Coconut Oil

cnwnutritionist

There has been a lot of buzz lately about coconut oil and if you haven't tried it you might be interested to know that it has some amazing properties to it. One is that it can actually increase your metabolism. If looking at the nutrition label you may notice that it contains saturated fat which we normally would consider a "bad" fat. But in coconut oil the saturated fat is a medium chain fatty acid called lauric acid which is metabolized rather than stored away as fat so it increases your metabolism. Lauric acid has been shown to increase the good cholesterol called HDL so it has beneficial properties for cardiovascular health. Coconut oil also contains anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties for disease prevention as well as for support of a healthy intestinal tract. This oil has also been shown to be healthy for hormone balance as well as blood sugar control. If this doesn't have you sold on trying coconut oil, then I will add that cooking with it is also a great option because it withstands heat a whole better than other cooking oils. It does however add a slight coconut taste to your food. Adding 1 tablespoon of coconut oil is a great addition to your diet!