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10 Health benefits of coconutoil to be aware off.

Updated on June 20, 2017

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A Tropical Oil

Coconut oil is found in the tropics and is made of the coconut palm tree’s dried fruit. It contains lauric acid which is a healthy saturated fatty acid burned quickly by the body. Fresh coconuts’ oil extracts contain a somewhat large amount of fatty acids medium chain. These don’t appear to be easily stored in adipose tissues and for this reason; people have started looking at coconut oil as a great way to help in losing weight. Not to be confused with coconut milk, coconut oil is derived from the fruit’s flesh and can help the body more effectively burn fat. Since it provides so many health benefits beyond its calorie or nutritional content, it is called a ‘functional food.’ On the other hand, it is not the same as butter since it has medium chain triglycerides.

There are a multitude of benefits that coconut oil happens to have which includes, among other things, immunity against disease and infections, digestion improvement, hair care and skin care. The oil is utilized not just where there is an abundance of coconut plantations like tropical countries but also in the United Kingdom and the United States. People are just recently really finding out for themselves the wonders created by this oil and throughout the world, it is again gaining in popularity. Are you aware of all of its benefits? Here are a few that I have found out first hand.

Infections and Healing from Coconut Oil

Coconut oil acts as a layer when directly applied to areas in your skin that are infected. Your body gets protected from viruses, bacteria, fungi, air and external dust. On bruises, coconut oil is highly effective as well as this helps speed up tissue damage and the process of healing. As a matter of fact, you might be surprised at how much coconut oil benefits your health. It is able to kill the viruses that cause serious risks to health such as SARS, herpes, hepatitis, measles and influenza. It also kills germs that cause gonorrhea, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, throat infections and ulcers. It is also an effective treatment for eliminating diaper rash, thrush, athlete’s foot and ringworm.

Coconut Oil and Candida

Also known as systemic candidacies, candida is due to yeast growing uncontrollably in the stomach. This causes inflammation and coconut gives relief for this. In the stomach, yeast growth is called candida albicans and you get relief from coconut oil both internally and externally. Apply the oil to your skin to get relief from peeling and cracking. You can also take the oil to eliminate Candida albicans since the oil contains lauric acid, myristic acid, caproic acid, caprylic acid and capric acid. Unlike other pharma treatments, coconut oil effects is not sudden or drastic but rather, gradual. This gives you the right amount of time to get rid of symptoms of when toxins are flushed out of your body. Not starting with a large dose but rather, increasing the amount of your dose gradually is the way to go for best results.

Coconut Oil and Digestion

Primarily, internal functions of coconut oil happen when it is used as oil for cooking. It helps in the improvement of the digestion system and also prevents a variety of digestion-related and stomach-related issues such as IBS which stands for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. In coconut oil, the saturated fat have anti-microbe properties that assist with having to deal with parasites, fungi, bacteria and other causes of bad digestion. It also assists in nutrient absorption such as amino acids, minerals and vitamins.

Your Immune System

Coconut oil has anti-microbial lipids and helps the system of immunity become stronger. It also contains caprylic acid, capric acid, lauric acid and antimicrobial lipids which have antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties. Our bodies convert lauric acid into mono laurin which is a great way to deal with bacteria and disease causing viruses such as HIV, cytomegalovirus, influenza and herpes. This oil helps fight bacterial that is potentially harmful such as giardia lamblia which is a harmful protozoa.

Weight Loss

When it comes to weight loss, coconut oil is quite useful. The reason for this is that it contains medium and short fatty acid chains that assist in removing extra weight. Coconut oil also reduces obesity in the abdomen in women. It helps in the function of the endocrine and thyroid system’s healthy function. In addition, it helps increase the metabolic rate of the body through the removal of pancreas stress. Thus, more energy is burned and people who are obese lose excessive weight. Thus, residents of coastal tropical regions who use this oil on a daily basis as their main oil for cooking are not overweight or obese and not even slightly chubby.

Coconut Oil and Heart Disease

One misconception that has erroneously spread is that coconut oil has saturated fat that is not good for your heart. The fact of the matter is that it is the other way around. As a matter of fact, coconut oil happens to benefit your heart greatly. It contains lauric acid about fifty per cent which acts in the prevention of problems of the heart such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol. This oil does not necessary lead to an increase in levels of LDL and it helps in the reduction of damaged arteries and injury. Thus, atherosclerosis is prevented. In the pre menopause stage, some reports suggest that taking coconut oil can help in the maintenance of healthy profiles of lipids.

Benefits to Your Hair

Coconut oil gives your hair a shiny quality and helps in helping hair grow healthily. It is also effective in the reduction of losing protein that leads to hair becoming unhealthy. It is not only used as an ingredient in dandruff relieving creams and conditioners but also as a hair care oil by itself in its raw, natural form. For hair care, coconut oil can be topically applied as well.

