Certain kinds of fish, such as salmon, are insanely healthy food. Because the universe is a cold and heartless place, I was given taste buds that tell me that fish is not something I want to eat a lot of. Fish tastes extremely, um, fishy and I'm not a fan of the extremely fishy.

Fortunately I can get the same health benefits by popping a fish oil capsule that has salmon oil in it, so that's what I do. I am positively evangelical about this�there's a buttload of studies about how good it is for your heart.

Kat just posted a study that shows it's really good for your brain, too which means that when your mom told you that fish is brain food, your mom was right on the beam.

There. See. You should always listen to your mom.

I hope my daughter is reading this.

I also hope that she has forgotten the fact that even though I have been taking fish oils for several years I have a memory that makes a sieve look like a water bucket. We'll just quietly ignore that fact.

My efforts to pimp the fish oil throughout my family have had mixed results. Oh, all right, I'll admit it. They have been an utter failure. Only the spousal unit takes it. What particularly irks me is that I have been unable to sell his mother on the notion at all. This is a woman who had a quadruple heart by-pass when she was in her 60's and has suffered from high blood pressure and high cholesterol all her life, two things fish oils help with.

And then about six weeks ago She Saw The Light. So what motivated her? Was it the endless reams of scientific studies and articles I showed her?

I wish.

No, one day when I was down there painting she mentioned that her skin was extremely dry and that none of the skin creams she tried were helping one bit. I used to be legendary for my own dry skin problems. My poor elbows used to be so dry and cracked that they looked like relief maps of the Andes.

So I held out my arm and had her feel my skin. Soft. Like buttah. Somewhat wrinkly buttah, but buttah nonetheless. I pointed out how shiny my hair is, how soft it feels. We will ignore the fact that said hair is snow white.

So my mom-in-law started taking the fish oil and about two weeks into the experiment her own skin started to feel much, much better.

Okay, here is the part that drives me nuts.

A month after she'd been taking the fish oil she went in to the doctor's for her quarterly check-up. Her blood pressure had dropped so markedly in one month of being on the fish oil that her doctor took her off her blood pressure med.

Her cholesterol has dropped significantly and if her next check-up shows the same result, he will take her off that, as well. He asked her what she had changed in her life, and she mentioned the salmon/fish oil. He immediately said it was excellent that she was doing that. He mentioned some of the same studies I had mentioned.

In other words, he knew about the fish oil but didn't offer that to her as a treatment, or even as an option to try along with her prescription meds. The thing is, a good salmon/fish oil capsule (one that contains 18% EPA, 12% DHA�don't settle for less) costs less than $8 Canadian for 120 1000 mg. capsules.

That works out to $2 a month. Two bucks. This is a tiny, tiny fraction of what my retired mom-in-law spends on her blood pressure and cholesterol meds. I'm not saying that fish oils will work for everyone, but they have certainly worked for her. It's too bad that her doctor assumed that because of her age my mom-in-law wouldn't be open to trying other routes to take care of herself.

Plus, now she has skin like buttah and her hair is shiny.

Oh, and you want to know another thing about this that drives me nuts? Despite the fact that she is in her 80's (and I have been taking fish oil for years and she hasn't) my mom-in-law's memory is infinitely better than mine. The fish oil is only going to crank up the disparity. Excuse me, but where is the justice in that?

The woman can remember the names of a playmate's parents, people who gave their daughter a cookie but didn't give her one, back when she was six years old. For those of you keeping track, that happened 76 years ago.

I, on the other hand, I can walk out the door and in the half hour it takes me to drive into town completely forget what was on my shopping list.

This would be the shopping list I forgot to pick up from the kitchen table.

Man, imagine how bad it would be if I wasn't taking the fish oils �

--Marn

Mileage on the Marnometer: 924.88 miles. Over half way there. Oh, man, please let this be over