The benefits of taking cod liver oil are many, especially for those looking to conceive, and while not everyone experiences major (or minor) health changes while taking it, finding a good source is a must.
Green Pastures
My source of choice is always the fermented cod liver oil from Green Pastures – and not just because they are an advertiser here this month. I found this company a couple of years ago and briefly met Dave Wetzel (the owner) at Wise Traditions in 2009. They truly are a small family run operation and adamant about offering a superior product, the only traditionally fermented cod liver oil on the market. I’ve taken their fermented CLO ever since and have found it to be superior to other products.
I’m not going to lie – it can be pricey, but isn’t anything of great quality worth more?
Their purity standards:
- The fish used in our Fermented Cod Liver oil and Skate Liver oil are exclusively wild caught in and around the Arctic region. A substantial amount of today’s cod liver oil is produced from farmed fish.
- Green Pastures is committed to providing our community with nothing but pure, unadulterated, non-industrialized fermented fish liver oils using traditional or sacred production methods that have been in use for thousands of years.
- We guarantee we will not compromise our products’ nutrient quality and integrity by any industrial means that will damage or remove flavors, odors, colors, textures and/or nutrients.
- We exclusively use third party testing for our products.
I feel good about the product I receive from them!
How to Take It
A couple of weeks ago I lead one of our local Weston A Price chapter meetings on Nourishing Our Children and in the Q&A afterward one of the questions that kept coming up was “how do you take it?”
Because the capsule are more expensive, many decide to try the the oil in one of the many flavors. And because it’s not just cod liver oil, it’s fermented cod liver oil with all the tastes and colors left alone to preserve nutrients, sometimes it’s a bit hard to swallow. Literally.
To many folks I know have tried to mix it in with smoothies. Do. Not. Do. This. You’re only making one swallow-full of “grin and bear it” turn into a whole glass full.
A few things that do work:
- Mix with an ounce of orange juice and ‘take a shot’! This works well with the unflavored, orange, cinnamon, and Mediterranean flavors.
- Place a dollop of honey on top of the CLO on a spoon and swallow fast. Works well with the chocolate and mint flavored oils.
- Depending on the batches and your own preference you can refrigerate or freeze the oils to gain a different texture. My kids prefer ours (I buy the chocolate cream fermented cod liver oil/butter oil combo) slightly thickened in the refrigerator. I just use a small baby sized spoon and they both get a spoonful during breakfast.
- Take the capsules. Seriously. I have a hard time with the oils and gels but can pop a pill no problem! In my thinking, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s better for me to take a smaller amount of great quality oil than none at all.
*and yes – I did try all of the cod liver oil flavors sitting out on the table at Wise Traditions!
*also – I greatly prefer the high vitamin butter oil/fermented cod liver oil combos. The mix of the two offers the most benefit!
How do you take your cod liver oil?
Donielle Baker
I heard so many stories like this that I was afraid to try it at first. The very first time I got some on a spoon (Cinnamon Tingle), my heart was pounding and I had a piece of sourdough bread sitting near by to eat quickly after. And then…it wasn’t bad! In fact, I really rather LIKE the stuff. My kids get some on a spoon each day (Chocolate Cream). If I don’t remember they will go get the jar out themselves. They lick those spoons clean because they seriously LOVE it.
We do not take any other supplements on a regular basis. And if I had to, I’d pay twice as much (but Dave, please don’t do that!!). It is worth it. (And I have taken and researched all kinds of supplements, including other such oils…with really no results. This had clear results for us! My husband, on a detox protocol, can’t even take it temporarily because it speeds up his immune system and detox symptoms so much.)
If I’m not taking cod liver oil in pill form, I mix it with water and take it like a shot, too! That’s the best way to get it down quick. The OJ with it is a good idea, too!
I take the Cinnamon Cod Liver/Butter Oil from Green Pastures. I do not mind the taste as the butter oil and cinnamon flavor do a good job of cutting the fishiness. I take it on a spoon with a little warm water as a chaser. I find it is more like taking a pill in the gel form. Even my husband who would NEVER touch the straight cod liver oil, will take this one too. From him, that really says a lot. 🙂
We use Green Pastures too. I prefer the capsules. My children love the chocolate gel. It actually turns my stomach to see them licking every last bit off the spoon because it made me gag when I tried it. I guess it’s a good thing to get the young ones used to the flavor from the start!
@Jenn, My kids do the SAME THING with their chocolate gel! And always as k for seconds too!
I was taking the capsules, but due to the price difference, I decided to try the Cinnamon oil. I tried taking it straight and chasing it with milk the other morning, but it just made the milk taste terrible! (Although chasing it with a couple of slices of my Polyface bacon did the trick!)
I had heard of people mixing it with Peanut Butter, but I didn’t want to go through the mess of mixing it, so I just ate a spoonfull of peanut butter after the oil. It was better than the milk, but I still had that terrible taste in my mouth. (Once again remedied with bacon).
I’ll have to try the OJ “shot”, but I’ll be sure to have my bacon chaser at the ready just in cas!
I just have to say… I tried mixing with OJ this morning.. that was pure BRILLIANCE. It was almost painless to take. Thanks SOO much for that little gem!
I just ordered my first batch of arctic mint last week. Hoping it will be here in the mail soon!
And… if you have the burps with capsules, you can store them in the freezer…. by the time they thaw in the digestive tract, there shouldn’t be any burping 🙂
We take our CLO (not fermented as of yet) with milk. Somehow the fat seems to get rid of the fishy taste. My boys like it in a spoonful of plain kefir, but that’s a little more than my taste buds can handle. 🙂
I just wanted to let you know that I think you have the wrong url.You have http://www.greenpastures.org/ but I think you want http://www.greenpasture.org/public/Home/index.cfm
(without the s on pasture).
