Why Increasing Omega 3 Fats May be Good for Your Health

Increasing omega 3 fats in your diet may protect you from today’s most common chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and some types of cancer.

Research shows that because these diseases have an inflammatory component, omega 3 fatty acids which are anti-inflammatory in nature, can play a tremendous role in prevention and as part of a management strategy to keep disease under control by blocking inflammation.

Truth is that the typical Canadian diet does not deliver enough omega 3 fatty acids to the body but favours the omega 6 fatty acids which actually promote inflammation. While both are essential to the body to provide the building materials for cell development and function, the average person gets 10-30 times more omega 6 fats, creating what doctors and scientists call an Inflammatory State in the body. Studies suggest that ideally people should only be getting 1-3 times more omega 6 fats than omega 3 to maintain keep chronic inflammation in the body under control.

Why is there such an imbalance between omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in the diet of most Canadians? Increased consumption of vegetable oils such as sunflower oil, safflower oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil and meats that were fed grains high in omega 6 fatty acids account for much of the imbalance. There is no question that it is much easier to get omega 6 fatty acids in the diet than it is to get omega 3. Omega 3 fatty acids are found in canola oil, olive oil (also high in omega 9, which also inhibits inflammation-that’s another story for another day) soybean oil, fish oil, flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, tuna, salmon, walnuts, green leafy vegetables.

The good news is that because cells are constantly renewing themselves, even small changes in your diet can make big changes in promoting a better cellular environment in your body.

What Can You Do To Increase Your Omega 3s?

1-Know Your “Good”and “Bad” Oils
Choose the "good oils" canola, olive and soybean oils over the "bad"oils- sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oils. Keep in mind that soybean oil has a mix of both omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.

2-Limit Packaged or Processed Foods
Most packaged foods use oils that favour high omega 6 content. When you must select packaged foods, check the ingredient list and choose those made with “good” oils. I have noticed that many manufacturers are starting to use olive or canola oils in foods such as salad dressings and mayonnaise.

3-Read Labels
I cannot emphasize how important it is to read labels and know what is in the food that you buy. Certain foods such as tuna and walnuts are known to be naturally good for their omega 3 content. However, if the tuna is packed in sunflower oil, or the walnuts are brushed with corn oil, the omega 3s that your body will absorb is compromised. Always be skeptical of claims that a food is supplemented with omega 3. Most food manufacturers have good intentions to make their food more healthy, but just because a food is supplemented with omega 3s does not necessarily make it a healthy choice. Always read the labels before you buy. Some labels also list the omega 3 versus omega 6 content. The omega 3 content should be equal to or greater than the omega 6 content.

4-Disguise Food with Omega 3 Rich Sources
Add ground flax to baking, yogourt, oatmeal or your cereal. Add flax oil to fruit shakes, add lots of green leafy vegetables to your stirfry, lasagna, or homemade soups. You can also add tuna to your salad or eat walnuts as a mid-day snack.

5-Supplementation
If you are not prepared to make drastic changes to your diet, then supplementation is probably your best bet. How much is enough? The jury is still out on how much is enough to actually fight or prevent disease. The National Academy of Sciences’Institute of Medicine advises that the daily intake is 1.1 g/day for women and 1.6 g/day for men. The Heart and Stroke Foundation in Canada recommend that fatty fish be consumed twice a week. Speak to your family physician before beginning supplementation if you are being treated for any medical condition.

Sports Injury 101: Shoulder Tendonitis

Shoulder pain and injuries are extremely common in athletes and individuals involved in activities that require a lot of pushing, pulling, or overhead use of the arm. Of these shoulder injuries Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy (also known as shoulder tendonitis, or shoulder impingement syndrome) is among the most prevalent and most frustrating for the patient or athlete. In many cases,the condition seems to come out of nowhere and usually fails to go away with rest or stretching. To better understand this injury and why it is often slow to heal lets look at what actually happens with this injury.

