Omega Balance

Take a good look around your grocery store, and notice how products are bragging about their high content of Omega 3. Researchers have found that our ancestor’s primal diets consisted of a ration of Omega 6 to Omega 3 of 1:1. This ratio encourages a healthier heart. In modern diets, however, that scale has tipped to larger quantities of Omega 6 and smaller quantities of Omega 3. Although Omega 6 itself is not an issue, an imbalance of these fatty acids has been linked to heart disease, depression and inflammatory diseases. Omega 6 is considered an inflammatory fatty acid, which when consumed in large quantities can make the walls of our cells more rigid, causing the transmission of serotonin and dopamine to be affected and often completely inhibited. To promote a healthy ratio of these fatty acids, it’s essential to decrease the amount of seed oils we consume while increasing foods that naturally contain Omega 3 such as salmon and sardines. Maintaining a balance of these acids will promote cardiovascular health and aid mental stability by allowing the free flow of dopamine throughout the body.