Lovin' It Low Carb

Do you remember the tropical oil scandals?

I do…

Once upon a time, the movie theaters used saturated fat to make popcorn!

They used… (drum roll, please)

COCONUT OIL

After the public outcry they changed to some kind of unsaturated vegetable oil that was supposed to be “healthier.”

The very diseases we blame on dietary fat have skyrocketed into epidemic proportions since our national diet authorities have bullied the general public into removing saturated fat from our diets, and coconut oil in particular.

Now, many Low Carbers and other nutritional communities recognize that saturated fats, and coconut oil in particular, could actually be some of the “healthiest” foods we eat.

So What’s Up With Coconut?

Historically, coconut has been used not only as a healing food, but as medicine.

Coconut has been used in connection to a wide variety of health problems including: abscesses, asthma, baldness, bronchitis, bruises, burns, colds, constipation, cough, dropsy, dysentery, earache, fever, flu, gingivitis, gonorrhea, irregular or painful menstruation, jaundice, kidney stones, lice, malnutrition, nausea, rash, scabies, scurvy, skin infections, sore throat, swelling, syphilis, toothache, tuberculosis, tumors, typhoid, ulcers, upset stomach, weakness, and wounds.

If coconut oil is so nutritious, why was it banned from our diets?

Coconut is a saturated fat. To the layman, that means that the fat, or oil, is solid at room temperature, it doesn’t go bad very easily, and you can cook with it. To the chemist, it means a lot more.

Classifying fats by saturation involves how many available carbon bonds are occupied by hydrogen atoms within the fat molecule. The main types are: Saturated, Monounsaturated, and Polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Mary G. Enig, PhD and Sally Fallon are leading experts on dietary fat. In their article, The Skinny on Fats, they describe saturated fat like this:

A fatty acid is saturated when all available carbon bonds are occupied by a hydrogen atom. They are highly stable, because all the carbon-atom linkages are filled, or saturated, with hydrogen. This means that they do not normally go rancid, even when heated for cooking purposes. They are straight in form and hence pack together easily, so that they form a solid or semisolid fat at room temperature. Your body makes saturated fatty acids from carbohydrates and they are found in animal fats and tropical oils.

Did you know there is another way to classify fats, besides saturation?

Fatty acids are also classified by the length. There are short-chain fatty acids, medium-chain fatty acids and long-chain fatty acids.

Short-chain fatty acids have four to six carbon atoms. These fats are always saturated, and are found mostly in butterfat from cows and goats. These fatty acids have antimicrobial properties. They protect us from viruses, yeasts and pathogenic bacteria in the gut. Short-chain fatty acids also contribute to the health of the immune system.

Medium-chain fatty acids have eight to twelve carbon atoms and are found mostly in butterfat and the tropical oils. Like the short-chain fatty acids, these fats have antimicrobial properties; are absorbed directly for quick energy; and contribute to the health of the immune system.

Long-chain fatty acids have from 14 to 18 carbon atoms and can be either saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Stearic acid is an 18-carbon saturated fatty acid found chiefly in beef and mutton tallows. Oleic acid is an 18-carbon monounsaturated fat which is the chief component of olive oil. Another monounsaturated fatty acid is the 16-carbon palmitoleic acid which has strong antimicrobial properties. It is found almost exclusively in animal fats. The two essential fatty acids are also long chain, each 18 carbons in length.

Also from The Skinny on Fats:

Coconut oil is 92% saturated with over two-thirds of the saturated fat in the form of medium-chain fatty acids (often called medium-chain triglycerides). Of particular interest is lauric acid, found in large quantities in both coconut oil and in mother’s milk. This fatty acid has strong antifungal and antimicrobial properties. Coconut oil protects tropical populations from bacteria and fungus so prevalent in their food supply; as third-world nations in tropical areas have switched to polyunsaturated vegetable oils, the incidence of intestinal disorders and immune deficiency diseases has increased dramatically. Because coconut oil contains lauric acid, it is often used in baby formulas.

So, there you have it. A short, short, basic introduction to Coconut fat.

Consider Adding Coconut Oil to Your diet…

I have not fully integrated coconut oil into my diet yet, but I have become convinced of its many healthful properties, and am definitely working on it.

As I write this, I am enjoying a large cup of coffee with some delicious coconut oil in it. No sweetener necessary! It is quite different than using dairy cream, but it is ONE way to get coconut oil into my diet, especially considering that I do not cook much of my own food.

Check it out yourself…
Below is a short list of websites and books that may be of interest to you if you are considering the addition of coconut as part of your healthy Low Carb diet.

I encourage you to thoughtfully consider everything you read, and form your opinions and beliefs accordingly. I recommend these websites and books as sources of information for you to consider. I don’t necessarily agree with everything said there.

Websites with Information About Coconut

Weston A. Price Foundation
A ton of information about dietary fat and human nutrition.

Coconut Research Center
The website of Bruce Fife, N.D, author of several books about Coconut Oil.

CoconutOil.com
Interesting Links: Research on Coconut Oil, Research by Dr. Mary Enig, Abstracts from Peer Reviewed Literature.

Coconut Ketones
Check out the article What if there was a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease… And nobody knew?

Books About Coconut*

Lovin’ It Low Carb
Ramona Denton

*All Amazon links are affliate links. Using these links to purchase your books from Amazon will allow me to receive a small commission on the sale.