Settle in for a long post....
The coconut’s
“real" name is Cocos nucifera. When the early Spanish explorers first experienced
it they called it coco, which means "monkey face. The coconut has three
indentations (eyes) on the outside of hairy nut, which makes it resemble the
head and face of a monkey. Nucifera means "nut-bearing."
Therefore, nut bearing monkey face is its real name.
Benefits
The
coconut is an absolutely amazing complete package. It provides a meat, a drink and an oil all in
one neat sweet little food item. The coconut also contains a full range
of vitamins, minerals and is high in fiber. Due to its health benefits
and nutrients you will see people call it is a "functional"
food. I am sure you have seen recently how it has begun to climb in
popularity because of its health, dietary and healing properties. Some
cultures go as far as calling this amazing nut "The Tree of Life."
If you study how
people of various cultures use this monkey face nut, you will find they treat
things like kidney stones, burns, colds, constipation, coughs, asthma, wounds,
tumors, and so much more using coconut in some form. The list which they use it for is
staggering. Also, in those countries,
cancer and heart disease are at noticeably low and non-existent rates.
Modern medicine is
now catching on and using coconut to treat illness, injury and disease.
Here are a few things some published studies have found.
·
Has
potential to kill some viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites and yeasts. Caproyl
Acid is one form that kills off Candida (I have first hand experience on its
success with one of my sons.)
·
Is
a great food for diabetics or those who can't tolerate carbs or grains due to coconut's
ability to improve insulin secretion and utilization of blood glucose, think
sugars, flour, soy sauce alternative….
·
Great
for the external body. Helps with dandruff, great for skin conditions,
protects the skin from the sun (think sun screen!!!), minimizes and reduces
wrinkles, sunspots... and so much more! I personally love it as a moisturizer
for my face and skin.
·
For
people with damaged guts or food allergies/sensitivities it improves digestion
and absorption of other nutrients including minerals, amino acids, and vitamins.
It can reduce the inflammation of the gut.
·
Women
with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can be greatly helped when using coconut
oil. ***Just Google PCOS and coconut oil
and many links like these will pop up.
·
Can
help to relieve stomach and intestine issues such as ulcers, colitis, Crohn’s
disease.
·
Helps
relieve symptoms associated with gallbladder disease.
·
May
help people absorb vitamins such as magnesium and calcium. Thus, strenthening
bones which in turn can help fight osteoporosis.
·
It
is heart healthy, helps protect teeth, can aid in cancer prevention...
The
list goes on and on.....
Coconut
Oil
While coconut
possesses many health benefits due to its fiber and nutritional content, it's
the oil that makes it a truly remarkable food and medicine.
People once thought
that coconut oil was unhealthy due to high saturated fat content, it is now
documented that coconut oil’s fat is different and totally unique in its
properties and how it affects our human bodies.
I have seen it called “the healthiest oil on earth”. In fact, in blogs and recipes it is the new
go-to oil for cooking and baking.
So…WHY is it good
for you and how is it different???
When you consume
fats, you have a few choices as to their composition. We can classify them two ways. First are fatty acids, which you are probably
familiar with, uses words like saturated fats, monounsaturated fats,
polyunsaturated fats…. Second is a system of classification on the molecular
size or the length of carbon chains that are in the fatty acids. This system uses words like, short-chain
fatty acids (SCFA), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), and long-chain fatty acids
(LCFA). Coconut oil is composed predominately of medium-chain fatty acids
(MCFA), also known as medium-chain triglycerides (MCT).
If you look at the
standard American diet, our majority of fats and oils intake, whether they are
saturated or unsaturated or come from animals or plants, are composed of
long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). It is estimated in our diets we are consuming about
95-100% LCFA..
HOWEVER…
We need to look at
the second way of classifying fats. The
size of the fatty acid is extremely important. Human bodies metabolize each
fatty acid differently depending on its size (LCFA, MCFA etc). While coconut is saturated fatty acids, it is
important to note coconut oils are predominately medium-chain fatty acids. (MCFA)
Let’s take a brief
look at MCFA verses LCFA. MCFA do not
have a negative effect such as increasing cholesterol and can actually help to
protect against heart disease. MCFA help to lower the risk of both
atherosclerosis and heart disease. It is primarily due to the MCFA in coconut
oil that makes it so special and so beneficial.
There are only a very few good dietary sources of MCFA. By far the best
sources are from coconut and palm kernel oils.
Type of products
Coconut
milk (full fat in a can)
Coconut
Flakes
Coconut
Crème
Important
notes about cooking with coconut flour and products:
Coconut
is naturally very low on the glycemic index.
This makes it ideal for people who struggle with sugar/diabetes. Coconut is also grain-free, which is a very
healthy choice for many people with food allergies and sensitivities.
When
cooking with coconut flour, it is important to sift it before incorporating it
into wet ingredients. It has a tendency
to clump. Coconut flour and eggs go hand
in hand. I personally have not tried any
recipes using coconut flour with egg replacer, nor have I seen coconut flour
and egg replacer used together in any recipe.
Coconut flour and almond flour are used often together in recipes.
Coconut
baked products have a tendency to get VERY brown on the bottom. It isn’t an error in cooking; it is just the
result of how they turn out.
For detailed information on coconut research here is a great link.
Look for recipes to come!
