Lose Weight with Coconut Oil

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If you want to lose weight you should cut fat out of your diet, right? Well, not quite. It might seem counter-intuitive to eat fatty oil to help you lose weight. Research has begun to show that fats are not as damaging as we once thought — it’s more complicated than that. But it does matter what kind of fat you’re eating.

Fat and Digestion

One of the keys to successful weight loss, and to keeping the weight off, is to keep steady blood sugar levels. This helps to stop you from snacking. Having fats in your diet helps you feel full for longer and more satisfied. Fats help the body to break down and absorb several different vitamins.  This means you get more from the other foods you’re eating.

Many fats need digestion in the small intestine and use pancreatic digestive enzymes and bile to break down the fatty acids. From there, the fatty acids are absorbed into the intestinal wall and the bloodstream, and as they circulate, then release particles of fat, which eventually form our fat cells. Coconut oil, however, is digested differently, which makes it helpful in the quest to lose weight.

Coconut oil is what’s known as a medium-chain fatty acid. Medium-chain fatty acids are easier to digest and so digestion happens in the stomach, instead of the small intestine. This means the fatty acids are sent to the liver at once, and used to produce energy for the body. Because they are used right away, they boost the metabolism. This causes the other calories eaten to be consumed by the body at a higher rate and are less likely to be converted into body fat. Studies have shown that individuals who ate a single meal containing a medium-chain fatty acid such as coconut oil had a 48% increase in their metabolism . The increase in metabolism for obese people is even higher at 65%. Even better, the metabolism boost lasted for a full 24 hours.

So eating a small amount of coconut oil regularly could help to keep your metabolism working well, which will help with weight loss.

Other health benefits of coconut oil

Other than its usefulness to help weight loss, coconut oil contains other acids that help boost immune system function. Lauric acid, which is found in coconut oil, has anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. Capric acid, also found in the oil, has strong yeast fighting properties.

How do I eat coconut oil?

The benefits of medium-chain fatty acids like coconut oil are especially true if you use it instead of other fats. Coconut oil can be used in place of any oils that you might ordinarily cook with. It’s solid at room temperature, but still soft, so you can use a butter knife to get it out of the jar and into your pan. You can add a teaspoon of coconut oil to a cup of tea, to a meal like porridge. You can use it in place of butter or margarine as a spread on toast.

Author Bio:

Jessica Josh is a freelancer who writes about health, nutrition, medical weight loss and ways to improve your lifestyle.