Have you chosen a specific coconut oil for skin care yet?
Therefore, you should get the right kind of coconut oil for your skin needs first before anything else if you have not already done so.
1. What Kind of Coconut Oil is Best for Your Skin?
Because medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) readily penetrate, moisturize and soften your skin, you can use fractionated coconut oil (which contains only MCFAs) for your skin care. It is good when use alone, or you can use it as a carrier oil for essential oil too.
Virgin coconut oil, on the other hand, contains not just MCFAs, but some amount of long-chain fatty acids too. In comparison, its skin penetration may not effect as fast as that of fractionated coconut oil, but it still serves as a good skin care product since all its fatty acids are good at fighting bacteria, fungi, viruses, free radicals and parasites that attack your outer and inner layer of skin.
In short, fractionated coconut oil penetrates skin relatively faster, but its antimicrobial properties can't match that of virgin coconut oil. So, which one should you use?
If you're already eating virgin coconut oil as food for health benefits, I don't see the need for you to get fractionated coconut oil separately for skin care. I use virgin coconut oil for both my health and skin care, by the way. It's more convenient.
But if you just want a specialized coconut oil that takes care of your skin, then fractionated coconut oil suits you best. Read Fractionated Coconut Oil Vs Virgin Coconut Oil if you need more info.
2. Organic
Pesticides, chemicals and other harmful micro-contaminants (that you cannot see with your bare eyes) can get inside your body via your skin, hence you should try to use organic coconut oil for skin care where possible.
However, it's easy to get real (certified) organic virgin coconut oil for skin care, but you can hardly find fractionated coconut oil in organic form. Even if you see certain brands claiming their fractionated coconut oil as organic, they're actually not certified (look for the "Certified Organic" label or text and you would find none).
This could probably be due to the high production cost already involved in making fractionated coconut oil and if manufacturers were to use truly certified organic coconut oil as the source to make fractionated coconut oil, the entire production cost would increase dramatically and make fractionated coconut oil too expensive to be bought.
But that does not mean fractionated coconut oil is fraught with chemicals and pesticides. As far as I know, tests have been done on coconuts that are not grown organically but which contain no traces of toxic residues in the meat, as well as in the oil. Therefore, even when you use such non-organic coconut oil as the source in the manufacturing process, fractionated coconut oil may not necessarily contain harmful chemicals or pesticides, unless the process itself uses chemicals.
My point is, it's still pretty safe to use fractionated coconut oil for skin care if you don't mind whether it is certified organic or not.
3. Test First
Although both virgin and fractionated coconut oil are hypoallergenic (low allergy-risk), I think you should rub a very small amount on the inside of your elbow area to test for any allergic reaction especially when this is the first time you use coconut oil for skin care or when you change to a new brand of coconut oil, just to be on the safe side.
Most allergic reactions should respond within 24 hours. If after waiting a day and nothing happens, that means you should be able to safely use the coconut oil for skin care.
But please keep in mind that sometimes the so-called allergic reaction on skin upon using coconut oil may just be due to the detox effect of coconut oil. How do you differentiate the detox effect from the real allergic reaction of coconut oil?
When you rub coconut oil on a small area (about 2 cm x 2 cm) of your skin for testing and if some kind of rashes appear after an hour or so, don't just quit using coconut oil but instead, keep applying to the same spot again for the next 2–3 days. The rashes should stop. And if the rashes stop, it shows that coconut oil is actually doing toxin purging for your skin.
But if the rashes persist, it might be that you're using a low quality coconut oil (that have contaminants in it) on your skin. Therefore, it's really very important to choose top quality coconut oil for skin care uses.
Another thing is if you use coconut oil on the skin of your face, some bumpy whiteheads may appear. This is another mistaken "allergic reaction" of coconut oil. Again, it's the detox effected by coconut oil. (Read Coconut Oil for Acne if you're interested to find out the detox effect of coconut oil on skin.)
4. Cleanse Thoroughly
With a layer of oily dirt or makeup on your face or other parts of your skin, you can't expect the coconut oil you use to get absorbed into your skin efficiently and effectively.
So, make sure you cleanse your skin thoroughly before you apply the oil. This is a crucial step for skin care with coconut oil.
