Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

organic extra virgin coconut oilIf you’re a regular reader, and even if you’re not, then you’ll probably hear me talking about the benefits of cooking with organic extra virgin coconut oil at some point.

Before we even get into the reasons why you should cook with it, let’s talk a bit about its general health benefits. Coconut oil is made up mostly of unique, healthy saturated fats, known as medium chain triglycerides (MCTs for short).

MCTs are easily broken down into energy by your body, and they are good for the health of your heart and arteries.

The short and medium-chain fatty acids found in organic coconut oil are also vital for speeding up your body’s metabolism, aids a healthy thyroid (vital for metabolism and weight loss) and enzyme system, and removes digestive stress on the pancreas, leaving you more energy to burn body fat.

N.B. One of the MCTs found in tropical oils is Lauric acid. It is known to strengthen the immune system, and medical studies are being carried out to determine its effectiveness at controlling contagious disease.

organic coconut oil palmOK, I know it’s a lot to take in, but cast your mind back to the part where I said extra virgin, organic coconut oil is “made up mostly of unique, healthy saturated fats”. This statement is the key reason why it is the number #1 choice for use in cooking.

Saturated fats are actually the healthiest fats to cook with! Why? Because they are the most stable when exposed to heat/ light. Combine this with the fact that the saturated fats in coconut oil are mainly healthy MCTs, and you’re on to a winner.

On the other hand, processed polyunsaturated fats (found in vegetable cooking oils, soybean, cottonseed, corn, grape seed, and sunflower oils) are highly reactive to heat and light, making them prone to oxidization. This inflammation is what makes polyunsaturated fats so unhealthy, causing heart disease, clogging arteries and causing degenerative disease such as diabetes.

Click here to read more about healthy vs unhealthy cooking oils

This is basically the complete opposite to what you’re used to hearing from the so-called “health industry”.

Choosing The Best Coconut Oil

Like I always say, organic, and in this case extra virgin, is best. Make sure you do not pick up any hydrogenated coconut oil by mistake.

I’ve done a lot of research on the web, and tried at least 15 brands of coconut oil myself, and I have to say Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, or Barlean’s if you live in the UK, are by far the best.

The texture, taste and aroma that these guys produce is second to none. And it looks as though the reviews on Amazon.com tend to agree with me too.

 

   
 

 

me and Barlean's

Me with Barlean's extra virgin, organic coconut oil

Seriously, if you’ve never cooked with coconut oil before, the aroma will blow you away! Especially if you throw in some spices!

I use it no matter what I’m cooking, using all techniques from baking, roasting, stir-fry, shallow-fry and sauté. Recently I wanted to lightly sauté some potatoes and decided to throw in some paprika. What can I say! By far the most amazing aroma I’ve ever experienced, at least as far as my cooking goes :-)

Why not try your own little combinations and let me know what works.

 

Discover the TRUTH About the Foods You’re Eating and why they’re making you STORE More Belly Flab

Check out my in-depth article on saturated fat for more information.

Return to the Fat Burning Foods home page.

Fat Burning Foods: Key To A Flat Stomach

 

Fat burning foods might not be top of your list in your bid to get a flat stomach, or to lose belly fat. After all, food is the enemy and makes you gain weight, right?

Well not necessarily. There is actually an elite group of foods that stimulate your metabolism, create a fat burning hormonal response in your body and leave you feeling full and satisfied. They are actually vital to getting a tight, toned, sexy physique. So let’s learn more about them…

 

Fat Burning Foods Are Not What You’d Think!

Fat Burning FoodsYou might be forgiven for thinking that the best foods to help you with your fat loss are the low-calorie, zero-fat, sugar-free, diet, and lite foods advertised in the media. But you’d be wrong!

These foods can actually increase the amount of fat your body stores. This is because they are packed full of artificial sweeteners, highly refined carbohydrates, sugars and other processed nasties.

