My big secret to increasing the speed of weight loss is by increasing my fat intake. Yep – you heard me correctly – women have to EAT FAT to LOSE FAT (click to tweet).
And yes, it’s certain fats, as not all fats are created equal. The fats I’m talking about are MCT’s – Medium chain triglycerides. The more of these you have, the better your metabolism works! And this kind of fat actually heals some of the underlying hormonal problems that are slowing down your metabolism to begin with! The best source of this is coconut oil and it’s my secret weight loss weapon! I make eggs with it, I put it in smoothies – I personally have about 2 tablespoons a day, plus a whole avocado a day – good fats keep your hormones sexy, slim, and young!
Did you know that coconut oil isn’t just great for your skin and hair, it can also help you to heal your thyroid, lose weight, have more energy and fix your periods? And it only takes two to three tablespoons per day to have these wondrous effects on your health.
I encourage WomanCoders to use coconut oil when cooking their greens, in place of butter on gluten free bread, and in their oatmeal, as well as replace moisturizers and makeup removers with this incredibly versatile substance.
How Coconut Oil Speeds Weight Loss
- Coconut oil contains medium-chain fatty acids which are absolutely essential for building hormones (also known as medium-chain triglycerides). These fatty acids are not found in many other oils, making the coconut kind pretty unique.
- These medium-chain triglycerides help balance out our progesterone and estrogen levels which leads to a boosted sex drive, regular and pain-free periods, no PMS, healthy fertility and great skin.
- Hormones are stabilized in a lipid or fat ring. It’s in this lipid ring that they circulate around the body and reach their necessary destinations. Our hormones need good fats to develop this fat inner tube and float around the bloodstream. Coconut oil helps us make hormones and helps them get to where they want to go.
- We’ve gotten used to thinking of oils as fattening, and many of them are, but coconut oil’s medium-chain fatty acids actually speed up your metabolism and promote increased weight loss. A 2002 study published in the Journal of Nutrition showed that coconut oil can increase energy, help with weight control and keep you feeling fuller and more satisfied for longer when compared to the long-chain fatty acids found in the likes of olive oil. Long-chain fatty acids are actually used to promote weight gain in livestock, so you can see where our oil fears may have started!
- Coconut oil balances thyroid function as it has the ability to transform cholesterol into pregnenolone, which is one of the essential building blocks for thyroid hormone-making. It even increases basal body temperature, which is very important for those with low thyroid function.
- Those who suffer from inflammation symptoms of the gut such as Crohn’s disease have found coconut oil to be healing – both in repairing tissue and preventing the development of harmful bacteria that can hurt your microbiome. The medium-chain fatty acids are actually a lot like a human mother’s milk in the way they act on the body and as such, just like with breast milk, they have amazing properties of the antibacterial and antimicrobial kind. Coconut oil contains lauric acid (more than any other substance), which protects against infection from viruses, bacteria, yeast, parasites and fungi. Lauric acid inactivates the unhealthy and harmful microbes in your gut that can lead to all kinds of hormonal issues (for more on this read my guide to your microbiome).
5 Ways to Get Coconut Oil in Your Diet Every Day
The great thing is coconut oil is super easy and simple to use! It can withstand high temperatures so can be used for roasting vegetables as well as sautéing greens without breaking down or degenerating. It can be kept at room temperature for up to a year with no concerns for it turning rancid. It’s both a solid and a liquid so it can be used in lieu of butter or in lieu of milk. The best kind to pick up at the supermarket is cold-pressed virgin coconut oil.
5 cool ways to use more coconut oil every day:
- Stir a tablespoon into your favorite hot drink to give you an energy boost and to make it taste smooth and almost creamy.
- Add it into kale-based or date-based smoothies (or mix all three!).
- Use it to cook your eggs and greens in the morning – it takes away the slight bitter taste of collards or spinach.
- Substitute butter for coconut oil when baking breads and desserts.
- Apply as a moisturizer anywhere and everywhere.
Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!
to your FLO,
Alisa
Good things come in threes:
I want to hear from you
First, do you think you could benefit from eating more coconut oil?
Second, will you try out any of the 5 ways of getting more coconut oil daily? How do they work for you? Let me know and share pics!
Third, You know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social media 😉
Need more Hormone Help?
If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.
I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.
Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!
