By now we all know that omega 3’s are good for us, but it’s quite another thing to get a good daily dose of them into your diet. Here’s a few tips on food and supplements that can help you to maintain a nice omega 3 balance.
Food sources of Omega 3’s
- Flaxseeds or Flaxseed Oil – Add flaxseeds to your homemade cereal mix or put the flaxseed oil into your smoothie creations!
- Oily Fish & Fish Oil – Enjoy fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines or herring a couple of times a week. Make sure it comes from good source. Some farmed fish are feed grains and this lowers their omega 3 potency. Alternatively you could add good quality fish oils to your food after cooking. This goes nicely with thai dishes. Salmon oil is a good one to use. Again source a good oil, don’t just get whatever the supermarket stocks as it may be rancid, from farmed fish being fed the wrong things or from unsustainable sources.
- Chia Seeds – Chia seeds are all the rage at the moment so there is no shortage of recipes to get more chia into your diet! You can make some lovely desserts with them, add them to your morning cereal mix, but them pre made with the little chia pods and so on. Make sure if you are going to use store bought pre made that you look out for the sugar content. Some of the chia pods don’t add sugar and other flavours do, so read the packets! Check out the recipe below to get you started, this chocolate mouse is so yummy!
- Walnuts & Walnut Oil – Grab a small handful of walnuts for a snack, add either the walnuts or walnut oil to salads or steamed veggies something different.
Many Omega 3 sources are delicate to heat, light & air so don’t use the oils in your cooking and try to lightly cook fish or cook on low heat. There are many more food sources than mentioned here but these are some of the highest ranked. For a full list see the heart foundations list here. In addition vegetable sources of omega 3’s are usually also high in pro inflammatory omega 6’s so like everything else, have these foods in moderation, don’t over do them!
Omega 3 Supplements
- Krill Oil – Although Krill Oil has not undergone as much vigorous testing as fish oil we do know that Krill Oil is more bio available than fish oil as a raw product, therefore it doesn’t need to be processed like fish oils do. To find out more click here.
- Fish Oil – Fish Oil has been heavily researched with loads of benefits and is now known to be a necessary part of a healthy diet. If you are going to take a fish oil supplement, do you research, don’t take just any old supplement. Make sure it is from sustainable sources, that the fish weren’t fed loads of poor quality grains and that it is suspended in a oil to help protect the fish oil and make it more bio available to your body. If in doubt, ask a professional, an accredited Nutritionist or Naturopath should know some good brands. My Naturopath recommended Ethical Nutrients to me so that is the one I currently take.
- Vegan Omega 3 supplement – There are some vegan omega 3 supplements on the market made from algae. Here is the best one I know of on the market. It’s sustainable, bio available and tested to make sure it has a good amount of omega 3’s in each capsule.
Vegan Chocolate Mousse Recipe
I made this a few nights ago, I have to admit, I had my doubts, but it was delicious! A client recommended it ages ago and I never gave it a go, silly me thinking avocado doesn’t belong in desserts! How wrong I was!
Ingredients
- 1 x 275ml can of Ayam coconut milk (the blue can)
- 2 x very ripe avocados
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup honey, maple syrup or rice malt syrup
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chia seeds
- 5 ripe strawberries, chopped for serving
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts for serving
Method
- Put the can of coconut milk in the fridge the night before you wish to make this dessert.
- In a blender combine the avocados, cocoa powder, desired sweetener, coconut oil, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the ground chia seeds. Wipe down the sides and blend again to make sure it is all mixed up evenly.
- Set the chocolate mousse into ramekins or glasses of your choice leaving a little room at the top for the cream and strawberries and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to set and allow the chia seeds to thicken.
- Take the lid of the coconut milk without shaking and scoop the thickened cream into a medium sized bowl. Add the 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and whisk until combined and smooth and creamy.
- Spoon the cream on top of the chocolate mousse and add some chopped strawberries and the chopped walnuts. You can eat straight away or if you’d like to firm the cream up you can put it back in the fridge for another 5 minutes. If they aren’t needed to later use some plastic wrap to keep them fresh!
Enjoy! This was so easy to make and tasted delicious, I hope you give it a try. It was a fraction sweet for us so next time I am going to reduce the amount of sweetener. I made it in tall glasses so you could see the different layers, quite pretty but once we got to eating I mixed the coconut cream through the chocolate mousse which was scrumptious!
Please let me know of any variations or tips you figure out in giving this a go, I think this one is going to become a regular treat in our house hold!