the range 3:1 down to 1:2 (0.5:1). Actual fish are reportedly 3:2 (1.5:1). My impression is that the DHA needs to be 1000 mg/day minimum.
► Do not rely on Omega 3 ALA. We don’t convert enough of it to DHA. Trying to compensate by taking more ALA is likely a fail, both due to overload, and the excess ALA reportedly impairing conversion.
► EPA&DHA are by far not the only micronutrients that require attention, if someone intends to hit Wheat Belly nutrition targets as vegetarian or vegan. For more on this, see:
https://www.cureality.com/forum/topics.aspx?id=18308
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As a Certified LCHF Coach ( trained by The Real Meal Revolution ) I hear many concerns by the ill-informed about increasing their fat intake. Nothing could be further from the truth! I’m fuelled by FAT ! Never felt better. I have twice the energy and a weight-loss! Quoting from Dr W Davis’ own text sums up another truth : “Statins preferentially divert fatty acid metabolism to yield higher levels of omega-6 fatty acids.”
So balancing omega-3 is the only answer!
Did you know that statins kills you slowly-albeit one cell at a time!?
Theo – are you in ketosis or low carb/coconut oil, grass fed butter, avocado, etc? What are your protein sources? Thank you for your post.
Hi Bob. Yes I’m often in Ketosis, otherwise I consume a a daily low-carb high fat (LCHF) Lifestyle.
For fats, I use a combination of coconut-oil, light olive-oil, butter,left-over animal fats, avocado. I source fatty meats and chicken ( I leave the chicken-skin on).
I’ve sourced an excellent range of nut-flours from which fruit-cake, bread and porridge/pudding
is made and which I’m re-selling to Lifestyle followers.
As a LCHF Coach I see to it that my daily food is close to 20% unrefined carbs, 20% proteins which leaves 60% fats. Walking & stretch exercises keeps me mobile. My permanent weight-loss of 22kg keeps me at constant 75kg on a medium 1.79m frame, so am quite happy with that.
Comments please.