Everyone these days wants to lose weight fast. Perhaps it’s those extra pregnancy pounds that just aren’t coming off despite all the nursing in the world. Maybe it’s the midlife spreading waste line. Or maybe you’ve always just been a little bit overweight.
One of the best things you can do to easily drop pounds without radically changing your lifestyle (besides going ultra-low carb and ditching grains altogether) is to eat coconut oil.
In America’s recent past, coconut oil got an undeserved bad name.
Why?
Because it’s high in saturated fats, and they were unjustly demonized. Cutting-edge research has pretty much shredded most of The Lipid Hypothesis — the theory that there is a direct correlation between saturated fat and cholesterol intake in the diet with incidence of coronary heart disease. We now know, for example, that most of the studies which showed dietary intake of saturated fats (particularly those using coconut oil) were bad for you were actually proving that trans fats are bad for you.
(If you’ve got time, you can watch an 18 minute video tutorial I created called Good Fat Bad Fat.)
But unrefined, virgin coconut oil is an excellent and traditional fat and contains no trans-fats whatsoever.
How can Virgin Coconut Oil boost your metabolism and promote weight loss?
A few things:
- It’s high in medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs). A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found patients lost weight when they included MCFA’s in their diet. In fact, when you compare a diet including olive oil or MCFA’s, it was found patients lost more weight using MCFA’s.
- It’s high in lauric acid. Lauric acid is an MCFA so it will not only possibly help you lose weight (per the study above), but it’s also documented to have amazing antiviral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal properties. In other words, it fights everything from the common cold to serious lipid-coated viruses such as HIV and herpes!
- It may reduce your food cravings. When you add coconut oil into your diet, you’ll feel more full and eat fewer calories over all.
Still Don’t Believe Me?
Check out the amazing progress these two ladies had when they eliminated the junk fats (vegetable oils like corn, soy, and canola) from their diets and switched to healthier fats (like coconut and olive oil).
PLEASE NOTE: This is all these ladies did! They switched to good fats, period.
Finding Good Quality Coconut Oil
If you’re looking for a good source of coconut oil, you’re not very likely to find it at your grocery store. Fortunately, there are several decent sources online. A Google search will turn up quite a few listings, or you can check out the listings on my Real Food Resources page.
(photo by alex the greek)
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Interesting! I didn’t even know coconut oil existed.
I wasn’t able to watch the video (no sound at the moment) – can coconut oil be a substitute for canola/veg oil in cooking?
Is there any other good methods for weight loss with the coconut oil? (like a tablespoon a day or something)
Absolutely. In fact, I would advise you to NEVER again use canola or vege oil. They are far inferior to coconut, evoo, hemp, etc. The omega 3’s in canola become rancid when subjected to the tremendous heat needed to extract the oil, then they are deodorized which turns them into transfats. I agree with Jonny Bowden who says that the hype of canola is from brilliant marketing. The science behind it tells us it is poison. I have never and will never use that oil.
I use extra virgin coconut oil every day to scramble my eggs, saute veggies, even spread it on toast. Gives food a wonderful taste and aroma!
Jon R. M.Ed
Hi, I just found your site and have really been enjoying it. Great tips and content! We love coconut oil. Luckily, my husband works for Barleans Organis Oils. We get coconut oil, flax oil, cod liver oil, flax meal, greens, and other produts all for free! I told him he can never quit because we are all addicted to thier prooducts now and could not afford to buy them. He makes coconut oil french fries and they taste soooo good! If you can’t be so extravagant with your oil try hash browns with a 2-4 tablespoons of c.oil. It makes baked goods delicious also. We use it in our ginger cookies. I also use it to sweeten the kids oatmeal. Good fats and it gives a great flavor and sweetness. Amazing stuff.
Does coconut oil have a particularly ‘coconuty’ taste? I’d love to start using this for my family, but my husband can’t stand the taste of coconut.
Wow very interesting indeed!
Amanda
I’m having trouble visualizing it because I’ve seen it sold in a solid state. Is is liquid or solid? I bought some from a farmer’s market that is from the Philippines and is organic, but solid.
tribal talk
We bought coconut oil for the first time last night for an awesome recipe I wanted to try, but my husband is skeptical. Do you know much about how coconut oil is made, or how it has been used in traditional diets?
Thank you for this post. I currently live in Portugal and have Philippino babysitters. They have the oil shipped to them from home and eat a tablespoon everyday to help prevent illnesses. They also use it on their hair and skin. Tropical Traditions ships free to my FPO address – so, I just placed an order. Thank you for reminding me of the benefits of this oil!
