Skinny Bastards. Chapter 11. Don’t Be a Pussy.

What if someone told you you that you could totally change your life and have the body you want for the rest of your life? What if all you had to do was follow a simple formula and maybe struggle for a month or two? What if you could reprogram your brain to actually enjoy healthy foods? Well, guess what? You can change your life. You can have the body you want for the rest of your life. You can enjoy healthy foods. All you have to do is follow a simple formula and be willing to delay gratification for a few months. A few months. That’s it. Then you can enjoy a new body for the rest of your life.. You have all the nutritional information you need to become a Skinny Bastard. The rest is up to you. Although this is a lifestyle and not a diet, it is going to feel like a diet for the first thirty days or so. During this time, you will be retraining your brain, healing your taste buds, and cleansing and detoxifying your body. It might suck a little. Chances are there will be times you feel deprived, angry, overwhelmed, and frustrated. But these few, fleeting moments will all be worthwhile once you are buff. Truth be told, if you follow our guidelines, it won’t be so bad.

Before you even start making changes, take notice of how you feel and the role that your diet plays. Do you wake up tired? Is coffee the only thing that gets you going in the morning? Are you cranky in the afternoon? Do you need snacks to bolster your mood? Do you have little or no energy? Do you rely on soda or sugar for a little boost? Do you have trouble falling asleep? Is a beer (or three) the only thing that gets you drowsy? When you eat something unhealthy, how do you feel while you’re eating it? Right after? An hour later? How does it affect your sleep that night? How do you feel the next day? Pay attention to the negative effects your current diet and lifestyle have on your body, moods, and energy level. If it’s not too girlie, feel free to start a little journal, writing what you eat and drink throughout the day and how you feel as a result. This way, when you start making positive changes to your diet, you’ll appreciate all of the results—not just the weight loss.

Recognize that anything worth having is worth fighting for. Good health, vitality, more energy, more confidence, better sex, great abs— you either want ‘em or you don’t. You can continue plodding along in your life feeling like you’re not living up to your man potential or you can dedicate yourself to creating the life you want. Fuck excuses about not having the time. You spend at least forty hours a week working.

And fuck excuses about it being “too hard” to eat well. Certainly your health and your body are more important than anything else in your life. You are worthless to your company, colleagues, friends, and family if you do not value yourself enough to take excellent care of yourself. Love yourself enough to do whatever it takes to be the best you you can be.

An important part of any recovery program for addiction—and unhealthy eating is an addiction—is taking it one day at a time. Don’t torture yourself with thoughts of “I can never eat steak again” or “How will I live without coffee?” Just take it one meal at a time. Don’t think ahead with dread and anguish. One meal at a time. And when all feels hopeless, remember that you are in charge of what goes into your body, you don’t answer to anyone, and you are allowed to eat anything you want. Often just knowing we can eat whatever we want is enough to keep us from eating whatever we want. We’re so rebellious.

If you feel really invigorated and motivated and you’re ready to completely immerse yourself in the Skinny Bastard lifestyle now, then rock on. Go for it. Otherwise, feel free to set mini-goals for yourself and tackle them one at a time. This means spend the first week of your new life removing one dirty vice item. Whether it’s cigarettes or coffee or alcohol or sugar or junk food or meat or dairy—just purge something negative from your life immediately. Choose something that you like and enjoy but that you know you can let go of successfully. (But start right now. Don’t let these intense feelings fade—use them.) Dedicate the week to getting this vice item out of your diet, your body, your kitchen, and your mind. Think of all you’ve learned about this item and how disgusting it is. Envision the damaging effect it has on your organs, your moods, your health, and your appearance. Imagine exactly what it is that you’d be eating. Know how shitty you’d feel, physically and mentally, if you ate it. Understand that you have free will and that if you wanted to eat it, you could. But know with every fiber and cell of your being that today you wish to put only pure, beautiful, healthful foods in your body. Most important, acknowledge that no vice item will ever make you feel happy or whole or satisfied. In fact, all vice items make you unhappy because they contribute to weight issues, health problems, mood swings, and low self-esteem.

