Healthy Supplements: All About Omega-3s

Posted: Feb 12 in Weight Loss Blog by Staff

Supplements are a great way to improve your daily nutrition level while still managing your calorie intake. There are a wide variety of supplements available at almost every local grocery store, loaded with vitamins and minerals like protein, vitamin D, calcium and fiber. While many people are partial to multi-vitamins, which give a comprehensive daily dosage of the vitamins and nutrients your body needs to thrive, there are sometimes benefits to taking an additional supplement that is more targeted at a particular deficiency.

A supplement that provides a recommended dosage of omega-3 fatty acids is often recommended to support ideal heart health. As more research has been done on the benefits of omega-3s, supplements have become more and more popular.

Omega-3 and Weight Loss

After having weight loss surgery, your doctor may recommend that you try taking an omega-3 supplement—especially if it is determined that you are not getting a proper amount of omega-3 in your diet.

The reason that so many weight loss doctors recommend omega-3 is because of how substantially it supports a healthy heart. Obesity is one of the leading causes of heart disease, right beside smoking cigarettes. The longer you struggle with obesity, the greater your chance is of developing heart disease, including heart attack and stroke.

While weight loss surgery will help improve your health and reduce your risk of heart attack by encouraging weight loss, it is still a good idea to take a supplement that will support heart health as you lose weight.

Omega-3 supports heart health by:

• Reducing blood pressure and triglycerides, thereby supporting healthy cholesterol levels and helping to correct or reduce your chances of developing hypertension.
• Slowing the development of plaque in the arteries, which is a huge contributor to high cholesterol levels and heart disease.
• Reducing the chance of developing abnormal heart rhythm, sudden heart attack and stroke.

Using omega-3 has even been associated with reduced risk of heart attack among individuals with known heart disease, which has led many to accept omega-3 as a powerful aid in improving heart health.

You can find an omega-3 supplement at your local food store. The most common type of omega-3 supplement is fish oil, but you can also find omega-3 in other forms of supplements as well. When choosing a supplement, make sure you are using one that provides the fatty acid in triglyceride form, and not as something synthetic.

Before starting any new supplement or making any changes to your diet, make sure to talk with your weight loss surgeon. When combined with a healthy diet and regular exercise, omega-3 can help support a healthy heart as you focus on losing weight.