I want to live healthy, must I avoid coconut completely?

No, you need not avoid coconut completely; it has a lot of saturated fatty acids and other nutrients which our body needs. Think of selenium which is important in free radical scavenging and excretions of heavy metals is present in the highest amount here.

Moreover, we need some saturated fatty acids for our body, my personal experience is, avoid meat and meat products, all the processed foods and also the fast or junk foods, then you can eat enough coconuts because of hidden saturated fatty acids in these foods. In places where coconut is used in all foods, the people are not getting more heart attacks than in other places.

Avoid the other risk factors, such as smoking, overweight, excessive sweets, high fat meals, excessive alcohol, laziness, stress and homocysteine; then you can eat as much coconut you like, this is my personal experience. The saturated fatty acids in coconut are only 30% of the total fat and are not long chain fatty acids, which may have more adverse effects, but are short and middle chain fatty acids.

Sometimes, theoretical knowledge, practical experience and research may give significant results than the believed facts. In these fields more research is needed to understand many riddles about food and our metabolism.

Food that reduce High blood pressure

What is normal blood pressure?

Several countries have fixed this 140/90 and World health organization gives 160/95 and the values above these indicate high blood pressure. Blood pressure is an important marker of heart health and it keeps also the heart healthy.


Which vegetables and fruits maintain or reduce the blood pressure?

Celery is known to reduce the blood pressure, but it has more sodium than other vegetables which can increase the pressure. Take one to two stalks and this is enough for a day.

Garlic is also important to reduce the blood pressure and the mechanism is dilation of the arteries. Onion and garlic have adenosine which is a smooth muscle relaxant. Raw or cooked, both are effective to control the blood pressure.

Fibres and antioxidants of vegetables and fruits are capable of reducing the blood pressure. Comparatively the fibres and antioxidants of fruits are more effective than those of vegetables.

Which is the function of vitamin C and magnesium?

Vitamin C and magnesium are the substances which remove the waste in the arteries so that they do not become narrower. Both, we have to take along with food, since human beings cannot synthesize vitamin C in our body. However many animals can do it, that is why the animals have very rare or no heart attack. One or two oranges and one banana a day is enough to get both.

What about the plant oils?

Olive oil, sesame oil and all the oils which are rich in monounsaturated or omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are good to reduce the blood pressure. But, intake of oils is very important. Complete avoidance of oil will lead to heath problems.

Coconut oil has almost 90% saturated fatty acids, but out of that 70% are middle and short chain fatty acids and these are healthy. It is not necessary to avoid completely coconut or coconut oil. Sesame oil, coconut oil and groundnut oils are the best oil for our Indian way of preparing meals. The reason is they are heat stable.

100 g of any oil has approximately 890 kcals and so you must be careful with the daily oil intake.

Never forget, the dose makes the poison.

What role does calcium und potassium play in blood pressure?

Calcium is important to have normal blood pressure and it also functions as a natural diuretic to mild the effects of much sodium intake. Calcium supplement gives contradictory results, 80% benefit from the supplementation and 20% the blood pressure goes marginally up. Dairy products containing low fat and vegetables are also good sources of calcium. Talk to the dietician to know the position exactly.

Potassium can also reduce blood pressure and it is proved that low potassium diet increases blood pressure. The mechanism behind is that too little potassium in the blood lead to sodium retention and high blood pressure. Fruits, vegetables and fish are rich in potassium.

Why do physicians advise persons with high blood pressure to avoid salt and salty food items?

The problem is that sodium narrows our arteries, thus increases blood pressure. We cannot avoid sodium completely because it is an essential element and it is better to avoid very salty food like processed foods, pickles, chips, snacks and salted fish.

Why alcohol causes high blood pressure?

If you have high blood pressure it is advisable not to drink alcohol. If you drink more than a glass beer (180 ml) then the benefits of low sodium diet and also the medicines for high blood pressure are cancelled. Alcohol is not essential to our body, we can completely sacrifice it.

What about coffee?

For 70 to 80% of the persons who have blood pressure we cannot find the reason. Mental stress is also an important factor for blood pressure. Coffee with mental pressure increases the blood pressure surely. Wait 45 minutes after drinking coffee, measure your blood pressure and find out whether coffee fits to your blood pressure or not. Two cups of medium strong coffee may be consumed daily.