When you’ve got one week under your belt, feel great about what you’ve accomplished. Then, immediately, while continuing to steer clear of the item you banished in Week One, start Week Two by ridding something else from your diet. Every week, until you’ve completely cleansed your life of poison and toxins, eliminate one more thing. Apply the same mindset, dedication, technique, and excitement you used in Week One. Resign yourself to purifying your thoughts, body, and kitchen of this crappy vice item; realize you’ve just made your life better by not letting this item infect you anymore; gross yourself out thinking about what exactly it is and the effects it has on your body; think of how bad it makes you feel when you partake in it; and finally, remember that if you did choose to eat/smoke/drink it, it wouldn’t make you happy or fulfilled.

Never feel like or say you are “giving up” your favorite foods.

Those words have a negative connotation, like you are sacrificing something. You’re not giving up anything. You are simply empowered now and able to make educated, controlled choices about what you will and won’t put into your body, your temple. Be grateful that you now know the truth about the foods you used to poison yourself with.

Let all you think and speak of regarding this life change be positive.

People who have positive attitudes are much more successful than those who don’t. Be excited about feeling clean, pure, healthy, energized, happy, and buff. Enjoy every second of this metamorphosis, knowing the journey is as important as the end result.

Confucius never said, “A hungry man is a bratty, babyish asshole,” but he should have. Because it’s true. A hungry man is a wah-wah crybaby, who will destroy everything and everyone in his path if hunger is allowed to set in. So you must always be prepared with healthy food on hand. Otherwise, seriously, you will fall off the wagon almost immediately. Your kitchen should be stocked at all times with the appropriate foods. Pack your lunch and a snack for school or work. Keep an emergency stash in your car, at your desk, and in your murse (man-purse).

Never, ever get caught with your pants down. Unfortunately, depending on where you live, restaurants may not be a safe place for the first month. The menu might not have any vegan or even vegetarian options, and it is easy to be hypnotized by the seductive smells of cooking. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat out ever again as long as you live. Just for thirty days. (Unless there are good veggie-friendly restaurants in your neighborhood. Asian, Mexican, and Italian restaurants almost always have veggie choices.) You can’t expect to change your life without a few minor adjustments. Your only priority for thirty days is to adhere to the regimen you’re creating. Without straying. After you achieve thirty days of pure eating, you’ll feel confident you have what it takes to get the job done. “I just survived thirty days. I’m so proud of myself. This is the healthiest I’ve ever been in my whole life. If I want to, I can eat an old vice item. But why would I? I just made it thirty consecutive days. I’m going to keep going.” If you test yourself before thirty days, you are setting yourself up for failure. Be patient and strong.

When you reach the thirty-day milestone, don’t run out and gorge yourself on crap. In fact, just keep doing what you’ve been doing. See and feel all the positive changes in your body, energy level, and selfesteem. Alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, and food are all addictive, physically and psychologically. Chances are, even after the thirty days, if you indulge in a vice item, you might go off the deep end. It is well known in Alcoholics Anonymous that you’re only “one drink away from your next drunk.” This means we think we can control our addictions. “I’ll just have one drink. I’ll just have pizza this one time. I’ll just eat half a piece of cake.” The truth of the matter is that we are powerless over our addictions. We don’t want to make you feel like you can never eat your favorite foods ever again. We just want to impress upon you that it is very easy to obliterate all your progress with one bite, sip, or puff.

After one month of pure living, if you did eat the food you’ve been fantasizing about, you probably wouldn’t even enjoy it. Really. You’d see that your brain has been tricking you and your taste buds all along.

Now that your taste buds have healed and become more sensitized and your brain knows the truth, those old chemical, sugary, artificial, dead, rotting foods will taste “off” or “less than” somehow.

If you do decide to partake in a vice item after thirty days, it cannot be out of weakness or for lack of preparation. You should never be somewhere and just say, “Fuck it.” It should be a calculated, scheduled, premeditated choice. The portion should be decided on beforehand, should be smaller than you would normally have had, and served on a plate. (The package should be put away before you start eating.) Sit down at a table. Eat very slowly. Try not to finish the whole thing. Do not have another serving. Take note of how you feel while you’re eating it, immediately after, an hour later, in bed that night, and the next day. Chances are, because your body is now pure, the vice item will make you feel a little nauseated or headache-y at the very least. And it most certainly won’t taste as good as you imagine it will.

Do not discount these negative feelings. They are your new, healthy, clean, pure organs speaking to you.

