It didn’t take the world’s greater scrutiny into all things mean and green for people to pay attention extra virgin coconut oil. If you’ve ever stumbled onto a cooking website or flipped the television onto the many cooking shows out there, you’ve probably heard about the many coconut oil health benefits and the many ways you can start cooking with coconut oil.
Unfortunately, a good number of people do not know more than that – and they can’t really be blamed for that ignorance. Very few lifestyles and career choices would actually require people to find out what coconut oil can do for you.
First, you need to know where it comes from before you can start cooking with coconut oil. It is the extract from dried coconut meat, which is called copra. Largely coming from the Philippines, it offers a wide variety of uses and benefits for people to take advantage of. While coconut oil can be used fuels for diesel and aircraft engines, it’s most famous purpose is in cooking. It finds its niche market in people looking for a healthier alternative.
Specifically, the healthier alternative lies in extra virgin coconut oil. What differentiates virgin coconut oil from virgin coconut oil is when the oil itself is extracted. Normal coconut oil is extracted from copra or dried meat, while the virgin kind comes from fresh coconuts. Extraction and production comes from few methods.
Quick drying one of the more common methods. Wet-milling, another commonly used method, looks to create coconut milk first. This is done by pressing the coconut meat, squeezing out the milk. The extra virgin coconut oil is then separated through yet another variety of methods, from using enzymes to simply boiling it.
Coconut oil health benefits are more expressed and exposed through virgin coconut oil. Reduced risk and onset of heart disease are only a few of the benefits that use brings, despite its high concentration of saturated fats.
With %50 lauric acid, it goes a much longer way towards making your heart healthier and tougher, as it can prevent and control high blood pressure as well as your cholesterol levels. While other kinds of saturated fats are usually counterproductive when it comes to health concerns, those present in coconut oil seem to be a fine exception.
Application of it into the head combined with a nice, gentle massage can lead to a less stressed condition, which can indirectly lead to better health. For those looking to lose some weight, perhaps for their look or their health, virgin coconut oil is easy for the body to digest and process. It also aids in digestion.
Cooking with coconut oil is the most common and well known method of using this fine liquid, usually to fry with. South Asian curries benefit and thus generally made with coconut oil, though people tend to use the unrefined variant rather than the virgin kind. Cooking with coconut oil carries its own benefits, not the least of which is the amazing nutritional value involved. More and more baby formulas are actually using this fantastic liquid. Even hospitals and medical professionals are taking to using it to its full capacity, as it is used to people who are drastically ill or those whose stomachs just aren’t aggressing with them.
Even pregnant women and the elderly could benefit from changing from normal oil to coconut oil. Cooking with coconut oil can be applied in a large number of ways. It’s a fine replacement for butter for those who enjoy the traditional popcorn bucket with their home movie. Stir-fried foods are fantastic when cooked with coconut oil. People could even make their own mayonnaise with coconut oil.
For those looking for the aforementioned weight loss benefit, the reason that coconut oil works so well for dieters is that it goes straight to your liver for energy and thus, a faster metabolism.
Scientifically, this is because coconut oil has medium-chain fatty acids, as opposed to the long-chain fatty acids found in many other fatty foods and meats. The latter fatty acids have an enormous tendency to stay in your body. As long as your consuming enough food to fuel your body, they’ll stay in the bloodstream and eventually turn into fat. Medium chain fatty acids, luckily, head for your liver and power your metabolism.
Extra virgin coconut oil could be one of the finest products to come out of the Philippines, which is its main exporter. It is healthy, multi-purpose and best off all, adds a nice taste to most foods it is used in. Coconut oil health benefits continue to grow as more research is taken.
Cooking with coconut oil is only the most basic of uses for it though, as it finds purpose in many industrial and commercial domains. Get on the bandwagon and get healthier – use coconut oil.