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My wife & I got curious about our health and ended up learning a lot about omega balance and inflammation.

I share what I find here — and if you're interested in either improving your own numbers or learning how I do this, just message me...

10/30/2026

Five things I look at when choosing an omega-3

I used to assume that fish oils were pretty much the same. I've since learned that there's a lot more to consider than the amount of omega-3 printed on the label.
Here are five things I look at now.

1. The form
Fish oil commonly comes in triglyceride (TG) and ethyl ester (EE) forms. Research suggests that triglyceride forms can have somewhat better bioavailability in some circumstances, although the difference varies. The form alone doesn't tell you whether a product is good quality.

2. Freshness
Omega-3 fats are delicate and vulnerable to oxidation. A rancid or unpleasant smell or taste can be a warning sign, but smell alone cannot confirm whether an oil is fresh. Look for reliable oxidation testing and pay attention to storage instructions. Flavouring may improve the taste, but it doesn't reverse oxidation.

3. Proof of quality
Look beyond the front of the bottle. Does the company explain where its fish oil comes from? Does it provide information about contaminant testing and oxidation results?
TOTOX is one measure used to assess oxidation. It combines peroxide value and p-anisidine value. Some flavourings can interfere with p-anisidine testing, so it's important to understand how results for flavoured oils are measured and interpreted.

4. Protection of the oil
This is something I think deserves more attention.
Omega-3 fats are vulnerable to oxidation, so protecting the oil matters. Antioxidants such as olive polyphenols and tocopherols (vitamin E) can help protect oils from oxidative damage, although they don't make an oil oxidation-proof.
This is one reason I find the combination in BalanceOil+ interesting. It brings together fish oil from small wild-caught fish with extra virgin olive oil, naturally rich in polyphenols, and vitamin E.
It's not just about the omega-3s themselves. It's also about how the oil is protected.

5. Your own measurements
Taking an omega-3 supplement doesn't automatically tell you what's happening in your body. A fatty-acid test can give you a starting point and help track changes in measured fatty-acid levels and your omega-6:3 balance over time.
It isn't a diagnosis or proof of a health outcome, but it gives you information that you wouldn't have from looking at a supplement label alone.

For me, that last point changed the way I think about omega-3 nutrition.
Knowing what you're taking matters. Understanding what your own measurements show adds another piece of information.

If you're taking omega-3 right now, what made you choose the one you're using?

10/26/2026

I don’t need supplements.
I get it from food.”

It’s a fair point, so let’s look at what it would take.
The omega-3s your body uses directly are EPA and DHA, and the main food source is fatty fish: salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring. A 3-ounce serving of salmon has roughly 1.5 to 2 grams. Cod, shrimp and tilapia have about a tenth of that, and canned light tuna isn’t far off. They’re all fish, but the results are very different.
The usual guidance is two servings of fatty fish a week. Every week, all year. Two servings of salmon works out to roughly 500 mg of EPA and DHA a day. Two servings of canned light tuna gets you around a tenth of that. Most Americans fall short of that, and a good share of the fish they do eat is lean, fried or breaded.
Then there’s the source question. Fish can carry mercury and other contaminants from the water they live in. The FDA and EPA tell pregnant women and young children to avoid swordfish, shark, king mackerel, marlin and bigeye tuna for that reason. Smaller fish like sardines and herring do much better, but how many people eat sardines twice a week?
Amount isn’t the whole story either. The balance between omega-6 and omega-3 matters too, and of the more than 1.9 million tests analyzed, 97% of the baseline results showed an imbalance.
And for some people it ends before it starts: “I can’t eat fish” or “I can’t take fish oil.” The usual fallback is flax or chia. They’re good foods, but they contain a plant omega-3 called ALA, and the body converts only a small fraction of it into EPA and DHA.
Here’s an important distinction worth knowing. Fish don’t produce EPA and DHA. They get it from marine microalgae on the ocean's floor. There’s a vegan oil made from that same algae: no fish, no fishy aftertaste, and you take it by the spoonful instead of a handful of capsules. Microalgae oil is typically grown in controlled tanks rather than the open ocean, so it goes straight to the original source with no fish in between.
In one small two-week study of 32 healthy adults, DHA from algal-oil capsules raised blood DHA about the same as DHA from cooked salmon.
If fish isn’t part of your week, what’s been your stand-in? Flax, chia, nothing, or something else?

