The Many Benefits of Coconut Water, Milk and Oil

What are the benefits of coconut water and other products derived from coconut? Not that long ago, unless you lived in the tropics, you probably seldom thought about coconut. Perhaps you had a coconut flavored drink every so often (more likely than not, one containing alcohol!) - but you never considered coconut to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet. Now, however, it seems that every other product that's for sale in a natural foods store has coconut in it!

Yes, we're hearing about the benefits of coconut water, coconut milk and coconut oil all the time. Coconut oil is not only good for cooking, but it's used in all kinds of skin care products. Coconut water is now becoming popular as an alternative sports drink. Coconut milk, meanwhile, is starting to become a leading milk substitute, especially as soy based products are becoming suspect in many ways. So let's take a closer look at this coconut craze and see what benefits can be derived from this wonderful fruit from the tropics!

Coconut Water

Coconut water is cool and delicious

Coconut water is the clear liquid you find when you open a young coconut. It's naturally sweet, yet low in calories and it's fat and cholesterol free. For this reason, it makes an excellent sports drink. It's the ideal compromise between people who find plain water too boring but who don't want to load up on sugar and empty calories that are found in commercial sports drinks.

Coconut Milk

Coconut milk is the thicker, creamier white liquid that's prepared from meat of the coconut. In other words, you can't crack open a coconut and get coconut milk - you only get coconut water this way. Coconut milk has to be made.

Coconut milk is sweeter and richer than coconut water, making it a good substitute for regular milk or soy milk. While coconut milk is considered by many to be very healthy, these claims are sometimes disputed because it's high in saturated fat (the same is true for coconut oil, as we'll shortly see). However, many nutritionists are rethinking the whole "saturated fats are bad" philosophy.

Coconut Oil

Discover the benefits of coconut oil

Coconut oil is enjoying a real renaissance in the health food community, probably even more so than coconut water or milk. Suddenly, we're hearing that this oil, though high in saturated fat, is ideal for cooking as well as for skin care.

It seems that previous research that supposedly proved that coconut oil caused a rise in cholesterol was based on using hydrogenated coconut oil. As many people are now aware, this is a process that produces the "bad fats" or trans fats that are the cause of so many health problems. Trans fats in anything raise the LDL or bad cholesterol to go up. Pure coconut oil, however, has no such effects - just the opposite.

One of the major benefits of coconut oil is that it contains lauric acid, which is a natural enemy of many harmful microorganisms and possibly even cancer cells. Lauric acid helps protect the body against bacteria, fungi and viruses, so it has many healthy qualities.

Coconut Products and Weight Loss

Coconuts can help with weight loss

If you're trying to lose weight, which coconut products should you consume? The short answer is, "all of them!" This doesn't mean, however, that you have to go overboard and drink or eat coconut products from dawn till dusk. Even though coconut milk and oil both contain healthy fats, if you're trying to cut back on calories you obviously don't want to overdo it with any kind of fat.

You can use all of the products in moderation and gain the benefits. This is true for everyone, whether you want to lose weight, gain weight or maintain your current weight. You can drink coconut water as a sports drink, or just when you want a refreshing cold drink. Don't drink it in place of regular water, though. Pure H20 should still be your primary beverage of choice!

Coconut milk is probably the best milk substitute if you're vegan or lactose intolerant. Even if you do eat dairy, there's no reason not to add coconut milk to your diet. You can find many healthy recipes that use coconut milk, or you can just drink it as a refreshing beverage that's a bit more substantial than coconut water.

Coconut oil is ideal for cooking. This is one big edge it has over the other super healthy oil - olive oil. I'd never suggest giving up olive oil, as this is not only delicious but it's one of the healthiest "good fat" foods you can consume. However, olive oil is not good for cooking, as it loses its benefits and actually becomes toxic. So, if you want a simple formula, consume olive oil raw and coconut oil for cooking (though coconut oil is also fine uncooked).

Coconut oil also has many other benefits, and it can be used as a moisturizer and even in your hair. You can find many products on the market that contain coconut oil, but very often it's safer to just use it straight up. Many products, even those sold in health food stores and online from health and nutrition companies contain all kinds of suspect ingredients.

Do your research - the Dr. Mercola website has a lot of good information on the dangers of many supposedly healthy and natural skin care products, shampoos and so forth. With plain coconut oil, you don't have any such worries! You can't really use pure coconut oil as a shampoo, but you can use it in your hair as a conditioner and then wash it out with a gentle and preferably organic shampoo.