5. Make It Thin
Always apply a thin layer of coconut oil over your skin and rub or massage it well to help its absorption into your skin. If you feel the need for second application after the first application has been absorbed, do so with another thin film as well. But never apply and rub too much at once on your skin as too much coconut oil can saturate your skin easily and make it feel uncomfortably greasy.
If you're using coconut oil as a sunscreen, you may need to apply multiple thin layers for protection against UV radiation. The hotter the sun is, the more layers of coconut oil your skin would need.
6. Enhance the Use of Coconut Oil on Your Skin
Did you realize that your skin will look bad when you take junk food but it will look good when you take health food?
Even when you use a good quality coconut oil for skin care your skin may not glow to its fullest potential. Hence, you should also consume more health food especially those that carry skin-beneficial nutrients like dark green leafy vegetables and fruits that are rich in vitamin C. You are what you eat.
How to Use Coconut Oil for Flu?
I've heard much about how coconut oil can kill flu virus. But when I got attacked by flu virus, I didn't know exactly how to fix it with coconut oil at first.
I then try various amount of coconut oil and in the meantime, carry out some measures to supplement and complement my flu treatment with coconut oil whenever flu hits me. I also experiment the oil's effect on my wife when she's down with flu (she's more prone to flu attack, "thanks" to her work environment that is so densely floated with viruses, bacteria and other germs that I have the "honor" to perform several reality experiments).
The entire experiment spans across several months and I finally found a natural remedy for flu. It's exceptionally effective and what's even better is that, you never have to suffer these flu symptoms anymore:
Sore throat that makes you swallow even saliva painful, let alone enjoying your food.
Loss of voice that makes you totally "speechless".
Runny nose that causes mucus to flow out of your nose profusely like running river, which is irritating.
Blocked nose that forces you to breathe through your mouth like a fish.
Severe coughing that makes you lose the quality of your sleep.
High fever that triggers severe headaches and makes you feel dizzy and weak, and shiver with cold for hours. Constipation may come alongtoo.
Loss of voice that makes you totally "speechless".
Runny nose that causes mucus to flow out of your nose profusely like running river, which is irritating.
Blocked nose that forces you to breathe through your mouth like a fish.
Severe coughing that makes you lose the quality of your sleep.
High fever that triggers severe headaches and makes you feel dizzy and weak, and shiver with cold for hours. Constipation may come alongtoo.
To top it off, you won't need medication that makes you feel drowsy and spiritless all day long, and you won't have to suffer the terrible side- and after-effects of medication. These are the benefits of using coconut oil to treat your flu.
However, don't expect to take coconut oil today and cure your flu tomorrow. It takes time for coconut oil to spot, fight and kill all flu viruses and repair whatever internal damages (to the tissues and organs) the viruses have inflicted on. Also, it largely depends on how weak your immunity has become after the virus attack and how much coconut oil you're taking as well as how far you're willing to go to get your flu cured.
It generally takes about 5 days to wipe out flu viruses with coconut oil and get your immunity back up to its self-defense state (you can sense its return). But you'll need an extra 2–4 days to completely heal from the discomfort to your nose and throat as healing of tissue normally takes longer.
But that's not the point. What matters most is that during the treatment, you can still enjoy your food without painful swallow, your voice may change but at least you can still speak loud and clear, you can still smell and taste delicious food, you'll still sleep well and you can still perform your job... when you follow my lead.
How to Kill Your Flu Virus with Coconut Oil?
Here are the things you should do if you want to cure your flu without suffering from severe flu symptoms.
#1 – Detect the Onset of Flu Symptoms
You have to be extremely observant of the onset of flu symptoms signaled by your body.
It usually begins with an irritating dry throat (sometimes it could happen near the upper throat). And you thought it's a sign of thirst. So you start drinking lots of water. But the dryness just won't go away. Chances are, you've been attacked by the notorious influenza virus!
So, the false sign of thirst is the onset of flu symptoms. But sometimes the dryness may be too subtle for you to notice and may also accompany with some "heaty" sensation in the throat (which shows your body is very acidic).
Anyway, listen closely to your body and watch out for those telltale signs. This is extremely crucial because if you can detect the signs earlier, it'll be easier to strike the viruses at this point before they run wild and multiply ferociously since at the onset of symptoms the viruses are still weak and in minimal quantity and hence, of less threat.
