Oils are high in Calories and fat. 1 tablespoon of flax seed oil, depending on the brand, contains between 120-160 Calories and 14-18g of fat. That is as much fat as you get from 3-4 teaspoons of margarine or butter. While flax seed oil does contain omega-3 fats, it is not a helpful strategy to try and help you stay feeling full. The benefits of omega 3s are in helping improve arthritis, especially joint movement and they also help to reduce the risk of heart disease by helping the heart to beat regularly and to stop the blood from clotting easily.      

The best strategy to help you feel full is to have a low energy dense diet. This means you aim to include large amounts of food items that are low in Calories and avoid those that give a lot of Calories but only a small portion size. The best way to achieve this is to increase your intake of vegetables while also reducing your total fat intake. To do this you really have to adapt your recipes so that they include more of the low energy dense items. There is an excellent book on this approach called Volumetrics by Dr Barbara Rolls.

Dr Clare Collins