Coconut Oil – Food of the Gods?

There has been a lot of talk about the benefits of coconut oil recently and here, at FastTrack Fit Camp, we encourage our campers to add it into their diets too. It has a host of health benefits, a range of more unusual uses and, the product we sell, an ethical benefit also.

Health Benefits

• Virgin coconut oil is cholesterol free. Minimising your cholesterol intake is not such an issue as we make our own when intake is low, and produce less when our intake is high, but for many knowing a food is low cholesterol helps them to think of it more fondly.
• It’s naturally sugar free.
• It contains medium chain triglycerides, called lauric acid, which are used directly by the liver for energy and not stored as fat. Lauric acid is highly beneficial to our health and, is also interestingly,  the majority component in breast milk. Lauric acid is altered in our bodies into immune boosting, anti-viral, anti-bacterial and general destroyer of disease causing bugs. It’s a good fat!
• Coconuts are an excellent source of selenium and zinc.

How To Use

• Due to the high proportion of saturated fat in coconut oil (all good for you remember!) this food is great for cooking as it is stable at high heat.
• Use in place of sunflower oil or olive oil for frying or roasting (it makes the loveliest roast potatoes or chips)
• Fantastic as a base for a curry.
• Dab over vegetables for roasting.
• Use in place of butter for omelettes, spreading on bread or crackers or baking.
• Add a dessert spoonful into your smoothie or hot drink like coffee or hot cocoa.
• You can even eat it straight off the spoon, sprinkled with cinnamon if you prefer.

Other Uses

• It’s been shown to help strengthen hair and slow down hair loss by rubbing into the hair and leaving for 5 minutes before washing off. Apply daily.
• Oil pulling has been used for years for keeping teeth clean and filling free. Oil pulling is a recognised method for keeping your mouth (and body) clean and your dentist bills low. Check it out here.
• As a moisturiser.
• To help tanning with a natural colour.
• Can be used for massage.
• Mix into pet food to improve their fur.
• Rub into shoe leather to keep healthy and flexible.

Ethical Benefits

• We use a company called Coconoil that was set up by a British man after seeing the devastation after the Boxing Day tsunami. He considered how Sri Lanka could help itself again after such a tragedy and he established a coconut oil distribution plant so we can benefit them by the Sri Lankans benefiting us.
• The company is based on providing sustainable employment and uses traditional farming methods to get the very best quality coconut oil it can.
• FastTrack Fit Camp sell the Organic Virgin Coconut Oil in 420g and 940g tubs and are available from our shop.