Omega-3 fats are an essential part of a healthy diet, and are linked to protecting against many different inflammation related diseases. So it would seem like a smart move to be including Omega-3 dense foods in your diet. Whilst eating enough O-3 is important, so too is the ratio of O-3 to Omega-6. O-3 reduces inflammation in the body, whilst O-6 causes inflammation, so we need to consume the correct ratio to be beneficial.
It is believed that ancestral diets consumed a ratio of 1:2 – 1:4 of O-3 to O-6, yet in today’s modern western diet it is now as high as 1:25!
The answer is not just to add more O-3 to improve your ratios, but rather to reduce O-6 to bring it back in line.
The best way to do that is to limit consumption of vegetable & seed oils, so if you cook with sunflower or vegetable oil, switch to coconut oil or grass fed butter, or ghee. Don’t over consume nuts either, and grain fed meats will have a higher than normal O-6 level too. We are what we eat, or more accurately, we are what we eat has eaten. So aim to buy grass fed meat and limit consumption of chicken (especially dark meat).
For more great info on Omega-3 and 6, check out Chris Kresser’s series on Essential Fatty Acids.
RECIPE: CRISPY SALMON AND KALE WITH AVOCADO AND DILL Bump up your Omega-3s with this delicious meal…
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 × 180 g salmon fillets
- 1 bunch of kale, stalks removed and leaves chopped
- 1 big bunch of dill, roughly chopped (save some nice sprigs for serving)
- Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil,
- Serve with Mashed Avo
Method Heat the coconut oil in a pan, pop your salmon fillets in skin-side down. Let the skin get really crispy – I leave the fillets for about 3 minutes – then flip them over and cook for another 2 minutes. Then, this is a bit sacrilegious, but I get a knife and fork and pull the salmon apart in the pan, then leave it for about 2–3 minutes and wait for the oils to come out of the fish, so that each little piece becomes super-crispy. Add the kale (make sure it’s dried thoroughly because the coconut oil will spit) and cook for 1½ minutes, then add most of the dill, season with salt and pepper and toss it together for another 30 seconds. Serve with a generous glug of olive oil, some delicious Mashed Avo and a few sprigs of dill – enjoy!
Serves 2
This tasty recipe is from Lola Berry’s book “The Happy Cookbook”]]>