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Total dietary fat intake vs omega-3 intake; which is more important?

Does getting a certain amount of dietary fat even matter? Would a normal healthy individual just be better off using those calories for more carbohydrate loading and protein intake, and just making sure They get their daily serving of flax seeds and/or salmon? For example, if someone has 8oz of salmon, and 2 tablespoons of flaxseeds every day, which is more than enough daily omega-3 intake, it would come out to about 35g of dietary fat. Would they even need to consume any dietary fat beyond that for normal bodily function, since they got adequate amounts of fatty acids?

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Answer

One important note—it should be ground flaxseed because if you eat the seeds whole they will generally pass through your gut completely intact.

I’m no expert but I think you’d definitely want some omega-6 fatty acids in the mix, probably a minimum of 50:50 omega-6:omega-3. Both are “essential” fatty acids, meaning that they are required by the body.

I think that a person can thrive on a low-fat diet, but I don’t know what the advisable lower-limit is.

Personally, I’m experimenting with a WFPB diet where I eat very little or no added oil in dishes I prepare for myself. I usually eat a tablespoon or two of nuts every day (mostly walnuts, which have the largest proportion of Omega-3 ALA of commonly available nuts) and every few days I’ll eat at local vegetarian places that do veggie bowls which always include a mix of different fats. I’m currently taking about 1500 mg/day of algae-derived omega-3 supplements which contain EPA & DHA. About once a month I eat fish because I enjoy it, but aside from that, the quantity of animal-derived foods I eat is pretty minimal.

Answer

One time, a guy ate a nearly fat-free diet for about 6 months. The goal was to induce and observe the expected deficiency syndrome. Instead, that did not happen, but it permanently cured his migraines and he no longer felt tired after a day of work.

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