VegetarianMastery-Lesson5

The primary sources of the essential fatty acids – linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) – are plant foods from the land and sea. However, LA is far more common in plant foods than ALA, so you want to focus on getting plenty of ALA in your diet. The best sources of ALA are: […]

Should the Oils Used in Restaurant Meals Concern Me? When you prepare your own meals, you’re at an advantage. You can minimize the use of oils, or deliberately replace oils high in omega-6 with oils high in omega-3. For example, you can choose flax or hemp oil in salads and raw dishes, and mono-rich oils

To ensure infants receive sufficient long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, breastfeeding for two years or more is recommended. If you stop breastfeeding before twelve months or if you use a formula as the primary milk, select one with added DHA. Once your baby begins on fortified, full-fat soymilk (sometime after one year of age), you could

Michael Klaper, MD http://doctorklaper.com/ This week’s Q&A audio is: How To Get EPA & DHA without Eating Fish with Dr. Michael Klaper. Many vegans and vegetarians have lower blood levels of EPA and DHA than meat-eaters. Why? Plant foods only contain ALA, the pre-cursor to the other Omega 3s. Your body can convert ALA to

Assignment #1: Buy an inexpensive coffee grinder that you can dedicate to grinding flax seeds and other seeds and herbs, but not coffee. Why is this important? Flax seeds must be ground or milled for their ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) to be absorbable. We recommend that each day you grind a tablespoon of flax seeds in your

Editor’s note: The author is approaching this topic from a scientific point of view, not a moral one. She compares the types of omega-3 fatty acids in plant foods with the types in animal foods. This does not mean we need to eat or advocate eating animal foods, but it does show why we must

Why Are Some Fats Called “Essential”? There are two main types of fatty acids: short-chain and long-chain. Here are the primary ones that we’ll be discussing in this lesson and that are of most concern. Short-chain fatty acids Omega-3 ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) Omega-6 LA (linoleic acid) Long-chain fatty acids Omega-3 EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) Omega-3 DHA