Enough of all this melodrama. It’s not like you’re gonna be hungry and cranky for all of eternity. We know that dieters always “crash” when their favorite foods become forbidden. So we devised the Skinny Bastard plan to allow for cookies, cakes, chocolate, burgers, ice cream, etc. They just aren’t the same ones you’re used to. You’re not giving up anything; you’re just trading in all your old, gross food. Big deal. The new stuff is just as good. So don’t kid yourself with the old “I had a craving” routine. Nobody’s buying it.

The only thing more annoying than the “Where do you get your protein?” question is the “My body is craving meat, I must need protein” comment. Most cravings are not reliable indicators of what your body needs. Smokers crave cigarettes, alcoholics crave alcohol, drug addicts crave drugs, and junk food eaters crave junk. If you eat shit for a few days and you begin to crave a salad or a piece of fruit, that’s a craving you can trust. Otherwise, it’s just your addiction talking. Bitchslap it and get a hold of yourself. But feel free to try and understand your addiction first.

For us to survive, our brains came equipped with dopamine, a pleasure-producing chemical. Dopamine is released during sex (or even just while flirting) so that we’ll procreate and the human race won’t die out. And food stimulates dopamine release so that we’ll remember to eat and nourish our bodies. Basically, anything the brain perceives as enjoyable will cause dopamine to lock onto brain cells and build a permanent memory trace of where pleasure comes from.

Even though this evolved out of the need for survival, sometimes it can be a bad thing. Heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and nicotine all trigger the brain’s pleasure circuitry. And not surprisingly, chocolate, sugar, and cheese affect this same part of the brain. So you see, we can be physiologically addicted to food. Any food can trigger the brain’s pleasure center. Some of us are fortunate enough to experience dopamine ecstasy while eating broccoli, and we actually crave this healthy food.

But the types of food and the degree of pleasure they bring will differ from one person to the next. The trick is resetting our memory traces to feel pleasure from healthy food and no pleasure from junk food.

Easier said than done. Especially for people who are addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs or who are overweight. Studies have shown that these people have fewer receptors for dopamine than other people. For them, the pleasure-giving chemical has fewer places to attach to brain cells, making it difficult for them to experience pleasurable feelings. So, because they aren’t getting that “pleasure rush,” they tend to smoke, drink, use drugs, gamble, or overeat. Now don’t automatically diagnose yourself as one these people and assume you’ll never get healthy. We are not at the mercy of our bodies. We are the commanders of our bodies.

Unless we eat cheese. Cheese will rule our lives and fatten our asses if we don’t kick the addiction. Cow’s milk actually has traces of morphine in it!508 And for once, we can’t blame factory farming. Morphine, along with codeine and other opiates, are naturally produced in cows’ livers and end up in their milk. But that’s not all. All milk, whether from a cow or a human, contains casein, a protein that breaks apart during digestion and releases a whole slew of opiates. All these “feel good” chemicals exist so that newborns will nurse and thrive and to ensure a bond between mothers and their young.

Are you starting to get the picture? When a woman breastfeeds, her milk has an almost drug-like effect on the baby. The baby is totally hooked. He’ll cry, not because he’s hungry, but because he needs “a fix” of that pleasurable feeling produced by the opiates. Nature has guaran teed that our babies will nurse and grow. And when they reach a certain age, we wean them and stop giving them these “drugs.” And they’re fine. But then we start them on cows’ milk and an addiction is born.

All dairy products contain casein, but cheese has the highest concentration. In fact, cheese contains far more casein than is naturally found in cows’ milk. It also has phenylethylamine, an amphetamine-like chemical. So when we kid around and say, “I am addicted to cheese,” it’s not a joke—it’s true. We are chemically addicted to cheese.

Casein even finds its way into soy cheese. Whether manufacturers use it to up the protein content, to aid in melting, or because they know of its addictive quality, casein still has the same effect. So if you see casein on the list of ingredients, run! (Follow Your Heart cheeses are casein-free and totally vegan, so enjoy.) The following hormones and natural chemicals have all been identified in cows’ milk: prolactin, somatostatin, melatonin, oxytocin, growth hormone, leuteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, thyrotropin-releasing hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, vasoactive intestinal peptide, calcitonin, parathyroid hormone, corticosteroids, estrogens, progesterone, insulin, epidermal growth factor, insulin-like growth factor, erythropoietin, bombesin, neurotensin, motilin, and cholecystokinin. If you think your will is strong enough to conquer all those motherfuckers, you’re on drugs! Dairy is fattening, and if you eat it, you’ll never find your abs. You cannot control your addiction. You can’t “just have one slice of pizza” or “only have cheese at parties.” You’re “only one piece of cheese” away from a total relapse.

