What makes waihi bush organic farm flaxseed oil the best?
The way its grown
Our certified organic growers are audited annually to ensure they meet the strictest organic standards – not only do they meet the NZ Food Safety Authority standards, but in addition I require our growers to meet the USA National Organic Standards.
Flavour varies from farm to farm, so I select our growers who consistently give us good flavour – most of them grow on the fertile Canterbury plains although I do have growers from South Otago to Hawkes Bay.
The climate it grows in
The small size of New Zealand, with our mountains so close to the sea, gives us an unusual combination of alpine and maritime climates. While we have hot days during the seed-ripening phase, we also mostly have cool nights.
This means that the plants have extra surplus energy to store in the seed as the Omega-3 ALA. A research project at Lincoln University suggests that on average our oils are 5% higher in ALA than other growing regions around the world, because of our unique climate.
The way its looked after
I have perfected the way we look after our seed during the extraction process, protecting it from damaging light, oxygen and heat all the way through to the bottle. We also carefully test and taste our oil to make sure it meets our stringent quality standards.
I have tasted most of the flax seed oils available in Europe, North America and Asia, most of them I would never put in a bottle and I have only found two that come close to us, in having a pleasant nutty flavour – the way all Flax Seed oil should be (if it doesn't taste like this it will be actively bad for your health).
Our blends
Our blends are unique; in that I have studied the science about the way your body uses both Primary and Secondary Omega-3 and Omega-6 (see the blogs on these EFAs for more information). Other blends, such as Udo's Choice Oil Blend, supplement Flax seed oil with secondary Omega-6 from Evening Primrose oil. Such a blend completely ignores the science that show that your body uses the same enzymes to convert the Primary Omega-3 and Omega-6 to the many by products your body needs to function in a healthy manner.
So if you need to supplement with secondary Omega-6 you MUST supplement with secondary Omega-3 as well to keep your metabolism in balance
Thus I developed the technology around cold pressing blackcurrant seed oil to provide a tasty source of the Secondary Omega-3s your body needs to balance the Secondary Omega-6s from Evening Primrose seed oil (more later).
To get your body functioning correctly and into balance (See Omega-3 Blog) as quickly as possible I have designed a three-stage program.
Flax Boost
This tasty blend is mostly Flax Seed oil, but has physiologically balanced amounts of Secondary Omega-3 and Omega-6 from Blackcurrant and Evening Primrose seed oils. These bypasses an enzyme blockage caused by the stresses of modern life (the delta-6-desaturase or D6D enzyme).
This blend ensures that your body responds quickly, so that you are motivated to continue taking the oil because your body feels better.
A number of studies have shown that within 4 – 6 weeks of consuming high quality Flax Seed oil, the D6D enzyme will be working correctly, allowing you to progress to the slightly cheaper Flax Original.
The only people who are exceptions to this are diabetics and a very small number of people where the D6D is non functional – these people need to stay on Flax Boost.
Flax Original
New Zealand's first home-grown Flax Seed oil hit the market over 17 years ago and has been New Zealand's favourite Flax Seed oil ever since.
When you switch from Flax Boost to Flax Original, you need to be very aware of your physical and mental state. If it stays the same or continues to improve then your D6D enzyme pathway is functioning normally, which will be the case for most people. If you are one of the few where the D6D does not function normally then you will need to go back to eating Flax Boost. Flax Original has a Omega-6:Omega-3 ratio of 0.3, so if eaten regularly over 3 – 6 years will reduce the Omega-6:Omega-3 ratio of your body to close to the ideal 1:1 needed for optimum wellness
Flax Balance
Contains Omega-6 and Omega-3 in equal amounts, so is designed to keep you in a state of wellness by providing balanced amounts of the key fats needed as building blocks for the millions of new cells your body creates every day. This is the diet your body evolved with and needs to have for optimum wellness.
How do you tell if your body has reached the desired 1:1 Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio?
Most likely it will be the return of the original symptoms that got onto taking Flax Seed oil in the first place.
How so?
These symptoms were caused by an imbalance of the Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio i.e. too much Omega-6. This time they will be caused by an excess of Omega-3 – which is easily fixed by switching to Flax Balance.
How long will it take before you are ready for Flax Balance?
It varies enormously of course because we are all different in the way we eat and live, which is why no one oil blend is right for everybody all of the time, as some "experts" would have us believe.
