Monday 10 September 2007

Pic of the day: Be warned: Fishy!

Fish oil juice

Do you think juice with fish oil sounds like a bad idea? It sounds a lot better when you call the fish oil "Omega-3 fatty acids". But unfortunately, it still SMELLS as bad.

I grew up, like most Norwegian, with cod liver oil. It has its own word in Norwegian, "tran", and had been part of a healthy diet for many years before I was born. Its use probably stretches back to before the discovery of vitamins, as people had already known for a while that fishermen's children eating cod liver would not get the "English sickness" as vitamin D deficiency is called here. Cod liver also contains vitamin A and various unsaturated fatty acids, and tastes bad. I did not like it as a child, and I still don't. Intriguingly, it didn't taste so bad in 2005 when I had rapidly lost weight after the illness that kept me from eating fat. Of course, fish oil is virtually pure fat, so I could only eat a teaspoon in the morning. Still, it tasted much less vile than I remembered. I have tried again later after I came back from half-starvation, and it tastes bad now.

There is a reason why most companies that sell Omega-3 supplements sell them in the form of capsules that you swallow whole. But I have problems swallowing all but the tiniest of objects, and chew my food three times longer than most people I share a meal with. This is not a problem anymore since I eat alone at all times now, but it was very noticeable before. To me, the idea of drinking my Omega-3 seemed a good idea.

Unfortunately, it smells like a mix of juice and fish liver. It tastes bad. I am sure they will sell thousands of boxes, but I doubt they will sell more than one to each household, ever. Well, except for some dietary masochists. I am sure there are some: People have about as much complexes about food as they have about smex. Perhaps more here in Scandinavia, although we have less complexes about food too. ^^ Well, compared to our American friends. The Danes and Germans have a severe lack of complexes when it comes to food, if you ask me. The Americans are as fat, or fatter, but at least they feel guilty about it. Now if only they didn't try to combat the feeling of guilt with comfort food...

Anyway, don't buy! Don't buy! DON'T BUY!

Instead, may I recommend buying your favorite juice separately and swallow a teaspoon of cod liver oil (while holding your nose), then quickly wash away the taste with the juice. Then you can enjoy the rest of the juice without holding your nose.