Coconut Oil??
 

Hi, I found this article when I was reserching for my sister who has hyperthyroidism (I have hypo) and it was interesting. Does anyone else have any knowledge of this or have tried it. It would fit in with our lc ways of eating.

http://thyroid.about.com/gi/dynamic...2Ffifebooks.htm

Thanks in advance for any helpful info.

Click on read: is coconut oil really a cure for.......

coconut oil
 

I too have read that coconut oil increases metabolism and helps regulate thyroid. I don't know how true it all is, but I can tell you what it has done for me. I have been using it for over a year now.

"They say" its antiviral, antifungal...on and on. This I do believe. I havent been sick since I started using it. It makes me breathe more deeply and I have more lung capacity.

I have lost belly fat using it, without dieting. It keeps me from bloating also, in the past all foods seem to make me bloat.

My pots and pans are easier to clean, and old junk that burned on them has been just falling off. I've read thats what it does to us inside - that coconut oil is not sticky like corn, soy and seed oils and doesnt not build up inside us.

In the last two months I have gone thru a gallon of coconut oil (I know, shocking! thats alot.) And i have not gained any weight and I feel great! It is expensive and you have to get the unrefined, undeoderized. I searched like mad for cheap coconut oil after I only found 16 oz containers at the local health food store for 26 bucks. I now buy 7 lb jug for 80 bucks over the internet (about a gallon).

I also buy coconut flakes from the local health food store and grind them for baking LC. I will not go a day now without my coconut oil!

If you dont know this already - soy is anti-thyroid, and I avoid it at all costs. I think cabbage and cooked spinach are too.

I think cabbage etc are not goitergens unless they're uncooked. I don't think spinach was on that list, it was turnips and cruciferous vegges (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts) my favorites! I prefer them all cooked though, excpet for turnips which I adore raw.

Can we eat cabbage, califlower, and broccoli in moderation raw? I really like raw veggies and dip. But only eat them about once a week or so. Would I notice if it was affecting my thyroid or does it sneak up on you after years of eating them? Thanks, Nancy, you are a goldmine of info on thyroid problems.

I don't really know how strong the effect is. I intend to keep eating my turnips raw but I don't eat them all that often. I would doubt the effect is cumulative over years.

One doctor told someone just to take more hormone to counteract the effect and not to worry about goitergens. But he's a pretty enlightened doc.

I've been using Coconut oil for about a year now. I've been at the 3-4 tbs or more recommended dose since December. I have charted my basal body temperatures and since I got to the "full dose" my temperatures have really improved. Average monthly basal temps in December were 97.2 and last month were 97.5, so I see a huge difference there.

My nails have got sooo much stronger and smoother. The whole nail takes on a rounded shape whereas before they were soft and kind of curled round my fingers.

My eyebrow patch has grown back.

I use VCO on any skin complaint and it disappears within a day or two. On some days when I have felt like I was coming down with a virus, I have taken a few extra tbs VCO and it "kills" the virus within 24 hours. It is truly amazing, and although they say that no food is a true panacea, I believe it about VCO.

I've also read that extra-virgin, cold pressed or centerfuged, non-deoderized coconut oil (only) can decrease fat when applied to the skin. Before the "patch" (smoking, the pill, what not) came out, no one would admit that the skin could absorb anything.

Since then, all bets are off. I am very careful what I put on my skin now. So oil up those fatty parts if you dare, it just may work!

JoJoba Oil works great on hair, for all you people that are vain enough to own some hair! hee hee! Put a TBSP in your shampoo.

Ok I have coconut oil but eh how do you eat it? Just plain, melted or what?

so far I use if for cooking, there is not a coconut flavor. a little goes a long way, fry anything in it, eggs, fish, whatever you usually fry.I am going to try it on my skin, and some by mouth too...

You get the most benefits (its anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-all kinds of bad stuff) by eating it without heating it to a high temp. I do use it for cooking also.

