New pber! Confused about fats? page

[TARA718]

Hey guyss im brand new to this and i am totally confused about why and how i should eat in a 1:1 ratio of Omega6: Omega3's. If anyone could provide example of how to achieve this that would be appreciated. I would also like to know how do you guys get most of your fat intake? Is it ok to take spoonfuls of coconut oil? Thankss! btw im trying to lose weight if that changes things hehe.

[yodiewan]

Basically, an excess of omega-6 in your diet will cause your body to be in a state of chronic low-level inflammation. If you want nitty-gritty details search for eicosanoids.

It's very difficult to get a 1:1 ratio of omega 6:3. A ratio of 2:1 or even 3:1 isn't too shabby. To get down to 1:1, you'd basically have to eat no nuts, no olive oil, no poultry, and very little fat from pork. You'd have to get most of your fat from ruminant animals and other low PUFA sources like coconut oil and eat fatty fish pretty often. I mean, you could just guzzle enough fish oil to "balance" whatever your omega-6 intake happens to be, but you also want to keep your total PUFA consumption pretty low.

While it's "OK" to eat spoonfuls of coconut oil, it's not really conducive to weight loss unless you are also controlling your total calories.

[tfarny]

Basically if you totally avoid vegetable, soy, and corn oil and get your meats from good quality sources, and eat oily fish at least once a week, your ratio will not be bad - you don't need 1:1 exactly or any such thing. You might consider taking flaxseed or fish oil at first to get yourself to a decent ratio quickly. At the same time, I have no idea what my ratio is or was, I just follow that basic advice.

[Solldara]

If you're new to primal and looking to lose weight I would forget all about ratios, portions etc and just spent the next 3 weeks eating as much meat, fish and non starchy vegetables as you want - trying not to get stuck eating one food all the time so you get a good balance of different nutrients.

Add in berries (and 85% chocolate) in moderation ie 1 or 2 bars/tubs a week if you know that traets/cheats help.

I wouldn't add in extra fats - just don't be scared of the naturally occurring stuff, ie eat beef, pork, salmon, eggs, mackerel etc.

After 3 weeks you can start tweaking your diet based on your personal results - but until then just getting used to being without grains, legumes and refined sugars, getting over the possible carb flu, and taking time to get your head into the primal mindset is the most important thing imo.

Roasted Veg - ie carrots, mushrooms, onions with slices of roasted pork are great by the way, really cheap and leaves loads for leftovers with salad the next day.

[TARA718]

Wow, thank you all for the fast and thorough responses. Much appreciated. My diet looks something like this:
Breakfast- three eggs and bacon, teaspoon of coconut oil ( should i be taking the oil?)
Lunch- Salad with chicken, peppers, cucumber, onions and a few walnuts
Dinner- Steak or salmon with veggies

Any ideas for making this more efficent for weight loss, i'm going to try different ruminants because i find myself eating mostly chicken, i am also doing high intensity workouts three times a week

[IcarianVX]

The menu looks pretty good. I try to eat steak twice per day and any chicken I eat is breast meat only.
Keeping polyunsaturated fats below 4% of your total caloric intake is ideal, but it is really hard to do if you eat chicken, pork or nuts on any regular basis.
For now, since you are fairly new to this, just stick to eating things that had a face (and veggies if you want them). Once you get into the groove of the lifestyle and understand how your body reacts to the different foods you could then try to tweak some things (like tracking calories, nutrients, fat ratios, etc.)
And keep the coconut oil. The saturated fat in it is good for hormone production/balance and will help satiate you until lunch. It is also a good snack if you are in between meals.

[tfarny]

Also, don't get over-stressed about the whole PUFA thing - avoiding the bad oils is 80% of that battle won already.
The holy trinity of Paleo-style eating is: 1) no gluten 2) no sugar 3) no bad oil. Everything else is fine tuning or individual preference.

[lssanjose]

Also, don't get over-stressed about the whole PUFA thing - avoiding the bad oils is 80% of that battle won already.
The holy trinity of Paleo-style eating is: 1) no gluten 2) no sugar 3) no bad oil. Everything else is fine tuning or individual preference.

Amen!