10/23/2026

Calories are not the same as nutrition.
Type A malnutrition is the familiar kind: too little food, too few calories.
Type B is the reverse. Calories are plentiful, often in excess, yet the body is short of the vitamins, minerals and plant compounds it needs to run its chemistry. Nothing about it looks like hunger. A person can be fully fed, even overweight, and still depleted.
Much of the explanation is on the plate. Foods differ in energy density, how many calories they carry, and in nutrient density, how much vitamin, mineral and plant compound comes with each calorie. Ultra-processed foods are high on the first and low on the second.
Refining makes it worse. Milling strips the bran and germ from grain, where much of the magnesium and many of the B vitamins are concentrated. Sugar and refined oils add calories and almost nothing else. As they take up more of each meal, the vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and fish that carry the micronutrients take up less. Less time outdoors lowers vitamin D from sunlight, and some modern produce is bred for yield and shelf life rather than nutrient density. Surveys across developed countries keep finding low intakes of vitamin D, vitamin B12 and folate, and the real shortfall is probably wider than what gets measured.
It matters because these nutrients do everyday work. B vitamins, vitamin C and magnesium all contribute to normal energy-yielding metabolism. B vitamins also contribute to normal nervous system function. Vitamin C contributes to the normal function of the immune system and to normal collagen formation. Magnesium contributes to normal muscle function. Vitamin D contributes to the maintenance of normal bones.
They also depend on one another. Magnesium is needed for the body to use vitamin D, vitamin C helps the absorption of iron, and B vitamins work in sequence along the same metabolic pathways. That is why topping up a single nutrient so often changes little when the whole diet runs low.
Xtend+ is the Boost product in the Health Protocol, formulated around that idea: a wide range of nutrients together, from natural sources where possible.
The vitamin C comes from acerola, the B vitamins from buckwheat, and the magnesium from seawater. Boron, a trace mineral found in plant foods such as nuts, legumes and fruit, is added, along with vegan vitamin D3.
The formula also contains three different 1,3/1,6 beta-glucans, sourced from the US, Norway and Asia. Beta-glucans are fibre-like compounds found in the cell walls of cereals, yeast and fungi. The capsules are plant-based, with excipients from rice hull and potato starch, and coconut as an anti-caking agent.
Vitamin D is the one nutrient here that can be measured rather than guessed. The Vitamin D test turns an assumption into a number.
Look back over the last three days of meals. How many came from something that grew, and how many from something that was made?

10/22/2026

I just took my BalanceTest.
It’s a simple finger prick. A couple of drops of blood on the card, into the prepaid envelope, and it goes off to the lab. Now I wait for the numbers.
While I wait, I’ve been looking at the results Zinzino has published by country, and something stood out.
In the United States, across more than 79,000 tests, the average omega-6:3 ratio on a first test was 22.6:1. In Puerto Rico it was 25.5:1, in the Dominican Republic 23.3:1, and in Egypt 21.8:1. Canada started lower at 13.7:1, but that’s still far from balanced.
Now look at the second tests. The U.S. average came down to 3.6:1. Canada landed at 3.3:1, Egypt at 3:1, Puerto Rico at 3.7:1, and the Dominican Republic at 4.2:1.
Starting points ranged from about 14:1 to over 25:1, and the retests ended up in a narrow band between 3 and 4. The Egypt group is small, at 109 tests, so I wouldn’t read too much into any single country. But the pattern across all of them is hard to ignore.
That’s why I think the starting point matters so much. Without it, you’re guessing. You can’t tell how far off you are, and you can’t tell whether what you’re doing is actually working. With a baseline, you can make educated changes, then retest and see what moved. That turns a guess into an informed decision. Aside from numbers, the test also provides lifestyle adjustment suggestions. A path to optimizing your health, not just data...
Do you know your ratio?

10/19/2026

Food is primary,
the Health Protocol is built to stand beside and support it to help optimize your results.

Unfortunately, most of us were never told these gaps may exist. I think that's more than enough reason to have a discussion and share information.
Do you know where your own gaps are, or are you assuming there are none?

10/16/2026

At some point, all of this comes down to one practical question: how would you actually know if what you're taking—or about to take—is the right fit?
If you're just starting to look for an omega-3 supplement, the question isn't "which one has the best reviews" or "which one has the highest number on the label." It's whether you actually know where you're starting from. Choosing a product without a baseline means you're guessing at both the need and the result.
If you're already taking something, the question is different: is it actually working for you? Not "is there a better product out there somewhere"—almost always, yes, and that's not a useful standard. The useful standard is whether you've been paying attention to the right signals.
A few worth considering, whichever situation you're in.
If you've never measured your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, that's the first gap to close—before choosing a product, or before deciding whether to stay with one. You can't evaluate a choice you have no baseline for.
If you do have a baseline and you've made a change—started supplementing, switched products, adjusted your diet—the next question is what a retest actually showed after enough time had passed. Not whether you feel different. Whether the number moved.
If it didn't move the way you expected, that's not automatically a reason to assume supplementation doesn't work. It's a reason to look at specifics: what form was the oil in, how consistent was the intake, what else in the diet might have been working against the change.
If you've checked those and the number still isn't shifting, that's a legitimate reason to reconsider the product—not the idea of supplementing itself.
And if you've never tested at all—if everything you know about your own omega-3 status is an assumption based on a label or something you heard secondhand—that applies whether you're choosing your first product or your fifth.
None of this is about finding a miracle cure, it's about replacing assumptions with information, at whatever point you're starting from.
Whether you're choosing your first omega-3 or reconsidering the one you have—do you actually know where you stand?

