I’m back after a small break from this forum. I wish I didn’t, because they are hard to stop eating, but I need nuts in my diet. Seafood doesn’t have a lot of fat, and I don’t eat dairy or add oil to my food. I rely on nuts and avocados for a lot of fat. I also eat 2 eggs per day. I’ve tried eating more eggs but didn’t feel good. I like to keep my omega ratio as close to the 3 side as possible. Of course nuts have a lot of omega 6. If macadamias were too addictive, is the next best choice walnuts? I know we don’t convert ALA well, but even so would it still keep me at the best possible ratio? Secondly, is the whole omega ratio importance blown out of proportion? If say pecans digested better and I felt better eating them (so long as I got my omega 3’s from seafood) would I be no worse off? Last question - They say omega 6 competes with the omega 3 for digestion (I’m not sure if they mean ALA or both forms of omega 3) but aside from vegetables, most ALA foods have a lot of omega 6 like avocado and walnuts, so does this mean when you eat avocado or walnuts the omega 6 in them is interfering with the omega 3?
Keeping the best possible omega ratio
I have to keep my omega3:6 ratio around 1:1 which I have done successfully for a while so I may be able to help with this.
Of course, you may not need a 1:1 ratio but it is generally recommended to keep a healthy ratio for these as a high omega 6:3 ratio can exacerbate inflammation.
First of all, you want to focus on fatty fish mackerel, salmon & sardines. They have loads of fat & generous amounts of Omega 3. You can eat lean seafood of course but as you know - those aren’t high in Omega 3.
Yes nuts are certainly high in Omega 6. No two ways about that. Macadamia nuts are the exception.
When it comes to foods containing ALA, I also was of the opinion that we don’t convert these very well to Omega 3. That said, I have noticed my inflammation go down even more tremendously when I eat things like flaxseed which is high in ALA. So I’d say eat foods high in ALA (and low in omega 6) but only because they seem to have anti-inflammatory effect for me at least.
I don’t think omega 3 interferes with digestion of omega 6 persay. Although I have read something about very high omega 6 levels can reduce uptake of omega 3. I’ll try to find a link. It’s however ok to eat foods containing both - the key is balancing the ratio overall (not per food item).
If you feel you are still not getting enough, fish oil supplements (with at least 1000mg EPA+DHA per serving), is another option.
So in summary: more fatty fish, ALA containing food are ok, less nuts unless macadamia, foods with both omega 3&6 are ok to eat, watch your overall ratio for all foods consumed daily (not the ratio in each food item), fish oil supplements if needed.
Hope that helps.
Thanks, I mostly eat salmon. I had a high mercury level while eating the fattier king salmon so I’ve been doing mostly sockeye and its gone down quite a bit. Aren’t flax seeds a bit carby?
The ratio business is based on the idea that the two types of fats compete for the same cell receptors, so if you are getting an inordinate amount of one type (usually ω-6, because ω-3 is harder to come by), then your chances of getting enough of the other are reduced. Fortunately, while ω-3 and ω-6 fatty acids are essential to our diet, we don’t need very much.
Another consideration is that ω-6 fatty acids are supposed to be inflammatory, when overconsumed.
if the omega 6s are inflammatory would I be better off with 2 oz pecans (12,000 omega 6) but a lot less Ala, or 2 oz walnuts (some 20,000 omega 6 but with all the Ala) in addition to salmon
The ω-6 fats are inflammatory when consumed in quantity. If you are eating real, whole foods (meat, eggs, fish, poultry, etc.), then you are probably getting enough ω-6 and ω-3, and in the right quantity.
The problem with the standard American diet is that it consists, to a large extent, in highly-processed foods, which typically contain a lot of industrial seed oils and therefore a great deal of ω-6 fats. As Dr. Stephen Phinney likes to remark, the problem in the U.S. is not getting enough ω-6, it’s to avoid getting far too much.
If you instead eat a diet that excludes those processed foods, you probably don’t need to worry about how much ω-3 you’re getting, because your ω-6 intake will be so low that it won’t be competing with the ω-3 for receptors. That’s my understanding, anyway.
In any case, concentrating on eating food is better for our health than worrying about getting the right nutrients. So just eat real food, and you should be fine.
The carbs in flaxseeds are mostly fibre so they don’t count towards your 20g net carbs.
If I ate that much omega 6 regularly, it will cause inflammation for me. However, it may not for you provided you are also consuming an adequate amount of omega 3.
I have to say though in response to Paul that even a keto diet can result in a high 6:3 ratio if you are not intentional about keeping these ratios balanced. This is especially the case if you consume nuts regularly.
Definitely eat real food but if you are going to be incorporating nuts regularly, I’d say to make sure you are getting similar amounts of Omega 3 from the foods you eat.
My omega 6 is coming from walnuts not processed foods so I am still getting a lot of them despite the exclusion of processed food.