[Homesteadingfamily] Healthy benefits of organic coconut oil...

We have been using coconut oil for about 8 years now...and LOVE IT! We are not obese people yet we consume fats everyday...healthy fats, that is! Ours come from Tropical Traditions, but there are many sellers of this delicious oil....(taken from another source)read on:

You've no doubt noticed that for about the last 60 years the majority of health
care officials and the media have been telling you saturated fats are bad for
your health and lead to a host of negative consequences, like elevated
cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Meanwhile during this same 60 years the American levels of heart disease,
obesity, elevated serum cholesterol and Alzheimer's have skyrocketed compared to
our ancestors, and even compared to modern-day primitive societies using
saturated fat as a dietary staple.

Did you know that multiple studies on Pacific Island populations who get 30-60%
of their total caloric intact from fully saturated coconut oil have all shown
nearly non-existent rates of cardiovascular disease?[1]

Clearly, a lot of confusion and contradictory evidence exists on the subject of
saturated fats, even among health care professionals.

But I'm going to tell you something that public health officials and the media
aren't telling you.

The fact is, all saturated fats are not created equal.

The operative word here is "created", because some saturated fats occur
naturally, while other fats are artificially manipulated into a saturated state
through the man-made process called hydrogenation.

Hydrogenation manipulates vegetable and seed oils by adding hydrogen atoms while
heating the oil, producing a rancid, thickened oil that really only benefits
processed food shelf life and corporate profits.

The medical and scientific communities are now fairly united in the opinion that
hydrogenated vegetable and seed oils should be avoided.

These unsaturated fats, artificially manipulated into saturated fats, are also
called trans fats, and no doubt you've heard about them lately. Some cities and
states have now outlawed their use. There is no controversy anymore regarding
the health dangers of these artificially saturated fats.

And guess what?

These are the same damaged trans fats that have been touted as "healthy" and
"heart-friendly" for the last 60 years by the vegetable and seed oil interests!

But the truth finally came out. Trans fat was rebuked, debunked, and revealed as
the true enemy to good health that it has always been, regardless of what the
seed- and vegetable oil shills told the American public for the last half
century.

Unfortunately, this rightful vilification of hydrogenated saturated fats has
created a lot of confusion regarding naturally occurring saturated fats,
including coconut oil.

If one form of saturated fat is bad for you, the argument goes, then all
saturated fat must be bad.

Right?

Nothing could be further from the truth!

The Truth about Coconut Oil

The truth about coconut oil is obvious to anyone who has studied the health of
those who live in traditional tropical cultures, where coconut has been a
nutritious diet staple for thousands of years.

Back in the 1930's, a dentist named Dr. Weston Price traveled throughout the
South Pacific, examining traditional diets and their effect on dental and
overall health. He found that those eating diets high in coconut products were
healthy and trim, despite the high fat concentration in their diet, and that
heart disease was virtually non-existent.

Similarly, in 1981, researchers studied populations of two Polynesian atolls.
Coconut was the chief source of caloric energy in both groups. The results,
published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,[2] demonstrated that
both populations exhibited positive vascular health.

In fact, no evidence exists that the naturally occurring high saturated fat
intake had any kind of harmful effect in these populations!

That's not what you expected, is it? Based on 60 years of negative public policy
towards naturally occurring saturated fats, you would expect these cultures to
be rife with clogged arteries, obesity and heart disease.

It may be surprising for you to realize that the naturally occurring saturated
fat in coconut oil actually has some amazing health benefits, such as:

Promoting your heart health[3]
Promoting weight loss, when needed[4]
Supporting your immune system health[5]
Supporting a healthy metabolism[6]
Providing you with an immediate energy source[7]
Keeping your skin healthy and youthful looking
Supporting the proper functioning of your thyroid gland[8]
But how is this possible?

Does coconut oil have some secret ingredients not found in other saturated fats?

The answer is a resounding "yes".

Coconut Oil's Secret Ingredient

50 percent of the fat content in coconut oil is a fat rarely found in nature
called lauric acid. If you're a frequent reader of my newsletter you already
know that I consider lauric acid a "miracle" ingredient because of its unique
health promoting properties.

Your body converts lauric acid into monolaurin, which has anti-viral,
anti-bacterial and anti-protozoa properties.[9]

Monolaurin is a monoglyceride which can actually destroy lipid coated viruses
such as:

HIV, herpes
Measles
Influenza virus
Various pathogenic bacteria
Protozoa such as giardia lamblia.
Lauric acid is a powerful virus and gram-negative bacteria destroyer, and
coconut oil contains the most lauric acid of any substance on earth!

