If You're Taking Fish Oil - Make Sure You're Taking This Too

We've all heard that Omega 3s are good for us- and for many many reasons they are. They fight heart disease, depression, low back pain, inflammation, skin disease. They're great, and that's why so many of us take them! But did you know that when we take Omega 3s and don't use all of what we've ingested, we also don't poop or pee them out. Instead, we store them. Omega 3s are fat soluble and therefore stored in our fat cells for our body's future use. However, because of this, the body in its infinite wisdom, will begin oxidizing what it sees as free radicals, rendering our precious fish oil useless in our bodies. Oh no!

Well we can solve this problem by simply adding another wonderful vitamin to our daily regimen- Vitamin E. Vitamin E is also fat soluble and therefore stored in our fat cells when we've taken more than what we need in a given moment. And not coincidentally, Vitamin E is also an antioxidant, and works to keep that wonderful fish oil safe, usable, and happy for future use. Yay! Crisis averted.

Now not all Vitamin E is created equally- it is important to make sure you buy all natural and NEVER synthetic Vitamin E. When your bottle lists"D-ALPHA Tocopherol" as its Vitamin E source, this is natural and safe to take. When your bottle lists "D-L Alpha Tocopherol" this is synthetic and should be tossed in the trash.

And we can go one step further, it's even better if you can get a Vitamin E with "Mixed Tocopherols," "Delta", "Gamma", etc., as they have an increased effect on the immune function. Only certain brands have this- so you must do your research or consult your trusted holistic health care practitioner for a good source. As always, I offer them in my office for my patients, and your practitioner might too. For adults a typical healthy safe dosage is around 400IU, but as with any new supplement it's always good to check with your doctor or acupuncturist to be sure it's right for you.

Now we can truly go on living knowing we are getting the MOST out of our delicious, nutritious fish oil.