But what about all that evil saturated fat!?!?!?! Lol. I love the coconut… one of the resons southeast asians have traditionally been very healthy (this is changing with the advent of teh western diet there). Consuming coconut milk actually fires my metabolism up enough that i can sweat! Lol it is awesome
The SoG
Son of Grok
Semi… your husband wont notice.
Tribal talk… at room temperature it is in a solid state like a gel. Warm it up a little bit and you get delicious oily liquid.
Son of Grok
Excellent post – more people need to read this. Coconut oil tastes wonderful!
Throwback at Trapper Creek
Troy — Yes, you would use coconut oil instead of veggie oil in cooking. Many people do try to take coconut oil as a weight loss supplement instead of just cooking with it. They’ll melt 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a cup of warm water and drink it. Some even build that up to 2 or 4 tbsp per day.
SemiCrunchyMom — The extra virgin coconut oil *will* taste and smell like coconut — particularly to someone who’s sensitive. The more refined oils taste less like coconut, but they also have fewer health benefits. Many have bought the extra virgin for the health benefits, then used it in recipes that “hide” the flavor. Others have simply started introducing it on occasion and building up a tolerance. I’ve never had this problem because I *love* the coconut flavor.
TribalTalk — Coconut oil is solid at temperatures lower than 76 degrees. So, if you’ve got a warm house, it will be liquid in the summer. Otherwise, you’ll need to warm it up before using it like an oil.
Amber — Coconut oil is a traditional oil in all tropical climates, including Latin America and Asia. It’s been made for thousands of years. How it is made depends on the company making it. Of all of the oils I linked to above, the one made using the most traditional method is the Tropical Traditions Gold Label oil. They do the ENTIRE process *by hand* in the Philippines (hence the price). The link I gave you in the post above describes the entire process in great detail.
SoG — Wow. I’ve never had that experience drinking coconut milk. Maybe I would if I had significantly more muscle than I do. (Working on that now thanks to CrossFit.)
Thanks for the article. I went to Nutiva’s website and was very glad to find discounted high-quality, good-tasting coconut oil without having to join a membership (Tropical Traditions).
I have been eating coconut oil for a while, for eating straight out of the jar as well as flavoring other foods (gluten-free pancakes, veggies, smoothies, etc.). I have noticed that when I eat enough good fats (CLO included), my blood circulation is a whole lot better and I am not as cold. I eat it as a snack in between meals so that my blood glucose doesn’t get off-balance and for energy.
I just made some coconut milk ice cream last night – truly divine without any dairy inconveniences (for me!).
Thank you for the resources! I must look into
Michelle @ Find Your Balance
Nutiva is great.
We’ve actually switched to Jungle Brand ourselves — http://www.junglepi.com/products/coconut_oil.html Not SUPER pricey, and it tastes great.
I love coconut oil for baking and most sauteeing. It’s fantastic for curries. And I love the flavor that it adds to risottos and stir-fries.
Jungle sells both organic extra-virgin coconut oils and red palm oil (which is another great alternative fat we’ve been using). Great tocopherols in the red palm… and a fantastic nutty flavor.
The only times I don’t use coconut oil are:
Salad dressings – I use olive oil for this. I do not ever heat olive oil, as it turns into trans-fat when heated.
Cookies – Gotta be butter in cookies! There are a few exceptions, but for the most part, I use regular, unsalted butter in cookies.
Deep Fat Frying, some pastries – I use unhydrogenated lard from a farmer I know and trust for deep fat frying potatoes. We have these rarely, but I keep some lard just in case.
I use coconut oil for every other purpose in my kitchen, even “buttering” my toast. My family hasn’t noticed any difference in the flavor or texture of food. I lost weight very, very slowly (2 pounds a month) with absolutely no other changes. I don’t take coconut oil medicinally yet, but I’m considering it.
One note on price comparisons: check the shipping before placing your order. Some sources I researched charge as much for shipping a gallon of coconut oil as they do the oil itself. Other sources offer free shipping on a qualifying size order. It can be confusing, so be sure you are comparing the same quality of oil across the board.
Local Nourishment
How does butter fit into this?
Any reason I should avoid the only coconut oil available in my area? I’m sure it’s not organic. I can’t even remember the name of it, I keep almost buying it when I go to the grocery store.
I live in a remote area, no organic or natural food stores. I am financially limited so I have to be careful what I order online. All that shipping adds up.
Genie
I’m curious about hemp oil. I’ve never heard anything about it and no one has commented on it. Any thoughts?
I LOVE coconut oil, before I went Paleo I used it in baked goods. I use to drink it in warm water as well, but the consistency invoked my gag-reflex. Bleah!!
CrossFit by Imperium
Semi-Crunchy Mama,
My husband also hates all things coconut. Coconut oil, however, even if smells of the offending substance, carries no “tropical” after taste.
