the mighty mighty chicken

 Nearly 6 months of no chicken made me miss it.

So I made some... A Chicken Breast with no skin....

Seen here cooking with a can of Tomatos.

White Meat Chicken NO Skin

600 mg of Omega 6

White Meat Chicken WITH Skin

Add the skin and it more than doubles...

THAT makes sense because so many of the Omega 6

are said to be stored in the fat / skin

Dark Meat Chicken With Skin

Nearly 6 times the Omega 6 (the "bad" one)

as compared to White Meat Chicken without Skin.

GOSH - that's more fat than beef!

Think! Freedom!

Think about what cha tryin to do to me (link)

Like the song!

Took the Chicken, with Tomatos, added Pumpkin, Gram Masala Spices,

Green Beans, Red Peppers, Onions... and Ground Chuck.

I added the Beef just cuz I had some on hand. 

It would have been fine without it, too.

Speaking of Beef.... Look at the numbers for Grass Fed Hamburger.

Higher Omega 3... but the Omega 6 is about the same as Grain Fed.

In this case, maybe a little higher.

I would call this "Neutral" Omegas. 

This is Grain Fed Beef. 70/30

Oh - and all my examples are 100 gram portions.

If the goal of a low pufa diet is 4% pufa MAX,

Then 4% of, say, 1200 calories is 48.

48 calories from pufa. Divided by 9 (for a fat)

is nearly 6 grams of pufa. THAT's alot!

Beef - here - has almost half of ONE gram.... not alot!

Now comes 95/5 ground beef.

THAT has about as much total fat than White Meat Chicken!

And less PUFAs all the way around.

And WAY better than Dark Meat Chicken's stats!

Remember my 100 days of Omega 3?

It was more like 5 - nearly 6 months for me.

Because the half - life of the Omega 6 is so long...

It takes 2 to 4 years to clear your system!

That's my own BP. It runs low-ish.

So now , my plan is to go back to sorta regular eating.

I am not worried at all about the Omega 3's.

I am not worried at all about my LDL.

I still don't like the Omega 6's.

I still want to keep low PUFA.

[poly unsaturated fatty acids]

We'll see, eh?

 

Awesome Early Spring-Like Weather we're having!

Lots o' rain. Just like I like it!

typical low carb - pufa

Typical LoCarb diet:

Bacon, Eggs, Cheese,

Ground Beef, Green Beans,

Avocado, Chicken, Nuts,

Mayo (or salad dressing)

Heavy Whipping Cream

This is a typical LoCarb Diet with minimally processed

and minimally prepared foods: Single ingredients recipes...

The pufas only go up from here!

23 grams of PUFA

With a 13 to 1 ratio!

23 x 9 = 207 calories from pufa...

[PolyUnsaturated Fatty Acids]

About 10% of the total calories...

Which is OK... but far from ideal!

20:5 n-3 (EPA) is 9 mg...

22:6 n-3 (DHA) is 142 mg...

How did we ever live?

The results of my informal survey are coming in:

Most people don't care what a PUFA is.

They never even took time to answer the questions!

(That's ok - that IS the answer I was looking for!)

Some people don't know what a PUFA

Others don't think they need to limit them.

Or even the Omega 6's.

Only 3 or 4 Nurses take Omega 3 supplements...

Not one of them limits Omega 6.

NOT ONE.

In fact, they serve them and love them.

With Fake Fat Dressings....of course...

(Most of my Nurse Peers are on Low Fat)

Ah..... to be continued!

Link to the original survey HERE...

posture neck

Yummy Yummy Primal Ground Beef

It comes packaged from the Grass Fed Ranch - 

with Liver, Heart.... I try to include some organ meat

in my diet, and not just muscle meat!

With Green Beans, Onions, Red and Poblano Peppers...

And some cheese and sour cream!

I like the extra fat in my diet... once or twice a week...

And I do ok with Dairy - so it's good!

Can you believe it's been 10 months since my Double Concussion?

And Rotor Cuff Injury! And 10 months of CrossFit.