In conclusion, more benefits of coconut-derived products are being discovered all the time. Of course, the native peoples of regions where coconuts grow - many tropical regions from Africa to the South Pacific- have long known how healthy, as well as delicious this fruit is. Now, however, modern civilization is finally catching up. So, coconut water, coconut milk, coconut oil - and just plain coconuts of course- are all foods you can eat with pleasure and without guilt!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Maire_Brody/205861

Putting The Healthy Routine In Cruise Control

When one of your main concerns is improving your health, the toughest hurdles to get over will likely be changing the amounts of food you eat and getting a consistent form of exercise.

Even though these aspects of the weight loss process may not seem terribly difficult, understand that the number one reason why people fail in achieving their health and fitness goal is that they're not willing to stick with a daily calorie amount that is appropriate for their body and workout regularly.

This is why in order to get your healthy routine to a point where it's basically worry-free and in cruise control, you have to get your entire day running smoothly from morning to night.

Unfortunately one of the easiest things to do is to overeat. It's so simple especially when we're faced with numerous eating moments each and every day, meaning there are many opportunities to take in too many calories. This is especially true if you've become accustomed to eating a certain amount of food at meals.

Think about your current eating trends and what you regularly eat. How often do you go out and eat at restaurants or fast food spots? Do you drink a lot of sugary beverages such as soda, juice, or energy drinks? Do you usually snack while watching television, reading a book, or other leisure type activity? Do you find yourself often feeling stuffed after a meal and a lethargic feeling causes you to want to take a nap?

Your answers to these questions should give you an idea of what may need to be altered if you want to have success losing weight in a natural, healthy manner. If you are determined to succeed with this endeavor and are willing to make some actual changes, you will achieve your goal through your consistent effort.

Therefore in order to get your healthy routine into cruise control, you need to get your entire day up to speed. What does that actually entail?

It means the decisions you make during the day from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep should have your health as the top priority. In order to get into cruise control, not only do your three main meals of the day need to be monitored for their content and size, but also those sneaky snacks that pop up a few times every day.

As surprising as it sounds, snacks can sometimes end up totaling two or even three times the amount of calories of a regular meal if self-control is not maintained. This is something you definitely do not want to happen for it will limit your weight loss progress.

Ideally, you want each eating moment to be nutritious and appropriately portioned so that by the end of the day you will have a calorie total that is healthy for you. Try to create a daily habit, a routine that will guide you from one eating moment to the next.

Don't get fancy with breakfast, just keep it simple with a whole grain cereal with fat-free milk, a half of whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and honey, or an egg white omelette with mushrooms, spinach, olives, and a pinch of mozzarella cheese. Also be sure not to ruin that breakfast with drinks like orange juice or cranberry juice. You just don't need that glass of 250+ calories and sugar. Stick with water, black coffee, or other 0 calorie tea/beverage.

Next, get in the habit of packing nutritious snacks for work so you don't have to rely on vending machine Snicker bars and sodas. Simple snacks in Ziploc bags are easily tossed in along with your lunch so you can eat nutritious the entire time you're away from home. Try almonds with raisins, yogurt with granola, all fruits, rice cakes, granola bars, or carrots and celery sticks.

Be sure not to forget a travel lunch too in your weekly healthy routine! Leftovers make wonderful simple meals to go that literally take no additional effort to prepare. Not only will you save a ton of money over the year by not needing to buy lunch but you will have much better control over the portion size of the meal.

If there are no leftovers to take to work, try to keep food on hand that's easy to put together to make simple meals to go. Stock whole wheat bread and wraps at home so you can toss in tuna, or lunch meat, with lettuce, tomato, and mustard on the days when there are no leftovers. Frozen Lean Cuisines and Weight Watchers meals at $2 dollars each are another option if you have access to a microwave while away at work.

Dinner will likely be the last hurdle you'll need to overcome so that your day ends as a healthy, nutritious one. Be open to try new things in the kitchen. You'll literally find thousands of healthy dinner recipes in minutes if you put the Internet to work for you.

Look for simple yet appealing meals to try at home. Don't forget to cook a little bit extra so you have lunch leftovers or enough to make a different meal the following day. Plastic travel containers are a healthy individuals best friend so make sure you have a good stock in various sizes.

Once you've finished your last meal of the day try not to eat anymore and dump extra calories into your system before bedtime. If you absolutely cannot deal with hunger cravings that may arise towards the end of the day, try a large glass of water and a carrot stick. You may be really surprised at how filling that simple 50 calorie snack can quench a hunger craving while at the same time not ruin an entire day of healthy nutrition which a giant ice cream sundae would do at this moment.

Always keep in mind the importance of your healthy routine and hopefully you will make the right decisions with the choices you're faced with everyday.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregory_L_Gomez