This tasty tropical treat packs a real healthy punch, not when it drops out of the sky but when you eat it; but sadly you don’t have to emigrate to the equator to enjoy its benefits. Read on to find out all about how the coconut is nutritionally and medically magical and how you can incorporate it into your daily diet.
The coconut comes from coconut palm tree found in the tropics, we often import the fruit with the outer green husk removed to show the inner hard shell. The fruit is confusingly not a nut but a drupe; some other common flowering plants that produce drupes are: date, mango, coffee, olives and pistachio plants.
Coconuts are nutritionally versatile offering, coconut meat, which we see in supermarkets as desiccated coconut (Copra) or coconut milk, or oil which is squeezed from the flesh and used in many Asian dishes to thicken and flavor curries.
I will also never forget the first taste of the sweet refreshing coconut water served straight from the nut with a straw on a beach in Thailand; it commonly used by travellers with the trots and athletes doing vigorous exercise for rehydration because the balance of electrolytes suspended in the water.
But the magic really hides in the Coconut oil. Once separated from the milk, it sold as solid fat, similar to butter. Once heated it is a fantastic cooking oil that can withstand high temperatures without becoming unstable.
Historically people have avoided eating large quantities in the belief that a saturated fat, high in calories is bad for your cardiovascular health, (95% of coconut oil is fat, and coconut milk around 24%) but further research is now tending to prove otherwise.
The high content of natural saturated fat in coconut oil is part of its magic; The fatty acid ‘Lauric Acid’ is a medium chain triglyceride or MCTs for short. MCT is absorbed through the intestines and processed in the liver to be used immediately for energy. In comparison long chain fatty acids (LCTs) are broken down and absorbed by the intestine. They are also are reformed but inside our fat cells or converted to cholesterol making them less readily available for energy and liable to increase our waistline instead.
The processing of coconut oil (MCT) in the body requires an increase in metabolism; so we use significantly more energy processing coconut oil compared to other fats. This means the consumption of coconut oil can help contribute to us using more energy and aiding fat loss or weight maintenance.
Further research has also indicated that coconut oil has the effect of suppressing appetite after consumption, so you feel fuller for longer. This in turn will reduce the amount of calories you desire at your next meal, WIN WIN!!
The Lauric Acid in coconut oil is also the main fat in human breast milk, which means both have the same benefits, such as: help boost our immune system and increase the absorption of calcium and magnesium, which are as essential to the growth of a baby as it is to your general health.
Coconut oil is absorbed easily in the intestines and this has also been shown to heal inflammation, relieve gut disorders, and help fight infection. This is due of the presence of other fatty acids in the oil that have antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-parasite and antiprotazoa effects, so this is even more good news for people who have known digestive issues or for those wanting to retain or regain a healthy gut and maintain a healthy weight.
Amazingly, populations that consume 30-60% of their daily food from coconuts are almost completely free from cardiovascular disease, and when coconut oil is introduced to other populations in clinical trials, it has significantly improved overall cholesterol ratios. This would suggest chomping on natural saturated fats from coconut oil is great for your health not the hazard it was once perceived. For more information on the research and benefits of coconut oil for cardiovascular heath I can recommend the writing of Mary G Enig
So how can you reap the benefits? So long as you are not guzzling junk food and huge quantities of fats already, I would suggest adding it your diet by replacing vegetable and other cooking oils with coconut oil, and save your olive oil for salads. Mary G Enig recommends that you consume 10-20g of Lauric acid daily. Coconut oil contains 50% Lauric acid and tbsp contains 7g, therefore adding 1-3 tbsp. to your daily intake is an appropriate dose.
Please also consider that there are 117 calories per tbsp. of oil and adjust your carbohydrate intake to reflect this change to avoid overeating but with this amount of oil should see you reap the benefits of increasing metabolism and reducing hunger.
I tend to mainly use it as cooking oil, great with stir fry’s, curries and even for cooking egg’s as the flavor is not as strong as you would think. It is also easily mixed in coffee, tea, your breakfast oatmeal or protein shakes, otherwise if you are not fussy simply take a tablespoon with each meal.
Ensure you buy a good quality Virgin or extra virgin Coconut oil, as there are many cheaper substitutes that cut the good stuff with a cheaper unhealthy vegetable oils, this completely destroys the benefits of consuming the oil and will be detrimental to your health.
Hopefully you will enjoy the benefits, let me know how you get on in the comments box.
Resources:
http://www.lifestylebypoliquin.com/Lifestyle/Nutrition/504/_Why_I_Love_Coconut_Oil.aspx Why I Love Coconut Oil-The facts about this health-building elixir, Alexandra Bernardin, 2013
http://www.coconutoil.co.nz/PDF/A_New_Look_At_Coconut_Oil.pdf
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/132/3/329.full The journal of Nutrition -Physiological Effects of Medium-Chain Triglycerides: Potential Agents in the Prevention of Obesity, 2002
http://www.sljol.info/index.php/CMJ/article/download/1351/1200 Ceylon medical journal- Coconut facts, 2006
http://healthdiscoveryjourney.com/2013/03/04/f/- Virgin Coconut Oil: Miracle Oil? 2013