Christal,

The first few times I fried with the coconut oil, I thought I could taste it slightly, but I never notice it anymore. I can sure smell it when it's cooking tho. I dont notice it at all in baked things.

Spectrum should be ok to use for frying. The really raw, less heated during the processing coconut oil has probiotics, and to get the benefits from it, I eat that as is. Once heated to a high temp, you lose the probiotics benefits but you still get some of the other benefits.

Straight from the jar, I think its nasty. I pour some over low carb muffins and top with SCD yogurt, and I dont taste it at all. I put some in my coffee, and slurp it off the top. That kills the taste a bit for me.

Back in the day before the big companies switched to rapeseed and vegtable oils, coconut oil was in all the processed foods...Depending on your age, you may recall things tasting a bit better with the coconut oil! "*contains tropical oils" used to be a warning! (sheesh!)

MoseyMan:

you say high temps destroy the probiotics in the CO..how do you melt the oil? I have been using my microwave. About 20-25 secs for 2 tbsp seems to do the job.

Does that also destroy the "good stuff" in the CO?

thanks

-Andrea

Anakaliapo,

Microwaves heat at very high temperatures which destroy a lot of nutrients in food; I use mine just to reheat coffee and melt butter.

If the “good stuff” you are asking about are the probiotics, I really don’t know at what temperature they would begin to die. My gut tells me that if you can put your finger in the heated oil without being burned, that the probiotics are fine - since they seem to thrive best at around our body temperature.

The temperature inside my house is high enough to keep the coconut oil liquid. When it is solid, (If I have the AC running) I throw in on top of coffee or tea - that has cooled down a bit and it liquefies.

Actually, microwaves preserve nutrients more than steaming or other sorts of cooking because they cook faster and with less water. If you just zap it in the microwave for a few seconds it should just melt it.

I zap ice cream in the microwave all the time, just to make it easier to scoop. It doesn't come to a boil.

I know, it’s the same old story and most have read some of this, but here it is for all the people that haven’t.

Some stuff on microwaving VS. Boiling/steaming:

Veggies Lose Antioxidants in the Microwave http://www.forbes.com/health/feeds/...cout515591.html

“A microwave oven uses microwaves to heat food. Microwaves are radio waves. In the case of microwave ovens, the commonly used radio wave frequency is roughly 2,500 megahertz (2.5 gigahertz). Radio waves in this frequency range have an interesting property: they are absorbed by water, fats and sugars. When they are absorbed they are converted directly into atomic motion – heat.”
Above taken from: http://home.howstuffworks.com/microwave1.htm


"The lesson to be drawn from this study (Veggies Lose Antioxidants in the Microwave- study) is that *any* method of cooking vegetables in water with high heat will result in substantial leaching of antioxidants, and since steaming involves less potential for leaching than immersion in water (or the additional boiling of vegetable's internal water as in microwaving), steaming should, under any conditions, preserve more of the vegetable's antioxidants."
Above taken from: http://www.groupsrv.com/science/post-6277.html

I’ve thoroughly read both sides of this and I’m not convinced microwaves preserve nutrients. To each - his or her own; we all have to choose for ourselves what we think is the right way.

Happy Trails, Mosey

Mosey you must certainly read a lot to have all this information at your fingertips. I think you're quite interesting making your own yogurt and grinding up coconut for muffins. I've never known a guy like you.

Nawchem,

Boy did that make me laugh! I do read alot, about 4 hours a day of online health stuff. When two of my friends became ill - one with bowel disease, the other with fibromyligia, I said "we are going find something to cure you guys" and I started reading like mad; everything I could. Now I dont think I can stop. My friend with bowel disease now has no symptoms at all; my friend with fibro decided she could not change her diet even if it did help her health.

Almonds and coconut flour are very healthy; Muffins and yogurt are very easy to make. I like easy, because im not much of a cook.

Your a great friend. My boyfriend, who is a bit overweight, has epilepsy, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Its disheartening to watch, hes extremely bright but the medications seem to bring down his energy and dull him a little and hes freezing cold all the time. We're in California and he wears undershirt, shirt, heavy sweater and a jacket everyday. Isn't he the perfect candidate for lowcarb? But he won't do it, thinks its unnatural for Italians to not eat pasta and he drinks tons of coffee and almost no water at all.

Nawchem,

It's hard to see that; I've seen that too many times myself. Your BF seems to be the perfect canidate for low carb too.

It's hard to change the diet, at least it was for me. I took it slow over the years. I too am Italian and lived on pasta and coffee for years, UG.

The SCD diet is a great diet for epilepsy (so they claim - I have never seen it live, so I'm just reporting what they report on their site.)

http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle....kb/epilepsy.htm

Happy Trails, Mosey

Hi all

Just wanted to say thanks for the info on the coconut oil and I tried frying with it for the first time yesterday. I cooked up some ground turkey -- I like to cook it in small chunks and have it for a quick protein snack. I season it pretty well with Mrs. Dash Table Blend, sea salt and garlic (WHOO -- good for the breath! ) and I must say the coconut oil did so well -- it didn't even take that much. And, the taste wasn't at all bad. I like it (I'm using the Spectrum Naturals organic) and I even tasted a little by itself on my finger. I don't think I would ever eat it with a spoon straight from the jar, but it didn't make me gag or anything. So, if all the others are even better, I look forward to trying them!

MoseyMan:

Awhile back I asked you about how you melt your CO, I was amazed that yours is actually already in a liquid state. I live in MA, and I guess it has been cold around here, because mine is in a solid state..

well all that is to say that this AM, my CO had melted in the jar, I guess that means springtime has officially come to MA and it is getting warmer

I have found a new use for my VCO...I will place a jar on the window sill and use it as my thermometer

Anakaliapo,

That make me chuckle. Before I knew better, I kept VCO in the fridge! It was hard as a rock.

Ah yes, spring is in the air!

OK, I finally got around to trying coconut oil this morning. I put a large spoonful in a mug and poured boiling water over it - kind of like coconut tea! It tasted sort of nice, actually. I don't trust microwaves so that's not an option for me, but this seemed fine. And the good news is that I felt really full and satisfied all morning - yay! I have been really hungry and craving something lately as I have been on an anti-fungal diet for the past two months. I really miss cheese, but it brings back on my symptoms, so I can't have it now. And after this morning I think it might be the saturated fat that I need. I kept turning towards nuts and olive oil and avocados, but they weren't satisfying me. Does anyone else have any experience with saturated fat like that?