Check the Label of your Fish Oil Bottle!!!
You invest in a WOD, invest in recovery
I’m not a food expert by study or anything near that, but I am almost obsessed by understanding food and researching what we should eat to stay healthy. So what I write here is just what I’ve discovered reading a lot on Fish Oil and what my experience is with taking this supplement.
All crossfitters know that Fish oil is essential in anyones diet. Why? Fish Oil contains Omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA. These acids have documented health benefits like; it improves cholesterol balance, it reduces inflammation, it increases the blood flow and reduces heart deceases and gives you a better immune system. Also Omega-3 fatty acids ease depression and arthritis as well as warding Alzheimer.
Reason enough to start taking fish-oil capsules if you are not taking them yet??
Now the discovery I have made over time. What it says on the bottle is almost never what it should say…
When you buy a bottle of Fish Oil capsules you need to read what is on the back of the bottle. You need to look at what amount of EPA and DHA a capsule contains. If you look at the total Omega-3 Acids that is what you want to know.
I always used to buy mine at Holland and Barrett and looked for the highest number on the front. It says 1200mg, so wow that sounds good. Though if you look closer you will find that it only contains 360mg EPA/DHA.
If you look at bottles and you can’t see anywhere how much mg EPA/ DHA it contains (as by law this does not need to be displayed) then just leave the bottle and walk away.
How much do we actually need?
Robb Wolf makes the following dosage in his book The Paelo Solution; He recommends 1g of EPA/DHA per 10lbs of body weight for sick, overweight and highly inflamed individuals. For lean, muscular athletes he recommends between 0.25- and 0.5g of EPA/DHA per 10lbs body weight. (I always like to go with the higher end)
Fish Oil for Lean Athletes with proper diet:
Body weight / Grams of EPA/DHA
150 lbs / 3.75g-7.5g
200 lbs / 5g-109
250 lbs / 6.25g-12.5g
300 lbs / 7.5g-15g
So if I look at myself with a weight of 60kg (132lbs) I should take between 3.3g and 6.6g of EPA/DHA. BUT…. on the bottle it says I only need 3 capsules (total of 1.08g) a day…
That is why I say that the back of the bottle is almost always wrong. If I would stick with Holland and Barrett I need to take at least 10 capsules a day.
The Fish Oil with the highest Total Omega-3 acids I’ve found is from Pure Pharma with a total of 2000mg per 3 capsules. This is the Fish oil that most CrossFitters use.
I still have got the H&B capsules, as they are great for my kids who have a much lower body weight then I have.
Fish oil is a bit of an investment in your health as the capsules are not cheap, but the a worthy investment!
So start stocking those Fish Oil capsules as next to all the already mentioned benefits it also helps the recovery after a tough WOD!
See you in the next class!
Coach Agnes
