Coconut Oil and Your Health

I have recommended coconut oil as the best versatile oil you can use. It’s perfect for cooking because of its high heat tolerance. Other oils become rancid when they are heated or mix with oxygen. In fact, they can actually go rancid within a few hours of being produced. When this rancid oil enters your body, it can lead to disastrous health effects.

You won’t have to worry about this with coconut oil, as it does not easily go rancid. Coconut oil is a complete saturated fat, which makes it very stable against heat damage. It is the ONLY safe oil you can use for cooking – olive oil is also a good oil but only when used cold, drizzled over salads or mixed into cold sauces. Due to its stability, it has a long shelf life of two or more years – the longest of any cooking oil.  

So whenever you need to cook or sauté your food, choose coconut oil. It’s great for frying (even though I don’t recommend frying foods), as well as baking, and is a wonderful substitute for shortening, margarine, or butter. When you bake with coconut oil, you’ll find that your muffins, pastry, or bread will be lighter and have a mildly sweet and enticing fragrance.

But that’s not where coconut oil’s convenience ends, because it also has numerous uses outside the kitchen. Coconut oil can actually replace over a dozen beauty products found in your beauty kit, such as your:

- Makeup remover: Apply a small amount on a moist cotton ball and wipe all over your face.
Facial scrub:  Make a gentle facial scrub by mixing coconut oil with baking soda, or with oatmeal and a dash of cinnamon.
- Lip balm:  Apply a small amount of coconut oil to your lips. You can also make your own lip balm using coconut oil as a base ingredient.
- Carrier oil for essential oil:  Use it to dilute potent essential oils that may be too harsh when applied to your skin in concentrated amounts.
- Shaving cream:  Apply a thin layer on the area to be shaved, and then shave as usual.
- Body scrub:  Mix equal parts organic cane sugar and coconut oil in a glass jar, and then scrub on your dry skin before bathing.

Coconut oil is heaven to me! :)

Source: The Coconut Oil Miracle - Book  and Dr.Mercola