Thanks, Sue. I'll try it. One great thing is that my blood pressure is good now. My dr was stunned and delighted with my weight loss--"You've lost a LOT of weight!" She cut the BP meds in half and will cut them completely if my BP continues to be low. Progress!

That's great news about you blood pressure and weight loss! Let us know how you do with Sea Health Plus. When you take it with your fish oil dose it emulsifies the oil for better absorption, and this usually eliminates any gastric distress. Like you said, with your symptoms, it would be difficult to pinpoint whether it's really the fish oil or just coincidence.

Doesn't it feel good when people recognize the results of your diet and lifestyle efforts? It continues to happen to me, and when I least expect it. I received a compliment just this afternoon, from a friend I've known for years. It went something like this 'I just have to tell you, you look so good! Have you lost weight or something?' This was from a perosn who knew me before I lost all my weight 15 years ago. Compliments always give me the opportunity to share a little bit about the Zone with others. Stick with the Zone Lolly, and you can't help but feel good and project that feeling to those around you.

I certainly agree, Sue. It feels really good to be affirmed in my weight loss and answer the "How did you do it?" question, especially to another person who is struggling. Hopefully my Dr. will be able to encourage other patients to try the Zone. I've lost 22 lbs. and it shows, but the next 20 will really make a visual difference. Can't wait! Thanks again for sharing your wisdom and experience with all of us.

You're welcome!

It's good that you doctor has respect for your choices. I changed doctors for that very reason.

Hello everyone. I am new here and I didn't want to start a new topic just to ask one little question; I thought I might put my question here. I hope that's ok.

I live in Croatia and Dr. Sears' Omega Rx is not available here (except if ordered from the zonediet.com website but then the price is extremely high with the added shipping charges and possible customs fees). Another pharmaceutical grade omega 3 product, however, is available here for purchase (Enerzona Omega 3 Rx from Italy, endorsed by Dr. Sears) but it is also very expensive and I really can't afford it at the moment. I found RxOmega-3 Factors Fish Oil Concentrate by Natural Factors at a fairly decent price online - even with shipping to Croatia, so my question is: is this Omega-3 product ok? It's either that or my grocery store Omega 3 supplements...

can someone please reply? it's urgent

most people here feel that the zone oil is superior, but hey, if you can't afford it, I would use the natural factors....

thanks. yeah, i thought so too.

Hi Sandra
I can not affort the expense of Omega RX...so I buy normal fish oil and I can feel the difference when I am adding F.O. to my day... some months I do not but fish oil (I just can't)... and I can feel it....
so, try using it... regards

Hi Sandra, reading TOXIC FAT will help you to better understand fish oil safety issues.

Hi there

I am confused.
I used to eat loads of fish and a little oatbran and vegetables and fruit fr the majority of last year. The diet didnt work for me because it became quite difficult to find safe fish to eat here in SA. My doctor kept on telling me i needed evening primrose oil in my diet. This was before supplementing any oils....only eating one piece of oily fish a day. Now however, i am only eating oily fish 2 to 3 times a week, and a little bit of raw oats three times a week only. I am quite sporty and eat lots of chicken, veg, fruit and a tiny bit of unfavourable carbs eg rye bread and brown rice. I am finding the inflaation worse than ever though. I began supplementing fish oils (omega 3) three weeks ago but am finding the inflammation even worse. If i eat chicken, eggs, oats, fish and veggies.... dont i need more omega 6's to help with the inflammation?i dont eat any unhealthy fats and my sister who eats the same way as e supplements with Sol-Oil and finds she suffers from no inflammation. Sol-Oil has these ratios in them: EPA 176g, DHA 191mg, DPA and others 35mg, GLA 204mg,LA 219mg. Although I keep reading "only supplement fish oils," y doctor keeps telling me I need evening primrose oil or Omega 6's. He is an endocrynologist and works holistically too. What is your opinion of all this?

I wouldn't recommend the oil you posted about. Try the Zone diet supplemented with Sea Health Plus and Omega Rx for a month and you should see a big difference. Omega 6 fats cause inflammation.


Also keep in mind your sister's body and yours may be very different. She could also have high levels of silent inflammation. One doesn't feel symptoms with silent inflammation.

Also, the Fish Oil you have been taking is too low in EPA/DHA.
You want at least a 60% concentration with EPA/DHA in a 2 to 1 ratio.
.
For example: A 1000mg (1g) FO pill with 400mg EPA & 200mg DHA for a total of 600mg in a 1000mg pill is 60% FO in a 2:1 ratio.

Alexia, you mentioned in your post that your inflammation was worseing, how do you know that? Is it a physical sign, or are you measuring it in some other way?

Would agree with the others that omega 6's won't help with the inflammation, but I want to know more about your inflammation. I find it curious that you said your inflammation was worse after taking fish oil for 3 weeks. Maybe if you can find a fish oil with the more balanced EPA<img src='desktopmodules/ntforums/images/emoticons/biggrin.gif' height='20' width='20' border='0' title='Big Grin' align='absmiddle'>HA ratio of 2:1, and without the GLA (you probably get enouh in the oats that you are eating).