Thanks!
@Rebecca, Thank you!!!! Got it fixed. 🙂
Wow, so I had just ordered some Green Pastures FCLO in both Cinnamon and Orange flavors (I like options!) when this post came out, and my order just came in last night.
I have had a very stressful week, and the next several look to be the same until work mellows out a little bit, so am doing what I am able to do that will boost my immunity and keep me energized. So, when my order came in last night, I was excited to add this to the prenatals, elderberry syrup, coconut oil and other items in my feel-good arsenal. 1/2 teaspoon of butter oil: not too bad. 2 ml of fermented cod liver oil, orange flavor? OMG, wow, and holy cow. I think I’d rather eat canned cat food, except that would defeat the purpose of taking FCLO in the first place! Possibly worse than the initial shock is that I then munched on some grass-fed beef pot roast, and it was “tainted” by the lingering flavor/smell. If there’s truly orange flavoring in there (the bottle says orange oil and lemon oil added, and I don’t doubt that), I could not tell. You know it’s bad when the kitty who hasn’t eaten all day (and likes to beg as I’m getting dinner ready) leaves the kitchen!
So, on that note, your original post turns out to be a very timely one for me. I’m going back through your post and all the comments, and will be trying several other ways to take it this weekend. We don’t generally do orange juice, but I may have to reconsider that!
@Jaime, Thanks for letting em know about the link – got it fixed asap!
Donielle – Do you have any tips on giving CLO to babies? I wasn’t sure if you could use the flavored kind with them or not. My little guy is 6 1/2 m.o.
@Shortermama, I started giving CLO to my daughter when she was about 6 months old. Just a bit every couple of days and she did fine with it and took it just fine. Dave (from Green pastures also mentioned to me that you can get the plain stuff and rub it onto baby’s skin as well since it will absorb into the skin).
@donielle, Did you use plain or a flavor?
@Shortermama, I’ve always used the CLO/butter oil combo in chocolate cream for my littles.
I got the Green Pasture FCLO/Butter Oil Chocolate Cream for my husband and I. First time getting CLO so I thought we’d try chocolate to get him on board (I’ll eat anything, I was more worried about him having a terrible first experience. Anyways- trying to get in the daily habit of taking it. The Gel is a weird consistency, I’ve added it to a banana/peanut butter smoothie with some cacao, that wasn’t bad, but I don’t want a sweet smoothie like that every day. I tried to get in the habit of some of the FCLO and Peanut Butter on a small cracker…that tasted ok, but again a little more work than just popping it in your mouth.
I am about to try mixing the Chocolate FCLO/BO with Nut Butter and making little “bite sizes”, freezing them and popping on every morning. Has anyone tried something like this? I want to keep it simple.
@KristenK, Ops, where is the edit button – plenty of typos! Sorry!! 🙂
@KristenK, Basically – there isn’t a way to make it taste “good”. You just get it down and deal with it. Eventually you get used to it. 🙂 Keeping it cold helps, I think. Freezing it would probably work too, but hard to get it in bites small enough to just swallow.
Adding it to anything just means you have to taste MORE of it! 😀
@donielle, Fortunately, we don’t mind the taste (at least in the chocolate cream flavor!). My biggest struggle is the habit I suppose – and not having to spoon feed it to DH every day like you would with a young child, lol. MEN! 🙂
Ok, my hubby & I are just about finished with our unflavored FCLO/HVBO from Green Pastures. We take 1/2 tsp. every morning & boy is it NASTY! I highly recommend flavored!! We are excited to order a flavored one this time around. I have no idea what we were thinking when we ordered it unflavored! We chase it with water & then peanut butter. It’s fast, but still gross. We would like to order it for our young boys (3 & 1 year old). Any ideas on what flavors would be best? It seems like Cinnamon or Chocolate might be best, but just wondering which one in particular has been more successful. Our 3-year-old boy is a very picky eater & our 1-year-old (just turned 1) seems pretty open.
We have been taking the oil blend for over a month now & definitely have lots more energy & a better mood in general even though we don’t sleep too well mostly due to having little ones. I’m still nursing & my cutie feeds throughout the night (3-4 times every night) so it can be exhausting some days. I’m going on 4 years of horrible sleep & that’s not an exaggeration! I’m ready to have “normal” sleep!
Also, I would prefer not to have the gel, but I don’t think we have any other choices if we want FCLO/HVBO with Green Pastures. Just making sure I’m not overlooking the options here. Thanks for any input!
@Arti, Personally, I’m a big fan of the capsules. 🙂 I can’t stomach the liquid or gel.
For my kids I buy the chocolate cream and they take it very easily. (but they’ve been on it for quite some time and don’t know any different!) We also keep it cold so it stays quite firm. I’ll bet you could put a couple drops of honey on it to make it more palatable if needed!
@donielle
Thanks!!! We just got reintroduced to CLO and it has been awesome. Can’t wait to see what FErMENtEd does for us. Looks like capsules for me & hubs and chocolate cream for the littles. Do they have strawberry? Ps. Love love love your blog & book. Definitely going to incorporate your work into my future Birthy stuff. 🙂
Hello,
I just started taking green pastures cod liver oil the cinnamon flavour. I don’t mind the taste and was just quickly shooting it down my throat. But I am finding the constant need to clear my throat and cough for the rest of the day. Will that fade away or should I mix the cod liver oil with something to reduce throat irritation? Any advice would be great. 🙂
@Chrissy, Someone just emailed me about this earlier today, saying that they were able to get rid of that by drinking it with orange juice or fresh lemon juice.
If you refrigerate them (kids get the blend, i do the fclo/fslo and b/o separately) it seems to take the fishiness away. So much so that I no longer have to hold my nose and chase down with water.