100 Ways to Take Your Omega-3 When You Cannot Do It Straight

If you bought the oil with the best intentions and then quietly stopped taking it, I want you to hear something. You are not weak and you are not doing it wrong.

Some people genuinely cannot do it straight off a spoon. There is no gold star for suffering through it. This blog post was inspired by a discussion I had with my adult daughter's who struggle to take their omega-3 supplements. 

The oil you actually take beats the oil sitting in your fridge because you dread it. So the below is a solution to finding a way for my kids to take their omega-3 supplement (when they find it difficult to swallow the large pills). 

Two rules for every idea below

Never heat it. No cooking, no baking, no frying, nothing stirred into a boiling pot. Heat damages these delicate fats, which wastes the oil and makes it taste worse besides. Everything here is cold or barely warm. If you can hold your finger in it comfortably, you are fine.

Take it with food. Not on an empty stomach. A meal with some fat and protein in it is the single biggest fix for the burps, and it helps your body do more with the oil.

First, let us fix the actual problem

Most people do not quit because of the taste. They quit because of what happens twenty minutes later. Please try these before you go shopping for smoothie ingredients.

For the fish burps

• Take it in the middle of a meal, not before and not after. Food in the stomach is the fix.
• Try it at dinner instead of breakfast. If anything repeats on you, you are asleep for it.
• Keep it cold. Refrigerate after opening. Cold oil has far less smell, and smell is most of what you are tasting.
• Chase it with something acidic. Lemon water, a bite of pickle, a sip of orange juice.
• Stay upright for twenty minutes after.

For the texture

• Cold changes everything. Straight from the fridge it feels thinner and tastes cleaner.
• Never let it sit alone in your mouth. Have the next bite or sip ready to go.
• Mix it into something with body. Yogurt, a smoothie, hummus. Texture covers texture better than flavor covers flavor.

If you gag

• Cold, fast, chase. That combination beats sipping slowly every time.
• Breathe out through your mouth as you swallow, then in through your nose afterward. So much of taste is smell.
• If it is truly not happening, use the capsules. Genuinely. See number 8.

Give any new method a full week before you decide. Your palate adjusts faster than you would think. The thing that is awful on Monday is often just fine by Friday.

The simplest ways · 1 to 10

Start here. Most people never need to go any further.

1. Straight from the spoon, cold. Right out of the fridge, one motion, chase with water.
2. Shot glass, then a water chaser. A little ceremony makes it feel finished.
3. A splash of water in the shot glass first. Breaks up that coating feeling.
4. Cold sparkling water chaser. The bubbles clean your palate better than still water.
5. Lemon wedge chaser. Bite it right after. Acid cuts oil.
6. Take it mid-bite. Forkful of food, oil, forkful of food. It barely registers.
7. Frozen shot glass. Keep one in the freezer. Colder glass, colder oil, less smell.
8. Switch to capsules. This is not giving up. It is a different delivery. Some of my most consistent girls are capsule girls.
9. Split the dose. Half at breakfast, half at dinner. Two small moments instead of one big one.
10. Pinch your nose. Old trick, still works, no shame in it whatsoever.

Smoothies and shakes · 11 to 28

Blend it in at the end, on low. Frozen fruit does more covering up than any flavor can.

11. Frozen banana and cocoa. The most forgiving smoothie on earth.
12. Frozen wild blueberry. Deep color, deep flavor, hides it completely.
13. Mango, orange and ginger. Bright and tropical.
14. Strawberry banana. The one your kids will drink too.
15. Spinach, pineapple and lime. Pineapple is a workhorse.
16. Cherry and cacao. Tastes like dessert.
17. Peach and vanilla. Soft and mild if strong flavors put you off.
18. Raspberry and lemon. Tart enough to cut right through.
19. Coconut milk, pineapple, lime. Piña colada, no rum.
20. Avocado, lime and honey. Creamy enough to swallow the texture entirely.
21. Nut butter and banana. Fat likes fat. Very smooth.
22. Iced coffee protein shake. Cold brew, protein, ice. Not hot coffee.
23. Chocolate protein shake. The easiest swap if you already drink one.
24. Kefir and berry. Tang plus fruit is a strong combination.
25. Pumpkin, cinnamon and maple. Autumn in a glass.
26. Watermelon and mint, blended with ice. Surprisingly effective.
27. Apple, spinach and cinnamon. Green without tasting like a lawn.
28. Make it a smoothie bowl and eat it with a spoon and toppings. Eating beats drinking for some people.

Yogurt, breakfast and spoonables · 29 to 40

Anything thick and cold. Stir it all the way in so you never hit a pocket of it.

29. Greek yogurt with honey.
30. Yogurt with berries and cinnamon.
31. Overnight oats, stirred in the next morning once they are cold.
32. Chia pudding. That gel texture hides it completely.
33. Cottage cheese with fruit and a little honey.
34. Applesauce. Simple and cheap, and the one that works when nothing else does.
35. Cold bircher muesli.
36. Tossed over a cold fruit salad like a dressing.
37. Into cold rice pudding.
38. Over oatmeal you have let sit five minutes. Warm, not steaming.
39. Stirred into ricotta with lemon zest and honey. Tastes like a dessert you did not earn.
40. Into a smoothie bowl base with granola and coconut on top.

Salad dressings · 41 to 52

This is where the oil truly belongs. Shake it in a jar, keep it in the fridge, use it within a few days.

