Honestly, I’ve always been a fan of coconut.  My favorite foods were, the coconut cake my mother would make for Easter, Mounds (!), and Magic Cookie Bars.  Such great memories coming from coconuts.  Let’s not forget when I did the musical, South Pacific, and watched my friend wear the coconut bra on stage.  hehe 😉  Lately, there’s been a LOT of talk about coconuts and how we need to incorporate them into our diet.  In an earlier blog, I touched on some health benefits they’ve discovered, but thought it deserved a further look.   It’s also a good idea to look at all the coconut products out there to maximize our coconut intake.  First, the benefits of coconut in general:

Weight loss

Raw coconut is rich in medium-chain triglycerides, a type of dietary fat which may encourage weight loss. The triglycerides convert into monoglycerides and medium-chain free fatty acids during digestion, which your body uses immediately for energy rather than storing fat.  The triglycerides also help curb your appetite which can help out a weight-loss diet!

Fiber

Raw coconut is rich in fiber, yielding about 7g per cup of shredded coconut.  As the April 2009 issue of “Nutrition Reviews” explains, diets rich in fiber can boost  your health by normalizing bowel movements, reducing your risk of hemorrhoids, preventing blood sugar swings, lowering blood pressure, protecting against diabetes and even boosting your immune system. In addition, the fiber in raw coconut may improve your cholesterol levels by reducing the amount of low-density lipoprotein–or LDL–cholesterol in your bloodstream.

Helps with immunity

Everyone wants protection from those nasty colds and flu epidemics.  Perhaps eating more coconut would help protect you. There are specific fats present in coconut meat that are antibacterial, antiviral and antiprotozoal, which helps to boost your immune system and destroy pathogens.

Coconut meat provides good minerals

The USDA notes that a cup of shredded coconut contains 60 percent of your recommended daily intake of manganese, 17 percent for copper, 11 percent for selenium, 11 percent for potassium, 10 percent for iron, 9 percent for phosphorus, 6 percent for magnesium and 5 percent for zinc.

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Before you grab that Mounds bar, let’s look at OTHER ways to get our coconut intake! 😉

Coconut oil

There’s been a LOT more talk of coconut oil lately, and that’s a great thing because it makes it more readily available.  Coconut oil has a myriad of uses, including teeth cleaning and guitar string lubricant, to name a few.  In fact, there is a website that deals with a TON of uses, 122, to be specific.  Check it out!  I’m sure there’s a few you’d never thought of.

Coconut flour

Because I talked about this in an earlier blog (click here) I won’t go into much detail here, but coconut flour is TERRIFIC for all you gluten-free folks.  🙂

Coconut butter

This is the meat of the coconut that has been ground into a creamy consistency.  Unlike the oil, you don’t use it to fry things into, this is more the kind that you’d add to cakes and other yummy desserts.  It gives your sweets a great taste!

Coconut milk, water, and cream

Have you ever wondered what the difference is?  Well, coconut milk is the liquid that comes out of grated coconut meat. Coconut water is the liquid found inside young coconuts.  Ever picked up a coconut and shook it? The water you hear is coconut water.  All you need is a straw!  It contains a lot of electrolytes, so it’s super good to have after a workout.  Coconut cream is very similar to coconut milk, but more of the liquid has been removed to give it a more creamy feel.

For my fellow ADD personalities.. I’ll keep this short, but stay tuned!  Part 2 of “All things Coconut” will be published presently.  🙂  There are SO many uses, that I couldn’t fit it in short blog.  See you tomorrow!!  🙂