Eat fat to lose fat? Hmm . . . Sounds too good to be true!

When I attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, we learned a lot about fats and oils - how important they are to the body and how our culture created a fat phobia that has actually proven to be quite harmful to our health. I accepted what they said without question and continue to study about fats and oils as well as help my students discover how to incorporate good fats into their body and learn which ones work best for them.

One of those fats comes from coconut. If you read a nutrition label, you will find out that coconut oil is 100% saturated fat - and the fatty acid is the Omega 6 type. Both these things we have been taught to stay away from and thus, coconut oil has a bad reputation along with becoming expensive since the demand for the product dropped so drastically in the late 1900s. That is what comes from fractionating our foods into categories rather than looking at the whole product.

The fat in coconut oil contains a medium chain triglyceride (MCT). The end product of MCT metabolism is ketone bodies or ketoacids. Rather than bore you with what these are or why they are important to the body, I recommend that you science nerds (like me!) visit http://coconutoil.com for more information (there are a number of articles - even one about a study on obese women using coconut oil to lose weight, increase their good cholesterol and decrease their bad cholesteral). For those of you that simply want to understand what coconut oil can do for you, according to Dr. Mary Newport, M.D. (who wrote an article about using this to help treat her husband who has Alzheimers) coconut oil may help you

• lose weight
• have more energy
• balance hormones
• prevent Alzheimers
• potentially treat Parkinson's disease
• potentially treat Huntington's disease
• potentially treat multiple sclerosis
• potentially treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease)
• potentially treat drug resistant epilepsy
• potentially treat brittle type I diabetes and diabetes type II where there is insulin resistance
• help the brain recover after a loss of oxygen in newborns through adults
• may help the heart recover after an acute attack
• may shrink cancerous tumors

In addition to these, it has anti-microbial properties and is being studied for its effect on various bacterial infections. It also feels great on your skin as an emollient!

It is simple to use - I use it in my oatmeal, to fry eggs and saute vegetables, I make popcorn with it and use it in baking. My new favorite recipe comes from a friend, Dotty Sharp's website http://www.consciousdwellings.com/. Dotty provides health coaching, does presentations at Whole Foods and leads groups on raw food cleansing. She has great recipes on her website and uses coconut oil, coconut butter and raw chocolate to make yummy, yummy, good-for-you treats! Her recipe for raw chocolate sauce is awesome! All of these ingredients are readily available at Whole Foods, on the internet and in some regular groceries such as HyVee as well.

Raw Cacao Sauce

1/2 cup Cold-Pressed Coconut Oil

1 1/4 cup Agave Nectar

1 1/2 cups Powdered Raw Cacao

Blend coconut oil and agave nectar in a food processor until well combined. Slowly add cacao powder, scraping down the sides if necessary.

Use as you would any chocolate sauce. Excellent as a dip for fruits or served over raw ice cream.

Dotty told me her favorite way to eat this is to dip some out with one finger and dip some almond butter with an adjacent finger and eat them together as a great snack!

Carrots - who knew how mighty this common vegetable can be!

I have been doing research on adding certain foods to the diet to assist with a particular symptom for a friend. I am always so grateful when someone asks me to do research because I am reminded how powerful food can be - thus the Magic! So, I was reading about carrots and WOW! (REMEMBER, ONLY YOUR BODY KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR IT SO LISTEN TO WHAT IT TELLS YOU WHEN YOU EAT CARROTS!)

The book Healing with Whole Foods, by Paul Pitchford (one of my all time favorite teachers) states this about carrots (read on - the list is long!):

• Protect against cancer,
• Treat night blindness
• Treat ear infections
• Treat earaches
• Treat deafness
• Benefit the skin
• Are anti-inflammatory for the mucous membranes
• Are useful for skin lesions, lung, digestive tract and urinary tract infections
• Ease whooping cough and coughs in general
• Increase the milk supply of nursing mothers and help regulate all hormones
• Help ripen measles and chicken pox
• Strengthen connective tissue
• Aid in calcium metabolism
• Help liquify bile and treat constipation
• Carrot juice heals burns when applied directly.

"For these conditions, eat at least 6 ounces of carrots a day or drink a cup or two of fresh carrot juice. Eating carrot sticks daily helps strengthen children's teeth, and in some cases, reduces overcrowding of the teeth by encouraging the development of the lower jaw. Grated carrots are best for parasites and dysentery and have been used as a poultice over cancerous growths to reduce inflammation and odor. Carrots are cooked in cases of diarrhea; when cooked and pureed or as a soup, they benefit infants with weak digestion. For a concentration of vitamin A and other nutrients, fresh carrot juice is ideal - it should be taken only on an empty stomach and should be diluted with water for infants."

He adds a CAUTION: "Carrot juice is very sweet, and regular consumption may lead to weakened kidneys with symptoms such as head hair loss. More than four cups daily is not recommended."

And for the adventurous he adds: "Carrot tops are bitter. They serve as a mineral-rich addition to soups and broths. The stems can be removed before serving. Adding a little of the tops when juicing carrots makes the juice less sweet and a better remedy for cancer prevention . . ."

Carrots are so easy to add to the diet and really inexpensive! So eat carrots . . . lots of carrots! Raw, baked, steamed, sauteed, in salads, in soups, pureed, and add some fresh juice a few days a week to your routine!

By the way - if you eat too many, your body will tell you this by turning orange!