April 19, 2007

Omega 3's (Good fats) and Preventing Alzheimers


Crabby can't say anything funny about Alzheimer's, because it's a terrible disease. However she is happy whenever hard-working scientists can tell her what to do to make getting it less likely. (And often these tend to be things you're supposed to be doing anyway, like exercising and using your brain and eating right).

So here's another new study that seems to suggest that Omega 3's can help prevent Alzheimer's. You can get Omega 3's from foods like fish and flax and walnuts and I forget what all else, but I'll try to dig up a link and come back and put it in later.

The whole "good fats" versus "bad fats" issue is easy to get lazy about. Many of the benefits of eating lots of Omega 3's are long-term, whereas paying attention to calories gets you results you can measure on a scale. Crabby knows her readers are too smart, however, to ignore those important long term health benefits.

One problem, though, is that not everyone likes fish, especially the oily kinds like salmon that give you the most of the good stuff. Crabby makes herself eat it anyway. She has also been known to consume organic whole wheat toaster waffles laced with flax and hemp, but she is not proud of this fact. (Plus they taste like cardboard.) Do readers have any helpful suggestions for getting more Omega 3's? Or opinions on whether or not to bother? Crabby will do a bit more digging around too, and perhaps update this post with more actual information.

13 comments:

  1. You're on my "B" list, Crabby. I truly hope that doesn't murder your budding self confidence. Of course, if you get Alzheimer's then you won't remember and so won't care. Keep eating the fish.

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  2. Thanks, Dawn!
    Crabby considers it an honor to be one of your "b" girls!

    She loves that the alphabet helps her in this instance and will consider re-naming the blog Aardvarks Healthy Living or something so she can remain first forever.

    I really like your site and your writing and am looking forward to visiting there often.

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  3. Hi Crabby! I read your post and decided to have salmon poached in soy sauce and steamed rice for dinner. Since I remembered to come back here to post a comment about it, it must be working. :-)

    Happy Blogging!

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  4. dawno, way to go on the salmon. Are you feeling smarter already?

    Crabby likes to marinate her salmon in Yoshido's teriyaki sauce, which sophisticated diners might find way too sweet. But she loves the way the sweet and salty and flavors drown out the fish taste.

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  5. Hey Crabby,

    Love the blog. I actually like fish and add flax to my bread and my granola.

    I'm sure there are good and tasty products out there. They're not all tarted-up cardboard.

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  6. hi leah,
    And when i've purchased my new better tasting toaster waffles, I can throw them in my CartSmart!

    Damn, another great blog to stop by. I'm going to be busy, I can see this now.

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  7. Hi Crabby!
    I am a friend of Dawn (the Flightless Writer) I like your blog. Love this topic. Just read an article in some newspaper or another. (They all look alike now that I read them on-line.) It said that the reason heart disease and depression has increased so much here in America in the last hundred years is that we have thrown ourselves out of whack by ingesting too much omega 6 and not enough omega 3.

    I do eat fish and walnuts. I have tried the flax seed. Two things I've read: flax seed has to be ground for the body to absorb the omega 3 and if you cook it at high temps as in breads or muffins it loses most of its value. Might not be true but I've seen it written in a place or two.

    I have a custard/cereal recipe around here somewhere that uses ground flax seeds (readily available at the market) ricotta cheese, an egg, vanilla and spices. I nuke it for a bit. I'll try to find it and bring it back on my next trip to Crabbyland.

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  8. Welcome Terrie!

    A Womany of Mystery, how cool.

    I will be back to your gals' blog as soon as I take care of some actual real-world business and maybe say hello over there.

    I'm intrigued by your custard/cereal combination. Perhaps when I get more organized I may institute a once-monthly or once-weekly (if there's enough interest) recipe exchange.

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  9. Note:
    I just realized that if I comment while logged in tn the wrong email account, I become just "Crabby" and I have no profile. But otherwise it's still me.

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  10. This reminds me . . . I should have fish for dinner tomight. I'd better get it out of the freezer now . . .

    My son will probably argue about it, since he always wants chicken. I'll just tell him it tastes the same. :)

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  11. So I'm like a year behind, but maybe someone will read this anyway. If you don't like fish, or any of that other crud .... Coromega. Awesome omega-3 supplement. Tastes like orange (or chocolate) pudding.

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  12. Thanks PurpleGirl!

    That's awesome if it doesn't taste nasty. Appreciate the recommendation.

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  13. How do you not like fish? Especially salmon? My mom used to tell me it was "pink meat" to get me to eat it when I was younger, haha. And Crabby, I happen to own that very same brand of teriyaki sauce. Huh.
    I put flax in oatmeal (I like steel cut best). Since they're sort of similar in taste, it works out great. And if you add raisins, it's very good.

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Thanks for commenting, Cranky Fitness readers are the BEST!

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