Do you still think fat is bad? Most people do not eat a high fat diet. We eat less fat than our ancestors did, but we are the ones with obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, clogged arteries and high blood pressure.
I have what may be news to you. Real butter is good for you! Saturated fats are a natural part of your diet and are essential to life. Fat makes up the basic building blocks of compounds that help your body perform everyday functions. This includes things like regulating blood pressure, blood clotting and bolstering your immune system.
Saturated fats have been on the media hit list for a generation or more. Butter is just one example. Red meat is another. Coconut Oil is one of the worst victims of this low-fat propaganda. A new study shows that Coconut Oil can:
- Lower total cholesterol
- Boost good cholesterol (HDL)
- Lower bad cholesterol (LDL)
- Shrink waist size
Compare that to soybean oil which:
- Lowers good cholesterol
- Raises bad cholesterol
- Raises total cholesterol
- Does nothing for waist size
Shrink Your Waistline By Using Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is rich in medium-chain fatty acids, medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). Unlike longer-chain fatty acids, the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are tiny enough to enter your cells’ mitochondria directly.
This means your cells use the fat from coconut oil for energy instantly, instead of storing it for later use.
A Boston University study gave one group corn oil (longer-chain fatty acids) and the other medium-chain fatty acids. After 90 days, those that got the medium-chain fatty acids lost weight, increased their insulin receptivity and even lowered their overall cholesterol.1
Another study published this year in the journal Lipids compared coconut oil with soybean oil. The women taking coconut oil saw their waist lines shrink and their HDL “good” cholesterol levels increase. Meanwhile, the women taking soybean oil didn’t see any change in their waist size. Plus, LDL, or “bad”, cholesterol levels rose and HDL levels dropped.2
Another study found that coconut oil can help reduce the symptoms of type-2 diabetes and that “people who incorporate medium-chain fatty acids, such as those found in coconut oil, into their diets can lose body fat.”3 Coconut oil can help turn your body into a fat-burning furnace. Plus, it can help you eat less. It controls your hunger by leaving you feeling satisfied, longer.4
Boost Your HDL Levels
Contrary to what mainstream medicine tells you, eating high amounts of fat does not automatically equal higher cholesterol. And that’s certainly the case with coconut oil.
The truth is it does the exact opposite. It helps improve your HDL to LDL ratio (“good” vs. “bad” cholesterol), lower overall blood levels of serum cholesterol, and reduce the amount of fat your body stores.5
In Sri Lanka, about 50% of calories from the typical diet come from coconut oil. Yet, heart disease there is virtually non-existent. Researchers, perplexed by this, decided to see what happened when they took a group of young men and had them substitute coconut oil for corn and soybean oil.
The results weren’t pretty.
Their HDL level plunged 42 percent – which put them far below what’s considered healthy. Their LDL/HDL ratio increased 30 percent.6 That’s a recipe for heart disaster.
These results simply confirm what countless studies are finding. Coconut oil is good for your heart and helps increase your good HDL cholesterol.
For example, a study published in the Journal of Nutrition studied 25 women. They were given three different diets. A diet high in coconut oil, a low-fat diet with small amounts of coconut oil, and a diet high in polyunsaturated fats. Each diet lasted 3 weeks.
As you might guess, the highest increase in HDL was when the women ate the high fat, coconut oil diet.7
Bulletproof Your Immune System
Coconut oil contains lauric acid, a powerful immune system booster. Lauric acid has antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial and antiprotozoal properties that help bullet proof your immune system against everything from free radicals, to a latent virus that’s waiting to wreak havoc. It’s so powerful, in fact, that preliminary research suggests it’s effective against lipid-coated viruses, such as HIV.
A recent study took a group of 15 men with HIV. They had not received any prior treatment. After 3 months of supplementing with coconut oil, half of the patients showed a decrease in viral load.8
Good Health Can Taste Great
It’s pretty easy to get all the coconut oil you need in your diet.
Just follow any one of these simple tips:
Fry with it. Coconut oil has a high smoke point. That means that it won’t degrade at high temperatures – leaving all the fatty acids intact. It’s especially great for pan searing. If you do cook with it, consider getting it with no flavor. This is known as “expeller-pressed” coconut oil.