Capric acid, another coconut fatty acid present in smaller amounts, has also
been added to the list of coconut's antimicrobial components.

This is one of the key reasons you should consider consuming coconut oil,
because there aren't many sources of monolaurin in our diet. But the health
benefits of coconut oil don't stop there.

The Benefits of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids

Coconut oil is about 2/3 medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), also called
medium-chain triglycerides or MCTs. These types of fatty acids produce a whole
host of health benefits.

Coconut oil is nature's richest source of these healthy MCFAs.

By contrast, most common vegetable or seed oils are comprised of long chain
fatty acids (LCFAs), also known as long-chain triglycerides or LCTs.

Let me tell you why these long-chain fatty acids are not as healthy for you as
the MCFAs found in coconut oil[10] :

LCFAs are difficult for your body to break down -- they require special enzymes
for digestion.
LCFAs put more strain on your pancreas, liver and your entire digestive system.
LCFAs are predominantly stored in your body as fat.
LCFAs can be deposited within your arteries in lipid forms such as cholesterol.
In contrast to LFCAs, the MCFAs found in coconut oil have many health benefits,
including the following beneficial qualities:
MCFAs are smaller. They permeate cell membranes easily, and do not require
special enzymes to be utilized effectively by your body.
MCFAs are easily digested, thus putting less strain on your digestive system.
MCFAs are sent directly to your liver, where they are immediately converted into
energy rather than being stored as fat.
MCFAs actually help stimulate your body's metabolism, leading to weight loss.
Coconut Oil Helps Fight Diabetes

Your body sends medium-chain fatty acids directly to your liver to use as
energy. This makes coconut oil a powerful source of instant energy to your body,
a function usually served in the diet by simple carbohydrates.

But although coconut oil and simple carbohydrates share the ability to deliver
quick energy to your body, they differ in one crucial respect.

Coconut oil does not produce an insulin spike in your bloodstream. You read that
correctly, Coconut oil acts on your body like a carbohydrate, without any of the
debilitating insulin-related effects associated with long-term high carbohydrate
consumption!

Diabetics and those with pre-diabetes conditions (an exploding health epidemic
in America), should immediately realize the benefit of a fast acting energy
source that doesn't produce an insulin spike in your body. In fact, coconut oil
added to the diets of diabetics and pre-diabetics has actually been shown to
help stabilize weight gain, which can dramatically decrease your likelihood of
getting adult onset type-2 Diabetes.[11]

Cococut Oil, the Friend to Athletes and Dieters

If you live in the United States, you have an almost 70 percent chance of being
overweight.

And, by now, I'm sure you're well aware that obesity affects your quality of
life and is linked to many health concerns.

One of the best benefits of coconut oil lies in its ability to help stimulate
your metabolism.

Back in the 1940s, farmers found out about this effect by accident when they
tried using inexpensive coconut oil to fatten their livestock.

It didn't work!

Instead, coconut oil made the animals lean, active and hungry.

However, many animal and human research studies have demonstrated that replacing
LCFAs with MCFAs results in both decreased body weight and reduced fat
deposition.

In fact, the ability of MCFAs to be easily digested, to help stimulate the
metabolism and be turned into energy has entered the sports arena. Several
studies have now shown that MCFAs can enhance physical or athletic
performance.[12]

Additionally, research has demonstrated that, due to its metabolic effect,
coconut oil increases the activity of the thyroid. And you've probably heard
that a sluggish thyroid is one reason why some people are unable to lose weight,
no matter what they do.

Besides weight loss, there are other advantages to boosting your metabolic rate.
Your healing process accelerates. Cell regeneration increases to replace old
cells, and your immune system functions better overall.

Coconut Oil on Your Skin

Besides the mounting medical and scientific evidence that coconut oil has
powerful positive health benefits when eaten, it has also been used for decades
by professional massage therapists to knead away tight stressed muscles.

However, you don't have to be a professional massage therapist to gain the skin
and tissue support benefits of coconut oil. Just use coconut oil as you would
any lotion.

Coconut oil is actually ideal for skin care. It helps protect your skin from the
aging effects of free radicals, and can help improve the appearance of skin with
its anti-aging benefits.

In fact, physiologist and biochemist Ray Peat, Ph.D. considers coconut oil an
antioxidant[13] , due to its stability and resistance to oxidation and free
radical formation. Plus, he believes it reduces our need for the antioxidant
protection of vitamin E.

