The Coconut Oil Miracle Page 17
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“I’m a nurse with a natural alternative wellness center in Missouri. I use virgin coconut oil as a foundational product for all of my clients. It is one of the most powerful supplements I have ever worked with (I have been in the healing arts for 30 years and natural approaches for 20 years) and I find it works great for all blood types and body types. My only caution is that it is very powerful and has the ability to detoxify your body quickly. A few of my clients have had to start out on a teaspoon and work up, due to the detoxification response being more intense than they wanted to experience. Most people I work with are able to use 3–4 tablespoons per day from the start, with amazing results in improved immune system, energy level, stabilized blood sugar, improved thyroid function, weight loss, more mental clarity, and improved emotional/mental stability. In addition to being a wonderful supplement, it is a basic food that should replace all other oils that one has been cooking with. I don’t know of any other product that covers so many bases—and it tastes great too!”
—Marie D.
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BETTER HEALTH WITH COCONUT OIL
Coconut has been used as both a food and a medicine for centuries in many cultures throughout the world. Traditional forms of medicine use coconut oil for a wide variety of health problems, ranging from the treatment of burns and constipation to gonorrhea and influenza. Modern medical research is now confirming the effectiveness of coconut oil for many of these conditions. Research over the past several decades has demonstrated that the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are digested and metabolized differently from those of other fats. This difference gives the oil many health benefits obtained from no other source.
Medium-chain triglycerides in coconut oil don’t require pancreatic enzymes or bile for digestion. They are easy to digest, making them ideal for infants, cystic fibrosis patients, and those who have digestive problems, including those with gallbladder disease and those who have had their gallbladders removed.
Coconut oil has been recommended for use in the treatment of malnutrition because it provides a quick and easy source of nutrition without taxing the enzyme systems of the body. It also improves the absorption of minerals (particularly calcium and magnesium) B vitamins, and fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K and beta-carotene), as well as some amino acids. The MCFAs in coconut oil are used by the body to produce energy, not make body fat. Coconut oil stimulates metabolism, increases energy, and improves thyroid function, all of which aid in reducing unwantd body fat. For these reasons, coconut oil has gained a reputation as being the world’s only natural low-calorie fat. Researchers have recommended the oil as a means to prevent and even treat obesity.
Coconut oil is heart healthy. It does not negatively affect blood cholesterol, does not promote platelet stickiness that leads to blood clot formation, and does not collect in the arteries. Coconut oil possesses anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties, all of which protect arteries from atherosclerosis and from heart disease. Those people around the world who consume the most coconut oil have the lowest rates of heart disease. This is true even for those populations who get as much as 50 percent of their daily calories from saturated fat, primarily from coconut oil.
The MCFAs possess powerful antimicrobial properties that kill a variety of disease-causing bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites, yet they do not harm friendly gut bacteria or contribute to antibiotic resistance. Coconut oil may be of great help to those with common infections such as influenza and candida as well as more serious problems like HIV.
Because of its resistance to free-radical formation and its ability to support the immune system, coconut oil may be useful in preventing or treating a wide assortment of conditions, many of which aren’t even discussed in this book. Medical researchers and health care workers are discovering new health benefits associated with coconut oil all the time.
Currently, several clinics in the United States are testing the efficiency of a dietary supplement composed of monolaurin—a derivative of coconut oil. Doctors have reported remarkable results with patients. One female patient, for example, who suffered with ovarian cysts for 20 years began taking the supplement, and within one month the cysts began to shrink and disappear. In another case a man who had had hepatitis C for two decades was put on the supplement. After six months his viral load dropped from 1 million to nondetectable levels. He no longer needed supplemental oxygen to breathe. His liver enzymes became normal, and he was up and out of his wheelchair, living a normal life.
Researchers are also discovering that coconut oil may be useful in the treatment of kidney and bladder problems. For example, in a study where kidney failure was induced in test animals, those that were given coconut oil had fewer and less severe lesions and survived longer. The researchers concluded that coconut oil has a protective effect on the kidneys. Because of the antimicrobial effects of coconut oil, it may also be of benefit for any number of kidney and bladder infections. A woman came to see me complaining about a bladder infection that had first become noticeable that morning. I told her about coconut oil, and she began taking it orally immediately. Without any other treatment, the infection disappeared completely within two days. Since then I have recommended it to others with bladder infections with good results.
Another incredible use researchers have discovered for coconut oil is in the treatment of epilepsy. When added to the diet, MCFAs have proven to be effective in reducing epileptic seizures in children. D. L. Ross of the University of Minnesota Medical School showed that seizure frequency decreased by more than 50 percent in two-thirds of the children in his study during a 10-week treatment period. What an amazing health food!