Your doc maybe recommended the primrose oil for the GLA content, but sometimes people can feel worse with too much GLA.

Sorry I made a mistake. The omega 3 supplement I started 3 weeks ago has 800mg EPA, 600mg DHA and 200mg other omega 3's. In a day, I will consume ostly vegies and fruit as my carbs, olive oil as my fats, chicken and eggs as my proteins mainly. I do weight training 3 times a week and yoga every day. I notice I am always more inflamed after I exercise. I cant afford any more supplements yet I do have digestive enzymes which could perhaps help with the digestion of the fats? do you think my body is maybe just not digesting the fats, and thats why the inflammation is worse? because im often told through blood tests that i dont digest proteins well, mainly. I read somewhere that only flax seeds have a greater content of omega 3 to 6. I eat alot of other nuts and seeds such as pumpkin seeds etc. This was recommended to me by my personal trainer and now im wondering if this is the cause of the inflammation.... as they are very high in omega 6 fats right? and too many omega 6 fats causes inflammation? do you see why i am so confused? doc says take evening primrose oil, personal trainer says eat more seeds and nuts, and when i read everywhere it says only supplement omega 3.
very confused!

I just read now that Dr Sears recommends 1600mg EPA and up to 800mg DHA. is that true? because i have only been supplementing 800mg EPA and 600mg DHA and the bottle tels me to consult with my health care practitioner if I take more. Its "The Real Thing" capsules.

Well, the fish oil is still not in the same 2:1 ratio as the Zone fish oil.

I guess you have to choose which one's advice you are going to follow. Not sure how to direct you there, but Sears has a pretty good handle on inflammation and fish oil, so if you could switch your current fish oil to another product similar to the Zone, then maybe that would help. I know that cost can be an issue, but there are other brands out there that are not as expensive as on this site. I am not into the Sea Health Plus, so I would not recommend that one.

The nuts are ok-almonds, macadamias, but the seeds have more omega-6 fats in them.

Thank you. But omega 6's do cause inflamation right? so cutting them out as much as possible would still aid the anti-inflammation process right?

Yes, Omega-6 will contribute to inflammation, and I would cut out as much as possible to aid the anti-inflammation process.

Sears wrote an entire book on Inflammation, called THE ANTI-INFLAMMATION ZONE. It might be a good book for you to check out at the library.

I'd love to know if anyone knows if the high dosages of fish oil are good for everyone. When I google side effects of overdosage of fish oil, almost all of them say "bloating, indigestion, blood in urine, nausea."....symptoms of which ive experienced over and over after taking fish oil. I also read that one piece of salmon already contains up to 2g of fish oil. SO if you are like me and have oily fish almost every day, along with flax seeds (one heaped spoon containing 4g fish oil), along with the fish oil supplement....this seems like the reason behind my symptoms which I keep thinking are kidney stones, too much protein in my diet, etc etc. I starting to think its a shock to my system of too much too soon...and perhaps should ease the omegas into my diet.
Anyone know anything about this? You know when you have uncomfortable symptoms of something and just cannot pinpoint it ;(

No, high dose fish oil is not good for everyone. Sue would likely chime in here to tell you that her dose is very small.

I really think that if you switch your fish oils, you may find better tolerance to it, less bloating and indigestion. If you are able to tolerate it better, then you will be able to find out if it is working better for your inflammation.

If you have had blood in the urine with fish oil in the past, then this may be why your doctor doesn't want you to increase your fish oil dose. I would check with him regarding why he doesn't want you to increase fish oil.

Alexia,

Since my name has been mentioned here, I wanted to let you know that Dr. Sears has established a small fish oil dose for me because I've been able to successfullly control my AA/EPA levels by practicing strict adherence to the Zone diet for 15 years. My experiences do not have a common thread with the concerns you've posted about here.

BTW, those side effects you found when googling refer to lesser grades of fish oil, not to the ultra-refined fish oil concentrates the are recommended for the Zone.

Alexia,

Since my name has been mentioned here, I wanted to let you know that Dr. Sears has established a small fish oil dose for me because I've been able to successfullly control my AA/EPA levels by practicing strict adherence to the Zone diet for 15 years. My experiences do not have a common thread with the concerns you've posted about here.

BTW, those side effects you found when googling refer to lesser grades of fish oil, not to the ultra-refined fish oil concentrates the are recommended for the Zone.

Thank you. Id really like to show all of you guys this website, if you woud like to further your zone experience. www..timerelease.co.za.
I dont show you this to advertise him or anything, i just believe he is a person the world should know about.
He trains many famous people (international stars from The States and all around the world)....and I am very lucky to have three sessions a week with him.
Just check it out. He works from 5am-9pm almost every day and hence his 20min timerelease programme took him 10 years to devise.
Let me know if anyone works with it, and if it works for you. Id love to tell him.

Thanks Alexia. :-)