41. The basic one. Oil, lemon juice, a little Dijon, salt, pepper. Shake hard.
42. Balsamic. Balsamic, oil, a touch of honey, garlic.
43. Honey mustard. Dijon, honey, apple cider vinegar, oil.
44. Lemon herb. Lemon, oil, parsley, dill, chives.
45. Herbes de Provence. Oil, white wine vinegar, herbes de Provence, sea salt.
46. Greek. Oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic, salt.
47. Creamy avocado. Blend avocado, lime, oil, water to thin, salt.
48. Tahini lemon. Tahini, lemon, oil, garlic, water to loosen.
49. Ginger sesame. Oil, rice vinegar, fresh ginger, a little toasted sesame, tamari.
50. Green goddess. Blend herbs, oil, yogurt, lemon, garlic.
51. Cilantro lime. Cilantro, lime, oil, jalapeño if you like.
52. Maple Dijon. Maple, Dijon, apple cider vinegar, oil.

Dips and cold sauces · 53 to 64

Make once, use all week.

53. The Italian dip. Oil in a shallow bowl, sea salt, herbes de Provence, cracked pepper, a little balsamic. This one is my favorite.
54. Garlic herb dip. Same idea with fresh garlic and parsley.
55. Stirred into hummus right at the end. Nobody will know.
56. Baba ganoush, stirred in cold.
57. Whipped feta. Feta, yogurt, lemon, oil, blended smooth.
58. Tzatziki. Yogurt, cucumber, garlic, dill, oil.
59. Guacamole, folded in at the end.
60. Pesto, made cold. Basil, garlic, nuts, parmesan, oil. Do not heat it after.
61. Chimichurri. Parsley, oregano, garlic, red wine vinegar, oil. Spoon it over food already on the plate.
62. Salsa verde, stirred in at the end.
63. White bean dip. Blended beans, lemon, garlic, oil.
64. Olive tapenade, loosened with the oil.

Drizzled over finished food · 65 to 76

Cook it, plate it, let it cool a minute, then drizzle. This is the easiest habit to keep.

65. Over soup at the table. Ladle, wait two minutes, drizzle.
66. Over roasted vegetables once they have cooled a little.
67. Over rice or quinoa, stirred through when it stops steaming.
68. Over a baked potato with salt and chives.
69. Over avocado toast.
70. Over scrambled eggs on the plate, not in the pan.
71. Over a grain bowl as the finishing drizzle.
72. Over fish or chicken, once it is plated.
73. Over tomatoes with salt and basil. Almost too good.
74. Over cottage cheese with cracked pepper.
75. Over steamed greens with lemon and salt.
76. Over chili or stew at the table, with a dollop of yogurt.

Cold drinks and shots · 77 to 84

Shake or blend, then drink it right away before it separates.

77. Orange juice shot. Small glass, shake hard, drink fast. A classic for a reason.
78. Tart cherry juice. Dark and strong enough to cover anything.
79. Cold lemon water with a little honey.
80. Pineapple juice. One of the best natural coverups there is.
81. Blended into cold coconut water.
82. Shaken into iced herbal tea. Hibiscus or berry.
83. Into a cold ginger lemon tonic with sparkling water.
84. Into whichever Zinzino drink you already have on hand, shaken well and taken alongside a meal.

Frozen · 85 to 90

Freezing dulls flavor more than anything else on this page. If you have tried everything, try this.

85. Frozen in an ice cube tray with juice, one dose per cube.
86. Blended into fruit popsicles in molds.
87. Frozen yogurt bark. Yogurt, oil, berries, spread thin, frozen, broken up.
88. Into a freezer smoothie pack you blend in the morning.
89. Into nice cream made from frozen bananas.
90. Frozen into coconut milk cubes and dropped into a smoothie.

For kids, and for when nothing else has worked · 91 to 100

91. Capsules. I am saying it twice on purpose. The best method is the one you will actually do.
92. Hidden in a chocolate protein shake. Cocoa is the most reliable coverup in the kitchen.
93. Stirred into a fruit puree pouch and squeezed onto a spoon.
94. Into berry sorbet.
95. Into a small cup of chocolate milk, shaken hard.
96. Into a spoonful of nut butter. One bite, done.
97. Stirred into honey and taken as one sweet spoonful.
98. Into a thick date shake. Dates, milk, ice, oil.
99. Straight, then a strong mint right after. Resets your whole mouth.
100. Change the time of day. If mornings are a battle, move it to dinner and stop fighting.

Keeping it fresh

• Refrigerate after opening. Cold keeps it fresher and tasting better.
• Cap it tightly. Air matters more than time does.
• Use dressings and dips within a few days, kept in the fridge.
• Trust your nose. Fresh smells mild. Sharp or crayon-like means it has turned, and you should not push through that.
• Never leave it in a hot car, on a sunny counter, or beside the stove.

Before you start any of this

Please talk with your doctor if you take blood thinners, if you are pregnant or nursing, if you have a procedure coming up, or if you manage any health condition. And take the amount on your label. Do not increase it just because you found a way you like.

Tell me which one worked

Genuinely. If you find your way, come back and tell me in the comments so I can pass it along to the next person who is struggling. That is how this list got to a hundred in the first place.

Faith over fear. Joy over restriction.

Steffi

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Affiliate disclosure. This post contains affiliate links. I am an independent Zinzino partner and I earn a commission if you order through my link, at no additional cost to you. I am not employed by Zinzino, I do not speak for them, and nothing here has been reviewed or approved by the company.

Health disclaimer. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. I am a Nutritional Herbalist and educator, not a physician or a dietitian, and nothing on this blog is medical advice. Omega-3 supplementation can interact with blood thinners and other medications. Please talk with your own healthcare provider before starting anything, especially if you take prescription medication, are pregnant or nursing, have a procedure coming up, or manage a chronic condition. Individual results vary.