Saturday, August 6, 2011

Coconut Oil: More Wondrous Than One Would Imagine

As I huffed out of breath to just squeak past the closing elevator door, behind me a man in his late 40s cried out, "Hold it." He was pushing an elderly, heavy set woman, his mom, in a wheel chair. I recognized them as fellow apartment dwellers who lived on the fifth floor. Thick white bandages covered his mom's right knee stump; the other leg covered in thick medical stockings looked swollen dangling down from the plastic chair seat. I hadn't seen them in a while; I guessed why. Diabetes. Recent amputation. Hospitalization. We smiled our hellos as the elevator slid up the ladder of floors, and smiled goodbyes as it stopped at five and he carefully wheeled her out avoiding bumping the shroud covered nub.


Diabetes is scary. Sure it's manageable with diet if one contracts it in their 60s. But the complications can be deadly at any age. My friend died in her twenties after having a child:  think Steel Magnolias. My sister-in-law's mom died of a diabetic coma in her 60s. Thousands have had to deal with amputations, nephritis, glaucoma, insulin shock, the list goes on. So during a routine check-up when the doctor patted my brother's chubby but not huge stomach a few years ago commenting that he was a possible candidate for diabetes, such images must have blared into his imagination. He had seen his mother-in-law become crotchety and aggressive entering insulin shock, had run for orange juice or a candy bar enough times not to want to be doing that himself.


Panic! Church bells tolled! But in this instance fear prompted him to assertive pro action. He had to lose that belly fat, maybe 20-30 pounds worth of the adipose so his blood sugar levels would never go berserk and stress out the Islets of Langerhans to destroy their insulin production. Interesting. He could just have eliminated sweets from his diet and gotten there that way, but he has a "sweet tooth," and decided to restrict himself in another caloric intake, yet not completely deprive himself of desserts.

He switched to the whole foods movement with a vengeance and began reading widely. He stumbled upon coconut oil as a wonderful healing and weight loss agent for a system like his that was addicted to carbs and calories (aren't we all?) His appetite fell away as he used the oil on his salads and to cook scrambled eggs. His belly fat also fell away and for the first time in his life, he was thin, yet he was also able to eat his sweets occasionally, but amazingly, he was able to stop from overindulging to excess, husbanding a croissant or brownie or piece of pie over two days. The coconut oil had stabilized his metabolism and encouraged a change in his eating patterns which he still maintains today.

Coconut oil has tremendous benefits.  Of all the oils it has the finest and healthiest properties, even finer than cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. My cousin bought a jar of the organic, white, solidified and creamy. She spooned some out for me to taste...fabulous. But I love coconut, any time. After my cleanse (still doing a partial) I am going to replenish with coconut oil for its nutrients, its health properties, the whole shebang! Check it out online (tons of websites) but make sure you get an organic variety. You will thank me for it!

2 comments:

Ben the Health Nut said...

Yes, yes! And I keep taking 2 5o 3 Tbls per
day because of the mention that it helps us
keep our brains healthy and hopefully to
avoid or delay Alzheimers.

Carole Di Tosti said...

I'm with you! Gee. I wonder why no doctors are prescribing the stuff and passing on sound nutritional advice to their recuperating patients?
(Irony passing for my wacky humor.)