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“During the past several months, I have been experiencing severe insomnia. I do not believe in taking drugs to assist in sleeping, but it had gotten so bad that I got a prescription from my doctor. On using the prescription (and I have only tried this a couple of times) I was still only able to increase my night’s sleep from about two hours to about four, and after taking the sleeping pills I felt so much worse the next day that I had abandoned that as a solution to my problem. I have noticed that since using the coconut I am now getting a full eight hours’ sleep. Also, the pain in my hands, vertebrae, and knees from arthritis have almost completely disappeared. I still have the occasional twinges in the knuckle in the little finger on my right hand, but I suspect that is because it has calcified.
“I almost feel foolish writing this, because I cannot quite believe that I have been the beneficiary of such incredible improvement from all my ails, just from consuming coconut milk and oil. I keep expecting the problems to return. Another benefit is that I have lost the chronic irritability that I have had for so long that I was beginning to think that I had a personality change. I can only attribute all of these things to the coconut oil, as nothing else about my life has changed.”
—Rhea L.
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As coconut oil becomes more widely used, we are certain to find many more health benefits with this wonder of nature. It’s incredible that some people still ignorantly criticize coconut oil as being unhealthy. Hopefully, the information in this book will help educate doctors, dieticians, and the general public about the healing miracles of coconut oil.
8
EAT YOUR WAY TO BETTER HEALTH
The regular use of coconut oil can make a dramatic difference in your life. If you are overweight it can help you lose excess body fat; if you have digestive problems it will help with that as well. Coconut oil can help you feel and look younger, give you more energy, protect you from infections and illnesses, and help prevent many degenerative conditions such as heart disease and cancer. Coconut oil is truly one of nature’s most remarkable health tonics.
You can begin enjoying the benefits of coconut without making any drastic changes in your normal way of living. In fact, incorporating coconut into your life can be done with just three simple steps: (1) use coconut oil in you
r cooking and get rid of all other vegetable oils in your diet, (2) eat coconut and coconut products as a regular part of your diet, and (3) apply coconut oil directly to your skin and hair in order to absorb its healing benefits directly into your body. This chapter will help you learn how to incorporate coconut oil and products into your lifestyle. In the next chapter, I have provided many delicious recipes that include coconut and coconut oil, as well as instructions on how to use coconut oil as part of your beauty regimen. But first you need to understand what the good sources of coconut oil are and exactly how much coconut oil you will need in order to take advantage of all of its healing benefits.
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Essential Fatty Acids
To be healthy and avoid deficiency disease, you must get all the nutrients your body needs. Fats are important nutrients and essential fatty acids (EFAs) are necessary for good health. Some of the fatty acids are classified as being “essential” because our bodies cannot make them from other nutrients—we must get them from our foods. The two basic essential fats are omega-6 (linoleic) and omega-3 (alpha-linolenic) fatty acids. Medium-chain fatty acids, like those found in coconut oil, are also important and are considered conditionally essential: that is, under certain circumstances they are just as important as other essential fatty acids.
The EFAs are contained in most vegetable oils but are often damaged by refining and processing or destroyed by free radicals. Therefore, conventionally processed vegetable oils are inferior sources of EFAs. In addition, trans fatty acids from hydrogenated oils, including margarine and shortening, block or interfere with the body’s utilization of EFAs. For these reasons, if you eat conventionally processed vegetable oils and hydrogenated oils you may be deficient in EFA.
You can get the EFAs your body needs directly from your foods, unrefined cold-pressed vegetable oils, or dietary supplements. Coconut oil, however, has a very small percentage of these fats (only 2 percent). A benefit of using coconut oil in your daily diet is that MCFAs work synergistically with the essential fatty acids, improving the body’s utilization of these fats. A diet rich in coconut oil can enhance the efficiency of essential fatty acids by as by as much as 100 percent (Gerster, 1998). Not only that, but coconut oil also acts as an antioxidant, protecting EFAs from destructive oxidation inside the body.
The World Health Organization says we need to get about 3 percent of our daily calories from the essential fatty acids. There is no set minimum for the MCFAs, although we know infants probably need somewhere around 5–10 percent of calories from this source. We also know from island populations that people can get as much as 50 percent of their calories from coconut oil without harm and that this probably provides them with much benefit. So it appears that for optimal health we should consume a small amount of EFAs along with a significantly larger amount of MCFAs.
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SOURCES OF TROPICAL OILS
In order to gain the marvelous benefits available from MCFAs, we must eat those foods that contain them. The only significant dietary sources of MCFAs are whole milk, butter, and particularily palm kernel and coconut. The butterfat in cow’s milk contains a small amount of MCFAs, but most milk and dairy products nowadays are low-fat or nonfat and therefore provide essentially none of these health-giving fatty acids. Butter only consists of about 6 percent MCFAs. The better sources of MCFAs are the tropical oils. Palm kernel oil contains 58 percent MCFAs, but the only place you will find this oil is as an ingredient in a few commercially prepared foods. Coconut oil contains 63 percent MCFAs, and fresh or dried coconut meat has 33 percent fat. Coconut milk is 17 to 24 percent fat. So coconut products—the meat, oil, and milk—are by far the most readily available and richest dietary sources of MCFAs.