And that means 9 months + of sleeping with no pillow.

And my Posture is getting better and better!

Heating Pad and BioFreeze are my new BFFs!

Yukky Fish Oil VS Cod Liver Oil!

Some people have asked me about the fish oils!

I am due to get my blood work sometime this month!

Better get it prior to going on vacation!

Carlson's is a great brand - you can get it at places like Whole Foods...

or Amazon.com.  I like the one that is low Vit A.

I still use a supplement... even with all the fish I eat.

I do eat a good amount of ground beef and other proteins.

I don't take the supplement on the days I eat Salmon...

There is such a thing as too MUCH Omega 3!

This is my PaleoTrak food intake for the day 

before the Cod Liver Oil Supplement...

1.3 grams of PUFA total.

That's much less than the lowest 4%! 

This is why I don't worry too much about the ratio.

Since I dropped the PUFA Bird (Chicken) and Nuts, 

I have to work to get high quality Omega 6 IN my diet...!

And why I welcome a little dairy now and again.

And here is the same day's food WITH the Cod Liver Oil

3.3 grams....times 9 (per fat calorie)

 that's about 30 calories from pufa.

That's about 3% of 1000. 

And the goal is at or around 4% total PUFA per day!

So on some days, it goes over a bit... that's ok, too.

I'm still so low in PUFA that it is not a problem.

The idea is to keep the Omega 6 low...

Much like Omega 3 is said to be the "star"

Omega 6 is said to be the other "star"... (Both are EFA)

but maybe an Antagonist - and causes Inflammation!

It's not just about swallowing a bunch of Omega 3 supplements.

You might get the "right" ratio... but you will have missed the point!

Lots of people disagree with the whole idea of supplements.

"Just eat real food!"

I use protein powders, N3, and a good Multi-Vit...

And I have learned the value of a good diet AND

Good quality supplementation.

It all works together!

I heart chicken

This is me - loving chicken!

I love chicken!

 

But there is a reason chicken is cheap.

It is inferior. There. I said it.

MANY people love chicken because it is low in fat.

And they can eat more of it on a low fat diet.

Chicken is the "Sacred Cow" of weight loss meats!

Or IS it?  Let's take a closer look!

This is dark meat chicken.

The juicy stuff.

But have a glance at the PUFA's.

Dark chicken has nearly 10 grams of fat.

Not much Omega 3 there.

Almost 2 grams of Omega 6!

And a 10:1 ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3.

AND this is just the chicken... 

It doesn't even count the veggie oil it was fried in!

Or the mayo it was paired with for salad.

REMEMBER:

PUFA's contain the ONLY

Essential Fatty Acids in the diet.

ALL the rest can be made from the diet.

And the Omega 6  - in excess - is thought to 

be a cause of inflammation  - and worse!

So we think we are "getting by" with LowFat.

MMMM chicken! However -

We are not. Not with this kind of choice, at least!

And "Organic Chicken" (link)

Free-Range Chicken...

(Keep in mind - they are not the same thing)

I can not find a source that breaks down the 

PUFA information! So I wonder if it is really better!

Companies are NOT required to list PUFA info.

 

Compare that to white meat chicken.

HALF THE FAT

And only a quarter of the PUFA!!

Maybe a much better option!

 

Here's  cod... the kind you get at Fast Food Places.

This data is just the fish... the cod... no breading here.

Not even a gram of PUFA !!

We think - "Oh look! YAY! No evil wicked FAT!"

However, we need some about a gram or so 

Of the Omega 3's .... and MUCH less of the Omega 6's

than most of us get already!

 

Compare that to tuna. This is canned tuna.

About the same amount of protein...

BUT much better PUFA's...

About one gram!

 

And speaking of cheap proteins....

How does this compare to beef?

Well.... YOUR dark meat chicken has TWICE the fat of beef!

To be fair, this is ground sirloin... 95/5

But is it not always true that

chicken has WAY less fat than beef.

And is therefore, a better choice.

