FORUMS > Performance Eating Forum Rules

How much do you take daily? I take about 35g ground flaxseed (sorry for wrong spelling above), half in the morning half before sleep and about 15ml olive oil, i spread some around my pasta, rice, meat... Is that too much?

The US FDA says the following about olive oil "Limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that eating about 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the monounsaturated fat in olive oil. To achieve this possible benefit, olive oil is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day is perhaps cautious. If you are in good health, 2 tablespoons per day will certainly do you good, in many ways.

http://italianfood.about.com/b/2006/03/03/olive-oil-a-couple-of-tablespoons-a-day-will-keep-many-doctors-away-2.htm

That's the easy part to understand. Now it is going to get complicated.

The Monosaturated fats are unsaturated fats that are heart healthy..Saturated fats are bad for heart health.

Omega-3 fatty acids are also unsaturated fats not monosaturated like olive oil but rather are polyunsaturated. They are also heart healthy.
EPA and DHA are two Omega-3 fatty acids that are heart healthy. Fish and fish oil have large quantities of these two fats. Omega-3 fatty acids are also found in walnuts, winter squash, and beans like soy and kidney.

ALA is the third Omega-3 fatty acid. ALA needs to be converted by the body into EPA and DHA to be helpful. Flaxseed contains ALA and the body will need to convert it into DHA and EPA before any benefit can occur.

One of my many worries, as I get older, is developing prostate cancer. High ALA levels in the blood is associated with an increase risk for prostate cancer. It has not proven or disproven that flaxseed oil causes prostate cancer. I'll stick to fish oil until this debate is resolved. I take 3 1000mg fish oil capsules a day for my Omega-3 supplement..
This is what the Harvard Medical School has to say about flaxseed and prostate cancer
http://hms.harvard.edu/public/disease/nutrition/page3.html

The myth of saturated fats being bad has been debunked...Cocount oil is now considered a super food.

Benefits of Raw Virgin Coconut Oil
Coconut oil contains absolutely no trans fats. Although many people mistakenly believe coconut oil is dangerous to health due to its saturated fat content, close to two-thirds of its saturated fat is made up of medium-chain fatty acids, which are actually health promoting they are antimicrobial, easily digested for quick energy, and beneficial to the immune system.

The popular misconceptions about coconut oil can be traced to some decades-old flawed studies, some of which used hydrogenated (chemically altered, unnatural) coconut oils, and to misleading advertising campaigns generated by the edible oil industry. The industry instead promoted polyunsaturated fats (such as canola, soybean, safflower. and corn), which easily go rancid when exposed to oxygen and produce harmful free radicals in our bodies. Coconut oil was falsely accused of leading to coronary heart disease, a myth that has been refuted by a large body of research showing that consumption of natural coconut oil is beneficial to health, including cardiovascular health.

Traditional wisdom also supports the regular use of coconut oil. It has been used as a traditional food by the Polynesians since ancient times, and they have among the lowest rates of heart disease in the world.

Some of the health benefits of consuming coconut oil include:

Promotes weight loss and helps maintain healthy body weight
Reduces the risk of heart disease
Supports thyroid function
Increases metabolism and energy
Prevents bacterial, viral, and fungal infections
Helps control diabetes and chronic fatigue
Improves digestive disorders such as Crohn's disease and IBS
Protects against alcohol damage to the liver
Rejuvenates skin and prevents wrinkles