Coconut Oil
Anyone have thoughts on this as a dietary supplement? I took it while trying to lose weight a few years ago...I felt like it helped...but maybe it was just my nutrition and exercise? 3 Tbsp has about 300 calories. I would be fine if I added these calories, but just wondered if anyone had insight or experience with it as a weight loss aid. I've read a fair bit about the metabolic benefits of medium chain fatty acids...
i love coconut oil as i find that a lot less is absorbed, and therefore used, in the cooking process than say olive oil. Most oils have the around the same number of calories so it really just matters how much you use.
The coconut oil I'm talking about is to be taken orally as a supplement by the tablespoonful or in pill form...I'm sure you can cook with it too...I actually don't cook with any oil...I grill my my meat and steam my veggies. :)
I looove coconut oil. Never intentionally used it as a weight loss supplement, but it's anti-bacterial/fungal/viral and I take it by the spoonful when I get sick, or use it topically if I get a skin infection. (I get impetigo, and use tea tree oil in the daytime to dry out the infection -- then coconut oil at night to soften and allow the skin to heal.) I feel a clean sort of well-being on days when I take it, which I like.
I don't find it realistic to get 'medicinally' enough in my day by cooking with it, since as you say, it's hardly absorbed into food at all. I just put some in a spoon, pop it in the freezer to solidify if it's a warm day and then nom on it like a tiny, delicious, melty popsicle. I'm someone that hates the feel of grease in my mouth, but I don't mind straight-up coco oil as long as it's solid to begin with.
I have seen an anti-candida diet that called for smoothies of raw egg, spinach, spices and coconut oil... I've never had the nerve to drink eggs, but I was intrigued. The oil is VERY satiating; try having a boiled egg and a tablespoon of coco oil together for a snack.
It has such a light, pleasant flavor, too. I've cooked everything from meat to veggie chunks to wilted greens in it, and people are so mystified by its aroma. It's yummy. :3 It isn't easily damaged by high heats either, like other oils are, especially olive.
As far as I'm aware, the best stuff on the market is organic extra-virgin from Nutiva. It's cold-pressed and not refined or deodorized... lovely stuff.
