Coconut Oil
 

I read an article in Woman's World that suggested using coconut oil would help you lose weight. I believe its used for people with thyroid problems, but said even if you didn't have a thyroid problem it would not cause any harm.

Has anyone been using this? and if so, what do you think?

I didn't realize you couldn't purchase it. I've never looked for it, just assumed it was readily available at health food stores.

My doctor told me it doesn't help your thyroid and is one of the worst fats you can ingest. No quick fix people.

I've seen it for sale in my area (Northeastern Mass.) where we have large Caribbean and Southeast Asian populations. It's a semi-solid at room temp and one of the most highly saturated fats you can find. A West African woman I know uses it straight on her dry skin. I've always heard it was a healthy diet No-No.

Beth

I agree, I think coconut oil is better on the skin than under it! There have been a few articles in various magazines about it, and I've found a few articles online (from generally obscure websites) that claim it's good for you. However, all the big guys (American Heart Association and other large health resources) still say to avoid it.


I have seen it for sale in health food stores. I bought it a few years ago when I was on my soap-making kick.

coconut oil is great for soapmaking, but i would never eat the stuff. from what i understand, it is the only plant oil that has cholesterol, and most people have enough of that already.

but it does make nice lathery bars of soap. :dizzy:

You just said a mouthful:df:

I wouldn't care if coconut oil has health benefits (questionable), why would anyone want to use an oil so high in saturated fat? I get so weary hearing of all these new "discoveries" that have no real medical criteria behind it. :s:

I agree, these quick fix things are a bunch of ballyhoo. I am telling you, eat a moderate balanced diet, get exercise, and if you want a small treat (even this coconut oil) go for it... but in moderate amounts. but remeber, you can't fight fire w/ fire.

Hello Everybody, am new to 3FC, but have used coconut oil in the past. Coconut oil is high in saturated fat, it is however good on dry skin, and for scalp massages for people with dry hair.

I tried coconut oil. Guess what? It did absolutely nothing. I am so sick of Woman's World magazine and it's promises week after week after week. Why is this magazine allowed to do this to the American public?

Well...it's a free country.

I don't read Woman's World so I didn't see the original article - did they word it saying that this ABSOLUTELY works or that it *may* be effective? BIG difference. I dunno, I just don't see how ingesting a substance that has a TON of calories is going to somehow help with weight loss.

Besides, coconut is yukko. (my husband likes coconut though!) :lol:

I can't say about the fat loss, but virgin coconut oil does have excellent anti-fugual and anti-baterial properties. I used to have yeasties all the time..when I started taking a tblspoon daily, it stopped. I can say that when I tried it during a fat loss cycle in program, I didn't gain any weight from using it and I didn't adjust my eating to include it as calories either. But I have no other data to say it won't cause fat loss.

If you use it, you of course would want to figure it in your regular calorie count, if you count calories.

I use coconut oil, I read a few articles on it from the Dr.Mercola site. I have found, and this is very strange. If I eat a TBS straight and go sit down, after a half hour or so I start to feel flushed, pleasantly warm, my heart beats a little faster. There are animal feed studies that show that rather than fattening cattle up as they had hoped coconut oil would do, cattle lost weight when being supplemented with it. I think from my own experience that there may be an underlying metabolism affect with virgin coconut oil. I do not have cholesterol issues, so I look at it as a supplement like fish oil, evening primrose etc. It also sautees beautifully, has a high smoke point and those long chain fatty acids do not get warped by the heat.

But YMMV and it certainly is not melting pounds off me.