Health Benefits of Coconut Oil/ Butter

 

 

 During my stay in America I became more and more interested how to stay healthy in a state, where the majority of the food you buy is genetic modified and/or treated with antibiotics. Additionaly, when you go out in a restaurant, the portions are HUGE!!! But as we all learned to eat up when we were young, you kind of force yourself to finish your plate. Hence you gain weight very fast and I didn't want to return to Austria being overweight ;)

That way I started to read through all kinds of "health" web-sites in the internet and found many useful pages. There are also a lot of great free apps, which tell you more about healthy food and help you get a better control of your diet. Well, this blog is about Coconut Oil, so I will post more about healthy food in another blog...

 

Coconut oil/ Coconut butter

 

The health benefits of coconut oil have large variety. They 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.

In America you can find it in big containers, as you can find every kind of food in big containers there. Though, so far I couldn't find it in Austria. I am sure that organic food- stores sell it, but I didn't make it there quiet yet.

At my host-family`s house I cooked with that oil on a regular basis. Its melting point is at 24 degrees Celcius so most of the time it is in its solid form when you buy it.

 

How to Use Coconut Oil?

If you are using coconut oil for topical purposes, especially hair care, just melt the oil (if it is solid) by keeping the bottle in the sun or warm water. You can also take some coconut oil out and put it in a small bowl and heat the bowl over a flame (do not use microwave). Then take the oil on your palm and apply it to your hair. If you want to use it for internal consumption, simply replace butter or vegetable oils with coconut oil in your recipes. Remember, you need not switch to coconut oil completely, as you will miss the benefits of other oils and dairy products.

Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

• Hair Care:

Coconut oil is one of the best natural nutrition for hair. It helps in healthy growth of hair providing them a shiny complexion. It is effective in reducing the protein loss for damaged and undamaged hair.Regular head massage with coconut oil ensures that your scalp is free of dandruff, even if your scalp is dry. It also helps in keeping hair and scalp free from lice and lice eggs.
It is therefore used as hair care oil and used in manufacturing various conditioners, and dandruff relief creams. Coconut oil is normally applied topically for hair care.

• Skin Care:

Coconut oil is excellent massage oil for the skin as well. It acts as an effective moisturizer on all types of skins including dry skin. The benefit of coconut oil on the skin is comparable to that of mineral oil. Further, unlike mineral oil, there is no chance of having any adverse side effects on the skin with the application of coconut oil. Coconut oil therefore is a safe solution for preventing dryness and flaking of skin. It also delays wrinkles, and sagging of skin which normally become prominent with age. Coconut oil also helps in treating various skin problems including psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin infections. Therefore coconut oil forms the basic ingredient of various body care products such as soaps, lotions, creams, etc., used for skin care. Coconut oil also helps in preventing premature aging and degenerative diseases due to its antioxidant properties.  

 

• Heart Diseases:

There is a misconception spread among many people that coconut oil is not good for the heart. This is because it contains a large quantity of saturated fats. However, coconut oil is beneficial for the heart. It contains about 50% lauric acid, which helps in preventing various heart problems including high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. The saturated fats present in coconut oil are not harmful as it happens in case of other vegetables oils. It does not lead to increase in LDL levels. It also reduces the incidence of injury in arteries and therefore helps in preventing atherosclerosis.

• Weight Loss:

Coconut oil is very useful in reducing weight. It contains short and medium-chain fatty acids that help in taking off excessive weight. It is also easy to digest and it helps in healthy functioning of the thyroid and enzymes systems. Further, it increases the body metabolism by removing stress on pancreases, thereby burning out more energy and helping obese and overweight people reduce their weight. Hence, people living in tropical coastal areas, who eat coconut oil daily as their primary cooking oil, are normally not fat, obese or overweight.

 
I would just say "Try it out". Some people like it, others don't, but I still think it's worth trying it. To get more inspiration, here are two web- links to more information and delicious recipes :)
http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/index.htm
http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/uses-of-coconut-oil-in-cooking.html