If you don't fight the flu virus as early as you can and let the symptom advances to sore throat, you won't be able to enjoy your food and swallow them without pain like you used to. Also, you won't be able to sleep well as the pain may wake you up several times in the middle of the night when you swallow saliva.
But that's not the worst!
Have you ever gone through a cough that lasts for an entire month and when you cough, you feel an extreme sharp pain in your ribs? That's the sign of inflamed muscle tissues between ribs. Your rib bone may even break if your terrible cough persists. I've been there and I lost my sleep throughout that month. And I suspected my ribs have broken.
But I was considered lucky because some people have had their lungs infected or even kidney damaged from persistent cough. Brain damage may even occur if coughing goes extreme.
What I'm trying to tell you is that, the last flu symptom you would ever want to deal with is cough, not sore throat since sore throat will eventually subside after few days when you're cautious about what you eat even without the help of coconut oil. But cough is the real deal. No other flu symptoms can turn out as lethally destructive as cough.
So, don't take the early symptoms lightly. Treat it as an emergency and take action immediately before the flu viruses break out and start wrecking your body like hell.
#2 – Choose the Right Type of Coconut Oil
Most refined coconut oils are not as good as virgin coconut oil because virgin coconut oil holds a complete set of antimicrobials in it, consisting of mainly lauric acid (50%), capric acid (6%), caprylic acid (7.5%) and others. Lauric acid possesses the strongest antiviral prowess of all the virus-fighting components.
Hence, choose virgin coconut oil for your flu treatment and nothing else.
#3 – Eat the Correct Amount of Virgin Coconut Oil
Once you have detected the onset of flu symptoms and got yourself virgin coconut oil, follow these guidelines. But you're free to tweak and fine-tune the amount and dosage of virgin coconut oil to suit your preference, body condition and lifestyle.
If you're already a seasoned virgin coconut oil eater...
Take 1 tablespoon every 2 hrs while you're awake. Mix it with food or beverages (like juice, smoothies, soy milk, almond milk, rice milk etc) where possible. This will make it easier for you to swallow virgin coconut oil.
By taking so much on the first day, the flu symptoms may subside dramatically or even vanish within a day. But if you feel that's too much and too frequent for you, you can reduce to taking 1/2 tablespoon every 3 hours. Or, at least take 3 tablespoons per day, every day and spread out the amount like this – 1 Tbsp added to breakfast, 1 to lunch and 1 to dinner.
Your antibodies are essentially outnumbered, so you need at least that amount of virgin coconut oil to boost your immunity level. However, if you feel you can increase to 4 tablespoons or even more, by all means.
But make sure you spread out the amount. Taking 3 or 4 tablespoons (or even just 2 Tbsps) in one sitting may make you feel nauseous or cause some peculiar reaction in your stomach as coconut oil increases metabolism and expels toxins (detox). Detox is good no doubt, but it may appear too strong for some people (especially the elderly) to take it, so it's best to spread out the doses.
If you're a first-timer...
Take 2 tablespoons per day like this – mix 1 Tbsp into your breakfast, the other into your dinner.
Although virgin coconut oil may initially cause diarrhea-like effect on first-timers (because your body system has yet to adapt to its detox effect), as the medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) in the oil that fight flu viruses are the same as those that loosen your bowels, you should not feel the runs easily since most of the MCFAs are busy fighting and killing flu viruses, leaving very little behind to loosen your bowels.
Please note that because you're taking only 2 tablespoons per day, the flu-fighting effect won't be as strong as when you take 3 tablespoons. However, just to be on the safe side, eat only 2 tablespoons each day for the first 2 days and leave at least a 9-hour interval between each intake. And then observe your body for any unusual reaction.
If you feel okay with your stomach (no diarrhea-like symptom) and you don't feel nauseous at all, you're safe and move on to increasing the dosage to 3 tablespoons per day after that, like this – 1 Tbsp with breakfast, 1 with lunch and 1 with dinner. And stick to just 3 tablespoons daily until your flu is completely cured.
#4 – Oil Pulling with Virgin Coconut Oil
Hold a tablespoon of virgin coconut oil in your mouth and swish and gargle for 15–20 minutes. It's best to tilt your head back and forth to make sure the oil touches the infected area in your throat.
By itself, coconut oil cannot kill flu virus. It's only when it reacts with the enzymes in our saliva (or in our stomach) that free up the fatty acids in coconut oil and make them the flu virus killer. And not just flu viruses, harmful bacteria are "scared" of coconut oil too.
Our mouth contains also other bacteria that can weaken your immune system and make your flu symptoms worse. So, rinsing your mouth with coconut oil will definitely improve your flu symptoms (especially sore throat and runny nose). Do it few times a day or as many as you deem fit. At least once in the morning and once at night before bed.By itself, coconut oil cannot kill flu virus. It's only when it reacts with the enzymes in our saliva (or in our stomach) that free up the fatty acids in coconut oil and make them the flu virus killer. And not just flu viruses, harmful bacteria are "scared" of coconut oil too.
You can omit this step if swishing oil in your mouth disgusts you or you can't stand the distinctive coconut odor of virgin coconut oil. But you'll heal relatively slower unless you perform extremely well in the following few points.But remember, after gargling and swishing virgin coconut oil inside your mouth, don't swallow it because there will be thousands of "dead bodies" left (after bacteria and viruses are killed) and loads of toxins (released by bacteria when they die) within the contents. Spit it all out.
You can omit this step if swishing oil in your mouth disgusts you or you can't stand the distinctive coconut odor of virgin coconut oil. But you'll heal relatively slower unless you perform extremely well in the following few points.
#5 – Maintain Good Oral Hygiene
Hold a tablespoon of virgin coconut oil in your mouth and swish and gargle for 15–20 minutes. It's best to tilt your head back and forth to make sure the oil touches the infected area in your throat.
By itself, coconut oil cannot kill flu virus. It's only when it reacts with the enzymes in our saliva (or in our stomach) that free up the fatty acids in coconut oil and make them the flu virus killer. And not just flu viruses, harmful bacteria are "scared" of coconut oil too.
Flu infection begins inside your mouth.
And if you compromise on your oral hygiene, it can further develop into flu complications such as sinus infections, bronchitis, pneumonia or even heart attacks.
Therefore, keep the bacterial count in your mouth as minimal as possible by brushing your teeth well (for at least 3–5 minutes) before and after sleep. Remember to brush your tongue as well because the thin white coating (developed as a result of post food consumption) on your tongue is food for bacteria inside your mouth.
As important as oral hygiene, keep your hands germ-free with frequent washing.
#6 – Restore Your pH Balance
Did you know that flu virus thrives in an acidic body?
When your body turns acidic, it means that you have taken in too much acid-forming substances that cause the pH level of your blood to drop from its usual slightly-alkaline (pH of 7.35–7.45) state.
When this occurs, your body will attempt with all its might to purge the acidic components via your lungs and kidneys and at the same time, pull the alkaline resources from your body or food intake to help bring up the pH value back to its performing level.
Why is this regulation of blood pH so important?
As red blood cells carry oxygen to other cells in your body, an acidic blood can cause red blood cells to clump together and paralyze the delivery of oxygen. When oxygen fails to reach those cells (trillions of them) in hour of need, you will die. This is why our body needs to constantly maintain its blood pH at its performing range.
However, frequent and resource-intensive lifting of your blood pH can vastly deplete the nutritional resources in your body, which will stress out your system over time and drastically weaken the functions of your key organs like spleen and liver that in turn, cause your immunity to nose-dive as a result. When your immune system is compromised, it cannot produce sufficient antibodies in time to fight any pernicious intruders. This is where flu viruses start to thrive and colonize.
Hence, to drive flu away and keep it at bay you have to alkalize your body. How?
Don't smoke if you're a smoker. Smoking brings in countless free radicals into your body that damage your pH balance. A smoker's blood tends to turn acidic easily and that's why they're so much prone to flu infection. And when flu attacks them, they feel very much terrible and take very much longer to heal.
Even if you're a non-smoker, avoid second-hand smoke. Inhaling second-hand smoke may damage your pH balance even more since you don't know how to breathe out some portion of the smoke.
Avoid alcohol because it increases your blood acidity level.
Avoid all kinds of animal meat (including fish, crabs and other sea animals). Meat produces lots of acidic ash after digestion. A meat-eater's body is super acidic as a whole (see the pH scale above). That explains why meat-eaters always get attacked by flu and other viruses and bacteria frequently and fall sick very easily.
Avoid fried food, sparkling water (carbonated drinks), caffeinated drinks and high-sugar (refined carb) food and beverages because they can lower your pH level.
