Coconut Oil and healthy/unhealthy fats.

[Phoenix Within]

SO, I've heard from some about the health virtues of coconut oil. Who's used it and what has their experience been. I know there's websites out there, but I prefer to hear first hand experience.

Also, from those better versed in the ways of nutrition than myself, what are the healthy/unhealthy fats again? I know trans fats are bad, but what about the saturated and unsaturated fats?

[Roadster]

My dad always had scalp issues, my mom got him using it in his hair, for the first time in his life it isnt itchy, bothering him and he has no more dandruff. We add it to foods even if its not for frying. It fries better then many oils retaining it goodness at higher temps where other might burn and or lose their goodness. It has a lot of properties good for the body and is a healthy oil over many others, your brain needs healthy oils and tho people are scared of oils in their diet this is a safe one in moderation as all good and bad things.
We use it often where butter is called for so its not just added for no reason but its replacing other fats we could use.
I wont add links yet, will wait for all personal accounts on this and if links are asked for I will provide them.

[kgcayenne]

In addition to cooking with it regularly, I use coconut oil to:

-remove mascara and other eye makeup
-blended with Wellskin Glaxall Base as a face moisturizer (1 part coconut to 2 parts lotion) then..
-at full concentration to erase fine lines around my eyes
-lip balm
-as a moisturizer anywhere else it is needed
-to keep fingernails strong
-as a skin pre-treatment before leg shaving
-immediately after washing my hair to keep ends healthy and prevent splitting
-as a finishing hair pomade to add weightless shine and curl definition/texture
-between washings as a protection from the elements and to control frizzies
-after reading Roadster's post about oil pulling, I'm doing that now too (my teeth feel cleaner than ever now after brushing)

The coconut oil has replaced several hundred dollars worth of cosmetic/beauty products annually.

[pbear]

I use it too for all the reasons that kg and roadster listed. I love it especially now that Costco has started to sell it at a very good price

[Liquidnails]

I cook solely with coconut oil. It is solid at room temperature and keeps for a long time. IT imparts no flavor to your food, and is stable at high heat. I still use olive oil for salad dressing and low temp cooking (it's healthy too).

There are two types of Coconut oil, virgin and refined. Virgin coconut oil is extracted from fresh coconut meat without the aid of high heat or chemicals. This type of oil tends to retain the smell, color and to some extent taste of coconut.

Refined oil is made from dried coconut meat. Once the oil is extracted it is bleached, treated with high heat and filtered. This gets rid of the smell and taste.


pbear - could you tell me what brand costco is selling, and for what price and size? I couldn't find any last time I was there.

[Roadster]

Kg, did you gag the first time? Where you able to make the whole 20 mins? Took me a while to get there but it sure does make the teeth feel clean. I have noticed a reduction of my usual sensitivity to cold temps and I love drinking cold stuff, just used to hurt too badly and my gums have always been in good shape.
I hope all who try oil pulling will read up on how to do it and when. If you need a quick guide I can provide it.

This is a quick piece on the difference in types of oils PW

Saturated Fats

One of the worst types of fat to eat is saturated fat. Saturated fats are those that are derived from animal products. They are generally solid at room temperature, although they can be melted down with a small amount of heat and are oftentimes used for cooking and other tasks. These fats are more likely than certain other types to collect in your arteries, thereby limiting your bloodflow and promoting heart attack risk, blood clots and a host of other problems. Saturated fats are found in butter, lard, red meat, chicken and many other meat products.



Unsaturated Fats

Unsaturated fats are split into two different categories. These are polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats. These two types of unsaturated fats can be further split up into omega fatty acids and other types of fat as well. Generally speaking, unsaturated fats typically come from plant sources and from fish and certain other types of meat. These fats are more often than not liquid at room temperature. They help to lower your cholesterol levels and do wonders to boost the levels of good cholesterol in your blood.
As often as possible, it’s recommended that you substitute out saturated fats for unsaturated ones. Diets rich in fruits, vegetables, fish and other related foods will tend to be best in terms of providing unsaturated fats to you. Unsaturated fat sources include nuts, cooking oils based on plants and fish.



