The Coconut Diet to reduce weight

Coconut has very healthy fats. They have very less long chain saturated fatty acids and have lot of middle chain and short chain saturated fatty acids. Middle chain and short chain fatty acids are directly converted in to energy in the liver as in mother’s milk. The people who traditionally consume much coconut or coconut oil live very healthy and have less problems with overweight.

The Western food contains lot of trans-fatty acids which are not good for our health. Excess sugar, trans-fats and other additives make the food bad for our health. Here coconut diet can help to reduce the weight.

Coconut fats can speed up metabolism and improves thyroid function. They help to remove digestive problems and have antiviral effects. This diet can help to detoxify the body and can maintain a steady blood sugar level. These are considered important to lose weight.

Every day you have to take two to three tablespoons of coconut oil daily. For all your food preparation including salads coconut oil must be used.

The four phases in coconut diet are:

• The 21-day weight loss diet – Lean protein and vegetables are recommended. Three meals and one or two snacks are allowed daily. Sweets and most oft he fruits are avoided. Normally at least 5 kgs weight loss happens during these days.
• The second phase is cleansing. The cleansing drinks are based on vegetables and fibres. A colonic hydrotherapy is recommend which should be done by a experienced therapist.
• In the third phase whole grain products, recommended fruits and limited amounts of root vegetables.
• The fourth phase concentrates to maintain weight loss once the normal or ideal weight is achieved. The amount of allowed foods are slightly increased. But, sweets, high calorie fruits and alcohol must be avoided completely.

Sample coconut diet plan

• Breakfast – Eggs and bacon with vegetables prepared with coconut oil
• Forenoon snacks – 6 Macadamia nuts
• Lunch – Spinach salad with pine nuts and avocado
• Afternoon snack – Celery and goat cheese
• Dinner – Grilled fish with brown rice. Salad with coconut dressing
• Evening snack – 12 raw almonds

You have to do daily exercises. At least 15 minutes exercises daily are recommended.

This is a healthy food, but the problems is many get hunger always and break this diet. If it is modified little according to the needs of the individuals this diet can help not only to reduce but also to maintain weight.

What are the healthy edible oils?

All edible oils are healthy. Olive oil is considered to be the best oil in the world, but I would like to say sesame oil is as good as olive oil.
The only difference is the distribution of monounsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids. Olive oil has more monounsaturated and sesame has more omega-6 fatty acids. The important fatty acid in fish is also omega-3 fatty acids. Sunflower has more omega-6 fatty acids and canola is the mustard oil without smell.

Olive oil should not be heated above 70 degrees C and it could be used with salads.

For our Indian way of cooking sesame oil, coconut oil, groundnut oil and sunflower oil is good.

Oils are always healthy and it is in your hands to use them judiciously in such a way to get only the health benefits.

All plant oils have no cholesterol. Never forget 100 g oil has approximately 890 calories.

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.