THE TROPICAL OILS
Palm, palm kernel, and coconut oils are referred to as the tropical oils. They come from different species of palm trees. The tropical oils have similar characteristics when used in food preparation. Their nutritional and fatty acid content, however, are somewhat different. All the tropical oils are rich in valuable nutrients and health-promoting fatty acids. Unlike most other vegetable oils, the tropical oils are composed primarily of saturated fatty acids. The unique thing about the tropical oils, especially palm kernel and coconut oils, is that their saturated fatty acids are predominantly of the health-promoting medium-chain variety.
Palm and palm kernel oil are two different oils that come from the same species of tree, one from the seed and the other from the husk surrounding the seed. Palm oil is obtained from the husk by steaming, heating, or pressing. Unlike other tropical oils, palm oil has only a small amount of MCFAs. Palm kernel oil is extracted from the seed. The seed kernel is only an inch or so in diameter and somewhat resembles a miniature coconut. The appearance of the two oils is quite different. Palm oil has a deep orange-red color that is due to the high concentration of beta-carotene and other carotenoids. Palm kernel oil, like coconut oil, is derived from the white meat inside the shell of the seed and is pure white in appearance.
Palm and palm kernel oils are not readily available to the average consumer in most Western countries; they’re most commonly used by the food processing industry. You may run across some palm oil, however. A few ethnic or specialty stores carry it for household use. Some companies are now selling it as a nonhydrogenated shortening. Coconut oil, however, is commonly sold for kitchen use and is rapidly increasing in popularity because it is the richest natural source of health-promoting MCFAs. Coconut oil is available in most health food stores and is sold by many mail order companies.
RBD AND VIRGIN COCONUT OIL
Coconut oil is produced from the seed of a species of palm tree different from the one that produces palm and palm kernel oils. Because of the high oil content (33 percent), extracting oil from coconuts is a relatively simple process and has been the major source of vegetable oil for people in the tropics for thousands of years. Traditionally the oil is extracted from either fresh or dried coconut by boiling and/or fermentation. When boiled in water, the oil separates from the meat and floats to the surface, where it can easily be scooped out. Fermentation allows the oil and water to separate out naturally. The juice, or “milk,” of the coconut is squeezed out of the meat. The milk is then allowed to ferment for 24–36 hours. During this time, the oil separates from the water. The oil is removed and then heated slightly for a short time to evaporate all moisture. Heat such as this isn’t harmful because the oil is very stable even under moderately high temperatures.
There are many different methods of processing coconut oil that affect the quality, appearance, flavor, and aroma of the finished product. Coconut oil is commonly divided into two broad categories—“refined, bleached, and deodorized” (RBD) and “virgin.” The difference between the two is in the amount of processing the oil undergoes. The term “virgin” is not an official classification; it simply signifies an oil that has been subjected to less intense refining—lower temperatures and no chemicals.
The RBD oil is typically made from dried coconut, known as copra, which is made by drying coconut in the sun, smoking it, heating it in a kiln, or some combination of these. Oil made from copra is the most common coconut oil used in the cosmetic and food industries. While high temperatures and chemical solvents are used to produce this oil, it is still considered a healthy dietary oil because the fatty acids in coconut oil are not harmed in the refining process. The RBD oil is generally colorless, tasteless, and odorless. Many people prefer this type of oil for all-purpose cooking and body-care needs because it doesn’t affect the flavor of foods or leave an odor when used on the skin.
Most virgin coconut oils are made from fresh coconuts, not copra. The oil is extracted by any number of methods: boiling, fermentation, refrigeration, mechanical press, or centrifuge. Since high temperatures and chemical solvents are not used, the oil retains its naturally occurring phytochemicals (plant chemicals), which produce a distinctive coconut taste and smell.
Virgin coconut oil made from fresh coconut
s is a pure white when the oil is solidified, or crystal clear like water when liquefied. The RBD oil made from copra can be just as clear and white. You often can’t tell the difference between them just by looking. The way to distinguish between them is by the smell and taste. The RBD oils are bland. Virgin oils have a delightfully mild coconut flavor and aroma.
There are some oils that may be labeled “virgin” and are made from sun-dried copra rather than fresh coconut. These are called cochin oils. They have undergone less processing than most RBD oils. This doesn’t mean they are more natural than refined copra oil (RBD); they are actually a lesser or inferior quality. The term “cochin” is derived from a place in India, Cochin, where cheap copra oil is popular. These oils have a strong smell and taste and are slightly discolored. When coconut is dried in the open air it is common for the copra to become moldy. The oil made from this type of copra has a yellowish or gray color because of the mold. The mold residue is considered harmless because the heat used in the processing has rendered it sterile. You can tell the difference between these oils and true virgin coconut oil by the color. Because cochin oil contains a higher level of impurities than other coconut oils it has a relatively short shelf life, about six months. Cochin oil is used mostly in the making of soaps and cosmetics. It is often sold as a cooking oil in Asian markets.