So who am I you ask and why am I writing about Omega 3’s and wellness
About 20 years ago I was working as an Agricultural Scientist and my youngest son of 4 Oliver was 2 years old.
His older brother Christopher had a bad reaction to his 2 year old measles immunisation - he got bad eczema and became allergic to a whole lot of foods. By the time Oliver came along Christopher’s eczema had reduced, but it had transmuted into bad asthma, to the extent that he was hospitalised several times.
You would think that a reasonably intelligent person would connect the dots and say Christopher had a bad reaction to his measles immunisation - we wont get Oliver immunized! In my defense – Information was not as freely assessed 21 years ago without the web!
We did do a bit of reading, but the pressure from our doctor to have Oliver immunised was pretty high - so he had his shot - bad move. Within a week he had a severe case of measles and became allergic to a whole lot of common foods. The worst thing was that he started really bad eczema, which meant he scratched himself bleeding day and night – (more on Oliver's story next time).
Fast forward 2 1/2 years later and many sleepless nights (and angst) and some one gave us some Canadian Flax Seed Oil and Oliver stopped scratching within days – what relief! (this is not the case for everyone! – it can take a couple of weeks)
That was the beginning of my journey towards understanding as much as I could about Omega 3 and wellness.
Being a scientist I had the skills to troll through the books on the subject and get into the medical literature and over the last 20 years I have developed a deep understanding of the role of the Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) and many other factors on health and wellness.
It inspired me to start my own business in New Zealand ‘Functional Whole Foods NZ Ltd’ manufacturing Flax seed oil and if I say so myself, we are one of the best tasting oils in the world! 18 years later we are the Number One New Zealand brand and stocked in 860 stores, exporting to 6 countries and growing!
I have over the years come across a lot of information in books and on web-sites / blogs / forums that is just plain wrong!! Science mis quoted or skewed or even ignored old data or misrepresentation of ALA as an effective Omega 3.
For the last 22 years I have also been an organic farmer at Waihi Bush Organic Farm - a 120 ha piece of paradise on the fertile Canterbury Plains.
On a personal note in 2009 I was fortunate enough to be selected to join 300 others from the Asia - Pacific region to be trained by Al Gore and others to be a presenter about climate change - to talk to people in the community to help them to understand the issues and make changes in their lives to live more sustainably - Governments cannot force the changes necessary - they have to come from the ground up.
So my passions in life are and I will be writing more on:
* to get correct information out there on Omega 3
* nutrition and wellness
I used to be an agricultural scientist - curing my sons eczema with flax seed oil 18 years ago changed all that.
I study the latest science on nutrition, hormones and wellness and integrate that knowledge into our products and how we inform our customers. I am passionate about sharing my wide knowledge on nutrition with others.