Natural Cook Studio of Bend

Coconut palm is one of the most prolific and widespread trees in the world. Unlike most fruit bearing plants, coconut palms produce year round and thus are always in season. It thrives in most all tropical climates. While coconut possesses many health benefits due to its fiber and nutritional content, it’s the oil that makes it a truly remarkable food and medicine.

Nowadays, we avoid fats like the plaque. Grocery store shelves are filled with low-fat, non-fat, reduced …everything. I have been so against this philosophy of low fat products intuitively for a long time, but not until lately have I studied the science to promote my thinking. Over the past 30 years, fat consumption has decreased by 11% and total calorie consumption has decreased by 4%, and we are heavier than ever, and cholesterol lowering medicine stock is doing well. I think if you want to reduce your fat consumption you should eat less foods that contain fats, but when you do eat fat go for the real McCoy. Health seems to always come back to, eventually, eating the whole food.

To start with I think we need a short, (as short as I can), interesting paragraph on fat metabolism. All fats and oils are composed of fat molecules known as fatty acids. Fats are judged in two different ways. First is it saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Most oils have some of each. The second is its molecular size or the length of its carbon. The size of the molecule is important because this is the bodies’ way of deciding how to process the fats. The majority, some 98 to 100% of all the fatty acids you consume are composed of long-chain triglycerides (LCT). The only significant natural sources of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) are found in Coconut and palm oils. Being smaller or shorter makes them digest very quickly – so quickly in fact, that the body uses them as an immediate source of fuel rather than packing them away in storage inside our fat cells. They are completely broken down into individual fatty acids by the time they leave the stomach. Therefore, they do not require pancreatic digestive enzymes or bile for digestion. MCTs are transported across the intestinal wall and into the portal vein where they are sent directly to the liver and used to produce energy! In contrast, the way LCTs are absorbed is the process in which cholesterol and protein combine lipoproteins and eventually transform into Low-density lipoproteins. LDL’s are the “bad” cholesterol that build up and form plaque. Yes, there is more to it, but I promised to keep it short.

I have put off writing about Coconut oil for a long time because there is so much about this plant that I could not decide on what to leave out. I can not leave out the fact that Coconut oil contains over 40% lauric acid; the only other significant place this acid is found is in breast milk. Research has shown this to be the primary ingredient that protects infants from infections. I know this newsletter is getting long so I will highlight using the bullet method some of its other proven health benefits:

Ø Prevent heart disease

Ø Balance blood sugar

Ø Enhance the immune system

Ø Protect against cancer

Ø Boost your energy and increase your metabolism

Ø Kill disease causing bacteria, viruses, and fungi

Ø Relieve symptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease

Ø Protect your skin against free-radical damage

Ø Much more!

Look for yourself. http://www.coconutoil.com/research.htm

In my cooking school many students can not believe that a saturated fat could be good for them. They have read for too long that it is the cause for weight gain, heart disease, cancers and every other health evil. I felt it important and long over due to recognize Coconut oil as a nutritious health food. I have had personal cures using it externally as well as internally. And in the kitchen it works amazingly well in most all heated cooking methods. If you eat a warm grain or toast in the morning put a spoonful of coconut oil on top and you will be amazed on the energy difference you will feel. On the stove this oil can be used in place of any other oil including olive oil and butter. I still choose to use both of those for their flavor.

In Health,