Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet
My label reading experience started in the 1980’s. There was such a big uproar about palm oil being so bad for you that I began to read labels to make sure the things I was buying didn’t have palm oil or palm kernel oil in them. If they did, I would not buy them.
Now I know I was misguided.
Turns out virgin tropical oils are good for you. They always have been. And if you believe as I now do that fat doesn’t make you fat, you can happily indulge in the wonders of coconut oil.
The campaign against coconut oil was begun by the soybean folks. The American Soybean Association to be specific. They were very good at their job. They wanted us all buying soybean oil instead of coconut oil. Who is us? US food manufacturers and consumers. As consumers we all got so worked up we started screaming at the food manufacturers that if they didn’t quit using palm oil in the manufacture of their products we were going to boycott them. It worked.
There’s a money side to the story too.
Coconut oil is more expensive than soybean oil. Soybean production is subsidized by the US government. Coconut oil has to be grown in tropical places so we were importing coconut oil and the income from that in plenty of cases was going to foreign countries. So the “Buy American” element got twisted in the controversy too. Food manufacturers are always after more profit so if meant using soybean oil made the product cheaper to make, then they’d use it.
Turns out those cultures where up to 60% of their diet comes from coconut oil fat and coconut fruit products are some of the healthiest in the world. The data has been around for decades that the use of coconut oil is actually beneficial. We just got sucked into a load of misinformation.
Coconut oil can and is used in other countries for treatment of many diseases and conditions. Diabetes, heart disease, chronic fatigue, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Alzheimer’s, thyroid conditions and more. They all benefit from the incorporation of coconut oil into the diet. There is a lot of information online; entry after entry of the benefits of coconut oil.
Like this — check this out: http://wellnessmama.com/5734/101-uses-for-coconut-oil/
Coconut oil is even thought to help in weight loss. From the research I’ve found, I believe that it is more helpful in weight maintenance. Your body burns coconut oil very efficiently. Coconut oil can help thyroid function so that means it can help improve your metabolic rate.
How do you use coconut oil?
Just like any other cooking oil. We use it for making scrambled eggs. It’s our substitute for butter in that instance.
Coconut oil has a nutty flavor and a very light taste. It’s not gooey-sweet like the flaked coconut you find in the baking section of the grocery store. That coconut has been highly sweetened with a ton of sugar. I use Nutiva Coconut oil but another comparable brand is Vitacost Coconut Oil.
In the recipe I am providing, I roast butternut squash in coconut oil. It brings out the sweetness of the squash and gives it a lovely, caramelized element. I’m learning more everyday about how I can use coconut oil in my cooking.
Coconut oil looks like Crisco in the jar – re member that stuff? At room temperature they are both a solid white, but that is the only thing they have in common. Coconut oil when heated becomes a clear liquid; clearer than the other corn or vegetable oils you find on the grocery store shelves. I don’t recommend you cook with those other oils. You can substitute coconut oil instead. I also cook with a lot of olive oil.
Coconut oil is going to cost you more than those subsidized, cheap oils but it’s better for you. Much better. Look for it in many grocery stores on the bottom shelf. It doesn’t have the popularity of vegetable oil (at least not yet) so it doesn’t always get good placement on the shelves. You have to look for it. Or ask your grocer to carry it if they don’t already.
When doing the research for this column I found that coconut oil is still a highly controversial subject. I choose to side with the beneficial elements.
Cheers,

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