Trans Fats

Trans fats are derived from plant sources, but contain a number of different ingredients and processes that have turned them into saturated fats. French fries, peanut butter and other related types of food are all based on vegtetable sources but contain trans fats. Trans fats are essentially the same as saturated fats and should generally be avoided as much as possible.

[pbear]

pbear - could you tell me what brand costco is selling, and for what price and size? I couldn't find any last time I was there.

The brand is Carrington Farms. Organic, virgin, cold-pressed. $16.99 for 1.5 kg (54 oz).

[Liquidnails]

Thanks!

[kgcayenne]

Kg, did you gag the first time? Where you able to make the whole 20 mins? Took me a while to get there but it sure does make the teeth feel clean. I have noticed a reduction of my usual sensitivity to cold temps and I love drinking cold stuff, just used to hurt too badly and my gums have always been in good shape.

I did not gag at all! We use Orphee organic virgin coconut oil (I believe it's cold press and pricey), and it has a pleasant, gentle coconut flavour that I quite like. My problem is that the good taste makes saliva increase so that I can only get 10 min of swishing around. It's okay, I already know I'm strange. Mmmm I can't get over the clean teeth thing, though; what an unexpected surprise. In time I'll see how the sinuses are doing.

[Roadster]

I hear a lot of people saying their saliva increases, supposedly thats par for the course and because saliva has enzimes in it it does help with the cleaning and strengthening of your teeth. Dunno if you ever heard this before but some people with mental disabilities often have fewer dental issues, its supposedly because they tend to create more saliva in their mouth then others with more mouth movements, if that is so then more for us is a good thing. I do have a hard time getting to the 20 mins sometimes too. If I can do something else while swishing it passes time easier and you dont think about it as much. Also some people report finding it brings mucous forward when they are stuffed up. Thats part of the pulling action going on so if you feel like spitting earlier especially during a cold then do it and try again if you only got a little ways. Let us know if you get any great results.

I just want to put these two short bits in here for the original post question.

The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care, and bone strength. These benefits of oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial and soothing properties.

How is Lauric Acid used by our body?

The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin which is claimed to help in dealing with viruses and bacteria causing diseases such as herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV. It helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and helicobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia. As a result of these various health benefits of coconut oil, though its exact mechanism of action was unknown, it has been extensively used in Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medicinal system. The Coconut Research Center has compiled various benefits in both traditional and modern medicine.

[Phoenix Within]

The brand is Carrington Farms. Organic, virgin, cold-pressed. $16.99 for 1.5 kg (54 oz).

That's what we ended up picking up yesterday. I didn't know if it was a good price but the lady behind me who was asking about it thought it was a very good price (i dunno, I never bought it before).

[Phoenix Within]

This is a quick piece on the difference in types of oils PW

Saturated Fats

One of the worst types of fat to eat is saturated fat. Saturated fats are those that are derived from animal products. They are generally solid at room temperature, although they can be melted down with a small amount of heat and are oftentimes used for cooking and other tasks. These fats are more likely than certain other types to collect in your arteries, thereby limiting your bloodflow and promoting heart attack risk, blood clots and a host of other problems. Saturated fats are found in butter, lard, red meat, chicken and many other meat products.

See, this is the part that confuses me.

This lists saturated fats as bad, but according to the label of the stuff we got it lists the total fats as 14g (22%) and the saturated fats as 12g and 58%. So, if it's that high in saturated fats, is it really that good for you if saturated fats are that bad for you?

[Roadster]

See, this is the part that confuses me.

This lists saturated fats as bad, but according to the label of the stuff we got it lists the total fats as 14g (22%) and the saturated fats as 12g and 58%. So, if it's that high in saturated fats, is it really that good for you if saturated fats are that bad for you?

This is the tricky part,,,
14g of that product is 22% of your daily recommended dose, so you should be ok, you think. Its only 22%
but,,, of those total 14 g's 12 of them are from saturated fats, so only 2g's are from any good fats.,,, technically speaking because under so many g's they dont really have to be truthful.