When it comes to hair care, coconut oil is used particularly extensively in the sub-continent of India. It helps in damaged hair re-growth as well as a top of the line conditioner. This oil offers great protection to hair from hygral fatigue damage. It also provides necessary proteins that are needed for healing and nourishing hair that has been damaged. With a regular coconut oil head massage, you can keep your scalp dandruff-free even if you have a chronically dry scalp. In addition, coconut oil is also one way you can keep your scalp free from lice eggs and lice.

Benefits to Your Skin

On all types of skin, coconut oil is an effective moisturizer and is excellent oil used for massages. It is especially great for dry skin. There are no adverse side effects on skin unlike the way there is with mineral oil. When you apply coconut oil, it takes out skin flakiness and is a safe solution. It also helps in delaying the appearance of sagging skin and the appearance of wrinkles that usually comes with age. Coconut oil also prevents premature aging degenerative disease since it has tons of anti-oxidant qualities. It also treats a variety of skin issues such as skin infections like eczema, dermatitis and psoriasis. Coconut oil for this reason forms various body care base ingredients for products such as creams, lotions and soaps for skin regimens and care.

Coconut Oil and Belly Fat

Possibly the world’s friendliest fat to weight loss, coconut oil has a unique fatty acid combination with powerful metabolism side effects. You can lose fat just by adding coconut oil to your meals. In particular, you can lose your abdominal cavity’s dangerous fat. You are probably wondering how on earth coconut oil is able to boost metabolism. Well, compared to other dietary fat, coconut oil is very different. Most food types contain long chain fatty acids predominantly. On the other hand, medium chain fatty acids are what coconut is almost entirely made of. Compared to longer chain fat, medium chain is differently metabolized. They are sent to the liver straight where they are turned into ketones or used immediately for energy.

Often, epileptic use these fats on a ketogenic diet to increase levels of ketones. Plus, medium chain fatty acids are not as efficiently stored as fat in animal studies. Since coconut oil reduces appetite and boosts metabolism, in the long term it can help you lose fat. If two groups would be given two different oils, one group would be given soybean oil and another group coconut oil, you will soon see that the group for coconut oil would have less of a waist circumference while you will see more belly fat in the soybean group.

Healing Properties

Coconut oil has healing benefits that make it a medicinal staple in parts of Asia and the Pacific Islands. Validations are made that coconut oil effectively kills viruses such as measles, the flu, AIDS and reduces symptoms of health ailments like cystic fibrosis, pancreatitis, thrush and diabetes symptoms.

Coconut Oil for Teeth and Bones

Since coconut oil increases the body’s absorption of magnesium and calcium, coconut oil provides huge benefits to bone and dental health. The improved absorption of calcium that the oil creates helps stop tooth decay and helps in strong teeth development. The combination of greater magnesium and calcium absorption is also great for women who are middle aged that may become affected by osteoporosis.


In the Kitchen

There are many uses of coconut oil in the kitchen, such as adding flavor to salads and food. It is also used for the treatment of acid reflux, as a base for soap, to treat dry skin and scalp and can help with losing weight. Make your own oil at home if you have some time on your hands and the best part is that you will know every ingredient that goes into the making of this oil if you do it yourself. To make coconut oil yourself, have the seller at the farmer’s market shave off as much of the coconut’s outer shell as possible and cut it in half. In a separate jar, drain the milk. Cut the meat from the coconut shell and cut this into smaller pieces. Some shops do this for you as well, similar to the way butchers cut your meat according to your preference. Place each piece with water in a blender. Add three cups water if you have two cups of the chunks of coconut. Break up the pieces in the blender and switch this to blend when it becomes easier to do so. Your goal is to reach a cream, smooth consistency with the coconut.

With a cheesecloth or handkerchief, you can now strain the blended creamy coconut. Drain the milk from the blended coconut and pour this into a lidded container to ferment for forty eight hours. Keep it in a dark place. After forty eight hours have passed, place the oil and milk in the refrigerator for three hours. Once the oil becomes solid, cut off right where the line of oil is. This gives you a super easy method of separating the oil from everything else. Place the solid oil in a lidded jar and let this thaw in room temperature for you to use as you wish. Make a large batch since this is a long process. You save time by making one huge batch instead of repeated smaller batches. You get better oil when you use more mature coconuts. Some folks warm the milk so that the oil separates. It is not a good idea to warm the milk more than seventy five degrees Fahrenheit for ten minutes as this affects the coconut oil benefits adversely and you don’t get the same nutritional content. You will spend about a quarter of what you would normally spend when you make your own rather than buy coconut oil in the supermarket. Of course, if you don’t have a lot of time, you really won’t have a choice other than purchasing online or in retail stores in your area. No matter what you decide to you one thing is for sure and that is that the benefits you reap from coconut oil will be priceless.

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