Top 5 Reasons Why I Love Coconut Oil:

Coconut oil is fantastic for cooking.
I use it to lightly oil my cast iron pan for frying an egg, sauteéing kale or any veggies that might have a slightly bitter taste as the coconut oil is just barely sweet. Coconut oil is very stable even at higher temperatures, which means that you can cook with it without making it go rancid. Just don't heat it to the point of smoking! Other oils like olive oil and butter can't be heated as much because they are not nearly as stable.

Coconut oil is great for baking.
You can use it in place of vegetable oil, margarine or crisco (all of which are highly processed oils with molecular structures that are not easily recognized by your body). As a side note, I NEVER use vegetable oils, margarine or crisco. Those are not foods. If you leave margarine out for a year or more it will still be there because bugs won't even touch the stuff! The only vegetable oil currently in my kitchen is extra virgin olive oil.

Coconut oil is a HEALTHY saturated fat.
Yes, you read that correctly. It's a naturally occurring saturated fat that your body knows how to handle and process. We've been told over the last 30 years or so that eating saturated fat was unhealthy and this isn't true! One interesting thing to note about coconut oil is that it melts into a liquid at around 76 degrees. Last time I checked, our bodies run somewhere around 98 degrees. That means this stuff doesn't stay solid when it hits your body. Other fats out there that are naturally liquid but become solid by a chemical process (hydrogenated oils) don't melt again until they hit much higher temperatures in a pan or an oven. Our bodies aren't that hot. I'll get into the great fat debate more in a future post, but for now you can go ahead and do a google search for "health benefits of coconut oil" and see for yourself. I eat tons of coconut oil and I'm not fat, I promise.

Coconut oil makes a fantastic natural moisturizer.
Not that I use it as a moisturizer very often (on occasion I may rub a little on my hands when I am in the kitchen), but for you women out there listen up! What you put on your skin will absorb right into your body, just like 'the patch' for people that are trying to quite smoking. My advice to you is to never put anything on your skin that you wouldn't put in your mouth. Many skin care products contain a litany of chemicals that you should be avoiding. Coconut oil is a great alternative, and will probably cost less as well! It will not leave your face or body oily, just try it for a week and see for yourself!

Coconut oil mixes easily with organic, unsweetened cocoa powder to make homemade CHOCOLATE!
Everyone loves chocolate. Did you know that it can be healthy? Yes healthy! Send me an email to get a recipe for homemade, healthy chocolate bars! brian@behealthynutrition.com

For information about my health services, please go to my website