Not always!

BTW - 70/30 beef is just that -  30% fat.

With about 18 grams of total fat per 100 grams.

[All of these images are 100 grams.]

All data came from (here)

Cross-referenced (here)

I use this Paleo Tracks! (here)

So - Lots to learn here still!

At least we can all learn together!

Hope this helps. Thanks for reading!

fish throw down

Welcome to Fish Boxing Central...

Ladies and gents! It's a three-way fish throw-down!

In this corner (of the world) we have the Mighty COD!

And in that corner (of the world) the Mighty TILAPIA!

BUT WAIT!

Here comes the local favourite!

The (nearly) undisputed champion of the Omega 3's

The awesome - the wonderful - the Mighty SALMON!

A fish is a fish is a FEESH, right?

Well, maybe not!

To really get all the Omega 3's "they" say we need,

The fish needs to be an oily fish.

Now, wait a minute.

Fish is supposed to be LOW FAT, Anne.

That's why we eat the stuff, right?

Well, yes, and no!

Omega 3's are a PUFA -

A PolyUnsaturated Fatty Acid...

And the Omega 3's are an Essential Fatty Acid.

Meaning that the body can not make them - we must eat them.

And, a such - they are a fat. FAT!

That's right; Omega 3's and 6's are fatty acids.

These fatty acids are made up up long chains of carbons

and "other" things, held together by "other" things.

Not THAT kind of chain, eh?

"I pity da fool that doesn't get this!"

This is Tilapia. 

240 mg of Omega 3 (not so much!)

Some are recommending that adults get

1000 mg a day minimum - of the Omega 3's.

Look at the 20:5 n-3 (above)

THAT is EPA.... one of the major components of the Omegas.

True, we can convert these from foods like Flax, 

but maybe only 1 to 10%.

It's easier to get them from diet.

That's how the fish get them!

They eat them from Algae.

DHA then is converted to EPA,

another major part of the Omega 3's.

DHA is 22:6 n-3. 

These numbers - the EPA and DHA -

are what you buy when you get Omega 3 supplements.

The numbers for Tilapia... are pretty low.

To be fair, most oily fish come from cold waters.

Tilapia is found in the Sea of Galilee.

Many people think this was the type of fish Jesus ate.

At any rate - Tilapia is mainly a warm-water fish.

Turns out, only some kind of fish get to be the Alpha 

AND the Omega 3!  - Sorry, Charlie!

This is Cod.

The numbers are little better than Cod, for the Omega's.

Still not great. Most Fish places serve Cod.

Tasty - mild... ok... but...

Not the powerhouse we might think it is!

PLUS, deep frying food is not so good for the Omega 3! 

They change and breakdown - in high heat.

Not to mention - the veggie oil they are often fried in!

So the numbers for cod are pretty low!

Now the cod LIVER - is a different story!

Cod Liver Oil is famous for being a "cure all."

Alot of good Omega 3 supplements are made from Cod Liver Oil.

Now comes Salmon.

HUGE Omega 3. Good 6:3 ratio.

[All these stats are for 3 ounces, or 100 grams, by the way.]

And look at the 20:5 n-3 [EPA]

And the 22:6 n-3!! [DHA]

Remember... "n-3" is the other name for Omega 3.

It looks like we have a winner!

Winner, Winner, Salmon Dinner!

The Wild-Caught ALASKAN Salmon! YAY!

[NOT the Atlantic Salmon, or farmed Salmon]

Technically, Mackerel is higher... (link)

Depends on how you prep it, too.

But that's another story for another day.

Plus, most people won't eat the stuff.

It is an acquired taste.

Also, since Salmon spend time inland,

and swim out to sea, they tend to have less levels of mercury.

Not that kind of Mercury!

I found all this info on Nutrition Data. com (link)

They have almost every known food in the world 

- with every known component of nutrition listed!

And the pics came from google. So thanks, google- meister!

I hope this info helps to understand a little more

about the Omega 3's and the fish we eat!

We are all learning together!