2019 Health & Fitness Thread

Uh.. The Vitamin Shoppe fish oil caps have 600 mg of EPA and 240 mg of DHA per each.

Viva Naturals fish oil caps have 700 mg of EPA and 240 mg of DHA per each.

Viatmin Shoppe sells theirs for $15.99 for 60 capsules or about 27 cents apiece at their regular price. https://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/omega-3-fish-oil-600-epa-240-dha-1200-mg-60-softgels/vs-2393

Viva Naturals sells theirs for $37.86 for 180 capsules or about 21 cents apiece or about 22% cheaper plus free shipping. https://www.amazon.com/Viva-Naturals-Omega-Supplement-Capsules/dp/B014LDT0ZM?th=1

There, not so hard.

Other than that I refer back to my original post.
 
jrock645

Appreciate your post on the Now Ultra Omega D.

There`s a company that has a West Coast base a mile from my house called All Star Health. https://www.allstarhealth.com/f/now-ultra_omega_3-d.htm

I`ll do a will call pickup with them as I always do and pick up the Now Ultra Omega 3D.

Their price of about $24.00 for 180 works out to about 13.3 cents apiece.

Plus since my doctor has recommended me taking extra Vitamin D on a supplemental basis that saves about another 4 cents per so the price per cap drops to just over 9 cents apiece.

The consistent results of my doctors tests she has run provides me with the reason to keep taking it.

Plus it has the ideal ratios of EPA/DHA.

Thanks again!
 
I`m glad you guys have found Fish Oil capsules that`ll work for you. I might be muddying the waters regarding price as (unless I`m travelling) I always buy the 240-cap bottles since I go through `em so fast. Similarly, my usual comfort threshold is ~12.5¢/cap but I agree that not [mucking] around comparison shopping is worth something and I get it that not everyone wants thousands of Fish Oil capsules sitting around all the time.

That Now Fish Oil is indeed very impressive! As noted, the exact right ratio, plus the D3. If the price works for you it`s pretty much a no-brainer, huh?!?

Marine Clerk- That was a perfect explanation of why you`re not going all-out all the time, thanks for making it so clear. When I do strenuous work I basically just don`t work out for a while, guess that`s my version of periodization.

What D3 dose are you taking? I take 2Kiu/day. I`d never had my D levels checked before this year`s physical, so I don`t really have any history to reference.
 
Pushed the whole stack on the leg press today. 400lbs 15 times. Not big weight by a lot of standards but it was a lot for me. Rep cadence was fast for HIT style but i dont think anyone would accuse me of using momentum.
 
jrock645- Hey, that`s good! And a lot of machines don`t really let you impart momentum the way freeweights do.

Did you do one set or more with that? IMO 15 reps is good for all sorts of reasons, with still some opportunity for gains through rep/cadence if not for added weight.
 
My Doc has me on 5Kiu/day.

The levels are so consistent test wise that she`s going to quit checking after two years of lab tests.

Forgot to reply to your question about quantity of Fish Oil caps. I take.

It`s four per day. My total cholesterol levels on my last four tests are 109/120/125/115.

Actually increased my quantity based on a post you did a while ago, so thanks.

It made sense as far as "Mega" doses are concerned , but mine still isn`t as high as yours.

Triglycerides were 55 and LDL cholesterol is 53 based on the latest results.
 
Marine Clerk- I bet you`re pretty happy with those numbers!

And note that (well, supposedly...) taking the Fish Oil means that at least some of your remaining LDL is the "puffy" kind that`s unlikely to cause problems.

Thanks for the D3 dosage, I`m gonna watch my numbers there for a while and see how consistent they are. You`ve got me wondering how much my wife takes and I spotted a bottle of 5Kiu in the cupboard the other day so maybe that`s what she takes too.

There are specific blood tests one can take to see what the optimal Fish Oil dosage is, but we`ve never bothered with them. I might be erring on the side of caution and taking more than I need to, but I have a "don`t mess with success" mindset about it.
 
Accumulator said:
...Marine Clerk- That was a perfect explanation of why you`re not going all-out all the time, thanks for making it so clear. When I do strenuous work I basically just don`t work out for a while, guess that`s my version of periodization..
Click to expand...

