Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Cooking 101
  • Eating Smart
  • Healthy Living
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Email Preferences

Manage Your Subscription

  • All Access Subscribers
  • Magazine Subscribers
  • Cooking Light Diet Subscribers
Login
Logout
SUBSCRIBE
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See All Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See All Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Eating Smart
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See All Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Email Preferences

Manage Your Subscription

  • All Access Subscribers
  • Magazine Subscribers
  • Cooking Light Diet Subscribers
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Eating Smart
  3. 8 Fish-Free Ways to Up Your Omega-3 Intake

8 Fish-Free Ways to Up Your Omega-3 Intake

August 07, 2018
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Credit: Courtesy Organic Valley
Here's how to get the heart-healthy benefits of these famous fats even if seafood isn't your thing.
Start Slideshow

1 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Fishless Fatty Acids

Credit: Zen Rial

Omega-3 fatty acids are super important for both brain and heart health—and even nutritionists struggle to eat enough. The easy answer is to eat more seafood, but maybe seafood isn’t your thing. It's unclear whether supplements do much of anything for you, but not to worry: Each of these products will help you naturally nudge that number up, and most are available at large, well-stocked grocery stores.

1 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Flax4life Muffins

Credit: Kelsey Hansen

Available in six flavors, each of these flaxseed-heavy muffins contains about 4g of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the plant-based omega-3. Our bodies naturally convert ALA to the “superior” omega-3s, DHA and EPA, but not very efficiently, so packing in the ALA is quite valuable. 

2 of 9

3 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Oatmega Cookie

Credit: Kelsey Hansen

Each cookie has 250mg of EPA and DHA omega-3s, as well as about 25% of your daily protein needs (mostly via grass-fed whey protein) and nearly one-third of your fiber goal. But at 330–340 calories and 20– 25% of your daily limit for sat fat, these are a hefty snack or dessert. There are three flavors: chocolate chip, peanut butter, and white chocolate macadamia; we liked chocolate chip best.

3 of 9

Advertisement

4 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Susie's Smart Cookie

Credit: Kelsey Hansen

These breakfast cookies deliver up to 8g protein, 6g fiber, and 2g omega-3s, mostly from ground flaxseed, in 380–410 calories. Of the four available flavors—banana coconut, cocoa (pictured), orange cranberry nut (the original), and gingered apple—the banana coconut cookie garnered the most praise. 

4 of 9

5 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Flaxseed

Credit: Southern Stock/Getty Images

There’s nearly 1,600mg of ALA in a mere 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed. Eat them ground as your body can’t access the omega-3s (and other valuable nutrients like fiber and lignans) when the seed is whole. Here’s one more tip: Buy them whole and grind your flaxseed just before you use it—once ground, the fats (including ALAs) in the seeds can easily and quickly go rancid.

5 of 9

6 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Omega 3 Fortified Milk

Credit: Courtesy Horizon Organic

The most common brands we see at the grocery store are Organic Valley (which adds DHA, EPA, and ALA) and Horizon (adds  only DHA). Both are organic with omega-3s physically added. Organic Valley Grassmilk contains 75–100mg per cup and Horizon Organic Milk with DHA Omega-3 has 32mg.

6 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Omega 3 Fortified Milk

Credit: Courtesy Clover Sonoma

All eggs have some amount of omega-3s, but cartons bearing an “omega-3” label contain significantly more—around 115–225mg per enriched egg, based on the brand, compared to about 30mg per standard egg. The boost in omega-3s typically comes from flaxseed that farmers add to their hens’ diets.

7 of 9

8 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Simply Essentials Chicken

Credit: Courtesy Simply Essentials

This brand’s chicken and beef, which come from animals fed a flaxseed-heavy diet, are brimming with up to 833% more omega-3s than conventional chicken and beef. Cuts of their beef deliver anywhere from 22 to 134mg per 4 ounces; chicken contains slightly more, ranging from 48 to 341mg per 4 ounces. 

8 of 9

9 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Grass Fed Dairy

Credit: Courtesy Organic Valley

A study that compared raw grass-fed milk and whole grass-fed milk to conventional and organic milks found that both grass-fed milks had significantly more omega-3s. The raw grass-fed milk contained the most—and though drinking raw milk might be unsafe, those benefits could transfer to raw, aged, grass-fed milk cheeses. 

9 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 9 Fishless Fatty Acids
    2 of 9 Flax4life Muffins
    3 of 9 Oatmega Cookie
    4 of 9 Susie's Smart Cookie
    5 of 9 Flaxseed
    6 of 9 Omega 3 Fortified Milk
    7 of 9 Omega 3 Fortified Milk
    8 of 9 Simply Essentials Chicken
    9 of 9 Grass Fed Dairy

    Share & More

    Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
    Cooking Light

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise
    • Content Licensing
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    MeredithCooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Cooking Light. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

    View image

    8 Fish-Free Ways to Up Your Omega-3 Intake
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.