Coconut oil and weight loss

Yes it is controversial so I tend to be careful and not have too much but it is really good for any high temperature cooking which most oils aren't so I use it then.

I'd love to know for sure if it's good to use more of it.

I try never to use oil as it deters my weight loss (too many calories).

As for cooking with it, I threw all my oil away. Cooking oil included. It just isn't worth all those calories.

Dude, how do you use oil? It's not that many calories if you use it in the correct amount, and it's incredibly good for your body, especially coconut oil!

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/508/2

It's a 100% fat.

I think this discussion is over.

Coconut oil is a superfood. It is a medium-chain triglyceride -- the body has no metabolic pathway to store it as fat. It is either used immediately as energy, or the body excretes it. Consuming it is a great alternative to carb-loading for those who exercise because it causes no insulin response and provides immediate energy because it quickly converts to ketones. It is often used to treat Alzheimer sufferers and epileptics who have difficulty using glucose to fuel their brains. Both Johns Hopkins University Medical Center and the Mayo Clinic have been using medium-chain triglycerides this way for decades.

Coconut oil also has antimicrobial benefits from its high lauric acid content. It contains more than mother's breast milk.

It is also easily one of the best things a person can put on their hair and skin -- it is one of the only substances on earth that penetrates the hair shaft.

Additionally, coconut oil fosters the absorption of fat soluble vitamins as well as anything we consume.

McDougall has hooked you.

He saved my life. I eat as much as I want and I don't have to watch calories. I don't have to portion anything. I just eat certain types of food and moderate exercise. However, I did run a marathon two weeks ago.

I agree that going low calorie or low to no added fats has perhaps reversed your type 2 or keeping it at bay.
There was a study where type 2 diabetics ate a very low calorie diet and improved/reversed their condition. Sugar is a culprit in diabetes but also the free fatty acids. With a very low calorie diet the free fatty acids gets used up. The excess free fatty acids may have been causing inflammation to the beta cells in type 2 diabetes. Remove the free fatty acid and there was improvement

I am symptom free for over a year and a half, and I eat nothing but starches and veggies and fruits. I realized that it isn't the diet that helps reverse chronic disease, it is the amount of calories your body takes in (as in absorbs).

I have 2 fingers of turkey in a year and a half and yes, I ran a marathon two weeks ago and I have no protein deficiencies. There is plenty of essential fats in plants and they only reside in plant foods.

I never said coconut oil is bad per se. I said it has a lot of calories and that, if your body takes in the calories, is bad for weight management. I have learned that I don't want to be on ketosis so I have to do the next best thing, which is to watch my calories so I follow calorie density of foods and it works.

=]

it doesn't taste anything like peanut butter

McDougall has hooked you.

He saved my life. I eat as much as I want and I don't have to watch calories. I don't have to portion anything. I just eat certain types of food and moderate exercise. However, I did run a marathon two weeks ago.

I agree that going low calorie or low to no added fats has perhaps reversed your type 2 or keeping it at bay.
There was a study where type 2 diabetics ate a very low calorie diet and improved/reversed their condition. Sugar is a culprit in diabetes but also the free fatty acids. With a very low calorie diet the free fatty acids gets used up. The excess free fatty acids may have been causing inflammation to the beta cells in type 2 diabetes. Remove the free fatty acid and there was improvement

I am symptom free for over a year and a half, and I eat nothing but starches and veggies and fruits. I realized that it isn't the diet that helps reverse chronic disease, it is the amount of calories your body takes in (as in absorbs).

I have 2 fingers of turkey in a year and a half and yes, I ran a marathon two weeks ago and I have no protein deficiencies. There is plenty of essential fats in plants and they only reside in plant foods.

I never said coconut oil is bad per se. I said it has a lot of calories and that, if your body takes in the calories, is bad for weight management. I have learned that I don't want to be on ketosis so I have to do the next best thing, which is to watch my calories so I follow calorie density of foods and it works.

=]

I'm happy for you. I just hope that the plant fat will be sufficient. You feel really good now but will it be detrimental later down the track? Anyway, its working for you.

P.S. Do you eat grains on McDougall?

P.S. Do you eat grains on McDougall?

I bought a 50 lb bag of barley. I regret it as it gives me lots of gas. [insert laughter here]. Seriously, I eat hulled barley.

P.S. Do you eat grains on McDougall?

I bought a 50 lb bag of barley. I regret it as it gives me lots of gas. [insert laughter here]. Seriously, I eat hulled barley.

Thanks. Just wondered if McDougall plan included grains.

You have to make sure to limit your portions of it, but it has lots of health benefits!!

Yes it is controversial so I tend to be careful and not have too much but it is really good for any high temperature cooking which most oils aren't so I use it then.

I'd love to know for sure if it's good to use more of it.

I try never to use oil as it deters my weight loss (too many calories).

As for cooking with it, I threw all my oil away. Cooking oil included. It just isn't worth all those calories.

Dude, how do you use oil? It's not that many calories if you use it in the correct amount, and it's incredibly good for your body, especially coconut oil!

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/508/2

It's a 100% fat.

I think this discussion is over.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/why-your-body-needs-some-fat-to-be-healthy.html

Well. Yeah. NOW it is. :laugh:

So go ahead and eat 100% fat and see if you lose weight. There is essential fat found in plants, but we are talking about oil that is 100% fat.

If you are bone skinny, yes you need fat. How many here are bone skinny? I read the page and it doesn't give any recommendations as to how to eat it if you are at a certain level of health and weight. So I repeat, oil, when we talk about calories, is too high and not worth it.

If you want to ingest oil that clogs up your arteries and packs in the calories, go for it.

http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/

Coconut Oil

*Promotes loss of excess weight by increasing metabolic rate.

