What’s On My Plate: Fish Oil

Voluntarily taking this stuff? You bet!

Of the supplements that I forgot to truck over to Norway, fish oil was one of them.  Thankfully, taking tran, or fish oil, is a common practice in the winter months in Norway.  But why?

Well, for starters, it doesn’t taste bad at all.  Rich oil, deep notes of fish, not rancid (though I have a slight cold, so maybe it really is worse).  Most importantly, it’s very healthy for you.

Fish oil contains omega-3.  About a gram per teaspoon in this case.  The stuff helps with brain activity and combats depression and inflammation.  It also counters the effects of too much omega-6 in your system, a fatty acid that causes inflammation in too-high doses.  Things were you can get omega-6 from in spades?  All vegetable oils and grain-fed meats, for a starter.

Paleos recommend achieving a 1:1 ratio of 3’s to 6’s to keep your body in balance, about 1-3g per day.  How?  Eating wild-caught, oily fish is probably your best bet since they will have the highest concentrations of omega-3.  Grass-fed meats will also contain higher concentrations of 3’s.  Then there are supplements, like my little bottle of fish oil.  I doubt anyone else in the kitchen will be caught taking swigs from that.

Well, I can’t afford grass-fed, so I’m just going to take a gob of tran before dinner on days were I can’t get omega-3-rich fish.  Before dinner to avoid fish burps and/or gagging during morning classes.

Vi sees.