~Anna
Anna
Genie — I use butter from grass-fed cows all the time. Sooo tasty! As to whether or not to avoid the coconut oil in your local store, I’ll need more info. Some things to watch out for:
1. Is it hydrogenated? If it is, avoid it like the plague.
2. Is it refined? Refined coconut oils are still better for you than the junk oils (corn, soy, canola, veggie), but they don’t confer many of the same health benefits. So, it probably won’t help you lose weight or be good for medicinal uses, but it’s still an improvement.
If the online shipping price intimidates you, try to find at least one other person to order with you. The more you buy, the more you save! I *really* recommend getting good quality oils, as I firmly believe that besides eliminating JUNK the single best thing you can do for your diet is to switch to healthy fats.
Julie — I’m doing research on it right now. Nutiva recently discovered my site and sent me some samples of everything they sell (surprise!), so I’m going through their marketing materials and scouring the internet to see what I can find out about it & how to use it. I’ll be sure to write a post on it when I know more. In the meantime, does anybody else know anything?
I’ve read some things about hemp that made me not get it, but I don’t remember where. I’d appreciate that update you mentioned too.
I don’t like the coconut taste either, but I’m trying to get used to it. I have shredded coconut, and it’s not to bad. I get Lou Anna coconut oil, which I think is probably one of the worst brands, but I like it because it doesn’t have the coconut taste, and because it’s cheap.
Maybe I can work my way up to a more coconutty tasting oil .
But it is great, it fills me up!
Thanks for this article. I didn’t know this about coconut and I avoided the oil.
Fluffy2002
I use coconut oil when I’m frying anything and also in pie shells (half butter, half coconut oil). It adds so much flavor to these foods…I would say that it doesn’t really taste like coconut, but you can tell that there is an added flavor. However, if you were to just taste some directly, it does taste like coconut.
I tried the Wilderness Family Naturals and it was pretty good. I have heard about Tropical Traditions. I think that I may give that one a try and use it in my smoothies. Hopefully, it won’t taste too oily…
Claudine
I use coconut oil and coconut creme from Tropical Traditions. The creme, which is actually 70% coconut oil, still doesn’t melt easily like the straight oil, so I put it in a pan of water and heated it until it was creamy, then mixed it with coconut milk and some brown rice syrup I had. Wow, it made it SO creamy and yummy! Now I can use it in my morning yerbamate or dandyblend or even coffee for a delish flavor! It tastes so good I could eat it off the spoon or use it as a spread. The oil is very, well, OILY! I am always trying new ways to get down the oil/creme for health and weight loss. Would love to get up to three tablespoons a day. I love the taste and smell of coconut, it’s just the OIL part that makes my gag reflex kick into gear! If you add the oil/creme to something COLD it will curdle so if you’re making salad dressings or thinking of adding to a cold smoothie, be warned.
i just got on cocnut oil kick and i love. ive been ingesting and moisturizing with cocnut oil for about 1 1/2 weeks now and immediatly felt a boost. my skin is more clear too. i ve been playing with ways to enjoy this wonder food. i first add a good amount in a plastic pastry bag and snip the bags tip- makes it so easy to measure (i even squeeze a little on my cats treats he loves it, but wont eat it straight). *mix 1-2 tbsp with hot water, unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 tsp xylitol -delicious sweet treat thats so good for you. * mix coconut oil baking soda xylitol and mint drops for an excellent natural toothpaste. * core fresh strawberries and fill middles with coconut oil-* use in any brown rice, cous cous. or any multi-grain pasta, then add steamed or raw veggies soo good.* use to marinade asparagus then grill or broil. i could go on and on- one other thing i use it in my hair which is very dark, lets just say i now love my hair and dont fear white shirts anymore!! i hope my ideas helped a little
I was trying to eat the coconut oil before meals, but I found it started making me feel very funny and sick feeling, etc. I usually ate it in hot water like the Eat Fat, Lose Fat book recommends. Any suggestions?
I did feel full, etc., it was just the usual upset feelings that bothered me. Eating it in food, etc. is fine with my body though.
Great article – thanks for the tips. Just bought Nutiva locally – my Frontier co-op would have been cheaper but still more than Mountain Rose Herbs – will order from them next time if I’m sure I get through that much oil this year. It’s the only thing I use on my skin anymore… Even put it on a mosquito bite the other day! Best result ever!
I don’t question the idea that eating these three oils (hemp, olive, and coconut) instead of corn oil will dramatically improve your health. But your post says, “This is all these ladies did. They switched to good fats, period.”
But the video shows them replacing Doritos, mayonnaise, soda, and other highly-processed foods with salads and kale. Clearly, they went from eating a junk-food laden diet to one that was heavily weighted with fresh produce. Anyone would lose weight with that approach, right? Just as if they ate potatoes fried in coconut butter all day long, they’d probably not lose much at all.
I guess this video struck me as just another infomercial promising weight loss to willing believers. I’d much rather see something that showed the results on their cholesterol levels or energy.
Dana -
I think that’s the point. Doritos, mayonnaise, etc. all contain unhealthy oils. In order to switch to good fats, you’ve got to give up the bad fats. That not only applies to which fats you use to cook, but also to the fats in the foods you buy. It pretty much means that you can’t eat processed crap anymore (at least not most processed foods).
Thanks for this info i have been using MeritVCO..extra virgin cocnut oil from http://www.excelcombine.com it eazily aviable in india…
I have heard so many bad things about coconut oil, and tropical oils in general. But I lived on Maui for over ten years, and my dearest friends were Hawaiian and Phillipino. They all use the oil, and have very healthy lives. The extra virgin stuff seems to be the best, and thanks so much for making people aware of the goodnes that the coconut has. It truly has been maligned.
Veronica
I’ve been using coconut oil for some time now and love it – it adds a nice flavor to all the foods I cook, not to mention it is good for you if you lick the spoon clean after dropping the oil in the pan.
I was curious after reading your recommendations what brand I had been using so I had to run down and check, I recently finished off a jar of Nutiva but currently am using the “Whole Foods Market” brand since it was on sale. Both I would say are great. I did notice something interesting though, we have another brand in reserve (gotta love those sales) made by “Now Foods” both are cold-pressed unrefined organic coconut oil but the Now Foods brand is liquid at the top third of the jar while the Whole Foods brand is still solid. Do coconut oils have different melting points?
Earth Friendly Goodies
Reading the article and all the replies, I’m sold! Thanks!
.-= Marg
I saw more diet and health info and chemical stuff on coconut oil at
http://www.rainforestcoconutoil.com
Didn’t know that cocnut oil has so many benefits. Although I am still a bit skeptical on how effective it is.
.-= Justin
Dana above makes an excellent point. In order to get weight loss benefits you need to replace “bad” fats w/ “good” fats. I read the study noted above and I think it’s important to recognize that this study used pure Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs… or MCFAs as you call them), not coconut oil. They compared two groups, both with weight reduction diets, giving the control olive oil and the study group the pure MCT. They found a modest –1.67 ± 0.67 kg wt loss over 16 weeks.
Coconut oil has a place in your kitchen, as do good fats such as olive and canola, as long as they are not eaten in excess.
- Sarah, MPH, RD, CNSC
Coconut oil is great with white rice (including bhasmati or jasmine rice), usually I add garlic to make a heart-healthy garlicky white rice. It’s also good with raw cacao, in raw cacao (chocolate) smoothies and raw ice cream.
It can also be used in pastries.
Another oil that most Americans don’t know about is palm oil, which is reddish in color and rich in beta carotene and other wholesome ingredients: this vegetable oil is metabolized into pure energy when consumed, instead of being stored as fat, so it’s a great, energy-efficient oil. But it’s an ‘exotic’ taste that most Americans aren’t used to. I use palm oil when making fish dishes: especially tilapia, also salmon and codfish. It’s great with fish, the flavors combine very well.
Palm oil is used to make Snickers and other chocolate bars, so people do consume it but they don’t know how to cook with it. It’s staple in African cuisine.
I just made my first batch of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) by blending the fresh coconut meat with the liquid and some water until liquified and then straining and pressing through cheesecloth. I then left the liquid in a cabinet for 18 hours until the oil separated. I refrigerated it to harden the oil and then popped it off. There is some liquid still left and I was wondering how to drain it completely from the oil. It is lovely stuff!
Great post I have found that eating natural healthy foods works for me, I no longer diet, I actually eat more than before and I have my weight undercontrol for the first time in years. I have coconut oil every second day.
Rose Weight Loss´s last blog post …The Weighing Game
I have changed all my eating habits and have not known about coconut oil before, but after reading these posts and some additional research i see how Coconut oil will be a great addition to my daily routine.
I’ve been using coconut oil for awhile, but I’ve just been using the inexpensive LouAna brand that’s available locally. It says it’s non hydrogenated, but how would I know if it’s refined? All it says is that it’s 100% pure all natural, of course… Any ideas? Oh, they do have a website: louana.com and an 800 number, but I know better than to call and trust anything they would tell me.
Great to see this information posted online. As a Holistic Nutritionist, I am a saturated fat fan. I have many friends who are on “low fat” kicks or diets. You are providng an easy resource and with solid information to spread to the people! Keep it coming