Coconut Oil and Your Health
Over 2,000 years ago Hippocrates said “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food.” There are foods, which are called superfoods that can be used to treat illness. The general perception is – “we are what we eat” and coronary disease, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels are all associated with our diet. We all know that we should cut down on excess fat, sugar, salt, refined food and eat fibre rich, low carbohydrate foods, vegetables and fruits.
Coconuts are one of the healthiest foods as they are rich in Lauric acid, vitamins and minerals. Lauric acid is a fatty acid with antiviral, bactericides, and anti-inflammatory properties.
Most virgin coconut oils are expeller or centrifuge processed and if you can imagine that the high speed of an expeller or centrifuge methods can increase the production temperatures and therefore make the nutrient content of oil poor, which generally reflects on price.
Look for premium quality virgin coconut oil, which has a delicate smell and taste of fresh coconuts and beware, there are a lot of virgin coconut oils which have a strong coconut taste and smell or on the contrary – they are bland. This means that such oils have impurities, which can only be found within their technical specifications or in the case that virgin coconut oil has a bland taste then it was produced at higher temperatures than should be as a virgin coconut oil.
Cheap virgin coconut oil is perfectly adequate for cooking purposes but does leave the taste and smell of coconuts on the food, which can put many people off coconut oil for good before even trying a good quality virgin coconut oil.
Tanya Harris is a writer and health food enthusiast. She owns a company that sells coconut oil
Coconut Oil and Your Health / Author: Barracuda Digital
