The other night I was talking to my newly 62-year old mother on the phone and we were talking about her recent visit to the doctor’s office. She told me that she was being sent to a specialist about rheumatoid arthritis. She is not in any pain, but they told her that she is at high risk and it certainly does run in the family. I immediately told her that she should be taking fish oil, which she is, but she then responded that her doctor told her not to. What?! That doesn’t even make sense to me, I say. She said he Googled it and showed her an article on the “lack of research” on fish oil. Sure you can find articles on either side of the equation, but I can find plenty more articles in favor of fish oil then not.

Fortunately my parents are the type of people that are always changing and adapting to the world as the world is always changing and we are constantly finding new information and new discoveries. I am certain that my mother will continue learning more about fish oil and come to her own educated decision. And that is the key: education. I find it curious and suspicious that a doctor would rather put a woman who is not in any pain, through a series of medical professionals and tests before he would suggest something as simple as fish oil.

There is a lot of research out there and I am telling you to Google it yourself, but I am happy to sum up findings that I think are sound and make sense. First of all, I do not work for SFH. By buying SFH fish oil myself, selling it to my mother or suggesting that anybody else takes it, in no way make any money from it. I have emailed the company with my own questions and concerns and I have found it to be the highest quality product on the market for the best price possible. It is that simple for me but here are some more facts about fish oil:

*Fish oil is a concentrated form of EPA and DHA otherwise called Omega 3 fatty acids, which are potent in anti-inflammatory properties, and may even play role in brain health, protecting against cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis and more. Omega 3’s or EPA and DHA are not produced within the body and so must be obtained from our food.

*Omega 3’s can be found in sources of food such as flax, chia and hemp seeds but at a very low concentration. Eating these seeds for your daily Omega 3’s is an inefficient way for your body to convert EPA and DHA, not to mention that they may cause the body to have increased inflammation.

*Don’t confuse Omega 3’s and Omega 6. Omega 6 is bad…Omega 3 is GOOD! Omega 6 is found in most vegetable oils and is correlated with arthritis, inflammation and cancer. Omega 3 does the opposite. Studies show that most modern Western diets have a ratio of 10-1 and some even 30-1 for Omega 6 to Omega 3. Recommended ratio is 1:1 or even having a higher Omega 3 than Omega 6.

*Anytime you are thinking about taking a supplement and in this case fish oil, you should ask yourself these questions:

1: What am I not getting in my regular diet that I need to supplement for? If you already eat plenty of grass-fed beef and wild caught fish, you may not need a large amount of fish oil supplement if at all.

2: If you are trying to supplement for one thing, i.e. Omega 3’s, then why would you need a pill or oil with more than that single ingredient?? That is why SFH is the most appealing fish oil on the market; no soy, dairy, rice, wheat or artificial ingredients. Ingredients as listed for the Lemon flavored SFH oil is: Purified fish oil, natural lemon flavor and rosemary extract, with the later two ingredients to help the single ingredient taste better.

3: Taking more fish oil must mean I am going to get twice the benefits, right? More is not better in more instances than one. Don’t think by taking half a bottle of fish oil each day that you can suddenly eat whatever you want and be inactive. Fish oil is a extremely good supplement with a lot of health benefits but it is not a magic potion. You still need to make sure that you are eating grass-fed animals, wild caught fish, leafy greens, staying active and getting enough sleep.

Becoming healthy as most of us know, does not happen overnight or by taking a bottle of fish oil. We must continue to learn, adapt and change as we find new information and more research and studies are performed. We need to continue educating each other and seek out new knowledge about what is good and bad for our health. People ask me why I do what I do and I answer, smile and say if that does not make sense for you then email the company or Google it. Start asking questions and developing your own answers and then come and share with me what you find, but please, don’t forget to take your fish oil.