I pour a few teaspoons over low carb muffins or in coffee or tea. It floats on top and I just sip it off quick. The flavor is a bit intense but I got used to it.

You can eat it however you like! Actually, being a highly saturated fat, it is very stable at high temperatures and you can fry with it, bake with it or whatever you like. If you can tolerate fruit, it is very nice stirred into a small glass of warmed grapefruit juice (or orange!) in the morning. I get most of my VCO by making cocoa candies and eating a couple of them throughout the day. Here's a link to my recipe - scroll through the Halloween stuff tho'!

http://sheknows.com/about/look/4587.htm

Google for more info - there's loads out there!

HTH!

Thanks, will start today.

Katy I copied the recipe into my journal it looks great and I "need" some chocolate. Yesterday I had my first sugar alcohol and I'm not in ketosis anymore :(

Vandi I hadn't looked really close at your avatar before. Yes I do wish I was that apple!

getting my thyroid checked today for the first time in 2 years. I started getting freezing cold when I started lowcarb a week ago so I wondered what was happening.

Why is the VCO so uch better? I know that is the first cold pressing, but I have found some in the grocery store that is cold pressed and looks just like what I got at the health food store, and tastes the same, and it is about $4 for a quart. I paid over $8 for 16 oz of VCO in the health food store. How long do you hve to use it to see results? I tried it for several weeks- eating 3-4 tbsp/day, and didn't note anything significant. I tried it 2 different times- once with VCO, and the next time with the VCO first and then with the stuff I got from the grocery store. I would just take 2 tbsp in the morning by melting in the microwave and then do the same thing in the evening ( I do as little cooking as I can get by with). I really wasn't doing the low carb thing then though- so that might have been the difference. May try it again. I am doing more cooking now- but just quick stuff. I really hate cooking, but I hate being fat more. If somebody could tell me what the difference is- I would like to know. How do you know if it is "deoderized"? Being in the medical feild, I know that with medications often you get the exact same medicine in generic as in the high priced "name" medicine, but at a fraction of the cost. Not always true-but most of the time. I tend to apply that to other things.

Methods for Coconut Oil Extraction
 

“Virgin” is meaningless when it comes to coconut oil, there is no first pressing and second pressing – its just pressed.

RBD- Refined, Bleached & Deodorized; Chemical extraction.
Cold pressed –using an expeller, but it’s implied that they keep an eye on the temperature of the mix, but “Cold pressed” is an almost meaningless word. All of the oils below MAY BE marked cold pressed when high temperatures are used:
Expeller pressed – may be heated at high temperatures, may also use chemical extraction if it not labeled that it doesn’t use chemical extraction.
Centrifuged – spun about a central axis to separate the oil from the coconut meat.

NOTE: all coconut oils that are not marked that “no chemical extraction” probably used chemical extraction; all the good oils make sure they label that they did not use chemical extraction!

There is also a whole method of what they use to get the coconut oil from, live “meat” or dried copra and that’s a whole other story in itself. I prefer coconut oil made from live meat. It tastes a lot better and is higher quality. If it’s made from copra, its allowed to ferment for 48 to who knows how long.

I emailed the companies I got coconut oil from to find out the details of their methods. The less it’s heated, the more “alive” is it. If you are using if for cooking, this is not that important.

Overall, I have tried them all, and I prefer centrifuged from live meat that has not been heated much. It’s expensive! If you truly want the best coconut oil, you can’t get the cheap kind.

I noticed the first time I used the good coconut oil, that I was breathing much deeper and my temperature seemed to get a bit higher. Over the last few months, I used around a gallon of it and I lost a few inches of belly fat (they say it targets belly fat). Before that, I used it sparingly because I could only find small 16 oz containers of it, and it didn’t seem to do much. But I was hardly using any. Now I use it like mad; I take around 1 Fluid OZ with breakfast everyday and use it for baking and frying.

what kind and where is the best place to get coconut oil?