product review: Everest Nutrition Krill Oil

When something like anxiety rocks your world, you become creative on how you want to combat it. For me, those included some drastic measures (coming clean about hitting the restart button), some expected tactics (taking up a daily yoga practice via my karma yogi duties) and some more outside-the-box ideas.

The first of those: full blood work up. From the results, I found out I was Vitamin B12 deficient. A B12 fun fact c/o Wikipedia: At levels only slightly lower than normal, a range of symptoms such as fatigue, depression, and poor memory may be experienced. Crazy, right?!

In addition, I took a look at what else I could do via my diet.  I considered the benefits of a daily omega 3 supplement since it’s been proven to help with the following:

• protects your heart
• lowers your cholesterol
• boosts your energy levels
• improves your memory
• alleviates PMS symptoms
• relieves joint pain

As it helps with cholesterol levels, Hans was already taking a fish oil pill so I started snagging some from his stash.  But right at the turn of the calendar year, I was contacted by Everest Nutrition to see if I’d be interested in trying their alternative to fish oil: Krill Oil.

According to the Everest Nutrition website, their krill oil has more Omega 3s and offers 54x more antioxidant power than ordinary fish oil. The company is also very proud of the quality of the krill they use – found in the most pristine waters in Antarctica – and the fact that the extraction process is done as soon as the krill is collected – on the same boat it’s caught on.

Here’s what the company said about choosing their Krill Oil over regular ordinary Fish Oil:

• There’s No Unpleasant Aftertastes or Annoying Fish Burps
• There’s Better Absorption
• It’s A More Powerful Antioxidant
• You get Absolute Purity
• And you get Better Results found from numerous tests and studies from around the world

The company recommends that you take 2 capliques daily with breakfast.

However, they typically fit into my lunch time plans. Their storage location might have something to do with it. I store my Krill Oil pills in my butter bin in my refrigerator. Two reasons for this: 1) it’s suggested to be stored it in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight or in the refrigerator, but more importantly 2) that’s where I keep my dark chocolate. Since I like a bit of sweets post lunch, it was the perfect reminder to take my krill oil daily. Perhaps a collaboration between Lindt chocolates and Everest Nutrition Krill Oil is in order…

MY THOUGHTS ON THE KRILL OIL PILLS:

Compared to my previous fish oil pill (which was HUGE), I loved the smaller size of the krill oil capliques. Much easier to swallow.

In the two months of taking them, I’ve never one had that fishy burp that is associated with fish oil pills.

While the company says they neutralize the fishy odor with a sealed band around the center of each caplique, there was still some fishiness to the taste of these. Nothing overwhelming, but I definitely didn’t let the pill linger around for long.

While I’m not a vegetarian, I appreciated that the capliques are vegetable based, while most manufacturers make their fish oil capsules out of animal fat. I’ve recommended fish oil to many whom have said they wouldn’t take them because of that reason.

As for the health benefits the company says I could expect by taking the pill daily (in comparison to taking fish oil)? Many I personally don’t have a scientific way to track (lowering bad cholesterol, increasing good cholesterol, etc.), I believe to generally found the following claims to hold up:

• Improving and maintaining cardiovascular health: even with my low levels of cardio conditioning, I found when I did go for a run or took a spinning class, I felt at a similar level of cardio ability as before.
• Maintaining healthy blood pressure: note though I generally I have low blood pressure…
• Improving symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS): always appreciated by others!
• Balancing blood sugar levels: I haven’t felt as much anxiety when I haven’t eaten for an extended amount of time.
• Improving cognitive function: definitely feeling more alert and more focused than in the fall.
• Maintaining healthy pain-free joints: my hips (usually!) aren’t as sore after too many half pigeon poses!

LONG STORY SHORT: I’m pretty impressed with the krill oil and will definitely consider continuing to take them instead of fish oil pills. I’ll still stick to eating real foods and my healthy diet as much as possible to ensure overall good health. That said, this krill oil health experiment has made me more open to utilizing other supplements to help improve my physical and mental health. For more information, the Everest Nutrition Krill Oil website or follow @Krill_Oil on Twitter.

Disclosure: I am not a health professional and am just writing about my own personal experience in taking these pills. This post was made possible by our friend Sandra Goldstein at Everest Nutrition. I was compensated for my time & this post. My thoughts and opinions, as always, are 100% my own.