The amount of essential fatty acids that you should have in your diet, if you show no signs of any type of illness, is between 15 -



20% of the overall calories you eat every day. The breakdown of the types of fats that you should be eating is,

3-4% saturated fat

5-7% omega-6

2.5-3.5% omega-3

5-10% omega-9

Notice that you should be eating 5-10 % of omega-9. This is the best essential fatty acid for your health. The problem is that not that many foods or oils have a lot of omega-9, so it is hard to get 5-10% of this oil in your diet.

Digesting fats

Some of you may have problems digesting fatty acids and

saturated fats. This may occur because you,

Don't have any fat digestive enzymes

Have your gallbladder removed

Have a weak pancreas

To improve your digestion of essential fatty acids, you should be supplementing your diet with digestive enzymes. Since most fats are digested in the small intestine, just passed your stomach, you should be taking enteric enzymes.

Enteric enzymes are coated so that they are not used up in

the stomach by acid and can reach the small intestine where most of the fats are digested.

If you don't take digestive enzymes, you can improve the digestion of these fatty acids by mixing them with cottage cheese. When mixing flax seed oil with cottage cheese, the protein in the cottage cheese makes this oil more digestible.

Storing the essential fatty acids

The fatty acids and ground up flax seeds are sensitive to the environment and how they are processed and packaged. Improper handling of these oils will cause them to deteriorate and loss their potency.

The essential fatty acids are sensitive to,

Air

Heat

Light

Air

Oxygen from the air reacts quickly with fatty acids. This

Oxidation causes these oils to deterioration and become rancid. When using these oils keep the bottles close when they are not in use. Buy omega-3, fatty acid, only in dark containers.

Heat

Heating fatty acids causes them to chemically change into

molecules that are harmful to your health. This is one reason

why you should never use them to fry foods. Use flax seed oil or omega oil only at room temperature. When adding them to soups, add them after you pull the soups of the hot plate.

If manufacturers do not take the precautions to package and

process these oils in the dark and use opaque bottles, the air,

oxygen, heat, and light will destroy the value of these oils.

Light

Light is extremely detrimental to fatty acids. When light hits

fatty acids and oxygen is available, they speeds up the oxidation of these essential fatty acids by 1000 times. Under these conditions

these oils quickly become rancid. Light produces free radicals in these oils, which in turn create various chemicals that are harmful to your body.

Now, you have more facts about how to use, eat, and store the essential fatty acids. Treat them good and they will give you excellent health.