So those 12g's add up to 58% of your daily allowance of bad fats because their allowance would be a lot less according to the bodies daily needs of daily bad fats, not saying the body needs them but obviously it should be less allowable.

Thats how I read it. Now if we had a product that was 14g total fats and 12 of them were from good fats and only 2 were from bad fats this product would likely not hurt us as it will being the way it is with 12g being saturated fats. Even if it was more like half and half, that would help because the good fats night help combat the bad fats,,, IMO.

To find a product with more (or only) good fats is almost impossible because the bad fats are more stable on the shelf since they were altered to be more stable and avoid the food going rancid. Problem is once altered they are not easily digestable (also lose any good properties they had before altering) and so they cling into our blood systems instead, while good fats can move easily, be useful in their proper state and be digested and sent to waist as they should be. Also good fats are important for our brains, as well as the rest of our bodies. Many good fats will carry radicals out to our waist systems and be gone after use in our bodies.

Now this is not text book stuff here, it is how I interpret what I have read over many years and I am up for correction if anyone has any more to add or change here.

Also if you meant the stuff you got was your coconut oil,,, yes it has saturated fats,,, why? Probably because again that keeps it stable, we need to figure out how to make it stable without the saturated fats, but meanwhile coconut oil is still good for you, (in moderation as all fats) because it has awesome properties that will help with the body being able to deal with the bad stuff. Its kind of a give and take situation and No, I dont like it either. Would like to find a more pure way of getting the oil. If anyone finds a coconut oil brand that has less or very little saturated fats in it we would like to hear about it.

The best way around this is to use the coconut oil (instead of margarine, which also has saturated fats and chemicals) where needed and try our hardest to stay away from other products that have saturated fats like say chips or junk food. Its gonna be in us so we have to try to find the best products to use so we can eliminate the other products that are a waste of carbs abd useless calories with the saturated fats. This is where a plate of veggies which need butter would be good with coconut oil and herbs for example. We cant quit eating but looking at labels of even the good stuff makes us want to... Its time they figure out how to process with better ingredients or standards.

My theory would be pack real coconut oil in tiny air tight pouches with oxygen pellets, would be good for twenty five years,,, would cost us an arm and a leg to use it tho,,, oh and likely one of our kid's arms too There are ways but they cost so much more then altered state oils. So our best chance at survival is to replace the bad products we already use with the better stuff, but not actually add anything to our diets. If you use a teaspoon of butter in your veggies take a good oil instead of the same amount, you will make a real difference.

[Roadster]

Here's bit of personal story, my mom's personal story.

She loves butter, margarine and oils and foods with oils in them. She is a real chip junky. But not really a sweet tooth kinda person, its the flour and bad oils she eats.
So she gets diagnosed as diabetic. Because she loves oils she dumped the chips for toast pieces in olive oil with herbs, dumped all the other junk food and white food products and after 7 years of diagnosis she still isnt on insulin or metformin. She reads an A1C of 5. something and her worst fear is a spike of 9 after a fish n chips outting with dad. So she is still a diabetic but her numbers on her well thought out days wouldnt tell you so. She is doing great! Oils and all.

Now here is another thing,,, trying to lose weight or prevent becoming diabetic or help improve your diabetes? Good oils of course will help with that but If you took a teaspoon full of chia seeds, with water of course, (or say, psyllium fiber, or possibly any fiber) before or with any high carb meal the meal would process slower in your gut giving your food the proper amount of time to be used right before being shoved into fat storage and eventually causing insulin issues.
Even non diabetics can have a sugar high,,, ever eat so much candy and chocolate it made yer head spin? Its called a sugar rush, or a sugar high and anyone can get them even tho diabetes is not technically caused by sugar as much as it is caused by sugar "like" products like (processed white sugar) white flour, pasta, potatoes,,, and probably all junk food products like chips and crackers even. Those white products have to be changed by your body for absorbtion and they become a type of sugar to the body, when that has to happen the body is challenged and it doesnt like that too often, especially when chemicals are added to that task.
Hope I didnt derail too much,,, its my mom's fault

[JLives]

Thanks for this thread. I picked some up at Costco the other day. I've never had so many questions from other shoppers about an item in my cart.