Praise for Coconut Oil

Refilling the coconut oil jar

This morning after putting a heaping spoonful of coconut oil in my breakfast smoothie, it was time to refill the small jar from the large 54-oz container I bought last month on amazon. 

I ate what was stuck to the spoon-- it is so yummy-- but I didn't think so a few months ago, so maybe coconut oil is an acquired taste. The unrefined oil I have now has a faint coconut flavor which is delicious, but the refined oil has no flavor at all.

There are many articles on the health benefits of coconut oil. I like it because it's a way to get fat in my diet. In spite of knowing that pastured animal fat is good for us to eat, I just have a hard time eating beef or chicken fat. A slice of roast with a huge piece of fat attached, ugh, I can't eat it.


But if you aren't eating a lot of carbs, you have to get energy from fat. You will not feel good with a low carb AND a low fat diet. For the first few months on Primal I was totally exhausted, I got tired just walking to the mailbox. Yet all the primal success stories talk about having so much more energy! I finally realized that I needed to add some more fat to my meals -- a drizzle of olive oil on a salad wasn't enough.

I tried to eat a teaspoonful of the refined coconut oil and could hardly swallow it. The next day, I tried it again and it went down a little easier, but when I added a couple of salted almonds to the oil, wow, that was delicious! So occasionally I eat the oil with a few nuts.  Of course I often using it for cooking.

I also add coconut oil to my breakfast smoothie: blend a banana with a heaping teaspoon of oil before adding the liquids. This seems to emulsify the oil;  if it is dropped in the liquid, the blender whips it into tiny pieces that feel lumpy, not what a "smoothie" should be.

Check out some of the health reasons for using coconut oil, and a few ways to eat it.

Healthiest Oil  Primal/Paleo websites talk about coconut oil being the healthiest oil you can use:

Coconut oil has been found to help normalize blood lipids and protect against damage to the liver by alcohol and other toxins, can play a role in preventing kidney and gall bladder diseases, and is associated with improved blood sugar and insulin control and therefore the prevention and management of diabetes. In addition, coconut oil has antiviral, antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. On a more superficial level, meanwhile, coconut oil is thought to help strengthen mineral absorption, which is important for healthy teeth and bones, and can also help improve the condition and appearance of the scalp, hair and skin when ingested or topically applied.  from Marks Daily Apple

Coconut oil and palm oil got a bad reputation about twenty years ago when the low-fat diet craze began because they are saturated fats:  

...why does everyone believe that coconut oil and other saturated fats are harmful to health and polyunsaturated fats are beneficial? How did that happen?

The answer is a combination of bad science and successful lobbying, explains Bruce Fife, C.N., N.D., author of The Coconut Oil Miracle and other books. In 1986, he explains, the American Soy Association (ASA) sent a “Fat Fighter Kit” to 400,000 American soybean farmers, encouraging them to write to government officials, food companies, and newspapers protesting the encroachment of “highly saturated tropical fats like palm and coconut oils” in America’s food supply, while their wives were encouraged to educate the public about the health benefits of soy oil.

Soon organizations like the Center for Science in the Public Interest embraced the pro-soy, anti-tropical oil campaign, and food manufacturers bowed to public pressure, replacing coconut oil with soy oil in their products.

“When the attack on coconut oil began,” says Fife, “those medical and research professionals who were familiar with it wondered why. They knew coconut oil did not contribute to heart disease and that it provided many health advantages. Some even stepped forward to set the record straight. But by this time public sentiment had firmly sided with the ASA, and people refused to listen.”

Senate hearings on the health implications of tropical oils brought testimony from Harvard Medical School researcher George Blackburn, Ph.D., University of Maryland research associate Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., and U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D., all of whom defended coconut oil. They pointed out that coconut oil has been a mainstay in the diets of millions of people for thousands of years, and those who still follow their traditional diet, such as Pacific Islanders, enjoy long, healthy lives with none of the heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses that plague America. The media paid little attention and instead promoted the anti-saturated-fat hysteria with headlines (“The Oil from Hell!”) that sold newspapers. In the end, fiction triumphed over fact... 

Meanwhile, canola oil, flax seed oil, soy oil, corn oil, and other polyunsaturated fats are touted as health foods. “This is a serious mistake,” says Peat. “All of these oils, even if they’re organic, cold-pressed, unprocessed, bottled in glass, and stored away from heat and light, are damaging. These oils have no shelf life at all, they go rancid within days unless refrigerated, and when they’re warmed to body temperature, they disintegrate even faster. Once ingested, they bind with cells and interfere with every chemical reaction in the body. The results are hormone imbalances, inflammation, and all kinds of illness.”

...[Instead] Get reacquainted with pasture-fed butter, lard, and tallow products, and other traditional saturated fats like coconut oil. Throw away the canola, corn, and soy oil. Stay away from anything that contains polyunsaturated fats. Kiss tofu goodbye, and forget soymilk, soy yogurt, soy cheese, soy protein, and soy lecithin. from Unhealthy Vegetable Oils? by CJ Puotinen [click on this link and read the whole article, it's good]

Can Coconut Oil Treat Alzheimer's? Some articles say coconut oil might help reverse Alzheimer's Disease (also here), and this article says it helps people with hemorrhoids, cancer, diabetes, psoriasis, gallbladder disease, bladder infections, flu, and many other health problems. 

How To Use Coconut Oil
I like to eat the oil on a spoon with a few salty nuts on top. I also add it to smoothies by blending it first with a small amount of the fruit. Sometimes I put the oil and a few tablespoons of hot water in the blender which melts the oil before I add other ingredients.

Any time you fry or saute, you can use coconut oil.  (You can bake with it too.) A salad tastes delicious drizzled with a blend of olive and coconut oils. And coconut oil makes some yummy treats:



Coconut Peanut Butter Fudge
better than Reece's!
(peanut butter isn't primal, so don't eat this often,
 or use another nut butter instead).



Coconut Mini-pies
(omit the crust or use a
nut crust to keep it primal)

 

Coconut Chocolate candy

Want More Information? 
This is a good list of the health benefits.  Here's an amazing list of over 300 uses of coconut oil, or this list of over 100 uses. 

Just search online for "coconut oil." And see my Coconut pinterest board about Coconut oil with many more links and recipes.

The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife. 
I have only read excerpts, but it looks like it is worth buying or getting at the library.  (Fife also has a newer book Stop Alzheimer's Now!  advising a low-carb diet and coconut oil.)