Eat more dark leafy greens like Swiss chard, collard greens, arugula, baby spinach, kale and broccoli etc. These greens are packed with antioxidants, vitamins and especially minerals (such as calcium, potassium, sodium and magnesium etc) that can alkalize your body exceptionally fast. The easiest way to obtain most of their nutrients is to blend them into green smoothies. Eat them raw rather than cooked to avoid destroying their nutrients.
In short, avoid anything that makes your body become acidic easily so as to minimize the depletion of essential nutrients your body would need for building a powerful army of flu fighters.
#7 – Take Multiple Small Meals
Take multiple small meals to relieve your digestive load since as said earlier, your digestive system won't be able to perform at its best now. Burdening your digestive system can further weaken your immunity.
To give you an idea of "small meal", keep your satiety between 60 and 70% so that you don't feel too full and clumsy but yet at the same time you don't get hungry easily. Even when you've healed, you should never exceed 70%, which is the ideal satiety to maintain optimal immunity.
Chew well to aid in digestion. But be careful of your mastication because sometimes you might accidentally bite your lips, tongue or the inside of your cheek while chewing food. This causes open wound in your mouth and it can easily get exposed to both bacteria and virus attacks and then develop into ulcers or something more complicated, which can aggravate your flu condition. Choking on food or drink can cause injury to your throat too.
Speaking of wound or injury, steaming hot food or beverages may scald your skin and damage your tongue or other parts inside your mouth too, so make sure you wait till the food or drink turns less hot before you consume.
#8 – Avoid Chili
If you love chili, I know it's going to be tough to ask you not to eat it. But if you don't want your sore throat to aggravate, you don't want your runny nose to purge mucus out like mini waterfall, you don't want to cough your lungs up, chili is a no-no until your flu is completely cured.
#9 – Keep Your Body Hydrated
Adequate water can help to regulate your body temperature and reduce your discomfort when you got a fever in the event of fighting flu. It also helps to keep your blood circulation at normal rate so nutrients can timely be delivered to help rebuild and replace cells that have been damaged by flu viruses and boost your immune system.
With adequate water, you can more easily purge toxins via sweating and bowel movements. How do you know you have adequate water intake? By observing your urine color.
Urine Color What It Means What You Should Do Bright yellow Low body fluid Drink more water Pale yellow or close to clear Sufficient body fluid Control your water intake to maintain at this color Clear or transparent Too much body fluid Stop drinking water until it turns pale yellow
#10 – No Cold Stuff
Flu virus not only thrives in an acidic body, but it thrives in a low-temp body too. That's why you should never expose your body to cold drinks, cold food (such as ice-cream), cold shower or air-conditioned room no matter how hot the weather is at this point where you're at high risk of getting flu or already infected.
Although our body can adjust its temperature back to its norm (about 98.6 °F or 37 °C) whenever it detects a low temperature, setting your body temperature to 'Low' while drinking cold beverages, licking ice-cream, taking cold shower or staying in an air-conditioned room for even just a few minutes is long enough for influenza viruses to multiply like crazy.
Moreover, lifting temperature back up to its performing state may use up lots of nutritional resources (just like regulating blood pH as mentioned in #6) that are required for our body to fight flu. So, keep cold stuff away at all costs.
#11 – Avoid Outdoor Activities
When you overwork and your body doesn't get enough quality rest, it can't repair damaged cells and build new cells to replace dead cells timely and effectively to keep your body function normally and immunity in tip-top condition, so it becomes exhausted and weak over time. And you become prone to flu.
On top of that, take virgin coconut oil out with you so you can continue to fight your flu virus when you happen to dine out.
#12 – Rest More
When you overwork and your body doesn't get enough quality rest, it can't repair damaged cells and build new cells to replace dead cells timely and effectively to keep your body function normally and immunity in tip-top condition, so it becomes exhausted and weak over time. And you become prone to flu.
That said, allow your body to rest well especially during flu infection so that you can gain quicker recovery from flu since the yields of making new cells and repairing damaged cells are higher during resting or sleeping.
Resting well also enables your body to get rid of acidic components more efficiently, thus restoring your pH balance and stepping up your immunity level.
Of course, you can still carry out simple light chores at home. But low-intensity exercises even like brisk-walking could overload your body when it's busy fighting viruses. Exercising does improve your immunity. But not when you're down with flu. So, no exercises until you're fully recovered. Go to bed early and don't delay your sleep. If you've always had problem getting quality sleep, click here for some good sleep tips.
#13 – Prevention is Better than Cure
It sounds so cliché but it's so true.
Why let flu virus attack you in the first place then you start taking desperate measures to drive them out? Why not stop them dead in their tracks before they even get near you?
As a matter of fact, detecting the onset of flu symptoms is not a flu prevention. It merely prevents the flu virus from inflicting further damages. Actually, there's a good way to truly prevent flu.
Observe for cold hands and feet, especially when you're in a cool environment (like a mall or an office) or when you're in contact with water. That's the obvious signs of low immunity level, which means, you're NOW vulnerable to flu virus and other harmful germs.
In other words, some flu viruses have already entered your body and they're probably in their initial state of replication. Once the replication gets out of control, they'll begin to attack the weakest spot – your throat.
So, don't wait till the flu viruses break out and then start to take more virgin coconut oil and apply the measures I shared above. Even before the onset of flu symptoms, as soon as the detection of cold hands and feet, improve your diet by increasing your intake of whole food and greens, and at the same time, increasing your virgin coconut oil intake plus applying the aforementioned tips #4–12 until your hands and feet return to its normal warmth when they touch water or stay in cool environment.
Or even better, consume virgin coconut oil on a regular basis to keep your health at its best 24/7, 365 days a year.
Points to Take Note of When Treating Flu with Virgin Coconut Oil
1. It doesn't matter whether to eat virgin coconut oil before, during or after meal, you can literally mix it with all kinds of food and beverages since virgin coconut oil is a food itself. I mean, if you prefer to eat it straight out of the jar, as long as you can stand the oily mouthfeel, by all means. If not, it's better to add to your food (which is what I prefer).
2. If you're on special medication, please consult with your family doctor or specialist. Feel free to talk to me If you need my help.
3. Your feeling better on the third day might make you think you can reduce the doses because you've had enough of virgin coconut oil in the last couple of days. DON'T do that. The first few days are the most critical because your own immune system has not fully recovered to fight the viruses alone yet and if you get carried away and let your guard down at this juncture, the viruses will seize this opportunity to multiply and break out again.
4. Your sore throat may seem to improve when you're moving about (especially during daytime) because a warm body helps to keep virus in check. But when your body temperature drops to prep for sleep, this almost always encourages flu virus (without fail) to insanely grow and aggravate the soreness in your throat and cause pain as a result. My point is, same as the previous point, never lower your defense against the virus when you feel the pain in your throat (or any other symptoms) subsides. Continue to keep a close watch on the symptoms and be sure to discipline yourself on what you should or shouldn't do during this sensitive period.
5. If you're hit by cold virus rather than flu, though coconut oil can't kill cold virus, it does help to relieve stress on your immune system by getting rid of other harmful microbes (like bacteria, fungi, parasites and other viruses) that gain entry into your body so that your immune system can concentrate on fighting cold virus effectively. In a way, coconut oil does help to fight cold, but indirectly. And because cold is generally less severe than flu, you tend to heal faster with coconut oil, provided you begin the treatment earlier before it progresses to severe cold.
6. If unfortunately your flu symptom has already advanced to severe cough by the time you read this post, you must understand that right now it is the intense damage to your respiratory system (rather than the flu virus) that causes the severe cough and vice versa. And the damage made can easily outdo the repair work that coconut oil is helping with if you were to take coconut oil at this point in time. Which means, taking coconut oil at this juncture does not seem to help much with relieving the cough. The option you should take now is to seek help from a specialist. But that does not mean you should not take coconut oil at all. You should instead so that it can work hand-in-hand with the prescribed medication to help your body recover faster.
7. Add manuka honey (at least MGO 400+) to your flu treatment because it works exceptionally well with coconut oil to quickly reduce inflammation, hence preventing and healing sore throat. It helps to prevent cough as well. But if your cough has turned severe by the time you read this, manuka honey may sting your throat and trigger more coughing. This is actually a healing crisis, which is good for you. Continue taking it and your cough will improve.