Make a smoothie. Scoop a healthy serving of coconut oil (it’ll probably be solid, but that’s okay) into the blender. Mix in your favorite fresh fruits. Maybe even add some protein powder. Add organic milk and a little ice. Blend it all and enjoy a tasty, heart-healthy smoothie.
Bake with it. It’s okay to have your favorite foods from time to time. And if you like to bake cookies, brownies, or anything else, go for it. Just substitute expeller pressed coconut oil for vegetable oil. Not only will everything taste better, but most of the fat you’ll be eating will get burned off right away.
The War Against Saturated Fat
The war against saturated fats started way back in the late 1950’s. A researcher by the name of Ancel Keys was investigating cardiovascular disease. His goal was to prove eating high amounts of saturated fat was linked to heart disease.He published the “7 Countries Study,” successfully showing fat as the major cause of heart problems.
His research was praised and soon became gospel. He even became known as the “father” of the Lipid Hypothesis. That’s the theory that high cholesterol causes heart disease… and in turn, eating a lot of fat causes high cholesterol.
There was a slight problem with Keys’ research. Something he deliberately ignored. Keys only chose to use data from seven countries that matched exactly what he wanted to prove. The truth is there were at least a half-dozen other countries with examples that proved the exact opposite. Countries where people routinely ate tons of fat – yet rarely experienced heart disease. When it didn’t fit his hypothesis, he ignored the data.
Unfortunately, Keys’ research caught on over the years. One group in particular — the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) – ran with Keys’ ideas. They launched what began an all out-war against all saturated fats. In fact, CSPI coined the term “artery-clogging” fat. Sadly, coconut oil got caught up in it all.
Decades ago, food manufacturers used tropical oils like coconut oil in their baked goods. Movie theatres used it for their popcorn. CSPI argued that coconut oil was terrible for your health. It was laden with saturated fat. Instead, they demanded that these companies use vegetable oils instead (this of course benefited the American Soybean Association, who in the past has made generous donations to CSPI).
The food industry gave in. Coconut oil became taboo. Even the government joined in.
The National Cholesterol Education Program even issued a statement, encouraging margarine and partially hydrogenated fats, stating that “…coconut oil … should be avoided.”
So, now we have the ”Monkey See – Monkey Do” syndrome. I highly recommend Healthy Habits Organic Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil.
- Han JR et al. Effects of dietary medium-chain triglyceride on weight loss and insulin sensitivity in a group of moderately overweight free-living type 2 diabetic Chinese subjects., Metabolism., 2007 Jul;56(7):985-91.
- Monica L. Assunção et al. “Effects of Dietary Coconut Oil on the Biochemical and Anthropometric Profiles of Women Presenting Abdominal Obesity,” Lipids Volume 44, Number 7 / July 2009
- http://www.garvan.org.au/news-events/news/how-coconut-oil-could-help-reduce-the-symptoms-of-type-2-diabetes.html
- Van Wymelbeke V, Himaya A, Louis-Sylvestre J, Fantino M. Influence of medium-chain and long-chain triacylglycerols on the control of food intake in men. Am J Clin Nutr. 1998 Aug;68(2):226-34.
- Kaunitz, H. 1986. Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) in aging and arteriosclerosis. J Environ Pathol Toxicol Oncol 6(3-4):115.
- http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/541-new-look-at-coconut-oil.html
- Hanne Müller et al. The Serum LDL/HDL Cholesterol Ratio Is Influenced More Favorably by Exchanging Saturated with Unsaturated Fat Than by Reducing Saturated Fat in the Diet of Women. J. Nutr. 133:78-83, Jan 2003
- Tayag E, Dayrit CS, Santiago BC, Manalo MA, Alban PN, Agdamag DM, Adel AS, Lazo S and Espallardo N: Monolaurin and Coconut Oil as Monotherapy for HIV-AIDS. Pilot Trial. For Publication
PLEASE NOTE: Dr. Gary A. Martin is a DSc and PhD. He is not a medical doctor. He has retired from his busy wellness clinic practice of 20 years. He is still active with his Foundation (Biological Immunity Research Institute) and assisting Healthy Habits LLC in the proper formulation of their fine products. This information is presented for educational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not meant to cure, treat, prevent disease, nor prescribe or to be used for diagnosis. Please consult with your licensed Health Practitioner before following any of the protocols mentioned on this website. Please be aware that you accept all risk associated with using any of the protocols suggested by Dr. Martin.