The rotator cuff consists of a group of four small muscles that run from the shoulder blade to the top of the arm, or humerus. This group of muscles is very important because the anatomy of the shoulder joint makes it susceptible to injury. The shoulder joint consists of the round head of the humerus making a connection with the flat surface of the shoulder blade. As a result of this round on flat relationship the head of the humerus has a tendency to slip and slide on the joint during arm movements. This is where the rotator cuff comes in. The rotator cuff must contract during all arm movements in order to hold the humeral head in place tightly against the shoulder blade. Over time the rotator cuff muscles can actually become fatigued and will begin to become strained. At this stage the shoulder is not yet painful but overtime this strain can accumulate and develop into a repetitive strain injury of the muscle and tendon. As injury develops there is usually a pain on top of the shoulder that is aggravated by lifting the arm overhead or on the day following strenuous activity.
Unfortunately, rotator cuff teninopathy does not usually get better on it’s own. In fact, unless it is properly treated it will often get worse and may even progress into a more serious injury such a muscle tear. The good news is that the majority of tendon injuries are greatly helped with a combination of Active Release Techniques (ART) and specific home stretches and exercises. When treated in the early stages before it is allowed to progress to a more serious injury most rotator cuff tendinopathies are able to fully heal and the individual is able to fully return to their respective sports without any long-term consequences.

Anatomy 101: What is a Nerve Entrapment?

A nerve entrapment occurs when a nerve is "stuck"to adjacent structures or not sliding properly along its course due to acquired scar tissue adhesions. Symptoms of a nerve entrapment include numbness, tingling, pain, weakness and tightness. You are probably familiar with Sciatica and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome; they are the most common nerve entrapments. These are familiar terms to the general public but most don't know what causes a nerve entrapment and that there are new treatment methods that are effective in managing them.

Nerves arise from your spinal cord and travel out of the spinal column like long telephone wires. They are sandwiched between your muscle groups as they course their way to send information to and from your muscles and joints. The Sciatic Nerve, the most well-known nerve, originates from the spinal cord at your lumbar spine and forms a thick nerve tract roughly 2cm wide and takes a course from your back and down the back of each leg. Chiropractors and physicians are taught in school that sciatica is caused by inflammation resulting from a nerve being compressed at the spinal disc level. Research is now showing however, that this traditional emphasis on the inflamed nerve root as always being the primary cause of leg pain is not only inaccurate but ignores the fact that the sciatic nerve can be entrapped anywhere along its length.

Conventional Therapy
Conventional treatments focus on relieving inflammation or blocking pain associated with a nerve root impingement through drug therapy, joint manipulation or physiotherapy. Surgery is another route of treatment which has been discredited as being an effective management strategy for most patients.

How do Nerve Entrapments Develop?
Unfortunately, in the case of sciatica, these therapies are often not enough to manage pain or improve activity intolerances. Nerve entrapments develop as a result of chronic compression the nerves by tight muscles through which the nerve travels or repetitive rubbing or sliding of the nerve against adjacent structures. Friction between the nerve and adjacent structures results in tissue damage which triggers the onset of inflammation to repair the damage; scar tissue is the result of the inflammatory response.

How does Scar Tissue Contribute to Onset of Symptoms?
Over time, scar tissue will build up and accumulate into what we call adhesions. Adhesions affect the normal health and function of the muscles resulting in pain, tightness, stiffness, restricted joint motion and diminished blood flow. Poor posture, prolonged sitting, previous injury and physical deconditioning set the stage for muscles to become chronically tight and can lead to continuous compression on nerve tissue, essentially damaging the nerve itself.

What is Active Release and How Does it Work?
The good news is that a new procedure in Active Release Techniques (ART) called Peripheral Long Tract Nerve Release is one of the most significant advances in treating sciatica and other nerve entrapments conservatively. The primary focus of this new technique is to move the nerve through the tissue. In these procedures, the doctor uses their hands to tension the soft tissues involved and then performs procedures that enable the nerve to be pulled through the soft tissue structure, thereby releasing the nerve from surrounding adhesions. The true power of this procedure is that the doctor can actually feel the scar tissue causing the restriction and actually feel the nerve pull through any site of entrapment, alleviating symptoms of nerve compression. Both Drs. Jason and Stephanie Gray are certified to treat these conditions and have integrated these procedures into clinical practice.