Eat the substitutes; they’ll get you through.

Thankfully, our bodies produce a few different chemical substances that help tame our appetites. One such hormone, leptin, is made by our fat cells. When fat cells in our bodies get adequate nourishment, they release leptin into the blood for two purposes. The first is to alert the brain to diminish the appetite. Next, our metabolism gets boosted, encouraging the body’s cells to burn calories more quickly. Pretty cool, huh? Until we start “dieting.” Typical low-calorie diets confuse the body into thinking it’s starving. So our fat cells slow down their leptin production to help increase our appetites. Release the hounds!

Now we feel like we’re starving! So we trash our diets and binge like beasts. But diets high in fat don’t fare any better. Fatty diets (think animal products) also lower leptin levels. You know where this is headed:

Low-fat, plant-based diets actually boost leptin levels, helping each molecule of leptin to work more effectively. So help yourself succeed.

Eating healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans will help curb your appetite and stimulate your metabolism.

Even if you do have some serious cravings, the good thing about the Skinny Bastard plan is that there are plenty of naughty-tasting foods that you don’t need to feel bad about. So eat all day long. As long as everything you put in your mouth meets Skinny Bastard approval, it’s fine. Just be sure that when you’re full, you stop eating. We know this is a foreign concept, but we’re hoping it’ll catch on. Visualize the actual size of your stomach (about the size of a one-quart container). Imagine what size you want it to be. There is no need to cram it full and stretch the shit out of it three times a day, every day, for your entire life. Look at the portion you put on your plate. Do you think it will fit in your stomach nicely, or that you’ll need to force it in? Pare down.

Just because you’re “starving,” you don’t need to eat faster. When you’re done eating, if you have the hiccups, indigestion, a stomachache, or you’re burping and farting, that means you’re eating too fast and gulping down air. Slow down. Breathe evenly. Conversely, make sure you aren’t holding your breath. Also, be sure to chew your food purposefully and slowly. Rest in between bites. Do not watch TV, read a magazine, talk on the phone, or do anything else while you are Don’t Be a Pussy eating. The goal is to know when you’re full (without having stuffed yourself) and be able to put the fork down. You aren’t six anymore.

You won’t get the praise of elders for cleaning your plate. It’s okay to leave food on your plate.

But if you do still get off on scoring brownie points, you can earn extra credit by fasting. Yeah, fasting—willfully abstaining from food.

For more than 5,000 years, fasting has been used as a healthy method of weight loss. It is also a powerful tool for cleaning, flushing, detoxifying, and maintaining the body and healing illnesses, minor and major. When we eat, all of our body’s energy goes toward digesting, using, and storing the food and eliminating the waste. When we don’t eat, all of our body’s energy goes toward cleaning house. And with all the years of abuse, our house could sure use a cleaning. We absorb toxic chemicals from food, drinks, and the environment. Our body eliminates some of these through waste, but the rest remain as chemical byproducts and free radicals (highly reactive chemicals that damage cells and contribute to premature aging, heart disease, and cancer). Fasting gets rid of these toxins. It also increases our blood’s white cell count, which boosts immunity and protects us from disease.

And because fasting is beneficial for the circulatory system, you can expect better skin and hair.

Fasts can last anywhere from twenty-four hours to ten days or more. It’s all up to you and how much you need to cleanse, but even just one day once a month is beneficial. There are too many types of fasts to cover them all, so we’ll explain just a few. It is imperative to really read up on fasting before diving in.

A particular favorite is a raw or “live” food fast, when, obviously, you eat only raw foods for however many days you choose. This is a great beginner’s fast because you reap the benefits of fasting while still being able to actually eat. It’s also a good fast to do if you want to work your way up to a more stringent fast, like a juice fast, where the only thing you put in your body is fresh-pressed or fresh-squeezed juice (not pasteurized or packaged). Whether it’s fruit juice, veggie juice, or both, the enzymes are wonderful aides in the cleansing process. A liquid fast is similar to the juice fast, but includes soups, too (no beans or rice or chunks—just liquid). The alkalizing properties of the juices and soups help to neutralize the toxins being released from the body. For this and other reasons, the hardest fast is a water fast, where you have nothing but water. Don’t be a competitive asshole and launch yourself into this fast from the diet you exist on now. You’ve gotta learn to crawl before you can walk.

