The hype on Coconut- anyone who cares about their health should read!

Oh my goodness I finally find myself a little time to sit down at my computer and write... here I am with my mug of coffee and I am ready to write about things I love. I had so many ideas for a new a blog, it has been so long since I have written one. I decided to write about coconut, as it has been quite popular in my house and becoming even more popular everywhere. My husband and I discovered coconut in a new form other then the awful shredded cover with sugar form, while we were shopping at one of our favorite places to go Wholefoods. We found coconut manna and since then I have become a huge fan and lover of all things coconut except the awful shredded sugar kind yuck!

Coconut Manna is coconut butter, its the whole fruit soft and spoonable. In cold weather it becomes hard, in normal room temperature it is soft and easy to spoon out of the jar. My favorite thing to do with Coconut Manna is plop a couple spoons fulls in a fruit smoothie, oh my gosh! It gives your smoothie texture and you bite into this really creamy and light lump that has just the mildest taste of coconut. It is so yummy, I used to think I hated coconut till I had this. Here is a picture of a popular coconut butter that I buy.

So after having my great experience with coconut my husband and I decided to look for some more great coconut products, we couldn't get over the taste and especially the health benefits! We found unsweetened finely shredded coconut. This stuff is my favorite to bake with! I love throwing this in cookie recipes, pancake batters, breads, and anything that I want to add some fiber too really. It has a very very fine texture so you hardly know it is there and unless you dump a TON in you can barely taste it. I also find this at Wholefoods and its about $3 a bag. 

Next we found this at our favorite place ever...Costco! This stuff is sooooo amazing, you will not believe how much fiber is in this stuff! WOW! It is dried young coconut with a dash of sugar to give it a little sweetness. This is one of the healthiest snacks ever and will have you regular after one serving, seriously. Find this stuff at Costco right now, its only $8 there originally about $17 so you can save huge! STOCK UP its very yummy and a great go to snack if you are trying to stay fit. There are 14 grams of fiber per 1.5 ounces! Thats over half what you need in a day! It is insane! 

Here is another form of baking with coconut, coconut flour! This is amazing stuff if you need to cut carbs in a recipe, hardly any carbs and again TONS of fiber! This is a very dense flour so be careful what you are using it in. I like to mix it with some wheat flour to make it a little lighter, its great in cookies, scones, pancakes, and some breads. I recommend doing a coconut flour recipe google search and see what you can find. I love this stuff!

Even though there are soooo many more AMAZING coconut products I am going to share my last and most favorite one! Coconut oil, this is my favorite EVER! I cook with it, I use it in my products, I put this in my hair, I put it on my skin and lips, I bake with it, I smell it! This stuff is just way too good not to use. Right now Costco is selling huge containers of it for $20 and I am telling you, for the quality and the amount you will NEVER find it that cheap, for the same product elsewhere for the same amount it is about $50, so go to Costco! This oil is loaded with amazing fats great for your body. It is so good for your skin and hair. I will put about a quarter size in my palm and rub it all over my hands then after the shower I run it through the ends of my hair, it is a great leave-in conditioner and frizz control at the same time. AMAZING! I put this in my body butters in the shop, I love it a lot I am going to start using it in more products. I love cooking with it, put it on pancakes instead of butter you will be absolutely shocked how yummy it is! Go to Costco and buy about 5 of these! They last forever and do not need to be refrigerated! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Ok so now that i have told you a few of my favorite coconut products, here are the reasons why to get into coconut and why it is becoming so popular everywhere.

Benefits of Coconut:

-First of all lets banish the myth that Coconuts are high in cholesterol, they are not. The fat from coconut is considered saturated but it is actually called Lauric Acid which is a type of fat which is easily absorbed by the human body and used instantly as energy.

Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid which is abundant in coconut oil and is considered responsible for many of its health benefits.  Coconut oil is about 50 percent lauric acid.  The only other abundant source found in nature is in human breast milk.

This is quite amazing by itself and shows the power of the oil as it is such a close match to our mothers milk  just imagine how powerful this stuff is!

-Coconut is very high in fiber, which keeps you fuller longer and helps remove waste from your body.

-Coconut is a potent anti-bacterial and anti-fungal it is a great cleanser of our stomach and intestines and is something that can help heal the gut should problems occur. On top of this Coconut will help your body fight off infection so its a great thing to eat when you are unwell or feel something coming on, this is thanks to it being converted to Monolaurin by the body which fights off infections (viral or bacterial).

-Coconut oil itself is hands down the best cooking oil. It is stable at high heats retaining all of its benefits (unlike Olive oil) and it will leave the food with a delicious taste. It has a very long stable shelf life as well.

-The effect on your thyroid coconuts have are shocking, they can boost thyroid function by up to 20%. Having an efficient thyroid is essential for out bodies to carry out several functions including boosting our metabolism and energy production.

In the 1940′s farmers tried coconut oil to fatten their animals but discovered that it made them lean and active and increased their appetite. Whoops! Then they tried an anti-thyroid drug. It made the livestock fat with less food but was found to be a carcinogen (cancer causing drug). In the late 1940′s, it was found that the same anti-thyroid effect could be achieved by simply feeding animals soybeans and corn.

-It keeps getting better, coconut has been proven to have anti-cancer effects especially of the colon and breast. This is due to the oils protective nature and ability to safeguard the body from infection whilst cleansing your system.

-Coconut water is amazing, this stuff has an array of health benefits, it is low in carbs and sugars and one of the best hydrators, fluid replacers known to man.

• Coconut Water is More Nutritious than whole milk – Less fat and NO cholesterol!
• Coconut Water is Better than processed baby milk- It contains lauric acid, which is present in human mother’s milk
• Coconut water is naturally sterile — Water permeates though the filtering husk!
• Coconut water is a universal donor– Its identical to human blood plasma 
• Coconut Water is a Natural Isotonic Beverage – The same level we have in our blood.