These so-called “health” foods are useless for controlling cravings and suppressing appetite. What’s more they send confusing hormonal signals to your body, spiking blood sugar levels (yes even the artificial sweeteners!) and putting you into fat storage mode.

Here are a few tips for finding foods that burn fat

Eating Fat Doesn’t Necessarily Make You Fat

I’m sure you’ve heard this one before, and thought to yourself: “yeah right”. But it all comes down to the type of fat you eat. Eating the right kinds of fat can actually make you leaner.

avoid vegetable oil and hydrogenated fatsObviously the type of fats to avoid are the processed, hydrogenated fats found in junk foods, ready meals, processed foods etc. These junk food evils actually prevent your cells from metabolizing calories and nutrients properly. And for what? A little extra shelf life.

Unfortunately it is commonplace to think that all fats are detrimental to your health and cause you to gain weight. But those found in natural, wholesome, unprocessed foods are vital to losing flab and maintaining a healthy immune system.

And before you get too worried about avoiding polyunsaturated, monounsaturated or saturated fats, remember that all three occur naturally in plant and animal life. You can’t avoid these types of fats, nor should you attempt to. How much of each fat contained within these food sources depends on the climate, diet and overall environment in which they grew and developed.

Here is a very simple way to work out which fat sources are healthy, and which are unhealthy. Just ask yourself these questions before making your food choices:

For fruit, vegetable, nut and all other plant based sources: “Is it natural, minimally processed and organic? Or has it been chemically altered and heavily processed?”

For meat, fish and dairy (animal based sources): “Is it from a free range, wild or grass-fed animal? Or is it from a mass production, controlled farm environment?”

In both cases, fats from natural, free range, organic sources are far healthier than those from man-altered, mass-produced food. Once you get used to asking yourself these questions, your food choices will become much healthier, and easier!

Eat Wholesome, Natural, Unprocessed Food

I could go on to talk to you about processed and unprocessed sugars, natural and unnatural sweeteners. But my arguments would be pretty similar to what I’ve already written about fat sources, so I’ll save that for another article.

What I’d like to talk to you about instead is how easily a fat burning food can be transformed into a stomach-bloating time bomb!

I’m going to use the example of fruit juice.

Fruit Juice: Healthy Food?

Fruit juice should be avoidedFruit juice has been touted as a true health food (yes I know it’s a drink ;-) ). In fact you can get anywhere from 1 to all 5 of you’re recommended 5 a day in one hit, and with no added sweeteners or preservatives! Win-Win it sounds, not so…

As natural as fruit juice sounds, it has actually been processed and altered. But this time it’s not about what has been added, but what has been taken away.

Fruit juice has had almost all of the fruit’s flesh and skin removed. So what? This is where all of the natural fiber is contained. Dietary fibre actually slows the body’s absorption of sugar. So without this your fruit juice is delivering a blood sugar spiking, hormonal fat storing sucker-punch.

And you might be getting 2 of your 5-a-day from that juice, but that doesn’t mean you’re getting the sugar from 2 pieces of fruit. More likely, you’re getting the juice, and sugar, from 10-12 pieces of fruit all at once! Not good for your waistline, I promise you.

Stick to eating organic, whole fruit for a healthy dose of natural sugar, antioxidants and fiber.

Fat Burning Secret – Eat As Nature Intended

The overwhelming message of this article is that natural, wholesome, organic and unprocessed are the real fat burning foods. By seeking out and eating foods that burn fat the number of calories you consume becomes almost irrelevant.

If you are serious about burning belly fat, losing weight and getting a firm, sexy physique then you need to check out Mike Geary’s Fat Burning Kitchen.

Learn how to choose the right foods, avoid the belly-bulging junk and create satisfying and delicious meals. All while stripping off your belly flab. Click here to learn more.

Related articles:
Negative calorie foods and the negative calorie effect, what are they?
List of the very best, most delicious fat burning foods.

Should you really STOP eating to lose belly fat?