I’m going to put a tablespoon in my smoothie in the morning!
I have known the benefits of coconut oil for quite some time. However, I honestly can’t stand the flavor. I only like coconut fried & therefore never eat it. I don’t even like coconut water unless mixed with something. Coconut milk- great in curry. But even as a moisturizer I really didn’t notice any benefits. I will say I love it as an eye makeup remover though. Have you ever cooked with straight MCT oil? Is it less…coconut-y?
I don’t enjoy the smell and taste of coconuts permeating everything either! For most of my cooking and beauty products I use refined coconut oil. Be careful about what brand you buy, because some companies use harsh chemicals to refine the oil, but I really like Spectrum Naturals refined coconut oil. I know its not as good as the virgin oil, but I feel like its better than not using it at all, and it has no coconut flavor or smell!
Straight MCT oil is almost tasteless and you won’t notice any “coconut flavor” I buy either the NOW brand or the BULLET PROOF brand. Bulletproofexec.com
I’m into making homemade coconut kefir lately…it’s wonderful and full of probiotics, too, of course… and I make my coconut milk homemade too with organic coconut flakes…after fermentation the fat rises to the top when it’s refrigerated. I use a hand blender to blend it back it back and it’s really delicious and creamy!!
I am allergic to coconut and dairy – the two primary sources of MCT fat. What are your thoughts on using MCT oil? Any other recommended sources?
MCT oil is generally made from palm and coconut oils…you might react to it as well if you have issues with coconut oil. Do you tolerate palm oil? You could try a sustainably harvested palm oil (they often otherwise kill orangutans otherwise by destroying their habitat).
I’ve always been confused by coconut oil when I see it listed in a recipe, so I end up shying away from trying to use it. The confusion comes from how at room temperature coconut oil is a solid material and is sold as a solid in a jar, but when melted becomes the liquid.
So my question always is: when a recipe calls for, say, 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, does that mean one tablespoon of solid coconut oil that you scoop out from the jar, or do you have to scoop some out, melt it and then measure out 1 tablespoon of coconut oil as a liquid and add it to the rest of the recipe’s ingredients as a liquid?
I feel that way about coconut milk as well. Sometimes I open a can of coconut milk and it’s all solid instead of liquid. So if a recipe calls for 1 cup of coconut milk, do I scoop out 1 cup of solid coconut milk, or am I supposed to shake it up or stir it up or somehow get it back to its original form as a liquid first and then measure 1 cup of it?
I’ve looked online but I haven’t found (pardon the pun) solid answers to these kinds of questions. It’s like people seem to assume you already know the answers to this one and it’s not something that needs to be covered. But for me it’s these kinds of unanswered questions that cause me to not branch out and try new ingredients because I simply do not know how to properly use them and I don’t want to waste money on something I end up using wrong and having to throw out.
I’d love to give coconut oil a try. I just don’t know what I’m doing! 🙂
Wow- I use coconut oil and milk every day, and never even thought about this, great question! 🙂 I suppose I’m a bit more nonchalant in my use- I don’t typically measure it out when I cook, but when I do follow a recipe, I just scoop the oil out of the container- solid or not. With the milk, I know that a 15 oz can is almost 2 cups, so I “eye” about half a can when 1 cup is called for (mixing both solid and liquid). Better yet, double the recipe to 2 cups, then just use the entire can 🙂 Also, the “light” canned versions are all liquid. To get used to using them in general, however, start simple: melt a bit of oil in a pan before cooking, throw a spoonful in a smoothie (I’m one of those weirdos that stirs either oil or milk in coffee). I also LOVE dipping frozen mangoes and cherries into the milk as my go-to dessert. As an aside, I convinced my dad (a retired old school doctor) to use coconut oil on some weird patches of skin on his hand- he reported that it healed so well, his surgeon decided to cancel the biopsy he had scheduled (SUPER proud daughter moment!) 😀 I hope any of my rambling helped!
Very helpful, yes, Jessica! Thank you! 🙂
Hi Sherry,
Unless the recipe tells you to melt the coconut oil, it is referring to the solid oil in measurements… just like with butter. Assume solid unless otherwise specified. Most cans of coconut milk with have a liquid and a solid part. The solid part is the fat that separated out and is referred to as the coconut cream. Most recipes that call for coconut milk expect you to use a little of both, just like with non-homogenized milk. I like to warm the can a little bit by running it under hot water, give it a good shake and then open and measure out what you need.
