However, most conventional wisdom about how to get omega 3 fatty acids into your daily diet may actually be a little misleading. For years, health organizations have recommended that you eat fatty fish once or twice a week in order to increase your omega 3 intake. However, since most western diets are so incredibly low in omega 3, this actually may not be nearly enough to effect the positive impact on your health that you are trying to achieve. In fact, you could be doing this already and still actually have an omega 3 deficiency. In reality, you would need to consume almost 2 pounds of fish a day in order to insure that you were getting sufficient amounts of omega 3 fatty acid in your diet. But if that sounds like a little too much fish for you, try a daily dietary supplement instead.

Studies show that people who get a healthy dose of omega 3 fish oil each day actually tend to get better results at the gym, which means that you could potentially counteract some of those calories without raising your daily stairmaster quota to 10 hours or something equally unheard of (British Journal of Nutrition 2009). While taking omega 3 will not, all on its own, result in your body transforming itself overnight, the essential nutrient that also plays a major role in brain function and heart health could be a major factor in your diet’s success, or your maintenance of your current level of fitness.

In some cases, it can even lead to clinical or chronic depression, as well as physical symptoms like migraines, muscle aches and general fatigue. If you or a loved one are experiencing these types of issues, do not simply give up and assume that there is nothing to be done. In fact, you can take steps right now to potentially alleviate the problem.

While there are many factors that can contribute to and even cause stress, these factors are often exacerbated by a lack of omega 3, an essential nutrient found in fish oil. Omega 3 deficiencies are actually at the root of many cases of depression and can dramatically reduce your emotional and physical susceptibility to stress. If you have been feeling low or are worried about the toll that stress is taking on your love life, consider starting a daily fish oil supplement today.

Omega 3 is present in many types of food, but generally in fairly low amounts. Any food can be an “omega 3 rich” food if it contains any omega 3 at all because conventional American diets are so low in this vital nutrient. Even if a manufacturer has actually supplemented a food with some form of omega 3, that is no guarantee that your body will be able to process those important fatty acids. Since your body cannot make this nutrient on its own, but has to have it, it is important to eat forms of omega 3 that are ready for use. These forms of the fatty acid are found mostly in fatty fish like tuna, mackerel and salmon. It is still up for debate whether the popular sources krill and flax actually contain much useable omega 3. So before you shell out big bucks for a false omega 3 boost, consider simply supplementing your daily diet with omega 3 salmon fish oil capsules and leaving the boost on the shelf.

There are strong cases to be made on both sides of the aisle, but the fact remains that regardless of where one stands on medication, ADD and ADHD medicines are high-risk because they are also frequently used as recreational drugs and can cause serious heart problems. Studies indicate, however, that an omega 3 fish oil treatment regimen may be the natural alternative that many parents and kids are looking for (Nutritional Neuroscience, vol. 10, no 1-2, 2007). If you are hoping to deal with your own or a loved one’s ADD or ADHD in a natural manner, consult your doctor or dietician about adding omega 3 to your diet immediately.