Like Dr. Peat, many experts believe coconut oil may help restore more
youthful-looking skin. When coconut oil is absorbed into your skin and
connective tissues, it helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
by helping to keep your connective tissues strong and supple, and aids in
exfoliating the outer layer of dead skin cells, making your skin smoother.

Coconut Oil and Your Heart

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the U.S. And heart disease is
often a silent killer. The first sign of cardiovascular disease is commonly a
heart attack, and sadly, over one third of heart attacks are fatal.

And despite the propaganda, the truth is this: it is UNSATURATED fats that are
primarily involved in heart disease, not the naturally occurring saturated fats,
as you have been led to believe.[14]

Plus, the polyunsaturated fats in vegetable and seed oils encourage the
formation of blood clots by increasing platelet stickiness. Coconut oil helps to
promote normal platelet function.

Coconut Oil in Your Kitchen

I only use two oils in my food preparation.

The first, extra-virgin olive oil, is a better monounsaturated fat that works
great as a salad dressing.

However, it should not be used for cooking. Due to its chemical structure, heat
makes it susceptible to oxidative damage.

And polyunsaturated fats, which include common vegetable oils such as corn, soy,
safflower, sunflower and canola, are absolutely the worst oils to use in
cooking. These omega-6 oils are highly susceptible to heat damage because of
their double bonds.

I strongly urge you to throw out those omega-6 vegetable oils in your cabinets.

Why?

Reason # 1: Most people believe that frying creates trans-fat. That is not the
major problem, in my opinion. Although some are created, they are relatively
minor. There are FAR more toxic chemicals produced by frying omega-6 oils
thantrans-fat.

Frying destroys the antioxidants in oil and as a result oxidizes the oil. This
causes cross-linking, cyclization, double-bond shifts, fragmentation and
polymerization of oils that cause far more damage than trans-fat.

Reason # 2: Most of the vegetable oils are GMO. This would include over 90
percent of the soy, corn and canola oils.

Reason # 3: Vegetable oils contribute to the overabundance of damaged omega-6
fats in your diet, which creates an imbalance in the ratio of omega-6 to
omega-3. As you know from my extensive writing on this subject, I believe that
excessive consumption of damaged omega-6 fats contributes to many health
concerns.

They are all highly processed and consumed in amounts that are about 100 times
more than our ancestors did a century ago. This causes them to distort the
sensitive omega-6/omega-3 ratio which controls many delicate biochemical
pathways which results in accelerating many chronic degenerative diseases.

There is only one oil that is stable enough to resist mild heat-induced damage,
while it also helps you promote heart health and even supports weight loss and
thyroid function -- coconut oil.

So, whenever you need an oil to cook with, use coconut oil instead of butter,
olive oil, vegetable oil, margarine, or any other type of oil called for in
recipes. Even though I don't fully recommend frying foods, if you must fry, by
all means use coconut oil -- it's your smartest choice.

Coconut Oil Safety

The medium-chain fats in coconut oil are considered so nutritious that they are
used in baby formulas, in hospitals to feed the critically ill, those on tube
feeding, and those with digestive problems. Coconut oil has even been used
successfully by doctors in treating aluminum poisoning.[15]

Coconut oil is exceptionally helpful for pregnant women, nursing moms, the
elderly, those concerned about digestive health, athletes (even weekend
warriors), and those of you who just want to enhance your overall health.

References:

[1] Kaunitz H, Dayrit CS. Coconut oil consumption and coronary heart disease.
Philippine Journal of Internal Medicine, 1992;30:165-171.
Prior IA, Davidson F, Salmond CE, Czochanska Z. Cholesterol, coconuts, and diet
on Polynesian atolls: a natural experiment: the Pukapuka and Tokelau Island
studies, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1981;34:1552-1561.
[2] Prior IA, Davidson F, Salmond CE, Czochanska Z. Cholesterol, coconuts, and
diet on Polynesian atolls: a natural experiment: the Pukapuka and Tokelau Island
studies, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1981;34:1552-1561.
[3] Dr. Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., F.A.C.N. Source: Coconut: In Support of Good Health
in the 21st Century, part 2.
[4] Assunção ML, Ferreira HS, dos Santos AF, Cabral CR Jr, Florêncio TM. Effects
of dietary coconut oil on the biochemical and anthropometric profiles of women
presenting abdominal obesity, Lipids, 2009 Jul;44(7):593-601. Epub 2009 May 13.
[5] Dr. Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., F.A.C.N. Source: Coconut: In Support of Good Health
in the 21st Century.