Coconut Oil is the new Butter

True, Coconut oil is a type of saturated fat, however, there are two types of saturated fats and coconut oil belongs to the healthy variety while animal saturated fats are the harmful ones. You can’t get fat on raw cold-pressed coconut oil. Your body does not store coconut oil instead it burns it as fuel, cleanses out the bad stored fats and helps your skin radiate. Not to mention it tastes delicious – very buttery & perfect for raw desserts, baked sweets, popcorn, and even eggs!

Long Chain Saturated Fats (LCSF) – These are the 2^nd most harmful next to hydrogenated fats. “Long Chain” is the culprit behind unhealthy saturated fats. They are the reason saturated fats have such a bad reputation. When LCSF’s are consumed, they are directed to the small intestine where toxic fat cells are produced. These acidic fats flow throughout the veins and arteries creating storage and blockage.

These have been proven to raise “bad” LDL blood cholesterol levels, contributing to heart disease. These “bad” fats are extremely concentrated, a key to obesity, carry many toxins, and are difficult to break down. They are found most commonly in animal and dairy products. They are highest in beef, pork, chicken and dairy products. Other sources are palm oil and cottonseed oil – all oils used extensively in processed foods. Saturated fats such as butter or margarine are solid or semi-solid at room temperature and should be omitted from your diet as much as possible.

Medium Chain and Short Chain Saturated Fats (MCSF & SCSF) – Although we do need a certain amount of saturated fats in our diet, they should come from “Medium and Short Chain” saturated fats, such as cold-pressed coconut oil. What makes these saturated fats so vital to health is their ability to be absorbed directly by the liver, where they are immediately available to the body and are sent out as a pure source of energy. These types of fatty acids are unlikely to cause unhealthy weight gain due to their quick digestion and energy conversion, never having the opportunity to be stored as body fat.

Key functions of Coconut Oil…

The coconut is highly nutritious and has fed and nourished people around the world for generations. It is classified as a “functional food” because of its numerous health benefits and nutritional content. Coconut oil is a combination of short- and medium-chain saturated fats. Nearly 50% of the fatty acid in coconut oil is lauric acid. Lauric acid helps the body to fight against bacteria, yeast, fungi, and other viruses and immune disorders. Lauric acid also increases the metabolic rate, aiding in weight loss.
Coconut oil has been long used for its healing properties in traditional medicine among the Asian and Pacific populations. They consider it as a cure for all illness. Modern medicine has finally caught up to and confirmed the wide range of health benefits. Some such benefits include: anit-viral, -fungal, and –bacterial; improves endurance, energy, digestion, bowel function, immune system function, cholesterol, free radical protection, thyroid function, loss of excess weight by increasing metabolic rate, the prevention of obesity and related problems, skin and hair health, and many more.
Coconut Oil is a stable cooking oil, with a smoking point above 400 degrees – meaning that you can heat it up to 400 degrees without it losing it’s nutrients or changing chemically. Therefore, it is one of my favorites along with macadamia nut oil for cooking instead of olive oil because olive oil has a low smoking point around 200 degrees and really should not be heated. Cooked olive oil actually takes away its healthy properties, makes it acidic and difficult to digest. Coconut oil tastes great in deserts, stir fry’s, breads, melted on hot grains, on popcorn and used in the place of butter.

Try using it in place of butter for every recipe or even just to spread over bread. Coconut oil with Celtic Sea Salt sprinkled over toast tastes just like butter but even better!