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As someone who regularly eats more than the recommended ounce of nuts/seeds per day, is there any chance of this causing an omega 6 overload? A guy at the gym told me that more than an ounce a day would lead to an inflammatory state. And would taking a tablespoon of flaxseed oil counter this?

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Thanks, TimD

An Omega 6 overload sounds a bit too hazardous on this occasion. The important part is the ratio of Omega 3 and 6, not so directly the exact amounts of the fats. If you eat plenty of nuts and not enough fish or other O3, your ratio is just way too off. Then you are most likely similar to almost everyone. The ratio should be roundabouts 1-4 : 1 (Omega 6 : Omega 3). Studies and reasearch claims most people have the ratio at 10-25:1, which is very bad. It can cause bad things. More Omega 6 means less Omega 3 absorbtion. And that can lead to increased muscle inflammation for one. For your information, my ratio of O6 and O3 was about 5:1, which is a bit too high.
Solution? Eat more Omega 3. Fish is great, olive oil should also be used. Flaxseed is also good, but it still contains Omega 6 fat, like does olive oil. But it has more O3 than O6, so I think it's recommendable.

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Prove the impossible!

yeah grassfed beef!

Grassfed beef is great but you're not really getting much O3 if you're just eating the muscle. There is very little inter-muscular fat. You need to eat more of the organs and the actual fat but hardly anyone does. Eat grassfed beef but don't kid yourself that you're getting more O3. The biggest benefit may be in what you're not getting, since toxins, as well as nutrients, concentrate in the fat.

It does take very little O6 to actually meet your needs and too much is inflammatory. All PUFAs, O6 and O3 are easily damaged and oxidized so keep away from heat and over processing. If the nuts taste a little off, don't eat them. Some flax/hemp oil is helpful in adjusting the ratio but the best source is fish. It would be best to limit your nuts to a couple handfuls a day, and make sure that you get a variety of them, maybe almonds this week, walnuts next week, etc. Macadamia nuts are remarkably low in O6.

Olive oil doesn't contain much O3 so it won't help to balance off the O6, however, you can use it to help eliminate vegetable oils from your diet, and you'll get benefit that way. Commercial salad dressings always contain vegetable oil, even if they says olive oil on the label. Make your own so you can control the ingredients.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

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Thanks TimD.

QFT

That reminds me of this statement:
"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

I'm currently reading "Deep Nutrition" by Dr. Cate Shanahan. She has a little table of fats to eat and avoid. I'll summarize it here. If you follow this list, the nuts become pretty insignificant:

Bottom line: Nature doesn't make bad fats.

Good:
Olive oil
Peanut oil
Butter
Macadamia nut oil
Coconut oil
Animal fats
Palm oil
[elsewhere in the book she mentions cold pressed flax and hemp oil as OK]

Bad Fats:
Canola Oil
Soy Oil
Sunflower Oil
Cottonseed oil
Corn Oil
Graoeseed oil
Safflower oil
Non-butter spreads

"Foods" to avoid due to inflammatory fats:
Margarines and spreads
Salad Dressings
Rice Milk
Soy milk and soy products
Breakfast cereals
Nuts cooked in oil (eat raw or dry roasted only)
French fries
Crackers and chips
Granola
Soft breads and most muffins

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

I've been eating a tablespoon of coconut oil every day recently - more for the supposed benefit of reducing the likelyhood of Alzheimer's than anything else. I know, I know it isn't proven, but let me have this one.

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Thanks TimD.

Just encase you're not aware of it - http://coconutoil.com/

Great resource...

KPj

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Thanks TimD

Thanks for all of the replies, guys.

I'm a nut/seed fiend - I admit it. I don't just eat them as a between-meal snack, but sometimes as a replacement for breakfast or lunch. They're easy to carry, satisfy hunger for a long time and don't cause the crashes that I got from cereal. Walnuts and pecans are my favorites, but I have a peanut/sunflower seed budget.

The guy I talked to in the gym is a registered dietitian, so I gave more credence to what he said.

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Thanks, TimD

One thing that is different in the omega 6 you get from nuts vs vegetable oil, for example, is that it's a whole food. The O6 is supported from oxidiation by the vitamin E that is naturally with it. In vegetable oil, which is already damaged by the extraction process, that protection is not there and it's more prone to oxidization. This causes free radicals which are the main reason to avoid O6. As long as your nuts and seeds are fresh, not subjected to processing and not coated in vegetable oil, I wouldn't worry about it, although there is always the "too much of a good thing" issue. I would be less concerned about excess nut consumption than excess sugar consumption, which doesn't seem to bother most dieticians.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

I'm the same way, a lot nuts and seeds in my diet. I have almost completely eliminated vegitable oil though.

^^
along those line, yesterday I threw away my container of mixed nuts .... I had not really paid attention to all the other crud they put in there. When it comes to nuts, I'll eat anyone under the table.

that sounded better in my head

I am surprised about how little O3 I actually get...I am glad I can get it through vegetables (who would of thought they had fats!), but I eat quite a bit of meat, and the amount of O6 I get from meat doesn't catch up with the amount I get from veggies. I guess I should just replace an entire meal with like 10 cups of spinach, an acre of broccoli, and a flaxseed oil catheter, and then bathe in fish oil before I go to bed.

I found this neat link that graphically shows the absolute omega 3 and 6 values in a serving of food.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9mNHNOMqaqM/S ... aphFix.jpg

Anyways--this thread has inspired me to keep track of how much O3 and O6 I am getting. Anyone have any good links to a good food database that has this information? I think nutritiondata.self.com is a decent source--but I was wondering what you folks used.

Rob

Where did you get the idea that you can get a significant amount of O3 from vegetables? You don't have the digestive system for it. Cows can make it from grass, salmon can make it from algae. In fact, it can only come from plants but it need to be concentrated in animal fat to be useful to us. Walnuts and flax contain ALA which can be converted to the type we need but to a very small degree. You should count plant O3 at about 1/20th the potency of animal O3. By all means, eat spinach. broccoli and kale but the O3 is a bonus.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD