The Benefits & Tips Of Using Coconut Oil
Hailed as a miracle food – coconut oil is packed with goodness and is an extremely worthwhile investment. Although coconut oil can be pricey, it has many uses that we wanted to draw your attention to.
We have built this mini guide to help you learn the most important things about coconut oil and the best ways to use it to it’s maximum potential. Remember though – it is still an oil and therefore is fat-dense. Therefore it is highly calorific and should be used in moderation to prevent over-shooting on your macronutrients.
So here is some info to kick off:
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Energy: a dense source of saturated fat, coconut oil is made up of around 90% saturated fats. This makes most people panic – as saturated fat has receiveded a lot of negative attention over the years in the media with links to heart disease and obesity. The type fats in coconut oil are called MCTs – medium chain triglycerides – and are metabolized directly by the liver as a form of quick release energy. They also support the body with increasing it’s day-to-day energy expenditure. So a little of these in your diet everyday will actually help your body with burning more energy. Not so scary anymore right 🙂
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Immune System Support: coconut oil is made up of a substance called Lauric Acid. When it is metabolized, it also produces a product called Monolaurin. Both Monolaurin and Lauric Acid aid the body in destroying harmful bacteria, pathogens and viruses. So a little coconut oil in your diet each day will help support your body’s immune response. As well as keep bugs at bay!
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Hunger suppressant: when the saturated fats in coconut oil are metabolized, the liver produces ketone bodies that studies have shown can have an appetite reducing effect. The results vary person to person and are not a sure-fire cure, but it can help with keeping the body satisfied to prevent sugar cravings sneaking in!
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Moisturiser: coconut oil is a perfect natural substitute for artificial moisturisers. It’s lubricating, oily properties make it excellent for dry skin or irritated skin conditions such as eczema. It can also be applied directly to the skin/hair/lips to help hydrate and soothe. Suitable for children too due to their being no artificial additives or chemicals.
Top tips for using coconut oil:
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A small teaspoon in your morning is a perfect way to get some good fats into the body at the beginning of the day. It will help reduce the appetite cravings and boost your body’s fat burning for the rest of the day. Don’t worry – it doesn’t affect the taste of your coffee!
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Use a small amount of coconut oil to shallow fry any meats or vegetables in your cooking.
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Massage into wet hair after shampooing and leave to soak in for 5 minutes. Rinse out and dry as normal for a deep conditioning mask for damaged hair.
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Make some coconut oil snacks! Hit google for some recipe ideas for using coconut oil to make nutrition, clean snacks to keep in the fridge to help get more coconut oil into your daily diet. www.lucybee.co/ is a great place to scope out some good recipes!
