The evidence continues to mount. I, like many of you, have heard about omega-3 fats for many years, but I only really discovered their great worth earlier this year.

Omega-3 fat balancing is the most important nutritional action you can take to prevent heart disease. Lowering your insulin levels is a close second.

It is important to remember, though, that the omega-3 fat benefit is largely related to fish oil, which contains EPA and DHA, not flax seeds that have the shorter chain omega-3 ALA. (I highly recommend Carlson's fish oil products for their purity, and will soon make them available on Mercola.com). While flaxseeds have many outstanding benefits, most people can't convert them very well to the DHA and EPA that provide most of the cardiovascular benefits.

I do recommend freshly ground flaxseeds, especially for those with constipation, as ALA is an important dietary requirement. You will also receive ALA from walnuts, but if you struggle with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or being overweight, limit your walnut intake to no more than a few per day.

The balancing of the omega-3 fats also involves virtually eliminating all high omega-6 fats. This will seem counter-intuitive to many interested in health as some of omega-6 foods seem healthy.

So that means most of us should avoid all seeds and nuts except walnuts and flaxseeds, which have substantial amounts of omega-3 fats. Nearly all other nuts have significant quantities of omega-6 fats. This includes many of your favorites (even if they are organic):

• Almonds
• Pecans
• Cashews
• Peanuts
• Sunflower seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sesame seeds

If you haven't read Dr. Holub's excellent article on omega-3 fats published earlier this year in the Canadian Medical Journal, it is a must.