Most people like to ease into a fast. They might eat smaller portions for a week prior. Or if they usually eat vegan junk food, they might abstain in preparation. We highly recommend eating as purely as possible a week or two leading up to a fast. (Meat-eaters should go vegetarian and then vegan before fasting.) It makes the transition more gradual and less jarring. Regardless of which fast you choose, be sure to drink a lot of water throughout. Your body will be detoxing like crazy, and you don’t want to become dehydrated.

All fasts are challenging, both physically and mentally. Do not expect it to be easy, especially at the beginning when you find yourself salivating over foods you don’t normally even care about. But eventually, you get to a place where you are truly not hungry, and you feel light, clean, clear, and almost divine. When you do reintroduce food back into your diet, which should be done slowly, with great care, you are almost repulsed by things you previously ate. It is quite beautiful to have such a new, fresh perspective. Periodic repeated fasts are especially useful for this reason. They help our bodies and minds establish a new relationship with food. In fact, because of this, fasting can even be used to overcome addictions. When we eliminate the toxins that cause “cell memory cravings,” we can eradicate the need for the food or drug that provided those toxins.

Not surprisingly, some people experience headaches, weakness, nausea, cramping, stomach pains, sweating, a swollen tongue, bad breath, general aches and pains, increased temperature, or depression while fasting. Abstaining from food does not cause these ailments.

They are simply normal side effects of fasting. After two to three days of fasting, the body goes into autolysis and actually starts digesting its own cells. With its wisdom, the body selectively decomposes the tissues and cells that are in excess (fat), diseased, damaged, old, or dead. The body is literally digesting and expelling poisons, toxins, and bad cells that were already there—and it feels crappy. This is actually a good thing, because the body is finally able to tackle some problems that were lurking within.

During a fast, digestive enzymes are relieved from their usual role and instead act to cleanse and rejuvenate the body. This rejuvenation process includes the production of new cells. And when more cells are being produced than are dying, the aging process is actually being reversed. This phenomenon occurs during juice and water fasts.

Eventually, you’ll notice sharper senses of smell, sight, sound, and taste. You’ll feel lighter physically, mentally, and emotionally.

All magic aside, fasting is not for you if you’re underweight or suffering from severe wasting diseases, such as neurological degenerative diseases and certain cancers. Diabetics and people suffering from hypoglycemia can fast, but only with medical supervision. For that matter, anyone with any medical condition should consult his doctor before fasting.

Vitamins are an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. Here are some significant vitamins and minerals, a description of why they’re important, and which foods provide them. (Warning: this section is kinda boring.) Calcium strengthens bones, provides for healthy teeth, reduces risk of colon cancer, decreases chances of bone loss, aids the nervous system, and alleviates insomnia. Eat almonds, Brazil and other nuts, seeds, soybeans, kale, collard greens, broccoli, kelp, blackstrap molasses, and calcium-fortified soy or hemp milk to get calcium.

Folic acid promotes healthy skin, protects against parasites and food poisoning, and helps ward off anemia. To get folic acid, eat leafy green veggies, carrots, artichokes, fruit, cantaloupe, avocados, apricots, beans, lentils, soybeans, garbanzo beans, barley, and whole wheat.

Iron aids growth, promotes resistance to disease, prevents fatigue and anemia, and enhances good skin tone. It can be found in nuts, pumpkin seeds, beans, lentils, whole grains, oatmeal, asparagus, molasses, and seaweed.

Magnesium (known as the anti-stress mineral) fights depression, boosts energy, helps burn fat, prevents heart attacks, maintains good cholesterol levels, aids indigestion, and keeps teeth strong and healthy. When combined with calcium, it works as a natural tranquilizer. Eat nuts, seeds, sunflower seeds, green vegetables, soybeans, kelp (seaweed), and molasses to get a good dose.

