Coconut Oil is it healthy?

Have you seen the newest article about coconut oil???

The American Heart Association has now decided that Coconut Oil is no longer healthy for us. Or has never been healthy for us.

So many are freaking out over the headline: Coconut Oil Isn’t Healthy. It’s Never Been Healthy. 

The article published said that the AHA (American Heart Association) stated that Coconut Oil is bad for your health because it raises bad cholesterol (LDL)… and that you should be consuming vegetable oil instead….

First, consider the source—the American Heart Association.

A quote from the lead author of the study,

“There’s nothing wrong with deep frying as long as you deep fry in a nice unsaturated vegetable oil,” Frank Sacks

This is also the same organization who certified Cocoa Puffs cereal and many other over processed high sugar foods as “heart healthy,” and are still pushing margarine over real butter, and says all saturated fat will kill you dead, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Just take a quick peek at the ingredients in these cocoa puffs! Full of sugar and chemicals that are harmful but yet they are perceived as “healthy”.

this …

So one of the ingredients listed above is Trisodium phosphate!! Just read the warning label on the TSP.

If the EPA says TSP is hazardous to the environment and the CDC tells us to avoid all contact, why does the FDA allow it in our food and personal care products?

Ask yourself why is the American Heart Association still telling us to replace healthy forms of saturated fat (like unrefined coconut oil or grass-fed, organic butter) with highly processed, PUFA-rich, pro-inflammatory vegetable oils?

This really shouldn’t be a surprise since many vegetable oils are made from soybean and corn which are extremely profitable for our government.

Vegetable oil is insanely processed, causes horrible inflammation in your gut…. and is incredibly high in Omega 6! Granted we do need Omega 6 in our diet, but Vegetable oil is SO high Omega 6’s that it causes an imbalance. Our country, on average, consumes a lot of Omega 6, and not enough Omega 3.

American Heart Association is heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies. (Go ahead and Google it!) The author of the article, (Coconut Oil Isn’t Healthy. It’s Never Been Healthy. ) Dr. Frank Sacks has received multiple payments from pharmaceutical companies. The biggest one being Pfizer, the makers of Lipitor…a cholesterol-lowering medication. Hmm, It’s no wonder they don’t want us to use coconut oil anymore.. The food industry is behind so many studies and is out for profit not to benefit us. Which is just terribly sad.

Also in 2016, the American Heart Association received over $12 million from AstraZeneca, an antibiotic company bought by Pfizer. That’s just one of many pharmaceutical companies I found that contribute financially to the AHA.

The argument that saturated fat causes high cholesterol and therefore causes heart disease, is also outdated! It stems all the way back to research done in the ’70s when the government advocated for low-fat diets. They got the whole country to believe that fat was the root of all evil.  Study after study has proven that this is NOT TRUE!!! Trans fats…. yes! But healthy saturated and unsaturated fat, no. They didn’t address good or bad fats or discuss the differences in the quality of the fat. By the ’90s the low-fat diet was a huge craze. You could find every chip bag, cookie, cracker, tv dinner came in a low-fat variety. But the nation continues to get fatter.  The truth is our bodies need fat.

There are 4 main types of fat. Saturated, Monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and trans fat. I’ll post another blog going more in-depth about each fat.  I don’t want to go off topic too much here.

So the American Heart Association wants us to stay away from Saturated fats. But the truth is our bodies even need some saturated fats to keep our bodies functioning properly. We need to choose a healthy portion of good fats, which can lead to weight loss, increase energy, boost your immunity and optimize digestion.

But saturated fats typically comes from animals and tropical oils, like coconut and palm oils.

Coconut oil is actually a good form of saturated fats. It can help with weight loss because the body converts it quickly into energy. It also contains lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid that is only found in one other naturally occurring place. Human Breast Milk! =)  Coconut oil is a great choice unlike what the article states. It is also more stable than other oils and can stand up to heat.  Other natural sources of good fats include avocado, olive oil, raw nuts, sesame seeds and cold water fatty fish like salmon, mackerel and tuna.

But don’t be afraid of including healthy forms of saturated fat from butter or coconut oil as part of your anti-inflammatory diet and healthy lifestyle.

When seeing a big article like these don’t believe headlines, and do your research.  Check for money and influence isn’t corrupting the author.

I’ll continue using my Coconut Oil? How about you?

Well, there is my opinion on the coconut oil controversy! I had fun looking into this and doing my own research on the article!!

Happy, Healthy & Strong

Resources:

Integrative Nutrition

American Heart Association

American Heart Association Fund PDF