Not too long ago, I wrote an article about coconut oil. I’d been inspired by all the coconuts floating in the “lake” Hurricane Isaac had created after dumping two feet of rain around my house here in South Florida.
A surprising number of people wrote to ask why I’d talk about the benefits of an “unhealthy” fat.
But the truth is, there’s nothing unhealthy about coconut oil at all.
In fact, if you want to keep slim and sexy, adding coconut oil to what you eat may be just the ticket.
The confusion probably comes from the kind of fat found in coconut oil – triglycerides – and the fact that the so-called experts keep telling you to avoid dietary fat altogether.
In fact, your doctor probably checks your triglyceride levels when he looks at your blood. When your triglyceride levels are high, you have an increased risk of obesity, diabetes and other health problems.
But not all triglycerides are the same. The blood fats your doctor checks for are called long-chain triglycerides, or LCTs. Coconut oil is made up of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs)… and MCTs have an entirely different set of health effects.
And swapping out other fats in your diet for MCTs could not only help you get thin and sexy, it could boost your health in other ways, too.
I found some interesting research on MCTs done by doctors in China just a couple of years ago.
They looked at 112 women with high levels of triglycerides in their blood. They kept half of the women on the diets they’d been eating. But they switched some of the fat in the second groups diet for MCTs.
After just 8 weeks, the MCT group had lower blood levels of triglycerides – even though they were still getting the same amount of fat. Even better, these women had also lost weight – and inches of fat from their bodies.1
They weren’t dieting. They weren’t exercising more. The only change was replacing one kind of fat with another. They were slimmer and sexier without making any effort.
MCTs seem to act like an “anti-fat fat.”
How does it work? MCTs – like those in coconut oil – tell your body to burn fat for fuel, instead of storing it.
In another study, Canadian researchers looked at a group of overweight men. And sure enough, eating more MCTs put their metabolism into high gear… and started them burning more fat. In just 4 weeks, they lost an average of about 2.5 pounds.2
Again, nobody went on a diet or started exercising. The only change was swapping out unhealthy fats for MCTs.
I also discovered something else when reading throuigh the study… the thinner the men were, the better MCTs worked. It’s sort of like a snowball effect. So your results could just keep getting better and better.
It’s easy to get coconut oil into your diet, and making the switch could boost your heart health, too.
I recommend using pure virgin coconut oil. It’s available from many health food stores. You can also easily buy it online.
It’s not hard to put coconut oil to work for you, either. You see, it’s solid at room temperature… about the consistency of soft margarine. So it’s easy to work with.
For most recipes, you can simply add an equal amount of coconut oil in place of butter, margarine or shortening. You can also use coconut oil in place of butter when you sauté.
The taste is a little different, so you may want to experiment a bit. I think coconut oil’s mild flavor is delicious, though, and love to use it in my recipes.
1. Xue, C., et al, “Consumption of medium- and long-chain triacylglycerols decreases body fat and blood triglyceride in Chinese hypertriglyceridemic subjects,” Eur J Clin Nutr. Jul 2009; 63(7): 879-886.
2 St-Onge, M.P. and Jones, P.J., “Greater rise in fat oxidation with medium-chain triglyceride consumption relative to long-chain triglyceride is associated with lower initial body weight and greater loss of subcutaneous adipose tissue,” Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. Dec 2003; 27(12): 1565-1571.