Udo's Choice

[LadyFaile]

my last visit to the health food store was semi-productive. the guy there knew a lot about veganism and nutrition and the types of things we need to be careful of. he recommended this product, Udo's choice, which is a bottled oil that provides all the necessary omega fats, which i know i'm probably lacking in. it's about $10 for the small bottle which lasts a few months. you're supposed to take a spoonful of the stuff twice a day.

problem is, it tastes aweful on it's own, though it's not a harsh taste so i think it could be something you could get used to after a while. and you can't put it in hot foods, or use it in cooking etc. he said it does taste ok on salads though so i may try that but i don't see myself eating 2 salads a day. or even one for that matter, at least not every day..


anyone try this, hear about it, have any info or opinions on it?

[yarnblossom]

I haven't tried it, but it is such a small amount to take I would just gag it down and get over it. Much easier than making salad. you could always have a glass of juice or something to drink right after to take the taste away.

[soilman]

Walnuts are in season now in the US and canada. Just buy some walnuts. Or you could buy cold-pressed walnut oil at about $8 for 13 oz and flavor nutbreads and nutcakes with it, instead of using flavorless oils to them. Or you could munch it by the tablespoon full -- delicious on cold cereal or warm porridge.

[soilman]

Add chopped walnuts when you cook your oatmeal. Along with chpped apples.

[Thalia]

Mix it in with a cold fruit smoothie.

[LadyFaile]

but soilman does walnut oil have all the same properties as this one? the purpose of the oil isn't the taste or to use it in food, but as a nutritional aid. (aid? aide?)

smoothy, now there's an idea. i still have protein powder to use up too. blech.

[soilman]

Walnut oil is high in the kind of fatty acids that is the hardest to get, the same kind that is in flax seed oil. I forget what it is called. All the rest of the oils are lower in this fatty acid. Omega something. It is only present in small amounts, if at all, in sesame oil, almond oil, soybean oil, avocado oil, olive oil, pecan oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, canola oil, and cottonseed oil, but is present in large amounts, predominant, in flax seed oil, walnut oil, and fish oil. Of course, walnut oil has a nutty delicious flavor that many people like better than eithr fish oils or flax seed oil. Walnut oil isn't good in everything, but in some kinds of cookies and cakes it is wonderful.

[soilman]

There are 2 kinds of dietarily essential fatty acids, omega 6 fatty acids, and omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 6 fatty acids are widespread, and just about unavoidable, in mostly all fats and oils; omega 3 fatty acids are in shorter supply, and only occur in large quantities in a small number of oils.

There is little reason to need an omega 6 supplement, as you will get omega 6 oils everywhere. If you need any supplementation, it would be with omega 3 fatty acids.

Walnuts and flax seed and, my favorite -- pumpkin and squash seeds -- are high in omega 3 fatty acids.

While we need much more omega 6 fatty acids than we need omega 3 fatty acids, probably we only need 1/2 as much or less omega 3, as we need omega 6, it is conceivable that some people could benefit by increasing their omega 3 intake.

If you have an omega 3 intake out of balance with your omega 6 intake (less than 1/2 the amount), it makes little sense to consume a teaspoon a day of an oil with a balanced amoutn of omega 6 to omega 3; what makes sense is to eat something that is unusually high in omega 3, and to eat a substantial amount of it. Daily oil intake would be, I am guessing, at least 4 tablespoons of oil a day. So you might want to up your omega 3 intake by eating a tablespoon or 2 per day of flax seed oil or walnut oil or pumpkin seed oil -- all 3 are delicious. I could drink them. Tho i think eating 1/4 pound of pumpkn seed is more fun than eating a tablespoon of pumpkin seed oil.

[soilman]

Remember, we are not talking about micronutrients here, we are talking about macronutrients. What you are likely to need to do is improve your ratio of omega 3 to omega 6, by eating more omega 3 and less omega 6. With micronutrient, simply eating a multi-micro-nutrient pill, with micronutrients in balance amoutns, will assure that you get your minimum needed micronutrients, or more. Having more, as long as it is not many many times more, is no problem.

But eating a "supplement" with a balanced amounto of omega 3 to omega 6, will cause you to have too much omega 6, and too much fat altogether -- unless you eliminate just about all the other sources of fat from your diet, and depend on the "supplement" for all your fats. You can't really "supplement" with macronutrients. You must get enought of each, and balance their relative amounts by taking more of some and less of other, if necessary. Esp if ur diet is already too high in fats, as so many diets are in the industrialized west -- fats would be the last macro nutrient that one would want to "supplement" with. With fats, one would usually want to reduce the overall amount.

[LadyFaile]

see my thing was, i don't get enough fats in my diet, and i mentioned to the guy at the health food store that i'd been using ground flax, he suggested that oils are easier to digest and this product uses all organic and unrefined oils and has more than just flax. it's 2:1 omega 3 and 6. here's the website

http://www.florahealth.com/flora/hom...ucts/R7980.asp