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Want to feel better?

By Tim Lundeen  Beginning Noozer
Published: 21 October 2007 06:23 pm

- I'm used to having a lot of energy and drive, to thinking clearly and quickly, and to having a fair amount of creativity in the work I do. A few years ago, I realized how much I had changed from when I was 30, and it was extremely frustrating to feel my loss of energy, drive and mental clarity.

There is usually a dropoff in performance on novel tasks as you age, which is offset by expertise in areas where you've spent a lot of time and energy. The rule of thumb is that it takes about 10,000 hours of effortful, focused work in a particular area to become an expert. I've done that and a lot more writing computer software, and my ability to write code wasn't really affected -- I could crank out 150-200 lines/day, 50,000 lines per year, of high-quality, robust code, actually spending fewer and fewer hours to do this as my productivity continues to increase here. The trouble was with the rest of it, especially figuring out the right direction to head in and having the energy to work hard towards my goals.

So, I've made a concious effort to turn this around, to feel better and improve my brain function. I've made very substantial progress, and today feel much better and am much more effective. It is a good feeling, and I wanted to share what I've learned in the hope that it will help others in the same situation, and encourage people who are younger to take some of these steps sooner

The single most important factor is to make sure that you get enough omega-3's, and not too much omega-6's. Omega-3's and omega-6's are fats (technically "fats" are fatty acids), and they are present in small amounts in everyone's diet.

Historically, we ate grass-fed meat, more fish and shellfish, and more vegetables than is common today. Today, we eat a lot of grain-fed meat, use a lot of grain-based oils (corn oil, soybean oil, etc), and tend to eat fewer vegetables and salads. One of the problems with this diet shift is that grains have a much higher percentage of omega-6's. Corn, for example, has almost no omega-3 and a high percentage of omega-6. Aminals raised on grain reflect their diet in their body fat, with grain-fed animals having very high omega-6, very low omega-3 content.

The result is that most people today have a chronic shortage of omega-3s. This is compounded by the fact that omega-3 and omega-6 compete for many of the same metabolic pathways, so having enough omega-3 but too much omega-6 is still a problem. The recommended ratio is 1:1 to 1:2 omega-3 to omega-6, but most people in America have dietary ratios of 1:20 omega-3 to omega-6s, so they are getting 10-20x as much omega-6 as they should, and not enough omega-3 by a wide margin.

The problem with this is that your brain, which has a very high fat content, selectively prefers omega-3's to omega-6's, and works much better when you have enough omega-3's (and not too much omega-6). Omega-6's also tend to promote inflamation, while omega-3's reduce inflamation. There is a substantial body of research showing that omega-3's reduce the chance of heart attack and strokes, help reduce allergies, help you control your weight, and in general help you feel better and live longer. There is no known downside to getting the right ratio of omega-3 to omega-6, as long as you don't eat too much of them.

So, how do you change your diet to get enough omega-3's, and not too much omega-6's?

• Eliminate or reduce your intake of vegetable and grain oils: don't use corn oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil or eat products made with them. This is hard in practice, and I use a few products (such as Real Foods mayonaise) that have soybean oil, but in such modest quantities that it isn't a problem. When I'm in a restaurant, I just don't worry about it.

• Take omega-3 supplements. It is very hard and expensive to get the right ratio of of omega-3 to omega-6 otherwise. You have to eat grass-fed meat, a lot of fish, etc. The omega-3 supplements are cheap and easy, and guarantee that you are getting what you need. (To eat enough fish to get enough omega-3, you would have to eat 4-6 oz of wild-caught salmon every day.)

How much omega-3 do you need?

• The goal is to get at least 1.5g/day of DHA (the kind of omega-3 that your brain needs).
• There is a threshold effect. If you get enough, your brain will work faster, your memory will be better, your balance will improve, etc. If you don't get enough, it will still be good for you, but your brain function won't be as good as it could be. For an adult, the threshold seems to be around 1 gram per day of DHA, so 1.5g/day is a good number to aim for, to make sure you are over the threshold.

What are the best omega-3 supplements?

• Fish oil supplements. Fish oil has both EPA and DHA, and your body will convert some of the EPA to DHA, so usually getting 1g/day of DHA from the fish oil will result in enough DHA because of your conversion of the EPA to DHA.
  
• Flax oil supplements. Flax oil has ALA, which (for most people) your body will convert to EPA and then to DHA. You need to take 2 tablespoons of fresh flax oil per day to get enough DHA. Make sure the flax oil is fresh, and keep it refrigerated; oxidized flax oil is not good for you. The best way to take flax oil is at night about 30 minutes before going to bed, in a shot glass with a hot-water chaser . Breathe out, chug the flax oil, sip the hot water as you breathe in and it will wash the flax oil from your mouth/tongue and minimize the flavor.
  
• DHA supplements. I like the supplements from Dr Perlmutter, which are derived from algae. I have a lot of trouble with the flavor and the aftereffects of fish oil, but these work fine for me.
• Some combination of the above. I actually use 4 of the Dr Perlmutter DHA capsules in the morning to get 0.8g of DHA, and 1.5 TB of flax oil at night for the balance, and this works well.

Age considerations: omega-3s are important at all ages, especially for babies and children. For a while, a real problem with baby formula is that it didn't have omega-3, and it was affecting brain development. You need to adjust for weight, along the lines of 150 milligrams of DHA per day for each 10 pounds of body weight.

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