8. Even though you take more greens and whole foods, and go all out to restore your pH balance and carry out other measures, your flu won't heal as fast as it should. That's because by improving your diet and restoring your pH, you're merely strengthening the production of your antibodies to fight the viruses alone. This is never enough especially when flu viruses have already taken hold. So, it's important to maintain your coconut oil intake throughout the flu treatment.
9. It may take you longer to cure your flu when weather turns cold because flu virus becomes particularly active in low temperature. Or when you expose yourself to polluted air.
10. Eating junk food will negate the effect of virgin coconut oil on flu treatment. Therefore, choose only healthy food to eat.
11. Dine in as much as possible since you'll never get to know 100% how those outside eateries handle the food, the quality of ingredients they use and their hygiene levels (you never know they might pass more viruses and bacteria to you via their food preparation). If you have problems coming up with nice dishes that aid in your flu healing and give you more energy than ever, I strongly recommend Robyn's delicious yet energizing recipes.
Coconut Oil to Prevent Heart Disease
Across the world heart disease is a major concern. It is responsible for more than 13 million deaths every year and in America more than 70 million people suffer from some sort of heart or circulatory problem. Out of all of the forms of cardiovascular disease the most common is coronary artery disease. This is caused by the build up of fatty plaque material in the small coronary artery which supplies oxygen and food to the heart muscles themselves.
The onset of coronary heart disease is mainly influenced by lifestyle choices and also by inherited characteristics. The main factors which can lead to coronary heart disease are high blood cholesterol, heredity, smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.
The process of fatty plaque build up in the coronary and other arteries is called atherosclerosis. This in turn causes the arteries to become hardened. The hardening of the arteries makes it more difficult for blood to flow through them and this can in turn increase the rate of atherosclerosis. It is not known what actually starts the atherosclerosis process but it may initially be due to damage to the artery wall caused by such things as free radicals, toxins, bacteria and or viruses.
Once the damage has occurred platelets in the blood react by sticking to the damaged area in an attempt to heal it. It is at this point that other materials such as cholesterol, triglycerides and calcium become deposited in the damaged area. This leads to the build up of scar tissue. All of these materials become a part of the fatty plaque attached to the artery wall. The build up restricts the flow of blood in the artery because it narrows the hole down which the blood flows. This is doubly problematic in the small coronary arteries supplying the heart itself. The narrowing of the coronary artery also causes red blood cells to drag against the rough scar tissue. This can result in the increased risk of blood clots forming. This then, is coronary heart disease and a real killer in our modern world.
Saturated fats and trans saturated fats are responsible for the majority of the fats deposited in the atherosclerosis. This is because they lead to the build up of the bad LDL variety of cholesterol in the blood. This is the fatty stuff that gets deposited on the artery walls. It would therefore seem strange to recommend a type of saturated fat as a solution for the atherosclerosis problem, but this is just the case when considering coconut oil. Ninety percent of the oil is in a saturated form.
This is one reason that coconut oil hasn’t been taken seriously over the years.
In order to understand the importance of coconut oil you have to appreciate that the saturated fats in coconut are made up differently. Once again the Medium Chain Triglycerides come into play. As we have found out, these behave differently.
These are broken down efficiently and then taken to the liver where they are burnt to provide energy. The usual long chain triglycerides from meat and dairy products aren’t broken down like this and end up being repackaged in the liver as fatty proteins. These then have a bad effect on the level of LDL or bad cholesterol in the blood which in turn leads to atherosclerosis. Coconut oil has the opposite effect in that it increases the levels of the good HDL cholesterol. This type of cholesterol helps to protect the arteries against fatty build ups and in turn fights against heart disease.
It is well known that places like Sri Lanka and India have a very low incidence of coronary heart disease and this is now put down to the regular use of coconut oil in their cooking. It is also interesting to note that India is now having increasing problems with heart disease and this is since traditional coconut oil has been replaced by western style vegetable oils. The same situation has been seen where peoples from the Polynesian islands moved to New Zealand. The Polynesians had very little incidence of heart disease and used a lot of coconut oil as it is native to the islands. Once the people moved to New Zealand they started using vegetable oils instead and since then the incidence of heart disease in the migrated populations has rocketed.
Clearly it is obvious that despite the initial appearance of coconut as a bad oil containing bad saturated fats it is actually a better choice to other oils and should be used as often as possible in order to improve your diet and reduce the chance of heart disease.
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