10/15/2026

Getting a number back from a test is not the same as knowing what to do with it.
That’s often where people stall out.
They test, they get a ratio, and then they’re left wondering:
Is this good? Is it bad? What am I supposed to do now?
A single number is a snapshot.
It tells you where things stand today.
It doesn’t tell the story of how you got there—and on its own, it doesn’t hand you a plan.
What helps is having something to compare it to:
• General reference ranges from research
• Your own results over time
• What actually changed between tests
That second part—your own trend—is the one people tend to skip.
A result that looks “off” isn’t a verdict.
It’s information.
The more useful question usually isn’t, “Is this good or bad?”
It’s:
“What would a meaningful change look like, and over what timeframe would I expect to see it?”
That timeframe matters.
Fatty acid status doesn’t shift overnight.
Red blood cells turn over roughly every 120 days, which is why many omega-3 testing resources suggest waiting about 4 months after making a consistent change before retesting.
Retesting too soon can make an effective change look like it isn’t working.
After much research I discovered a test that provided more context than I expected.
Instead of only showing one ratio, it included multiple fatty-acid data points and educational information based on where my own results landed.
It didn’t give me all the answers, but it gave me a much better starting point and suggestions on how to make educated lifestyle changes.
If a ratio doesn’t move the way someone expected after making changes, there may be several things worth looking into:
• The form and amount of omega-3 being used
• How consistently it’s being taken
• What else is happening in the overall diet
• Individual differences in how the body responds
None of this requires perfection.
It just means treating one result as a baseline—not a final answer.
Have you ever gotten a health number back and thought, “Okay… but what am I supposed to do with this, what does it mean?

10/02/2026

A number can tell you a lot, especially when you know what you're aiming for.
Most people choose an omega-3 the same way. They read a label, pick a brand, and assume it's doing its job.
"I eat fairly well."�"I take an omega-3."�"I probably get enough."
But two people can take the same supplement, the same amount, for the same length of time, and end up with very different results. Starting level, diet, consistency, body size, genetics, and absorption all play a part. The bottle is only one piece of it.
That's why I like measuring.
A blood-based fatty-acid test looks at your omega-6:3 ratio, and there is a clear target: 3:1 or lower. Most people who test for the first time find they're well above it. That's useful to know, because now you're working from your own number instead of a general recommendation.
Then comes the part most people skip. After four months of consistent use, you test again. If your ratio has moved toward the target, you have your answer. What you're taking is working for you. If it hasn't moved, you know that too, and you can look at dose, consistency, or the product itself and adjust based on data.
Most supplements never offer that. You take them, hope for the best, and never really find out.
A test isn't a diagnosis and doesn't replace medical care. But a starting number, a target, and a retest turn "I think this is helping" into "here is what changed."
Have you ever taken a supplement for months and wondered whether it was actually doing anything?

09/29/2026

When it comes to omega-3, “more” is not always the most useful question.
When people compare omega-3 supplements, the conversation often begins with one number:
“How many milligrams does it contain?”
That number matters.
But it is not enough on its own.
More total oil does not automatically mean more EPA and DHA.
More capsules do not automatically mean a better fit for a person.
And more information on the front label does not always mean more clarity.
A more useful starting point may be:
More of what?
More total fish oil?
More EPA?
More DHA?
More ALA?
More ingredients?
More transparency about quality and freshness?
The word “more” can make nutrition sound simple.
But nutrient decisions become more useful when we ask about form, amount, food intake, quality, and personal context.
Food is still the foundation.
For people who choose to supplement, the goal is not automatically to take the largest amount available.
The goal is to understand what is being added to the diet—and why.
That is also why a baseline can be useful.
It gives a person a starting point for understanding their own omega-3 status, rather than assuming that a larger dose or a more expensive bottle automatically tells the whole story.
The better question is not always:
“How much should I take?”
Sometimes it is:
“What does my diet provide now, what am I adding, and how will I evaluate that decision over time?”
That is a more thoughtful way to approach supplementation.
Not more for the sake of more.
Better information for better decisions.
When you compare supplements, do you usually look first at the largest number on the front—or at the details behind it?

09/28/2026

A supplement label can tell you how much omega-3 is in a bottle. It cannot tell you the whole story about the oil.
After learning the difference between ALA, EPA, and DHA, the next step is often to look for the EPA and DHA amount on a supplement label.
That is an important step.
But it is not the only one.
EPA and DHA are polyunsaturated fats. Their chemical structure is what makes them valuable in nutrition — but it also makes the oils more delicate. Over time, exposure to heat, light, and oxygen can affect an oil's stability.
That is why the quality conversation should not end with milligrams.
It is worth asking:
How is the oil produced and handled?�What does the company share about freshness and quality testing?�What storage guidance does it provide?�How transparent is it about ingredients and product information?
A label may tell you the amount of EPA and DHA at the time of manufacture. But thoughtful quality evaluation asks more: How has the oil been protected? How has it been stored? What information is available about its condition over time?
This is not about assuming every omega-3 product is poor quality. And it is not about finding a "perfect" supplement.
It is about moving past the idea that the largest number on the front of a bottle is the entire story.
Amount matters. Freshness matters. Transparency matters.
The more we understand what questions to ask, the more confidently we can make informed decisions.
When you compare a supplement, do you look beyond the amount listed on the front label?

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