Coconut oil is the super-food of the 21st century and no one can deny its benefits to health. It is a particularly nutritious ingredient in the vegetarian and raw-vegan diet. Being a non-allergenic oil, it can also be eaten by children even at an early age.
Moreover, it has multiple uses as a base in cosmetics, recipes prepared at home or in laboratories. Like other oils, coconut oil can be found in different types: extra virgin, cold pressed, hot pressed, physically refined, and chemically refined.
Why is coconut oil so healthy?
Coconut oil is the only vegetable oil that has a high concentration of saturated fatty acids that can cause a lot of positive, beneficial health reactions. They quickly assimilate into the body and turn into energy, which is why coconut oil is recommended for people who want to lose weight and those who do sports.
It contains 10% less calories than other vegetable fats and more, this oil is one of the richest sources of saturated fats, almost 90% of the coconut fatty acids being saturated. Fatty acids may have therapeutic effects on brain disorders such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s.
In addition, coconut oil lowers cholesterol, stimulates the immune system by polyphenols and natural antioxidants, vitamins A, C and E, vitamin K, iron and calcium, regulates metabolism and digestion and, among other things, helps to have healthy and shiny hair and skin when choosing to use it as a cosmetic ingredient.
It also protects against harmful ultraviolet rays when stretched on the skin before exposure to the sun. And very interesting, many midwives use it to massage the baby’s skin.
How do we use coconut oil?
Coconut oil can be used successfully in the kitchen as well as in cosmetics. Can be eaten, cooked, put in salads, in cakes, is a good super-food on bread.
As for cosmetics, there are many uses. In the old Sanskrit documents, the coconut palm is called kalpa vriksha or the tree of life. Like then, and now every piece of palm tree that reaches up to 30 meters tall is used.
From the flower and the fruit, the palm gives oil, butter, water and sugar. From the root, trunk, walnut and leaves, locals still get ropes, tissue fibers, dyes, insulation material, fertilizer and wood for furniture.
Coconut oil in the kitchen
Coconut oil is resistant to high temperatures and is not easily oxidized. The firing point is 180 degrees Celsius. Therefore, he can successfully substitute for cooking and frying butter, margarine and other oils or fats.
It can be added in cakes, salads, even in tea or milk, as it increases the absorption of phytonutrients and antioxidants.
Coconut oil consumption:
• can be consumed simply, spread on a slice of bread or as a super-food (1-2 teaspoons a day)
• successfully replaces synthetic energizers for athletes
• added to protein shakes or smoothies, increases the absorption of proteins, vitamins and nutrients
• suitable for the preparation of nutritional, protein and energy drinks bars or healthy snacks between meals
• a nutritional drink based on coconut oil can also be a good cough syrup, expectorant, or throat pain
Coconut oil in cosmetics
• Wash your face better than soap, thanks to the antimicrobial capabilities of lauric acid. You can incorporate it into a soap recipe made in the house.
• Clean teeth very well if added to a toothpaste recipe in the house with peppermint vegetable oil and baking powder.
• Good for a massage that soothes the skin, not just the baby.
• Treat the remaining stretch marks after pregnancy and lactation or after weight loss, if applied locally, with massage on the affected areas.
• It has many benefits and it’s a soothing agent for sunburned skin.
• Good balm for hair, if after bathing massage the hair with it and then rinse. It works even against dandruff or, worse, chewing gum stuck to hair!
• Against cracked heels or scars left by superficial injuries instead of repaired creams in pharmacies.
• Treat infections with fungi, even candida, used as a local ointment.
• Works as a lice treatment.
• Calms the itching caused by insect bites, if applied in place of creams filled with chemicals and cortisone.
• Lying on the lips, replace the balsam from the pharmacies.
• It even goes into a recipe for a home-made laundry detergent.
• Can be a good softener for the skin before and after shaving.
• Mixed with a little coffee grounds and a cinnamon powder turns into a very good scrub.
• Well massaged until absorbed by the skin affected by cellulite, for an anti-cellulite effect much healthier than other creams.
• Mixed with some simple ingredients, it can be a natural, discreet and effective deodorant.
• Kills the traces of fatigue around the eyes, applied as a mask for the contour of the eyes. Moreover, it can also be a good cleanser.
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