How to Eat Coconut Oil For the Best Health Benefits

You’re probably aware of coconut oil’s health benefits by now. Yes, it protects you against heart disease, stroke, low thyroid, diabetes, cancers, liver and kidney diseases, osteoporosis, dental decay and skin infections, viruses, yeast and fungi. It does wonders to your skin and hair too. And it’s one of the best food to help you lose that excess body fat.

Since it is so good to you, let’s see how you should best eat coconut oil to reap its full health benefits.

Consuming Raw Coconut-Flavored Diets

Salad Dressing – Dribble the oil over your favorite salads to enhance the aroma and texture. But when you serve chilled salads, it’s best to mix the oil with olive oil to help lower coconut oil’s melting point so it won’t solidify easily when in contact with chilled salads.

Spread – I love spreading the flavorful tropical oil on wholegrain bread with a generous sprinkle of ground flaxseeds. It’s a simple yet appetizing spread with high nutritional values.

Cooking with Coconut Oil to Reap Health Benefits

Sauteing, stir-frying and deep-frying – Coconut oil can withstand cooking temperature up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius) without breaking down into toxic substances or releasing free radicals due to its very stable saturated fat structure. Basically, you can cook anything and in any way you want as long as you don’t overheat it.

No matter what kind of oil, once overheated, will produce toxic by-products that can cause cancers. How do you know if you’ve overheated the oil? Look out for this telltale sign – it starts to smoke.

Also, food deep-fried in it don’t absorb as much oil as in other vegetable oils. So, you don’t have to worry about ingesting excessive coconut oil that may turn into your fat deposits and leave an oily aftertaste when reaping its health benefits.

Baking – Learn to substitute butter, vegetable oil and shortening with coconut oil in baking as it adds sweet-smelling coconut fragrance to baked goods. As a guide, use three-quarter cup of the oil to replace 1 cup of shortening. Don’t worry about setting the oven temperature at slightly above its smoke point. The moisture in the food will keep the inside temperature well below 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius).

Adding into Beverages

You can simply mix it in your hot beverage, be it tea, coffee, hot chocolate or hot soup. Though it doesn’t mix well and float on the surface, it won’t leave an oily aftertaste in your mouth. In fact I enjoy the rich coconut taste in my drink very much.

Eating Coconut on Its Own for Health Benefits

Besides adding the tropical oil in your drinks and food, you can eat it on its own if you don’t mind the initial greasy feel in your mouth. I recommend a daily dosage of 3-4 tablespoons of coconut oil for the best health benefits for both men and women.

I’m merely giving you some ideas over here to help you obtain coconut oil’s health benefits. You can in fact, generate more ideas when you explore cookbooks and recipes, create your own recipes, and learn from your friends.