What about the normal risks like overweight?

Overweight, smoking, mental stress and less physical activity are the big risks for high blood pressure. Too much drinking of alcohol is also a risk factor. Try to avoid all these risks and with correct food you can decrease the blood pressure.

What about tobacco and its products?

Tobacco and its products are harmful and should be avoided completely. This is applicable to passive smoking also. Never smoke in a room where non-smokers are there, particularly children and pregnant.

What about non-vegetarian food?

You can eat, but not too much. Eat meat without visible fat. Poultry without skin is better. One of the best meats is Turkey meat without skin. All meat from animals including milk has enough saturated fats and cholesterol. At the same time, all plant food has no cholesterol.

Never accept this argument – ear meat, but you must sacrifice coconut.

What about weight reduction?

Reduce the weight, it is always good for everything. Enough physical activities are a must.

Have you forgotten anything important?

Yes, you must drink lot of water, 3 l to 4 l in a cold country and 4 l to 6 l in a hot country. If you do lot of physical work and sweat much, then you must drink more than 6 l water. I mean, more than 6 l fluid intake per day and out of that at least 70% must be pure drinking water.

Coconut

The coconut palm is grown throughout the tropics and the whole tree is useful to us.

What are the uses of coconut?

• Coconut is a good food with all the necessary nutrients.
• Almost every part of the coconut tree is useful to human beings.
• It is used in traditional medicine as well as in modern medicine. More than 50 applications are written in the literature which is still in use.

Why are the fatty acids of coconut healthy?

Coconut has less (30%) long chain saturated fatty acids but more (70%) short and medium chain saturated fatty acids and therefore it is healthy to make a good ratio of LDL and HDL.

What is your personal opinion?

Coconut is good and we all must eat. The reasons are as follows:

• It has 9% fibre.
• Coconut has the highest amount of selenium. It has 810µg Selenium per 100 g. Selenium is found in enzymes to remove the dangerous free radicals and also helps to remove the toxic heavy metals such as mercury from our body.
• All the other elements like potassium, magnesium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc and iodine are present.
• B vitamins, E and C are also present in coconut.

30 g of coconut chutney for idly or for methu vadai will not harm anybody. Normal amount could also be used in some other food preparations. In every preparation the food is diluted few times to several times and at the end we may be taking only few grams of long chain saturated fatty acids.

I met several people who are not at all using coconuts years together in India because of their high blood pressure or after the bypass heart operation. Interestingly many of them are still eating meat or poultry and why is coconut alone a villain? But to have things properly done care should be taken with coconut oil as well as with other oils in cooking. Other vegetable oils are also good and healthy. The dose makes always the poison.

But we must keep it always in mind that studies have shown virgin coconut oil has reduced the bad cholesterol and increased the good cholesterol. If we see the coconut belt throughout the world where coconuts are produced and eaten everyday without any adverse effects for the heart or other organs, then I ask myself whether some lobby groups are at work to sell their products which has no equal quality of coconut or coconut oil.

Here also I want to stress the importance of individual counselling.

What is virgin coconut oil?

Virgin coconut oil is made from fresh coconuts and from copra, the dried ones.

What will happen then to the excess coconut oil available in the market?

Coconut oil has several applications. It is used as bio-diesel for aeroplanes and to manufacture soap, cosmetics and creams. It is used in the medicine and as raw materials for paints and for industrial purpose. But I think it could be better to use it as food for persons who are poor than to any other industrial purpose.

What do you say about tender coconut water?

It is very good not only in summer but also in all seasons. Packed in the natural fatty container it is always pure and also has minerals and vitamins.

Has coconut cholesterol?

No. Coconut has no cholesterol. All plant foods have no cholesterol.

What is the connection between mother’s milk and coconut?

The fatty acids present in both mother’s milk and coconut are same in composition. The nature knows what we need. The reason is short and medium chain fatty acids are converted in the liver to give direct, immediate energy to the infant which important to live. Only the long chain fatty acids need the enzymes for the long digestion. Do we want to say mother’s milk is bad? Never.

What are the oils good for our Indian way of cooking?

Sesame oil, coconut oil and groundnut oil are the best oils to our way of cooking because they are heat stable.