If you have bought into the media hype that saturated fats are unhealthy and will raise your risk of heart disease, it may be time to reconsider your position.
Coconut products, particularly coconut oil, have been used by certain populations around the world for millennia, and in places where coconut oil is consumed as part of the standard diet, people seem to thrive.
Take the Polynesian populations of Pukapuka and Tokelau, for example, whose diets tend to be high in coconut and other saturated fats and low in cholesterol and sugar.
How Coconut Oil Can Benefit Your Health, Well-Being
Nutritionally speaking, the healthy fats found in coconut oil can have significant effects on your well-being. Research has shown coconut can:Use Coconut Oil for Cooking
Coconut oil is an excellent choice for cooking, as it can resist heat-induced damage. This way, you’re not consuming damaged, oxidized oils. Processed vegetable oils, on the other hand, such as soybean, corn, cottonseed, and canola oil, produce oxidized cholesterol when heated, which increases thromboxane formation—a factor that clots your blood.Heating those oils can also produce two toxins: cyclic aldehydes and acrylamide.
This advisory was sharply criticized by many health experts, and for good reason. For starters, the studies on which the advisory was based all date from the 1960s and early 1970s—the eras when the low-fat myth was born and grew to take hold. Many studies since then have demolished and refuted the science the AHA still clings to, but none of them were included.
Medium-Chain Triglycerides and Their Health Benefits
Ninety percent of the fat in coconut oil is saturated and about two-thirds of the fats are medium-chain fatty acids or medium-chain triglycerides(MCT). MCTs get their name from their chemical structure, and can be divided into four groups based on their carbon length:- 6 carbons (C6), caproic acid
- 8 carbons (C8), caprylic acid
- 10 carbons (C10), capric acid
- 12 carbons (C12), lauric acid
- Appetite reduction and weight loss
- Improved cognitive and neurological function with possible implications in neurodegenerative diseases
- Increased energy levels and improved athletic performance
- Improved mitochondrial function and subsequent reduced risk for diseases such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune diseases
- As part of a specialized dietary therapy for the treatment of epilepsy
- Prevention of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
- Have a thermogenic (heat-producing) effect, which has a positive effect on your metabolism
- Are helpful for ridding your gut of harmful microorganisms such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites
- Have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties
MCT Oil—Another Healthy Alternative
Coconut oil provides a mix of all of these MCTs, but the longer-chained C12 (lauric acid) makes up over 40 percent of it. The exception is fractionated coconut oil, which contains primarily C8 and C10. Lauric acid is most well-known for its antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antiviral properties. Since it’s a longer-chained molecule, it doesn’t increase ketone levels to any significant degree.While coconut oil provides a range of MCTs, for clinical uses such as those listed above, a more concentrated and potent MCT oil is recommended. Most commercial brands of MCT oil contain a 50/50 combination of C8 and C10. My personal preference is straight C8 (caprylic acid), as it converts to ketones the fastest. It also tends to be easier on your digestion.
While concentrated MCT oil and/or coconut oil can both be consumed daily, start with a small amount. Taking high doses of MCT oil before you develop tolerance can cause loose stools and gastrointestinal side effects.
I recommend taking no more than 1 teaspoon of MCT oil to start. Have it at the same time as another fat, such as a handful of nuts, with ghee in your coffee, or as one of the oils in your salad dressing. Once your tolerance increases, you can slowly increase to as much as 4 tablespoons of MCT oil or coconut oil per day.
Upgrade Your Coffee Creamer
Many people who drink coffee do so with all kinds of additives, often referred to just as “cream and sugar”. Nondairy creamer can scarcely be called “cream” at all and is more aptly described as a synthetic combination of chemicals, trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial flavors. Give your coffee an upgrade by adding some grass-fed butter, MCT oil, or C8 to it.Bulletproof Coffee
Make this famous brain-boosting high-performance beverage found on Bulletproof.com:- Brew 1 cup (8 to 12 ounces) of coffee using filtered water with 2 1/2 heaping tablespoons of freshly ground organic coffee beans. A French press will help preserve beneficial oils in the coffee that would otherwise be filtered out.
- Add anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons of C8 MCT oil. Alternatively, you could use organic coconut oil.
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of grass fed, unsalted butter or grass-fed ghee.
- Mix the ingredients in a blender for 20 to 30 seconds until it looks like a foamy latte.
Explore the Many Uses for Coconut Oil
Keeping a jar of organic coconut oil on hand could save you a lot of money since it replaces a wide variety of other products, both in the kitchen and elsewhere. As mentioned, coconut oil is not only a beneficial food, it can also replace a number of pricey and potentially hazardous personal care products, including moisturizers, hair masks, shaving lotion, cleansers and makeup removers, body scrub, toothpaste, and much more.If you’ve gone on a low-fat diet, or followed advice that recommends vegetable oils over coconut oil or butter, it may be time to reconsider your options. Saturated fats won’t necessarily make you pack on pounds, nor will they automatically raise your risk for heart disease. On the contrary, saturated fat, such as that found in coconut oil, offers many health benefits.
Of course, with all things, the balance of foods and what you eat with them can make all the difference. There are different qualities of every food product and just because you eat something healthy doesn’t make up for all the other unhealthy things you may eat.
If you want to try an experiment, get your blood levels checked and then swap all of those margarine spreads and processed vegetable oils you’re using for coconut oil. After about three months or so, recheck your blood levels and compare your results. Chances are, you'll find yourself in a lower risk category for heart disease than you were before, even if your total cholesterol (which says nothing about your heart disease risk) happens to go up. A simple way to get more coconut oil into your diet is to add it to your coffee or smoothie in the morning.
