Pros and Cons on Coconut Oil

Today I am grieving the loss of a special young lady--age 2 years and 8 months. I remember when her parents and this toddler came to help with our yard sale in the fall of 2009. Her dad drove with my husband and Jake to deliver some furniture when my husband was still driving. I asked the young dad later what it was like to be in a car with two men with Alzheimer's; he told me it was weird when these husbands kept asking him the same question over and over. He was such a gentleman about it. Pray for the grieving parents now and for us as we grieve with them. Sad time, but not without our Christian hope.

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From Pinterest

Alzheimer's Reading Room on Coconut Oil  I commented here today and often read the Alzheimer's Reading Room. Lots of good information here.

Dr. Mercola on U-Tube explains that the saturated fat of coconut oil is good for us. It is hydrogenated vegetable oil and transfat that is not. I tend to notice that we don't get some of the viruses and colds that others get.

I wrote on Plant City Lady and Friends in April about oil. Dr. Mary Newport's video on coconut oil is the most popular one on this blog so far.


Coconut oil tub at right is from Tropical Traditions



Check out these links in red for yourself.

Supplements That May Help

Regularly my husband gets all the nutrition we can afford. The Alzheimer's Reading Room (http://www.alzheimersreadingroom./ has many posts that give insight and here is one with a chart I saved from their research.

What? No coconut oil? I know it works. It is interesting that Dr. Mary Newport's video on coconut oil is the most popular post ever viewed on Plant City Lady and Friends--top of that list. I do not think that my husband would still be in stage one and so happy if it weren't for his coconut oil. Dr. Newport also told me by e-mail to not neglect his Alzheimer's medicines because of the coconut oil, and so twice a day hubby gets Namenda and Exelon pills.

My husband prefers Lipton Diet Green Tea. Notice that green tea is high on that list. So is Omega 3 oil which according to an article by Megan Brooks  may protect against Alzheimer's. I got some that is like candy to give my husband from Winn Dixie the other day. He does take fish oil tablets, but does not like salmon as I do and try to eat whenever I can.

Fran Lowry writes that berries help cognitive decline in this article. Daily my husband has been getting blueberries with his 4 ounces of Activia yogurt. I get the 24 oz container of Activia and make six portions that include those blueberries. At times I substitute strawberries for the blueberries. Yesterday he ate two of those yogurt/blueberry mixtures from the frig. Last night I served my husband strawberry shortcake, instead of his usual ice cream.

There is a lot to say for super foods. Recently I heard that cooked spinach, tumeric, tomatoes, almonds and dark chocolate are super foods. Now spinach is a hard one to sell on my husband, but I'm going to try to put it into dishes. He gets tumeric in supplements from Vitacost. Tomatoes are easy--salad. I found some almonds with cinnamon that are good snacks for him. When I can I will make his daily coconut fudge with dark chocolate chips--maybe next time I will put almonds in his fudge.

When our loved ones with Alzheimer's get the best nutrition possible, surely this helps their overall health. When they get an infection, or break a bone, I have read, their disease progresses quickly. And, whatever I do for him, also helps his caregiver/spouse--me.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Fats



Husband Gets Coconut Oil With His Chocolate, Applesauce and Breakfast to Go

Not to paraphrase The LORD's Prayer, with Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread, but we do need fats along with bread (wheat if possible). When I joined Weight Watchers in the 1970s, you were not allowed fats. Today in Weight Watchers with their "healthy food guidelines" you must have 2 tsp. of fats per day. I often put in on my thin bagel for breakfast. There is even a book called Eat Fat Lose Fat. I have that book, but don't tell because I have enough books loaned out.

But what kind of fats? Lisa, in her post "The Complete Guide to Fats and Oils--What to Cook With (or not), What to Avoid and Why" here at the Read Food Digest spells it all out. Of course coconut oil takes the prize so to speak. Lydia, in her post "The Benefits of Taking Coconut Oil" here at Why I Have a Coconut Oil Fetish lists these benefits from The Coconut Oil Miracle a book I have loaned out now. The book by Dr. Newport Altzheimer's Disease: What If There Were a Cure? where she explained how coconut oil helps dementia is also loaned out. People in my life can't get enough of oil literature.

The easiest way to get coconut oil (about 2 TBSP. per day) in my husband’s diet is for him to have it melted with chocolate chips--dark chocolate when I can get it. I have written about that elsewhere on this blog and he gets two coconut fudge for breakfast as pictured above and two for lunch.

What is the skinny (or the fat) on coconut oil? Here are some ideas from Lydia again on her coconut oil fetish quoting her post:

• "The body can use coconut oil for energy more rapidly and efficiently than any other fat source. Special fats in coconut (called medium-chain fatty acids, MCFA's) are not normally stored in your body as fat. Instead, they're quickly converted to energy."
• "Small amounts of the MCFA's in coconut oil are used in the complex processes that enable cells to communicate with each other."
• "People in countries where coconut is an important part of the diet has lower rates of heart disease and cancer than Americans."
• "The fats in coconut help fight infections of all kinds."

Lydia also notes from The Coconut Oil Miracle that:

• "Improves digestion and absorption of other nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and amino acids."
• "Helps relieve symptoms and reduce health risks associated with diabetes.
• "Helps protect against osteoporosis."
• "Supports tissue healing and repair."
• "Helps prevent periodontal disease and tooth decay."
• "Is utilized by the body to produce energy in preference to being stored as body fat like other dietary fats.
• "Has no harmful or discomforting side effects." You do have to build up to taking it, however, or you will get diarrhea. Plus it is expensive, so you want to treat it like gold.
• "Is completely non-toxic to humans."

Lydia also adds in her fetish post a list of ideas for getting it. I realized from her list that I can put the tsp. that I measure it with in my coffee to help rinse it. She doesn't deal with Alzheimer's as Dr. Newport does, however. I do remember that Dr. Newport in her inspiring book tells of a day when Steve Newport, her husband with Early Onset Diabetes, was agitated, a common problem for dementia patients. She game him coconut oil and he calmed down. My husband doesn't take any drugs to calm him down.

So, folks, this is why Plant City Lady and Friends also has a coconut oil fetish. Will I use other fats? Yes, we use real butter and olive oil all the time. Sometimes I combine coconut oil, butter and olive oil to sauté foods. Great! You can refer to Lisa's post above for good fats and oils and the ones to avoid.


Saute vegetables in good oil