This is another post about coconut oil.

     

       For a long time now my family has used coconut oil before it was cool. My dad used it to cook with, but I personally used it for hair mask. Let me say, it’s an amazing hair mask. Though I’ve always wondered what else it can be used for and why it’s considered so healthy?

            According to the Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, coconut oil is composed of about 53% lauric acid. Lauric acid seems to be the main contributor to coconut oils nutritional value, because when it’s ingested its directly metabolized and not stored as fat. Studies have also shown that lauric acid contributes the least to fat build up out of most saturated fats.

    So that we’ve covered what, chemically, makes coconut oil good for us, lets get into the fun stuff.

Uses for Coconut Oil:

1.      Coconut oil can be used to assist weight loss, because it can cause you to feel fuller, but it also doesn’t directly contribute to fat stores in the body.

2.      Coconut oil can be used to clean your teeth. This is called oil pulling, and you just rinse with coconut oil for about 10 minutes before you brush. This takes all the harmful bacteria in your mouth and basically collects it so that you can just spit it out. It also can result in whiter teeth.

3.      Coconut oil can be used as a beauty product. Coconut oil can easily be used as a moisturizer for your hair, face, and skin. You can also shave with it. 

Busting The Fat Free Myth

There has been a lot of question lately as to if the fat free craze from the 90’s has benefitted us and whether or not fat free is even good in the first place?

            Well the running idea at the time was that high fat foods lead to heart disease so avoid them at all cost. What they didn’t know was that there was actually a lot of benefit to eating polyunsaturated fats and avoiding saturated and trans fats specifically. That looks like avoiding creamy or solid fats and eating liquid fats.

            This is because saturated fats are made by adding a hydrogen to their chemical structure. That’s where the word hydrogenated comes from. What this means is that companies have added hydrogen to the natural fats in foods because it typically taste better and increases the shelf life. These means processed foods that contain some kind of cream agent are the ones you should avoid and the ones that more likely to cause heart disease (i.e. lard)

So what kinds of fats should you eat?

Good examples of healthy fats include olive oil, avocado oil, peanut oil, and most other oils, with the exception of canola oil.

Now aside from heart disease what are the other pros and cons of healthy fats?

According to an article by Sarah Haan, a registered dietician, there are five key pros and cons to eating fats. The first being that it becomes harder for your body to absorb vitamins with a low fat diet. There are a lot of vitamins that are absorbed into fat such as A, D, E, and K, and without fats it’s harder for your body to make use of these vitamins. The second side effect of a low fat diet is that it can cause depression or mood swings. Omega 3, found in fatty acids, can affect your mood. A lack of essential fatty acids has the potential to cause depression. The third side effect of eating fat free is that you are more likely to get colon, breast, or prostate cancer. The fourth negative effect of eating fat free is that since you’re not eating enough your probably taking in more carbs which can result in a nutrient imbalance. The fifth is that eating fat free can result in overeating because you don’t get full as fast and most people tend to eat more of the fat free foods because they think the calories don’t count.

Pasteurization? Is it actually good for us?

Since I was little by dad has always warned against pasteurization. Well I've always wondered, is it really bad for you? Where’s the scientific evidence and what’s actually done in pasteurization? So I decided to do a little digging and find out for myself. 

First, for those of you who aren't aware, I'll establish what pasteurization is. 

Pasteurization is the process of heating milk (there's some other products they do it to too) to about 145ºF to 150ºF for 30 minutes and then lowering the temperature by only about 55ºF. This process was invented by Louis Pasteur in 1864. It was created with the intention of using it on beer and wine in an effort to increase the shelf life.

What the CDC and the FDA claim about pasteurization is…

1.      Pasteurization kills bacteria claimed to cause illnesses in children such as: tuberculosis, typhoid, and diphtheria.

2.      Pasteurization doesn’t get rid of any nutrients that aren’t replaced by other aspects of the American diet.

3.      Pasteurization doesn’t kill the enzyme lactase, it does kill enzymes, just not ones pertinent to the American diet.

4.      Pasteurization doesn’t encourage lactose intolerance

Ok so let’s break down their argument…

According to Foodborne Pathogens and Disease “Several documented milk borne disease outbreaks occurred from 2000-2008 and were traced back to consumption of raw unpasteurized milk” and in retrospect a much smaller number of cases were traced back to pasteurized milk. So the CDC and the FDA’s argument that unpasteurized milk has the potential to cause disease is not false. Ok so let’s say that the first part of their argument is true.

The second part of their argument is a little more off. This should sound fishy considering that the CDC and FDA aren’t denying that pasteurization gets rid of important nutrients. Though they are claiming that the nutrients lost are easily replaced in the American diet, but really who eats what the FDA claims to be healthy? We’re going to disagree with their second point.

As to their arguments third part, it’s up in the air. There are not solid sources stating that there is or is not a significant amount of lactase in raw milk. The enzyme is contained in raw milk and the CDC acknowledges that pasteurization kills enzymes in the milk, but they won’t tell us which ones pasteurization kills.

The fifth part of their argument is closely tied to the fourth. It’s possible that pasteurization doesn’t encourage lactose intolerance. Though how can we really know when there’s no solid evidence that pasteurization doesn’t get rid of the enzyme lactase that allows humans to digest lactose?

So as for this debate it’s still undecided because neither side of the argument has provided sufficient evidence.