Is Coconut Oil Better Than Olive Oil?

By Jeff Keto

I had a stroke 13 months ago. At 36 years of age, that was a wake up call to really start eating right. I had dropped 68 lbs over an 18 month period prior to the stroke by eliminating fast foods and soda and exercising more. At 50% of my goal I thought I was doing well. But now I had to get serious about what I ate, especially since I had lost use of my right side making exercise out of the question for many months.

I have had to totally revamp what and how I ate. No more fried or fatty foods, no cakes, pastries or candies, a lot smaller portions, less carbs, less fats and more good foods were required. In fact, my stomach seemed so full with so much less that I had to make everything I ate count.

I had made it past being a statistic (stroke is the #3 killer in the USA and Europe) and I wanted to keep from being a future statistic (70% of stroke victims die in the first year). Fruits and vegetables became the norm, with grilled fish, especially salmon, and lean meats, such as chicken breast, rounding out my meals. Oatmeal and whole grain cereals became my regular breakfast foods. A few heart-healthy nuts like almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds became my snacks. It is a lot different having to change your lifestyle than thinking about what you can change.

Of course I had to change what I put on a salad. The standard dressings are just too high in salt, sugar and fat. Olive oil with non-salt seasonings became the dressing of choice, in moderation. In fact, anything requiring oil was replaced with virgin olive oil.

During the past year I have gained back some use of my limbs and can actually go for walks unassisted. I can eat a little more and have been able to add some other foods in my diet in moderation, being very careful what I eat. My weight loss during this period was 13 lbs.

My blood tests showed my beginning bad cholesterol, LDL, were 166 mg/dL and my triglycerides were over 200 mg/dL. Normal levels of LDL should be 70-130 and triglycerides 0-150. Both bad cholesterol and triglycerides dropped significantly by my diet changes to the point where my doctor was no longer concerned about my new levels of bad cholesterol 110 mg/dL.

Apparently my changes in diet had helped drop the LDL levels, but my lack of ability to really exercise had caused my good cholesterol, HDL, to drop to 32, putting me at a greater risk of heart disease. Desirable levels of HDL are 40-70. The recommendation was to try and add more exercise. But, I was already doing as much as I could. I needed to find other ways to help raise my good cholesterol.

I had heard about the health benefits of coconut oil, so I got on the computer and started researching the facts. Convinced this may help me I approached the doctor with what I had learned. At first she was against the idea of my using coconut oil because of the saturated fats associated with this oil. I agreed. Thats what loads chocolate with so much saturated fats. The oil is processed and chemically treated. Ugh!

But, I showed her that virgin coconut oil is processed differently. It is pure and contains lauric acid. Its fats are healthier medium chain fats beneficial to the body. I showed her the studies and results of people using virgin coconut oil. In the end she agreed to let me give it a try for one month.

Here are the results of adding two teaspoons of virgin coconut oil each morning to my banana/milk/protein shake and replacing virgin olive oil with virgin coconut oil in my salad dressings. Note that my exercise remained the same as before. My good cholesterol rose to 40 mg/dL, my bad cholesterol dropped to 100 mg/dL, my Triglycerides dropped to 140 mg/dL and I dropped 10 lbs. I cant wait to see the results in 6 weeks when I get tested again.

Virgin coconut oil definitely has very good benefits. It is too bad the commercial coconut oil manufacturers use in foods, especially chocolates, are so highly processed and chemically altered that they are so loaded with saturated fats. I hear you can even safely use virgin coconut oil to replace cooking oils used in sauting and frying. I dont know if I will try frying foods again. But, maybe it would be a healthy choice for you. In any case, virgin coconut oil is the new oil of choice in my household.

You can get virgin coconut oil at most health food stores. Or check out my website for a link to where I buy my virgin coconut oil and other vitamins and supplements, often at a discount.

About the Author: Jeff Keto suffered a stroke in March, 2007 requiring a much healthier diet and lifestyle. Product links available at:

njkmarketing.com

Source:

isnare.com

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