Eh, I messed up! The above was directed at minerigger, not marine Clerk :o

minerigger- With that kind of workday, I`m impressed that you`re working out at all! Good on you for that, I bet it`ll pay dividends down the road. I bet that makes for a tricky balancing act, even just to schedule.
 
Accumulator said:
Eh, I messed up! The above was directed at minerigger, not marine Clerk :o

minerigger- With that kind of workday, I`m impressed that you`re working out at all! Good on you for that, I bet it`ll pay dividends down the road. I bet that makes for a tricky balancing act, even just to schedule.
Click to expand...

Sometimes it sucks and it isn’t fun but I want to be strong. Goal is bench 350, squat 365, dead 405. It should get better hours wise when it slows a bit but then I gain another little mouth at the house so I’ll be stretching to get everything I want to do in a day. We will see how it all balances out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Accumulator- I see you`ve been doing your research.

The test I think you`re talking about is a cumulative test called "Better Heart Test" by Quest diagnostics. https://questdiagnostics.com/home/p...-disease/heart-disease/cardio-iq-testing.html

My initial doctor used this test to give me an overall fairly comprehensive picture of my heart healthiness.

But keep in mind the fact that, at the time, I was only taking 20mg of Lipitor daily and no Fish oil caps.

So he didn`t have the test for Omega-3 and -6 Fatty Acids,Plasma run. The one you refer to as optimal Fish Oil dosage.

The Lipoprotein Subfraction part which my Doctor called "Large and Small" LDL particles you call "Puffy" was my only shortcoming.

Although I consider my current numbers as being pretty good, I may have my current Doctor run the tests just to see what the latest snapshot is with just Fish Oil capsules.

FWIW my actual baseline Total Cholesterol when taking neither Lipitor nor Fish Oil caps was 205, consistently.

[h=2][/h]
 
minerigger- Add a new child to the mix and I`m even more impressed! Good thing you`re getting by OK with not much sleep.

Marine Clerk- That Full Cardio IQ is even *more* involved than the test I was thinking of! That would indeed give a full picture.

I`ve always wondered how confounding it is when both Lipitor and Fish Oil are in the mix...the one study I saw with both made it sound like the Fish Oil did nothing, but IMO it was a pretty crappy study in all sorts of ways.

Refresh my memory if you would- you`re still taking the Lipitor, right? With that total at 205 I`m glad you`re doing something about it.

Oh, and, heh heh...just FWIW, since you linked to Quest- I had my bloodwork done at the local Quest franchise last year as it was in-network. Terrible ?!?WTF?!? experience, like some crazy sitcom setup. Amateur Hour would be an undeserved compliment and the facility was filthy. And here I actually sorta look forward to having blood drawn! I`m really, *really* easy to do given my vascularity, and for some odd reason I think the whole thing is kinda neat, so I go into it expecting no worries. But that time wasn`t my idea of fun by a long shot. And some results came back so weirdly skewed that I ended up getting retested, whereupon everything was fine after all.
 
Accumulator- Lipitor`s potential side effects pretty much changed my mind on using it.

Went from 20mg./day to 20mg/week. Then added Fish Oil caps.

Did that because My GP didn`t want to upset the apple cart as far as my Cardiologist`s treatment plan was concerned.

I`ve since dropped it to no Lipitor at all. My Cardiologist is actually flexible as far as a results driven agenda is concerned.

Quest all depends on which one you go to.

Understand your concern about how they look and treat customers. Used Yelp to weed out the overcrowded and poor service ones.

Still no great shakes but they seem to be the main game in town, as far as a testing facility, for All of my Doctors.

Your initial take on "Mega" dosing Fish Oil caps vs a much lower dose they used for the trials intrigued me.

So I adjusted my dose to four a day and am Quite satisfied with the results.

Current daily EPA/DHA totals are 3760 Mg.

Will add one extra Fish Oil cap a week to my current dose, to maintain the same quantity of EPA/DHA, when I switch over to the Now Ultra Omega 3-D.

We`ll see what happens to my test results using the "Ideal" ratio of EPA/DHA.
 
Marine Clerk- So glad to hear your Cardiologist is focused on the *results*. If you maintain those numbers without the Lipitor that`d be great.

