Why Coconut Benefits Your Health

Did you know that everything in coconut provides health benefits for you? From coconut water, coconut meat, coconut cream (or milk) to coconut oil... these are the coconut products that you should take on a regular basis.

Alright, you can't drink coconut water every day because it may be too "cooling" for some people especially ladies.

Coconut meat? Well, you normally won't like it when there's no coconut water to pair it up.

What about coconut cream that you usually see in grocery store or supermarket? That's not "cooling" and it adds a savory flavor to curries, desserts and cakes. I love that. But that's almost what we can use coconut cream for. And the amount of coconut cream we can add is limited, so are its health benefits for us.

The only thing that you can eat every day in every meal is coconut oil. And the best part is, all you need to do is swap that unhealthy cooking oil in your kitch with coconut oil and you can reap the health benefits every single day.

I've been talking about health benefits, but what health benefits do coconut really offer?

It is lauric acid (the super antimicrobial found abundance in human breast milk) that is one of the main reasons why coconut is good for our health.

When our body breaks down lauric acid into monolaurin, it strengthens our immune system and protects us against various illnesses like hepatitis C, herpes and even HIV! It also protects our brain and bones. On top of that, it holds important anti-carcinogenic and anti-pathogenic properties which helps us to prevent cancer.

Of all coconut products, coconut oil contains the greatest amount of lauric acid, approximately 51%. That's why you will reap more health benefits from coconut oil than from coconut cream, water and meat.

Also, because it is in oil form, you can cook with it, eat it raw, add it to your juice or smoothie or even coffee if you prefer, use it on your skin (yes, many have used it on their skins and their skins become remarkably smooth, soft and supple) and in many other ways.

But that's not all about coconut oil. It also carries other medium-chain fatty acids which when broken down, convert to energy very quickly and step up our metabolism to help us burn fat. It's also an antioxidant by itself since it composes entirely of saturated fat. (Saturated fat from coconut oil benefits us as opposed to those from animal meat, so do not be confused.)

In a nutshell, all coconut products benefit your health. But if you want to reap the greatest health benefits, then choose coconut oil.