For awhile I gave up on looking for an omega-3 supplement that I could take. Obviously, fish oil is not even vegetarian. Don't even get me started on those "pescavegetarians." Flaxseed oil, although vegetarian and vegan friendly, when in pill form is encapsulated in a gelatin monster. I looked in drug stores and grocery stores galore to no avail. I gave up.
But then there was Whole Foods. Whole Foods has everything and anything, right? So this miracle of grocery stores must have vegan friendly omega-3 supplements, right? So I walk down the vast supplement aisles in the middle of store and find the omega-3 (and 6 and 9) section. I find a bottle of vegetarian flaxeed pills and nearly jump for joy. It does not, however, say vegan anywhere on the bottle. I ponder. Not everything vegan says vegan blatantly on the bottle. I read the ingredients several times over and put the bottle back while I continue to ponder. And then the inevitable happens.
"Can I help you find anything?" I don't believe I've ever roamed the supplement and beauty section of Whole Foods without being tackled by a worker in a dark green apron who probably thinks I'm inept at picking out a moisturizer or multivitamin. This time I do not feel so intellectually violated, but instead relieved.
"Do you have any vegan-friendly omega-3 supplements?" He promptly takes me to the refrigerated section and shows me a bottle of liquid stuff. It is pomegranate-blueberry flavored and can be added to yogurt (soy, of course), juice, anything you'd like, or taken straight. It is expensive at nearly $30 per bottle. But it is completely vegan. I go for it.
The first couple of times I put the thick, creamy goop in my orange-pineapple-banana juice. It makes it slightly smoothie-like. I prefer my juice the original way. The next time I take it straight from a tablespoon measure and it takes me a minute to get it all down. It isn't quite unpleasant, but it isn't my ideal way to take a supplement. I try it in soymilk and have to add chocolatey powder or I'll gag. I was never a milk-drinking girl.
Meanwhile I've been getting the runs. I know, you really wanted to know that, right? I figure it's a side effect of Thanksgiving or the soy yogurt I've been trying. I eat better, I watch everything. I pay very close attention to when it happens.
I take the flaxeed goop. I run to the toilet.
With nearly an entire $30 bottle of vegan flaxeed goop in the fridge, I realize it is giving me the runs. Dammit.
Back to the beginning.
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what about just straight-up flaxseed oil? that's what we use, a kind with added seaweed dha which danny somehow says is important.. i put it in my oatmeal every morning, we put it on pancakes, toast, salad...it tastes kind of buttery to me. you can't cook with it, heat kills the good stuff. this is definitely a sticky issue though!
ReplyDeleteI bought a bottle once and it went unused and expired in the fridge. I just didn't know how to use it. That was back before the almost-vegan thing, too. I'd heard of making salad dressings with it, but I always buy salad dressing because I'm too lazy to make my own, haha. I like your ideas though!
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