Coconut Oil

The past couple weeks, I have been trying new things to incorporate more healthy choices in my diet. Yesterday, I picked up some Coconut oil and decided to try it out.  I have heard many things in class and outside of class, and I was curious how it was.  Here is my result.  I tried it with frying plantains in which we usually cook in about an inch of vegetable of olive oil.  Coconut oil is quite different.  I found it in a bottle, like a water bottle, but in solid form.  I had to try and scrape it out into the pan. I only used a little, hardly covering the entire surface of the pan, but it fried the plantains well. My conclusion- it was definitely different, but overall  very satisfied.  I had heard that the food does taste different.  There was a faint distinct smell, and possibly a different texture to the plantains, but nothing horrid.  In fact, the food did taste a little different, but maybe for the better.  It was like I could taste more of the plantains.  They came out more soft and sweet, than fried and crispy.  From my experience, you get to taste more of the food when cooking with Coconut Oil . . . and that's a good thing.

So why was I trying Coconut Oil?  Coconut oil has been known to contain a significant amount of Saturated Fats, often associated with atherosclerosis (This goes back to our discussion about Heart Disease)  Other oils also contain many saturated fats.  So why is Coconut oil healthy if it has saturated fats.  Research has shown that the saturated fats contained in Coconut oil are Medium Chain Triglycerides.  This is completely different from all other oils that contain more Long Chain Triglycerides.  What is the difference?  The medium chains are easily broken down and utilized, while the long chains are not and so they get stored.  Coconut oil lowers LDL levels, while other oils increase LDL levels.  Research has shown that nations and areas where there is a more coconut oil based diet, there are low rates of Heart Disease.  There are other several health benefits that can't be found in other oils.  Using Coconut oil over other oils will decrease LDL levels, decrease obesity, decrease inflammation responses, maintain better hormone balance, and decrease insulin resistance.  It's worth it.

Here is a good article showing the results  http://www.coconutoil.com/DayritCardiology.pdf