214- Fish Oil

A few days ago I made a sort of off-hand remark about not being sore after a pretty tough workout, and suggested that perhaps my recent increase in fish oil could be contributing to that phenomenon.  I received a comment on that post that prompted me to do some quick internet research on the benefits of fish oil.  Everyone is different, so I don't want to make any crazy claims about what fish oil can do for you, I only know what it seems to do for ME.  In the times when I have been most successful with Paleo (as far as weight loss), it has been when I have been regularly taking fish oil.  Recently, I increased my fish oil intake by 3 fold, and have seen my scale and inches numbers decrease faster than ever, increased energy throughout the day, soft skin, and a noteable lack of soreness after tough workouts.   


For me to try and hash out all the benefits of fish oil here is an injustice, so I'll let you do your own research.  However, I am including some places to start.  Here is what credible people have to say about why fish oil (and/or Omega-3's):


Mark Sisson of Marks Daily Apple did a post, here is an excerpt (but read the whole link!):
 "It all comes down to Omega-6/3 balance. You can’t talk about fish oil without getting into Omega-3 fatty acids, and discussing Omega-3 fatty acids is useless without understanding their relation to the Omega-6s. We’ve mentioned this relationship multiple times before, but I’ll reiterate: a 1:1 Omega-6::Omega-3 dietary ratio helps keep dangerous inflammation in check."

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fish-oil-health-benefits/#ixzz1mn57fqBB

Of course, Robb Wolf did a post:

http://www.robbwolf.com/2011/10/05/fish-oil/

Good ole' WebMD:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/good-fat-bad-fat-facts-about-omega-3

And a WHOLE wealth of information over at the awesomeness that is Whole9.  The Whole9 crew give it to you straight ("you can't fish oil your way out of a bad diet") and provide a calculator so you can see how much you should be taking:

http://whole9life.com/2011/03/fish-oil-calculator-revised/

Its really the inflammation thing that got me to start taking fish oil regularly.  Well, after awhile- I'd go through kicks of being good about remembering to take it, and then not.  But when someone pointed out to me that being overweight is inflammation, something clicked.  Fish oil (Omega 3's) are known for their anti-inflammatory properties (as you have hopefully read).  Then, I started thinking about what happens to sore muscles- they get inflammed.   Hence the creation of my latest theory of perhaps my increase fish oil is helping reduce my inflammation, and therefore I'm not getting sore after workouts.  Even if it is just a placebo effect, clearly, taking fish oil is only to my benefit.  As long as I continue to limit the Omega-6's (which Paleo does) and find FOOD sources for Omega-3's and not just rely on supplements for my Omega-3's (which I have been doing by eating a handful of walnuts/day, broccoli, cauliflower, occasionally tuna, and eventually grass-fed beef).