Coconut Oil

I just love Coconut Oil, and I find myself using it more & more in recipes; it is very versatile as it is a magic ingredient in Raw delectibles, but is also yummy in stir fries and as a replacement in some cases for other oils. Some brands influence the overall taste of the dish with a strong coconut flavour so you may need to do a little experiment & find a brand you like.
There is evidence to suggest coconut oil has excellent benefits if used in moderation.  It’s also a great alternative to butter for vegans and lactose intolerant people.

What is coconut oil?

Coconut oil is extracted from the meat (flesh) of mature coconuts. It has a very high smoking point, which makes it ideal for all types of cooking, especially high temperature frying. It is also extremely stable, meaning it won’t go rancid if stored for a long time (up to two years).

Vegans in particular love it, as coconut oil can make perfect pastry, flaky scones and creamy icings without using dairy. It tastes naturally sweet, with no bitterness and has a slight nuttiness that works well in sweet treats, savoury dishes or stir-fries.

Although coconut oil is high in saturated fats, these are the medium-chain saturated fatty acids (MCFAs), which are now thought to be beneficial, as opposed to trans-saturated fats, which carry risks of heart disease and high cholesterol.

 I don't usually recommend specific brands and I do not have a financial interest in any of them but I just love this brand of Coconut Oil. It's reusable glass jar with a re-sealable lid adds an additional bonus to the purchase. The purchase of this product ( usually available in your Health Food Shop or online) gives you the opportunity to help towards supporting a whole Village in New Guinea, the people of Napapar, through Fair Trade. Niugini is locally owned & operated and this means that those farmers who are registered suppliers are guaranteed of a market for their coconuts and guaranteed an income for their families.They receive a higher price and the farmer is paid on the day of collection. Volume Sales World Wide mean more farmers are given the opportunity to become part of this scheme.

The number of health benefits ascribed to coconut oil by its fans is staggering. They include improved heart health, a better immune system, younger looking skin, improved digestion, more stable blood sugar and reduced sugar cravings. However, it’s important to note that some of these benefits are scientifically unproven at this stage and all of them relate to 100% pure virgin coconut oil, not partially hydrogenated coconut oil, which contains unhealthy trans-fats.

A little more on Greens

You may or may not know how many of us felt about greens as a child. I for one, hated them & I still observe many parents to-day struggling to get their child to eat even a morsel of any kind of vegetable! What's going on? Those born in this era are fortunate enough to maybe have  Mum make green Smoothies & Green Juices, & incorporate veggies into all kinds of deliciously Raw & lightly cooked recipes. Sixty plus years ago I had to wade through a plate of over boiled spinach, beans or peas, totally killed off, grey in colour & without even a wiff of sauce or butter! Yuck! We didn't have the variety of greens seen readily in supermarkets & fruit stalls these days; even the packets of Mesclun lettuce are an example of this, offering such a variety of different & interesting lettuces all in one spoonful.

We still tend to like certain greens more than others even when making creative dishes. It is so easy to throw a handful of English Spinach into every shake, smoothie or juice rather than explore incorporating other options.This can lead to the possibility that you might be overdoing it by focusing so much on just one or a few types of greens. Your good intentions can lead you to be out of balance nutritionally with too much of some nutrients or acids, and too little of others. The solution then is to always aim for a variety of foods in your diet, including your greens.

Spinach in particular tends to be one green that many people overdo. This is because it’s tasty, readily available, familiar and very mild so it’s a great addition to juices, smoothies and salads.

The problem with this, along with the fact that it only provides a certain profile of nutrients, is that even though spinach is a wonderfully healthy food, it is high in oxalic acid, which in large quantities can imbalance the body. 

This falls in line with the overall idea that we wouldn’t overeat on one particular food, ignoring all the other options available to us. This is why eating seasonally is important and this alone can mitigate a lot of the risks of overdoing one particular type of food.

When it comes to greens, we have a huge abundance of delicious greens available to us to keep in rotation, so we are always getting a variety of different nutrients. They all have their own unique flavor and you can play around with them in salads, cooked veggie meals, juices, smoothies, soups, in wraps, in dips or any other way you would like to enjoy them.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Here’s just some of them for you to explore:  Cabbage, Mesclun, Romaine, Oak, Butter & Cos Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Kale, Collards, Endive, Bok Choy, Broccoli, Dandelion, Mustard Greens, Herbs like Parsley, Coriander/ Cilantro, Dill, Thyme, Rosemary etc Watercress & Arugula.

And there are many more, this is just a start. As you can see, there are plenty to choose from!

Aim to have at least 4-5 different greens each week and rotate them where possible so you’re not eating the same greens more than 2-3 times a week. This will help ensure you maximize all the nutritional benefits that greens have to offer and help you avoid deficiencies as well as oxalic acid toxicity.