Fish have long been considered an important part of a healthy balanced diet, but approximately 44% of all Americans claim to have a strong aversion to the taste and or smell of fish.
This aversion continues as a leading cause of joint problems, cardiovascular diseases, and a significant contributing factor in America's ongoing battle with obesity.
EPA, DHA, and ALA are the three major essential fatty acids that are lacking in the Western diet for which fish and fish oil are the best sources available.
ALA which is the prime essential fatty acid found in plant sources can be converted into the necessary DHA and EPA molecules but during the conversion there is an 80% loss of nutrient.
This loss requires an extremely large amount of vegetable source which make ALA predominant sources and an unfavorable choice.
Large amounts of plant proteins may also lead to the ingestion of toxins from non organic sources of protein.
Although vegetarians must search much harder for alternative sources of omega-3 fatty acids, non-vegetarians can substitute lean meats such as chicken, turkey, and eggs which have all been organically certified from free range sources.
Grass fed beef also remains a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Vegetarian sources such as tofu and soy milk help provide additional essential fatty acids to the diet.
Cold-water fish receive most of their nutrition from sea grasses so in order to add the same version of omega-3 fatty acids to a vegetarian nutritional plan, sea grasses need to become a staple in their diet.
Sea grass, algae, sea vegetables, and plankton are some of the sources that need to be considered.
Wakame is a form of seaweed which is common in Japanese cuisine.
It is the food with the highest source of omega-3's for the vegetarian diet.
Other sources of omega-3 fatty acids that will be palatable to all vegetarians include olive oil, flax seed, pine nuts, walnuts, pecans, and pistachios.
These sources provide an excellent amount of ALA, the DHA and EPA content must be derived from the conversion of ALA by the body and this has been found to be an inefficient means of getting the proper amounts of essential fatty acids.
Diets that have little or no fish in their diet may still get enough omega-3 fatty acids from other sources.
Dairy products including milk, cheese, and butter that come from cattle who are fed an organic grass diet remain relatively high in omega-3 fatty acids.
Lamb, in most instances, is completely grass fed and remains one of the best sources of essential fatty acids from non-fish sources.
Chicken, turkey, and other fowl who are allowed free range access to grass and insects also produce high levels of DHA in the meat and their eggs.
Farming as a business has almost entirely ruined some natural nutrients and many foods.
Allowing for more natural and organic methods of farming will add a higher level of nutritional content to the foods that most Americans eat on a daily basis.
Many people complain of the cost of such methods when in reality these methods, when adopted on a large scale basis, are actually much cheaper than current practices and produce a much higher quality food.
With all the sources of omega-3 fatty acids it is easy to overdo a good thing.
The next time you feel the need for something fat take a moment and consider the source.