My issue with Quest Diagnostics wasn`t so much their Customer Service (I wasn`t expecting to make new friends ;) ), but rather on how any healthcare practitioner could think that such an unclean working environment was OK for what they do. And if *I* experience discomfort over the draw I shudder to think how it`d go for somebody like my wife! Eh, same ol` same ol`...with a franchise it`s all about the individuals at the place you patronize and I`m glad yours isn`t that bad.

The better ratio will do more for your brain than anything else. I`ll be surprised if the ratio affects your test results (which I`d expect to be all about the overall g/day), but we`ll see and I`m looking forward to hearing about `em. Gotta say that I find your situation very interesting, especially how the gradual discontinuance of Lipitor in favor of the Fish Oil plays out.

[INSERT my usual insistence that you up your dosage to at least 5g/day, that`d be what...just one more capsule or so on the current brand? ;) ]

Yeah, on the Fish Oil dosage in most trials/studies! It`s almost as if (gee, couldn`t be....) they deliberately set the Fish Oil Group up for a Fail with those little placebo doses. I can`t think of one mainstream study that used anything near a Therapeutic Dosage, let alone what`s needed for some major intervention.

The Fish Oil dosage they gave that near-death coal miner who got trapped underground made my dosage look like nothing! IIRC he got at least 15g/day and look what happened- "miraculous" recovery...I find it utterly incredible that the details of his story never got widespread attention. "Medical miracle" for a guy who was considered a goner, but nobody seemed to care *how or why* he recovered, just that he did. I read more about "divine intervention" than I did about his Fish Oil regimen.
 
Accumulator- Went to a Quest that was overcrowded/long wait times and a look down your nose at kind of cleanliness.

That`s what prompted my Yelp search.

Also understand the "Problem" with the ability/skill of Blood Techs making the draw. Experienced wide disparities in them taking samples myself:angry:. Don`t know how many sources are available to you as far as testing facilities are concerned. Lack of options can make an inconvenient situation downright an unhappy/distressing one, if there`s no other "Ballgame in Town" in the area you live in.

Did not know that the increase in quantity to the 5g/day level would help with brain function:o. Just thought it was all related to improving Cholesterol panels when testing vs using Lipitor. Really makes sense for me to add one more cap on a daily basis. First it gets me the 5kiu/day of Vitamin D my Doctor wants me to get. Secondly because I save so much on the quantity I buy from switching to Now brand it`s really a no brainer. Plus it has what`s considered the "ideal" ratio of DHA/EPA.

5/day of the NOW Ultra Omega 3-D caps will put me at 4500 mg. of EPA/DHA. We`ll see what happens. According to what someone I know says "YMMV". Hopefully the 5g/day recommendation is not hard and fast. As it is my pill organizer is running out of space.

Saw the same things as far is the recommended levels of EPA/DHA to take in these trials/studies and their disappointing results. Improving the quantities, in my case, really improved my Cholesterol profile.This was as I had dropped my Lipitor to 20mg week. Technically(according to the experts) my overall profile should have gotten worse. In fact it was even better.

Read the various articles on both the trapped coal miner and the car crash survivor. CNN`s article stated they both received 20g/day of fish oil. Both were amazing recoveries. Had you not mentioned it I would still not know.
 
Marine Clerk- I`m pleasantly surprised you were able to find decent articles on the miner/crash survivor. I`d hate to try digesting 20g/day but considering the alternative in those cases, well....

IIRC, that`s about the dosage Sears gave his mother when she was terminally ill with lung cancer. Apparently, it helped *greatly* with her quality of life.

The Brain Benefits are presumably related to minimizing "silent inflammation" and come from adequate dosing with the DHA. Since that`s the one that`s hard to get enough of, that kinda wags the dog IMO when it comes to dosage even though the measurable benefits (related to the "min. 5g/day" determination) are related to other things like your lipid profiles. I guess it`s easy for some to blow off the whole brain health thing since it`s mostly a case of trying to avoid bad stuff happening rather than correcting something that`s already evident and measurable; with no discernible pay-off some might lose motivation. Well, there *was* quite a pay-off in my case as it rendered me hangover-proof, but that`s not the sort of thing they`re gonna advertise!

