For the Love of Coconut Oil...

This morning's writing was going to be about edible oils but instead, has become solely about coconut oil. Besides the fat found in the food we eat in some vegetables, eggs, nuts and meat, there are only three fats that we have retained and use in our kitchen. One of those is coconut oil, and although the smell of coconut in the past has repulsed me, I have come to love the heavenly scent of good quality cold-pressed virgin organic coconut oil, and can be found with my nose in the jar just breathing it in.

Our bodies metabolize each fatty acid differently and being that coconut oil is a medium-chain fatty acid, the liver and the gall bladder do not need to digest and emulsify it, causing us to have more energy, an increased metabolic rate and better circulation. If you’ve had your gall bladder removed, this is indeed the fat for you.

There are many uses for coconut oil including applying it to the skin and hair. However, I have found that using sulphate-free real soap (yet another story) on the outside and hydrating and healing my body from the inside, is a better way.  

Aurora Geib, who writes for Natural News, adds that if you have been on a low fat diet the possible side effect you might have from coconut oil is diarrhoea, but eventually proper bowel function will prevail. She suggests that each adult should consume about 3 ½ tablespoons a day and although, in our home, we are not each consuming that much, it has become the primary oil that we use. Coconut oil can be eaten right out of the jar and being that it is heat stable, can be cooked using high temperatures.

There are many coconut oils currently on the market and I certainly have my favourite. A friend of mine calls it coconut butter with the hope that one of her children will embrace it like the others have. Do you have a story about coconut oil? I would love to hear it!

~ Ellyn