I’ve always felt that after getting into college, I’ve been getting dumber and dumber ever since. With every year that passes by, I think I lose some more synapse connections. Sometimes, when I’m picking through my archive of past projects, essays, poems, drawings from grade school and so on, I think to myself – “Gosh. This is pretty good stuff. Man, I used to be a smart kid.” And then I lament the regression from such pinnacles of creativity and imagination.
Today, I was reminded of a theory I had come up with as to why this sad phenomenon might be. One word…one number……Omega-3.
That’s right. Omega-3 fatty acids.
So growing up, my mom made it a point to put fish on the table at pretty much every dinner. Dinner was usually one meat, one fish, two vegetables, and a soup. And that was great for our development. My siblings and I had a healthy diet, and especially a healthy consumption of the grey-matter strengthening goodness called DHA.
But after coming up to Berkeley for college, my intake of fish decreased substantially as it was much more inconvenient to store/prepare or more expensive to buy. An entire live fish at 99 ranch isn’t that much more expensive per pound, but there’s a little bit more involved in preparing and storing it for later use. Hence, inconvenient; it’s a lot easier to rub salt and pepper on a piece of chicken breast and throw it into the oven. On the other hand, fish steaks and fillets are easy to handle but cost a pretty penny per pound.
When I eat out, I do tend to make a point to favor the fish dishes if available, but there’s only so many places that serve fish and you can only order fish so often. So, less fish, less smart. And that’s my theory. True story.
Now this morning, I read an interesting article on MSN entitled, “52 Ways to Cute Fat in 2012.” And one of the things it said was this:
Choose tuna swimming in water. Stick to tuna packed in water not oil. Three ounces of water-packed chicken of the sea contains 109 calories and 2.5 g of fat compared with 158 calories and 6.9 g of fat in the oil-soaked kind. Plus, it’s a good protein source that’s rick in omega-3 fatty acids…
There we go—tuna in a can. Problem solved. Convenient, cheap, and also a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids. Of course, it’s nice to have the salmon and sea bass once in a while, and I heard that trout and sardines can be had for cheap. But when I just want something quick and simple that I can also stock up in my pantry, there will always be chicken of the sea.
I am definitely going to try to work this into my diet. I can feel myself getting smarter already…