I bend over backwards to avoid being cynical, let alone wear a tinfoil hat, but I can think of numerous reasons why those "experts" nay-say replacing Lipitor with Fish Oil and why the Studies consistently use placebo doses of Fish Oil but standardized doses of pharmaceuticals. Heh heh, note that I am *NOT* anti-pharma by a long shot, just anti-BS when it comes to clinical studies.

Sorry to hear your Quest was iffy too...I`m getting kinda cynical about those franchised healthcare providers. Fortunately, it wasn`t a big deal for me, and this year my current Ins. let me go elsewhere.

EDIT: Oh, and heh heh, yeah on that "someone you know" admitting that YMMV :D Of course my answer to that is "if in doubt, just take more"! When that 20g/day doesn`t work for somebody, maybe *then* I`d question my position ;)
 
Speaking of Brain Health, Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor is another of those gotta-have things that can be boosted by...take a guess...properly intense exercise.
 
Just ran across a good Warren Buffet Quote that features an Autopian analogy:

“If I gave you a car, and it’d be the only car you get the rest of your life, you would take care of it like you can’t believe. Any scratch, you’d fix that moment, you’d read the owner’s manual, you’d keep a garage and do all these things...You get exactly one mind and one body in this world, and you can’t start taking care of it when you’re 50. By that time, you’ll rust it out, if you haven’t done anything. So it’s just hugely important. And if you invest in yourself, nobody can take it away from you.”
 
I am planning to begin a way of life change this year. I drink a huge amount of my calories and don`t work out. Chipping away at getting up prior, getting in an exercise before work, and viewing the liquor admission. In a perfect world I`d like to see 30lb weight reduction this year, yet by and large simply having an increasingly dynamic way of life.
 
Pook1978- Welcome to Autopia! Glad to see you posting to this thread and that you`re interested in making some positive changes.

I`m all about small, steady, incremental changes as opposed to big, dramatic "CHANGE YOUR LIFE!" ones. The best Fitness Regimens and Diets are the ones that people stick with for a lifetime, so IMO it`s crucial to know yourself and be realistic.

If every sedentary person just did a little walking and some calisthenics every day, they`d be *way* ahead, and a starting-off foundation like that would make it much easier to seque into a "serious" regimen (scare-quotes intentional; what`s serious for one person isn`t for another) if you decide that`s what you`re gonna do.

Those of us who`re regularly on this thread take some *very* different approaches to diet and exercise, and I hope that something we post will be of benefit to you, if only as food for thought.

Heh heh...I have zero real advice about drinking other than the old "moderation in all things"; I do indeed enjoy recreational drinking, but I somehow just gradually quit being excessive about it as I got older even though the Fish Oil took hangovers off the table.

Just FWIW, I`d probably want a good two years to lose 30lbs. That might sound like a lifetime, but it took a while to put the weight *on* and IMO that`s easier/quicker than taking it off. Others on this thread will scoff at that and say how they`ve lost that much in no time, so !Your Mileage May Vary! will apply. The big thing is that you want to make a change.
 
Accumulator-Hard to find the proper information if there`s nothing to provide a road map.

The Brain Benefits you mention, are they related to just the Brain or do they include systemic anti inflammation? What I mean is are the benefits mainly brain related or does it apply to the body as a whole?

Like the fact that your anecdotal response to the increase in EPA/DHA was driven by your actual experience. I always take the long view as far as health and nutritionally related subjects are concerned. The discernible payoff, as I see it, may not be obvious physically but "Might" be measurable in the overall profile tests run by a doctor in the know. I gravitate towards a GP that is more "Flexible" as far as health care management and not locked into the one size fits all with a narrow/rigid approach. Had to do a bit of legwork(computerwise) to find the one I have now.

Get your "Tinfoil Hat " connotation. Lots of reasons why those running the tests don`t allow for higher concentrations of an item being tested, but their logic sometimes leaves me scratching my head too. I`m not anti-pharma either but anti-skew.

None of my Docs have offered an alternative to Quest, but then again I haven`t broached the subject. Sounds like a topic of discussion for the future.

To get to the 5g/day of EPA/DHA will have to add 4 caps a week. Think I`ll find some way to squeeze them in B)
 
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