I hope that helps you!
Jayne
Thank you, Jayne! I think I need bookmark all these wonderfully helpful comments. 🙂
@Sherry
I completely agree. And is one version of coconut oil better than another?
I think there’s a couple of answers to this question. First of all, what is the coconut oil replacing in the recipe? If butter, would you normally use a heaped or flat tablespoon of that? If it’s replacing oil, I would say go for a flat T. With the milk, I’d say to shake the can and use the quantity you would if it was cow’s milk.
The other, perhaps simpler answer is to have a go at the recipe anyway and pick which quantity to use based on your intuition. If it doesn’t work, try the other quantity next time. 🙂
Unfortunately my boyfriend has the same problem as the first commenter; he can’t stand coconut oil! Otherwise I’d cook almost exclusively with it. I do use 65% fat coconut milk (from powder, vegan) in my porridge though. 🙂
Hi, Alixandrea – thanks for the reply! I guess in some of these cases I’m not sure if the coconut oil’s meant to be a substitute for milk or butter or other types of oil or maybe it’s just part of the recipe and not a substitute for anything, or …? I’m not sure!
I’ll give you an example: I subscribe to yoga teacher Tara Stiles’ website, and today I got an email from her that included a recipe for Sweet Potato Fries, which includes 1/4 cup coconut oil. It says “Combine the sweet potatoes in a bowl with the coconut oil and maple syrup” (this is before you bake them in the oven). So… do I just scoop out 1/4 cup of solid coconut oil and mix it with the sweet potatoes, or is it supposed to be melted and then drizzled over the potatoes like you might do with olive oil and stir them all up on the baking sheet with the coconut oil treated as a liquid?
Or, another example: there’s a soup recipe that calls for 1 1/2 cups coconut milk. Or a vegan ice cream recipe that calls for 1 Can Coconut Milk and 4 Tablespoon coconut oil.
I get so confused by how I’m supposed to treat this ingredient. It’s silly, I know, because if you think about it like butter — butter can be a solid or a liquid as well. But the difference is, usually the recipe treats it as a solid unless otherwise noted (where it will say “1 tablespoon butter, melted” or something like that). But they don’t seem to specify with coconut oil or with coconut milk, so I get confused. I’m probably confusing myself unnecessarily but I just don’t know what I’m doing. 🙂
Hello,
I have a quick question. If I want to substitute sunflower oil from a recipe, should I put the same quantity of coconut oil? With this easy fix, I can make a leap forward to health.
Thank you in advance!
Coconut oil breaks my skin out. I wish I could use it as a moisturizer.
Same here! I always get confused when hear people saying it’s good for your skin and can’t find what’s wrong with my skin then, if this super-food-oil is supposed be excellent, but leaves MY skin so unhappy?..
thanks for the sharing Alisa. How abt taking coconut oil at night before going to bed? Does it matter which time to take the oil ?
thank u so much for this life changing article, i love coconutoil.and i dont joke with it,I make mine from my kichen and i love every bit of this process.one day Alisa dearest i will share my testimony with you.thank God i.found ur site.
I have been on an estrogen dominance forum for a while now and they are stating that refined oils in any manner are bad for the liver. Not that they hurt anything it is just we use WAY to much and it is hard for our liver to process that much fat. What do you think?
Danielle,
Oils ARE bad for the liver. Oils are processed foods, like sugar. NOT healthy, even though it’s widely believed they are.
I only take 0.5 spoon of coconut oil with my D3 supplement just because it is highest out of all for saturated fat and Vit D as a supplement cant be absorbed by body without saturated fats. With hope that all that oil wont kill my heart one day.
That’s it? I’ve been eating at least two tablespoons of virgin coconut oil a day for a while now. And even as a mosturizer. I thought you’d give more examples of “good fats”.
I feel like when I eat more fats, it clogs up my lymph system and it get cellulite. I want to use more healthy fats but I don’t want as bad of cellulite when I increase them.
My thyroid has been removed and I take levothyroxine. Can I also take MTC Oil?
Hi Theresa, please consult with your doctor about this.
Alisa
Oh and I’m extremely sensitive to smells especially cleaners