*Is utilized by the body to produce energy in preference to being stored as body fat like other dietary fats.

*Helps prevent obesity and overweight problems.



While coconut possesses many health benefits due to its fiber and nutritional content, it's the oil that makes it a truly remarkable food and medicine.

Once mistakenly believed to be unhealthy because of its high saturated fat content, it is now known that the fat in coconut oil is a unique and different from most all other fats and possesses many health giving properties. It is now gaining long overdue recognition as a nutritious health food.

Coconut oil has been described as "the healthiest oil on earth." That's quite a remarkable statement. What makes coconut oil so good? What makes it different from all other oils, especially other saturated fats?

The difference is in the fat molecule. All fats and oils are composed of molecules called fatty acids. There are two methods of classifying fatty acids. The first you are probably familiar with, is based on saturation. You have saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats. Another system of classification is based on molecular size or length of the carbon chain within each fatty acid. Fatty acids consist of long chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached. In this system you have short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), and long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). Coconut oil is composed predominately of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), also known as medium-chain triglycerides (MCT).

The vast majority of fats and oils in our diets, whether they are saturated or unsaturated or come from animals or plants, are composed of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). Some 98 to 100% of all the fatty acids you consume are LCFA.

The size of the fatty acid is extremely important. Why? Because our bodies respond to and metabolize each fatty acid differently depending on its size. So the physiological effects of MCFA in coconut oil are distinctly different from those of LCFA more commonly found in our foods. The saturated fatty acids in coconut oil are predominately medium-chain fatty acids. Both the saturated and unsaturated fat found in meat, milk, eggs, and plants (including most all vegetable oils) are composed of LCFA.

MCFA are very different from LCFA. They do not have a negative effect on cholesterol and help to protect against heart disease. MCFA help to lower the risk of both atherosclerosis and heart disease. It is primarily due to the MCFA in coconut oil that makes it so special and so beneficial.

There are only a very few good dietary sources of MCFA. By far the best sources are from coconut and palm kernel oils.

P.S. Do you eat grains on McDougall?

I bought a 50 lb bag of barley. I regret it as it gives me lots of gas. [insert laughter here]. Seriously, I eat hulled barley.

Try this cooking technique to avoid digestive problems with hulled barley: http://www.vegancoach.com/boiled-barley.html

I totally get your point about eating whole foods rather than oils. I'd much rather eat olives, coconut, nuts, avocado than the oils extracted from them. I like to approach diet with a "back to the Garden of Eden" mentality, but I'm not always up to the discipline this takes!

It's a GOOD fat. The human body and brain need oils and fats to function.


http://www.naturalnews.com/030971_coconut_brain_function.html

http://alzheimersweekly.com/content/coconut-oils-fat-dangers-vs-brain-benefits

http://www.organiccoconutoil.info/

http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com/2009/04/coconut-oil-health-benefits/

http://www.be-healthy-with-coconuts.com/coconut-oil-benefits.html

One of these talks about how women who ate coconut oil had a lower bad cholesterol levels and a higher good cholesterol levels. Its fine, don't listen to people who won't engage in discussion or give arguments for their case. I love coconut oil, I use it regularly, I am losing weight, my digestive tract is healing, my joints are improving, and I use this stuff on my skin and I look amazing.

P.S. Do you eat grains on McDougall?

I bought a 50 lb bag of barley. I regret it as it gives me lots of gas. [insert laughter here]. Seriously, I eat hulled barley.

Try this cooking technique to avoid digestive problems with hulled barley: http://www.vegancoach.com/boiled-barley.html

I totally get your point about eating whole foods rather than oils. I'd much rather eat olives, coconut, nuts, avocado than the oils extracted from them. I like to approach diet with a "back to the Garden of Eden" mentality, but I'm not always up to the discipline this takes!

Thank you so much for this. I will presoak my barley! This is why I love mfp!

So here are some articles on coconut oil. As everyone tries to tell me it's really good for them and even though I didn't want to say anything bad except that it is too high in calories (as all oils are). Here is a web site that has clinical research backing it up.

http://www.cspinet.org/nah/articles/coconut-oil.html

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rnfirstbite/coconut-oil-research/4070728

So until there is conclusive proof, I am sticking to the fact that it is too high in calories.

Is it a fact it's to high, or is it a fact that you feel it's to high? We all agree it's high in calories, but only you are saying it's to high.

Really! (insert smack palm to head) Get a grip there are web articles for every food item that can show it's good or bad. Look at all the folks in this thread alone that have lost weight still eating healthy oils. Just because you don't eat it does not mean everyone should not eat it and just because everyone else eats it does not mean you should.

I think there are some great responses to the OP's question, but my question for the Coconut Troll is, If you don't log food, don't excercise and don't value anyones opinion but your own, why are you here on MFP?

Just in case anyone's still asking.......

I use coconut oil when I fry an egg in the morning. One of the other reasons that I use it, is my dad was in the hospital for cancer surgery, and the doc told him to use it after he saw his drainage tubes, which were fatty from the general diet he was on there (before they put him on low fat). He said coconut oil, although solid at room temp, is a great oil for your body because it's processed minimally. I only read a couple posts, but using in lieu of peanut butter is not giving you the protein you need.

Although I need to go back and read the studies, coconut oil was always controversial, not necessarily because of health issues, but because of old import/export regulations AND being in conflict w/ other oils that we now know are not good for us, like vegetable oil, etc that were grown domestically. Such is business. Just my 2 cents.

Would I use it as a weight loss tool? No, because I'm counting calories, but I will use it instead of other oils that are called in recipes that I cook regularly because it does have minimal process benefits, just like olive oil and butter. I do know someone on a whole food diet who puts it in her morning tea, and it adds the sweetness she wants.