Unrefined, virgin, organic coconut oil is an important part of my family’s healthy diet. This amazing super food has so many uses, from cooking and “frying” to making raw foods taste amazing, to skin and hair care.

Unfortunately, this near perfect oil is often confused as a bad saturated fat. Many people (even some doctors and nutrition experts) will lump it in with harmful fats simply because it’s solid at room temperature. Despite many misguided health experts claiming that all saturated fats are bad for you, recent studies have shown this recommendation to be flawed, and shown unprocessed saturated fats to be a healthy part of our diets. Take a close look at coconut oil’s molecular make up, and you can see that it’s really one of the healthiest fats on the planet. It is a medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA). This means it’s converted to energy in your body quickly instead of being stored as fat. MCFAs are really rare, which is possibly why they’re wrongly lumped into the “bad fat” category with all the other saturated fats. MCFAs can increase your body’s metabolism, too.

With regard to overall health, coconut oil benefits are hard to beat. Here’s a list of just some of the properties:

~Anti-bacterial

~Anti-viral

~Anti-parasitic

~Anti-fungal

~Helps protect against heart disease

~Inhibits colon cancer and breast cancer

~Purifies the blood

~Helps with digestive problems

~Regulates blood sugar, especially for diabetics

~Major immune system booster

~Helps prevent osteoporosis, Crohn’s Disease and hypoglycemia.

~Is fantastic for pediatric nutrition, especially in low weight children and infants.

~Helps protect thyroid health

~Promotes weight loss, but only if you have weight to lose

~Works miracles for skin and hair (even by eating it)

~Makes food taste so delicious!

The most popular cooking oils you find at the grocery store are made by heating a once-natural oil to such high temperatures that it strips all the healthy nutrients out of the oil. Hydrogen atoms are then added to the oil (making your cooking oil a trans fat). When you bring that oil home and cook with it and dress your salads with it, it destroys the nutrients in your salads (or whatever you’re using it on).

The WORST cooking oils include:

~Vegetable Oil

~Canola Oil (unless you can find organic cold pressed)

~Safflower Oil

~Sunflower Oil

~Corn Oil

~Soy Oil

How to Find the Best Coconut Oil

Make sure to find a coconut oil that is 100% pure, unrefined, organic, virgin coconut oil. That’s a lot of adjectives, but they’re all really important! Otherwise, you won’t be getting all the healthy coconut oil benefits I’ve described above.

The problem I’ve found is that even at a health food store, you’ll spend a lot of money ($20 – $25 for a small jar of coconut oil), and the quality is hit and miss, depending on the brand. The 4 things to look for in a quality oil: a label that says it’s unrefined, organic and virgin, the coconut oil should be solid at room temperature, pure white (not off-white or yellow), and smell and taste very coconutty.

I’ve shopped so many different places looking for the best quality and price because I use a lot of it. In cooking, as a skin and hair conditioner, and even as the most effective diaper rash cream I’ve ever had. I buy it a gallon at a time (the shelf-life is several years). You may also find a friend or two to split a gallon for the best price.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE BRAND OF COCONUT OIL I RECOMMEND. MY “RECOMMENDED” PAGE LINKS YOU RIGHT TO AMAZON.

Do you currently use coconut oil for cooking, beauty, or other health solutions? Please share!