Coconut Oil and Abdominal Fat Loss
Some VERY interesting studies recently on the relationship between coconut oil (or any type of coconut fat, including coconut milk and cream) and how it can affect your body fat are surfacing and I’m very happy.. I’m, I’m healthy and i consume LOTS of it!
But how can coconut oil – a lipid – AKA FAT take weight off? well, we’re not talking about run-of-the-mill fat.
We’re talking about visceral fat. The NASTY fat.
Millions struggle with stubborn abdominal fat. It’s difficult to shed even doing everything you think you need do to be healthy.. It’s unsightly, but it can can lead to an increased risk of a number of health conditions.
Think… greater susceptibility to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Think… this fat tends to coat vital organs, think… system-wide inflammation that may trigger an array of other chronic illnesses.
So why am I not surprised at the first study I found from the Journal of Lipids?
It’s not that new.. it was published in 2009. The study tested the effects of either 2 tablespoons of coconut oil or 2 tablespoons of soybean on 40 women over tf 28 days.The group that ate the coconut oil had a decrease in abdominal fat, while the soybean oil group actually showed a slight increase in belly fat.
The group that ate the coconut oil showed increased HDL ‘good’ cholesterol levels, while the soybean oil group had decreased HDL cholesterol and increased LDL ‘ bad’ cholesterol.
The next study I found was in the esteemed Journal of Nutrition.Researchers investigated all studies relative to medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) that are abundant in coconut fat and weight management.It showed that diets rich in fats such as those found in coconut oil prompted a boost in metabolism, increase in energy, decrease in food consumption, reduced body weight and lowered body fat mass.
The third study assessed body weight and fat storage relative to three different types of diets including a low-fat diet, high-fat diet with long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) and a high fat diet with MCFAs. In order to bring about weight gain, caloric intakes were adjusted for the diets.At the end of the 44 day research period, the low-fat diet group stored an average of 0.47 grams of fat per day, the LCFA group stored 0.48 grams of fat per day, and the MCFA group only stored a mere 0.19 grams per day (despite purposely increasing calories).
Those in the MCFA group (coconut fat) had a 60 percent reduction in body fat stored compared to the other diets.
An added bonus of consuming organic coconut oil (and coconut cream or milk) is that it tends to make us feel fuller for longer. Studies show MCFAs help increase feelings of fullness and lead to a reduction in calorie intake when compared to the same amount of calories from other fats. When MCFAs are metabolized, ketone bodies are created in the liver – these have been shown to have a strong appetite reducing effect helping you to lose fat faster.
The Saturated-Fat Myth That Robbed
You of Your Good Health!
Before World War II, the miracle-healing coconut had been used to help alleviate:
- Coughs
- Constipation
- Malnutrition
- Skin infections
- Toothaches
- Earaches
- Flus
- And more!
But that all changed when the war ended and the United States proclaimed hydrogenated oils to be the “healthier oils.” By the 1960s, a weak scientific theory claimed that saturated fats-like those found in butter, eggs, milk, red meat and coconuts – increased “bad” LDL cholesterol and were dangerous to consume.
Nothing was further from the truth! But this “health scare” was enough to push the public away from saturated fats and instead to refined vegetable oils. This was perfect for food manufacturers because they were far cheaper to produce.
It wasn’t long before Western-style diets made their way to the islands and the old ways were forgotten.
Cheaper, mass-produced hydrogenated foods replaced traditional foods, like the versatile and all-healing coconut oil that had kept the islanders healthy for generations.
And for the first time ever, diseases that had become prevalent among Americans… heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity started to plague the island nations.
The Four Unhealthy “Healthy Oils” You Should Never Consume!
Decades ago when food processing first began, it became regular practice to alter that which nature provided. Thus began the era of “frankenfoods.”
Whole, nutritious natural foods that mostly came straight from the farm to the table were replaced by over-processed, refined and chemical laden, mass-produced convenience foods.
And fats were no different. Over four decades healthy sources of fats were replaced with vegetable oils that were thought to be “better-for-you.” We now know they’ve done more harm than good.
