So far we have learned about omega 3, omega 6 and how the balance can affect our health. We have also gone into the different types of omega 3 fatty acids and how they are not all created equal. In this last segment, we will learn how to use this knowledge to select the appropriate survival foods for peak performance in a collapse situation.

At the end of the day, we are seeking to restore our Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio as close to 1:1 as we can. With the vast majority of people on western diets leaning north of 1:10 in favor of omega 6, we have three options. We can either reduce the omega 6 in the diet, increase the amount of omega 3, or both.

1. Reduce the amount of omega 6 in your diet

Omega 6 is prevalent in the standard American diet primarily due to the amount of vegetable oil present. Before the advent of the industrial revolution, animal fats such as tallow and lard were saved from the processing meat butchered locally to use for cooking. However, since we have distanced ourselves from our food production, capitalism has rewarded the cheapest form of oil production, vegetable oils.

It has been estimated that as much as 20% of the calories consumed by the population of the US consists of soybean oil alone. Other vegetable oils such as canola, corn and safflower oils are rampant in packaged foods across the country.

The solution to this is to avoid mass produced foods containing oil. I challenge you to go to your fridge and look at the ingredients in any salad dressing, condiment, margarine or any other fat containing product. 9 times out of 10 they will contain a harmful vegetable oil.

For those of you investing money into long term food storage, make sure you are not buying foods containing these oils. They will make you sick!

2. Increase the amount of omega 3 in your diet

The other option is to boost the amount of omega 3 in your diet. Now, considering the availability of food in a survival situation, the options might be limited. We will speak in terms of ideals, but at the end of the day any form of omega 3 will help offset the balance.

From our last article we learned about the hierarchy of omega 3s: DHA, then EPA, then ALA. While getting cold water fish may be great for those of you who fish through holes in ice, it will be difficult for most other people.

A great option for people who are planning to homestead is grass fed meat and dairy. The omega 3 versus omega 6 content can be a double edged sword when eating meat. The fat profile of meat reflects the diet, so factory farmed cows eating corn will typically be high in omega 6. However, healthy, grass fed beef, butter, milk and cheese is one of the best sources of omega 3 out there. This also applies to wild caught game.

Finding your balance

Reducing your Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio is not easy. Some of the biggest names in personal health such as Dave Asprey eat incredibly rigorous diets and still have a tough time getting to 1:1. This is one of the situations where you can never do too much. At the same time, you don’t need to kill yourself for it.

Making the choice to do something small like  make your own salad dressing instead of using the stuff from the grocery store is a win for you. Over time these will add up to less inflammation, better blood markers and overall better performance and survivability.

In our last segment, we went over the basics of omega chain fatty acids. We learned about how most people are vastly above the omega 6:3 ratio that is best for the body. We also learned about the consequences of this, including inflammation, heart disease and autoimmune disorders.

Let’s go deeper into the different omega 3 fatty acids.

The Omega 3 Pathway

Omega 3 fatty acids are constantly touted by the news as good fats. In relation to the modern diet, omega 3 levels are what are severely lacking in most people. Where the ratio should be 1:1 for 3 and 6, it can be upwards of 1:30 in some people. However, there are some important differences in the types of omega 3s and how they interact in the body

DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) is the big daddy of omega 3 fatty acids. Within the body, it the primary structural component of some of the most important tissues for survival. These include the the brain, cerebral cortex, retina, and skin. Also for the fellas, it is a critical structural component of the testicles.

DHA can be found in nature through eating cold water fish or by drinking breast milk.  The benefits of fish oil supplements are based in large part around their DHA content. However for those of you who have been weaned and have no access to cold water fish, there are alternate pathways.

EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid) is the next step up from DHA. The body is able to convert EPA to DHA, however at a less efficient rate than obtaining it directly from food. Interestingly, women are more effective at conversion, which makes sense considering the need to bear children. Like DHA, EPA is found in fish, although they need not be cold water. The fat from fish like salmon, herring and cod is an abundant source.

EPA itself can be synthesized from another Omega 3 fatty acid if it is not available. Again, conversion rates are much less efficient than direct consumption. The fatty acid we need in this situation is ALA (alpha lipoic acid). This is the form of Omega 3 most abundant in plant sources such as flaxseed oil, chia seeds and to a lesser extent soy.

Conversion and sources

So to summarize, what we are looking for and need for our bodies is DHA. DHA can be converted from EPA, which in turn can be converted from ALA. This forms a distinct hierarchy in what we should be shooting for with dietary sources of Omega 3.

As with anything else, there is a lot of hype surrounding Omega 3 supplements. While on paper they all qualify as omega 3, the farther away we get from DHA, the more we lose in converting it.

For example, taking 1000mg of pure DHA would render the same amount of usable DHA as 10000mg of EPA, or  33000 grams of ALA, given a 10% conversion rate for EPA and a 3% conversion rate of ALA suggested by studies. The difference can be tremendous!

Stay tuned to our next segment where we will show you how to use this knowledge to optimize your omega 3 to omega 6 ratio with the right survival foods.

The word Omega seems to be thrown around a lot these days. Apparently involved with everything from prostate cancer to autism in children, Omega 6 fats are one of the biggest threats to your health.

Unfortunately, this stigma has carried over to fat in general, with lots of people avoiding fat entirely in favor of lean meats and carbohydrates. As we know, there are some serious metabolic consequences to doing so. So to navigate a healthy diet, free from insulin derangement is becomes essential to know what fats to eat and which ones to avoid.

In the beginning: Omega 6 and Omega 3

When the average person was a hunter-gatherer, the state we lived in for millions of years leading up to modern agriculture, the level of omega 3s and omega 6s were very different. In the absence of refined oils and factory farmed meat, the average person would get most of their fat calories from meat sources such as deer, fish and mammoth. The ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 in the diet sat comfortably at 1 to 1.

Today, in the days of deep fried snickers and canola oil, the ratio has changed dramatically. The average omega 3 to omega 6 ratio of someone on a standard American diet is estimated to be between 1:20 and 1:30.

Everything in moderation

Omega 6 isn’t an inherently evil substance.  It is required for many processes within the body including inflammatory response. Both Omega 6 and Omega 3 are considered essential fatty acids, without them, we would not be able to function.

However, with levels as high as they are today, problems are abound. Excess of omega 6 fatty acids has been related to all sorts of problems resulting from inflammation from arthritis to heart disease. Studies have shown a direct correlation between average tissue levels of omega 6 and the incidence of heart diesase.

All the while, people condemn butter for causing heart disease while heaping on low quality vegetable oil based dressings onto their salads. The irony is palpable.

The culprits

Omega 6 oils are predominantly found in vegetable oils while omega 3 is predominantly found in animal oils. Of course, there are exceptions such as flaxseed oil but for the most part these hold true.

Since the advent of the industrial revolution, vegetable oils have been much cheaper to produce and store than animal based fats and have since become the de facto for cooking and processing of food. American diets have been estimated to get almost 10% of total calories from omega-6 oils!

It’s no wonder people are so scared of fat in this country. They are forced to eat the worst kind of fat available by the corporations that feed them.

What are you to do in order to prevent these myriad problems and how can you incorporate this into your choice of survival foods? Stay tuned for the next post in this series to find out.