Omega-3 fatty acids fight heart disease, lower bad cholesterol levels, help fight depression, lessen the likelihood of blood clots, reduce the risk of breast cancer, help with rheumatoid arthritis, and keep skin, hair, and nails healthy. (You know you care.) Sources for these fatty acids are flaxseeds, walnuts, soybeans, pumpkin seeds, canola oil, and hempseeds and their oil.

Potassium aids in reducing blood pressure, increases clear thinking by helping send oxygen to the brain, and helps the body dispose of waste. It’s found in bananas, citrus fruits, cantaloupe, tomatoes, watercress, green leafy vegetables, sunflower seeds, avocados, lentils, potatoes, and whole grains.

B vitamins improve mental attitude, aid in digestion, help migraine headaches, contribute to healthy skin, act as natural diuretics, strengthen immunity, increase energy, improve concentration and memory, and are good for the nervous system. Eat whole wheat, wheat germ, bran, oatmeal, whole grains, brown rice, beans, nuts, seeds, soybeans, lentils, dates, figs, bananas, and vegetables.

Vitamin C accelerates healing, lowers blood pressure, prevents colds, protects against cancer, and helps decrease blood cholesterol. It also forms collagen, which is important for growth, repair, tissue cells, blood vessels, gums, bones, and teeth. It’s easy to get vitamin C by eating broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collard greens, green peppers, spinach, watercress, potatoes, grapefruits, oranges, and papayas.

Vitamin D, in conjunction with calcium and phosphorous, helps build strong bones and teeth. Not only does vitamin D help our bodies assimilate vitamin A, but it also prevents colds when teamed up with vitamins A and C. Vitamin D can be obtained from getting direct sun on the skin or from supplements.

Vitamin E keeps you looking younger, inhibits cancer cell growth, fights fatigue, prevents blood clots, lowers blood pressure, decreases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and accelerates the healing of burns. It’s found in wheat germ, whole-grain cereals, whole wheat, nuts, sunflower seeds, leafy greens, and vegetable oils.

Zinc helps with infertility issues, is important for brain function, maintains the body’s acid/alkaline balance, aids in collagen formation, and helps form insulin (needed for many vital enzymes). Foods with high concentrations of zinc are wheat germ, whole grains, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and soybeans.

When we eat properly, we can get almost all of the nutrients we need from food sources; however, all vegans and vegetarians should supplement with vitamins B-12 and D, as well as omega-3 fatty acids.

B-12 is made in the intestines of animals (even human animals), but we need more than what we make. 532 Research has shown that plants grown in high-quality soil have a good concentration of readily absorbable B-12. But sadly, nowadays, the soil quality has been depleted and compromised with poor farming methods and the use of all the pesticides and chemicals, and our plant foods may not supply us with adequate amounts of B-12.

Research of late has found that vitamin D deficiency is a big problem—not only for vegetarians, but for everyone. Vitamin D is in short supply in our food (even “good” sources, such as fish, may not be so great after all), and while sun exposure is the most common way to get D, it’s not enough for most. If you live north of Atlanta, you’re getting essentially no D during the winter. And if you wear sunscreen during summer, you can kiss the D goodbye all year long. Good vitamin D status protects us against a slew of diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Experts are recommending that we all take 1,000 International Units a day.

The omega-3s, again, are important for brain function, behavioral issues, and protection from chronic disease, and as we mentioned they can be found in whole grains, beans, seaweed, and soybean products.

Some people think that eating fish is a good source, but they’re also getting all the contaminants and toxic pollutants that were absorbed into the fish’s flesh. So instead, you can get your omega-3’s from the same source the fish gets it—microalgae, tiny sea plants. Luckily, you don’t have to go trolling the ocean floor; DHA microalgae supplements are available, and they, along with good plant sources of omega-3, will ensure a healthy supply. If you can’t find them in your local health store, get ‘em online at Vegetarianvitamin.com (Deva Vegan Omega-3 DHA softgels) or Veganessentials.com (Udo’s DHA Oil Blend or O-megaZen3 Liquid Vegan DHA Supplement by NuTru). Pop a cap a day.

Keep in mind that a healthy balance of fatty acids isn’t only about getting your 3s but about going easy on the omega-6s, which most of us get too much of. So maximize the foods high in omega 3s but at the same time, pass up the fried foods, fast food, high-fat snacks, and convenience foods, which are heavy on the 6s. Enjoy high mono fats too, like what you’ll get in olive oil and avocados, for an optimal balance of fats.