Foods high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids

A healthy balance of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids will help create an anti-inflammatory response in your body and will help protect against diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, arthritis and more.  Sadly the typical American diet has an extremely unhealthy ratio of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.  There is an excellent article HERE that discusses this imbalance and has a lot of helpful information about balancing your intake.

Vegetable oils such as canola, sunflower, safflower, and corn are full of omega 6 fatty acids.  Try switching to olive oil and coconut oils for daily use.  Avoid processed and packaged foods, as they too, often carry high levels of omega  6 fatty acids.

Include more of these foods in your diet: flaxseed (make sure you crush them in a mortar & pestle or grind them in a coffee bean grinder before consuming), walnuts, wild caught salmon, winter squash, beans, halibut, and tofu.

Make sure that the beef, lamb, and bison you eat has been grassfed (not just grass finished).  Animals that are fed grain end up with meat that contains more omega 6 oils because grains are high in omega 6 fatty acids.  Grass is high in omega 3 oils; thus animals grass fed AND finished end up with meat rich in omega 3 fatty acids.

Finding a high quality EFA oil or fish oil supplement is helpful in adding the omega 3 fatty acids to your diet.  Avoid high consumption of fish due to the levels of mercury, lead, and PCB's they contain.