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Last week I introduced the 20 golden rules of contemplative nutrition, a framework built around making reasoned, informed choices without turning every meal into an exercise in overthinking. Each rule is designed to be practical enough to actually follow and grounded enough in the evidence to be worth following.
Rule 8 is about omega-3s. Most nutrition advice on this topic gets one thing right and one thing wrong. The right part is that most people in the developed world are not getting enough. The wrong part is the idea that you need to start calculating the ratio of one fatty acid to another to do anything about it.
Here is what the evidence actually says, and what a reasonable person should do with it.
Official guidance in several countries has long recommended oily fish two or three times a week because these foods provide EPA and DHA, the omega-3 fatty acids with the strongest evidence behind them for cardiovascular and neurological health. If you don't eat fish, marine algae supplements are the most direct alternative. Flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts, and hemp seeds provide ALA, a precursor to omega-3s, though the body converts it to EPA and DHA relatively inefficiently.
The ratio question involves the idea that you need to balance your omega-3 intake against your omega-6 intake, and it is where things get unnecessarily complicated. The science behind it is interesting, but the practical advice it generates is not especially useful. It's reductionistic in the same way that obsessing over calorie counts is reductionistic. The human body did not evolve to require that level of numerical precision from us.
The more useful framing is simpler. Make sure you are regularly eating good, whole food sources of omega-3s. Be aware that tinned yellowfin tuna, despite its reputation as a healthy option, contains almost none. Salmon is a far better choice. And if you rely on plant sources, eat them consistently and in reasonable quantities rather than worrying about ratios.
That’s Rule 8. Consume foods rich in omega-3s and keep them whole and unprocessed.
