The Top 5 Benefits and Uses of Coconut

Written by A.G Lee

Did you know that coconut oil is an energy burning fuel souce containing favorable fatty acids and other additional nutrients that are easily utilized and digested by the body? Yeah sounds great right? It’s quickly becoming one of the top oil choices these days as people are looking to add healthy fats into their lives to replace the bad fats.

Coconut oil is extremely nourishing to the body and contains alot of components and properties that are unique only to this type of oil. The leading cause of Alzheimer’s disease is the brains inability to convert the glucose in the body to energy to function at it’s best. This lack of glucose conversion causes the brain to atrophy causing impaired memory, personality, motor skills, and speech disorders. Which is why coconut oil is being researched in the use to combat the neurodegenerative disease as it helps to convert energy more efficiently in the body. it’s also known to be beneficial for increasing metabolism, good cholesterol levels and thryoid function, giving an overall body boost.

In addition, it’s high in certain fatty acids that give the immune system a nice boost, and acts as a natural antibiotic to help protect against viruses and bacteria. Almost like a first aid kit, but purely in liquid form. It’s also great to use in blended drinks and recipes as the concentrated nutritious fat will help keep your appetite satisfied.

Benefits of Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is a medium chain fatty acid or MCT (Medium chain triglyceride which means it is 6-12 carbons in length molecular wise, while the saturated fat in animal food is a long chain fatty acid containing between 14-24 carbon atoms total give or take the type of meat. So in simpler terms this means, the shorter the carbon atom chain the less energy is required for your body to digest the enzymes and the less your body has to use from it’s own resources. Coconut oil is one of the very few oils that we know about along with red palm oil and cacao butter that contains MCTs. They are more easily absorbed by the body and have a higher chance to be converted to energy by the body and not stored as fat. Because noone wants that.

Immune System

Coconut oil has a large amount of lauric acid and is a precursor that creates monolaurin, which happens to be a natural antibiotic that helps to eliminate parasites, viruses, bacteria, yeast, and fungi. Lauric acid is primarily the disease fighting component in the oil with the aid of the secondary fatty acids caprylic acid, capric acid, and mystristic acid. Lauric acid is also the same compound found in mother’s milk that helps protect newborn infants from diseases / pathogens and is even powerful enough it’s being researched as an important immune building agent for people with AIDS. These properties puts coconut up there are a go to supplement for those with candida or fungal type issues as well.

Lower Cholesterol

Another added benefit is that coconut oil does not contain any cholesterol, which is a big win for people looking to control their cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in the blood and all animal tissues and is not contained in plant fats a fat category where coconut oil resides in. But that doesn’t mean avoid cholesterol as it’s a primary component to our cell membranes and very much needed for life processes that make steroid hormones, vitamin D and bile acids. Coconut oil helps in normalizing cholesterol levels through lauric acid as the acid has been shown to increase HDL aka high density lipoproteins (good cholesterol) and balancing the ratio of LDL to HDL in the bloodstream. But don’t try to lower your cholesterol too much as a total cholesterol count below 150 mg/dL is associated with depression.

Brain Boost and Diabetes
Coconut oil benefits the brain by providing a direct energy source from ketone bodies. Your body natually converts the MCT’s in the oil to ketones during the digestion phase. And incase you are not familiar with ketones, they are what your body produces when it transforms fat instead of glucose into energy. Not only that but coconut oil also helps with diabetes as it improves the secretion of insulin and effectively helps the utilization of blood glucose helping to prevent and treat diabetes.

Weight Loss
Coconut oil helps with losing weight by helping out the thyroid gland which helps to increase the bodys metabolism which is a great complement in losing excess body weight. The MCT’s in the oil are easily broken down by the natural enzymes in the body. Once they are digested they are instantly converted from fat to an energy burning fuel source and any excess left over being passed as waste instead of being stored as body fat. Coconut oil heightens energy levels and improves metabolic rate burning off three times faster than any other fats that might be taken into the body (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition).
It was shown in a study to help reduce abdominal obesity as well, giving it a boost in it’s fat destroying credibility. But also don’t forget that we need some saturated fats in our diet, but not more than 10% of our daily calorie intake.

Skin

Coconut oil is also one of the top recommended oils for your skin both internally and externally. It has a high vitamin E content that norishes, protects, and moisturizes the skin all over the body. It easily penetrates and absorbs into the skin making it an amazing carrier oil for anything that might be mixed in with it including other oils like essential oils and herbal extracts. The added benefit being that it doesn’t let any of the other oils, herbal extracts, or medicines spoil inside of it.

So tell us your favorite coconut oil uses, tips, and tricks as we will continue to update you all on the benefits of this amazing, healthy, and much needed oil.