First, please view the following video before you read this blog post.
Very educational, wasn’t it? Well most of it was educational except the “if you eat too many coconuts, you will be fat.” That is so WRONG! The truth is the complete opposite.
I’m going to tell you the story of how the coconut got its bad rap.
Once upon a time (well to be specific, the 1950’s in the USA) there was 1 researcher. The researcher fed rats some fully hydrogenated coconut oil. The rats’ cholesterol levels significantly rose. Because of the study results, all of America was informed that coconut oil contributes to developing cardiovascular disease and is a dreadful artery-clogger. The End.
By “The End”, I mean that it was the end of coconut oil use in America, until recently. Before that study came out, coconut oil was a regular staple of the American kitchen.
The words that stand out to me in that story are FULLY HYDROGENATED. Now, if you don’t know what that means, please take the time to read my last blog post about it:
Harvard scientists later proved that the coconut oil made the rats have high cholesterol because it had been FULLY HYDROGENATED. The essential fatty acids are taken out of the oil. Essential Fatty Acid deficiency has now been linked to high cholesterol levels, among many other major health problems. That’s why they sell “Fish Oil with Omega’s” and milk “With Omega’s”. Everyone knows what Omega 3’s and 6’s are these days.
Here is an article about coconut oil and its mistaken nutrition claims of the past. It has some really great health information about how coconut oil can help people lose fat and more. Please read it:
http://www.sntr.com.au/index.php/healtharticles/65-coconutoildrmercola.html
Here is the truth about coconuts:
Coconuts are not a nut. They are actually the seed of a fruit of a coconut palm tree. The fat of the coconut is what makes it so great. The coconut contains a “health-promoting medium-chain saturated fat” (p.421) that is only found in one other place, human breast milk. It has a GOOD KIND OF SATURATED FAT. This kind of fat is converted in the body to a kind of fat that actually “eliminates lipid-coated viruses, such as Cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex 1, HIV, Hemophilus, influenza, measles, the Vesicular stomatitis virus” … “In addition, not only does this fat inactivate H. pylori, but the organism, which has become resistant to a number of antibiotic drugs, appears to be unable to develop resistance to coconut’s natural microbials”(p.422) I had to quote all of that because I could go on and on about the viruses and fungi and yeast that this fat kills or inactivates. The list is even longer than the one I just gave. In today’s day and age, antibiotic resistance is becoming more and more common. People’s bodies are not built to fight these infections without the proper nutrition. Antibiotics are becoming ineffective. The coconut sounds like a life-saver, just maybe.
Besides giving you one of the most health beneficial fats, the coconut is very nutritious. Coconuts are a good source of copper, manganese, zinc, and selenium. They provide water, carbohydrates, and protein. They contain Vitamin C, folate, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium. They have been known to sustain human life on an island for a very long time.
In the Philippines, the coconut palm is referred to as the “Tree of Life”
And this is why:
Uses of a coconut
*Cannon ball to shoot at pirates (that we learned in the educational video up top)
*Floatation device ….check out studies being conducted on human migration and evolution based on coconuts being used as floatation devices. Very interesting stuff.(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110624142037.htm)
*The roots are used for intestinal disorders
*The flowers can be used to treat dysentery, urinary infections, diabetes, and leprosy
*The fibers of the trunk are used as a diuretic, for tapeworm treatment, and to soothe the throat
*The shell is burned and made into a medicine used to treat skin disorders and relieve toothaches
*The sap of the palm acts as a milk laxative
*The oil is used for cooking, in Ayurvedic medicine, coconut oil is used to repel lice (then saturate the hair in mayonnaise and that will suffocate the lice and kill them. Just an FYI)
*The coconut is made up of about 50 percent water so you can drink it
*The coconut can also be your friend if you are deserted on a remote island (example: Tom Hanks in Castaway)
Ways to incorporate coconut into your diet
*Shredded coconut (make sure to read the label because it’s often highly sweetened and preserved with propylene glycol which is an ingredient in anti-freeze). Shredded coconut can be added to so many things or just eaten plain.
*Coconut milk is good in many dishes such as curry dishes, soups, stir fry’s.
*Make your own coconut milk by putting the “meat” (insides) of the coconut in a blender or food processor with water to make desired consistency.
Tips for buying and storing coconut
*Don’t buy shredded coconut preserved with propylene glycol
*Don’t buy HYDROGENATED coconut oil since all of the beneficial fat has been removed and hydrogenated oils raise cholesterol
*When buying canned coconut, be sure to buy WHOLE, because low-fat is another way of saying it’s been HYDROGENATED
*Same goes for coconut oil. Don’t buy HYDROGENATED coconut oil.
As Dustin Hoffman once said, “The two basic items necessary to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk”. Cheers to that!
Sources:
“The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods” by Michael Murray N.D. (great book to have in your collection)
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