The following four are, in our opinion, oils you should avoid at all costs:
Canola – Animals and insects avoid it in nature, here’s why you should too…
There is no such thing as a canola in nature. Canola oil is actually a modified version of rapeseed oil. Asian and Indian cultures used rapeseed oil for centuries, but it was never consumed in the large quantities that Americans do.
The rape plant (in the mustard family) contains cyanide-containing compounds and wild animals and even insects avoid it in nature.
The refining process of deodorizing and bleaching to become canola oil involves exposing rapeseed oil to high heat, which greatly reduces the omega 3 content (perhaps it’s only original redeeming factor).
Consumption of this “GMO Oil” has been linked to muscular disorders and fatty degeneration of the heart, kidneys, adrenals and thyroid gland. To avoid it, check labels closely – even in so-called healthy products – because it’s practically everywhere.
Cottonseed Oil – An industrial plant saturated with pesticides…
Thousands of commercially produced foods contain cottonseed oil; everything from canned foods to chips and other packaged items. It is even in beverages such as Gatorade. However, cotton is not a food crop, and is therefore not treated like an edible crop but an industrial one.
Virtually anything can be sprayed on cotton plants to ward off insects and induce growth. Dangerous poisons such as trifluralin, cyanide, dicofol, propargite and naled are used on cotton crops. These work their way deep into the plants, literally transforming them into toxic organisms.
While it may be ok for making pants and shirts, cottonseed oil is truly not safe to consume. The majority of cotton plants are genetically modified – altered at the molecular level. Even though we are not eating the cotton plant directly, the extracted oil contains the same properties as the plant.
Besides a high amount of omega-6 fatty acids, cottonseed oil has a similar protein structure to peanuts, so people who are allergic to peanuts may have a serious allergic reaction to this oil, as well. However, the FDA does not require an allergy label on the oil – even though peanut oils can be fatal.
Safflower – Studies show an increase of Omega-6 also increases the rate of death by heart disease, reason enough to avoid this oil…
If you still believe that saturated fat and cholesterol are a direct cause of heart disease then safflower oil probably seems like a healthy swap.
Previous studies had found that by substituting animal fats with vegetable oils such as safflower, cholesterol levels would indeed drop.
However, what the earlier studies failed to evaluate was the high ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in these oils and that the amount of omega-6 fatty acids in the American diet was growing astronomically.
Researchers now have evidence that it may not be cholesterol that kills, but omega-6’s. When a group of individuals replaced animal fats with omega-6-rich safflower oil, their cholesterol levels decreased, however, the rates of death from cardiovascular disease and coronary artery disease increased significantly as compared to those consuming the animal fats.
These results prompted researchers to re-evaluate their theories on saturated fat, cholesterol and heart disease and point the finger at the formerly dubbed “heart-healthy” omega-6 fatty acid.
Soybean – The GMO, hormone disrupting nightmare “health” food they keep telling you is safe…
Oh, the ever-questionable soybean. While marketers will have you believe that soy is beneficial because our healthy Asian counterparts consume it regularly, this is arguably one of thebiggest nutritional myths out there. Asians enjoy soy in its fermented state and in considerably smaller quantities than we do.
Ninety-three percent of American soy is GMO and most of the soy we consume is in its unfermented state. This highly processed soy has been linked to numerous conditions including thyroid damage and hormone disruption thanks to its large quantities of estrogen-like compounds called phytoestrogens. As for soybean oil, up to 80 percent of the oil we consume today is soybean oil.
It’s highly processed and heavily hydrogenated and found in a vast majority of products on supermarket shelves. And don’t think choosing organic soy makes you any safer… as some so-called “organic” soy farms have been found to be fraudulent… passing off the GMO-product for the real thing. It’s best to avoid soybean oil completely.
We can almost guarantee you have one of these oils or foods containing these oils sitting in your pantry right now. Maybe you even used one of these oils when you cooked your dinner last night. And today you’re coming to the sad realization that YOU’VE BEEN LIED TO BY THE FOOD MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.
Actual healthy foods have been vilified-and your “so-called” healthy food choices have been manipulated by manufacturers getting richer by the day. All while your diet has grown more and more nutritionally-void every day!
Gotta love ’em!
Declaration of Interest. I’m MAD for coco oil ever since I looked like becoming another Alz. statistic. Here’s our video on the subject.