Magic oil for weight loss!

Kochi: Coconut oil contains 2/3 MCFAs (medium chain fatty acids). Alternatively known as medium-chain triglycerides or MCTs, they produce a packed range of health benefits. Coconut oil is nature's richest source of MCFAs. Most other vegetable or seed oils comprise long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) known as long-chain triglycerides or LCTs.

Let me explain why these long-chain fatty acids are not healthy as compared to the MCFAs, found in coconut oil. LCFAs require special enzymes for digestion and are difficult to break down. LCFAs pressurise and strain your pancreas, liver and digestive system. LCFAs are predominantly stored in your body as fat. LCFAs clog the arteries in lipid forms such as cholesterol.

Whereas the MCFAs found in coconut oil possess beneficial health qualities. MCFAs are smaller and permeate cell membranes. It does not require special enzymes to be utilised by your body. MCFAs are easily digestible. MCFAs enter your liver and gets immediately converted into energy and does not get stored as fat. MCFAs stimulate your body's metabolism by promoting weight loss.

Coconut oil fights diabetes. Your body transports medium-chain fatty acids directly to the liver to be utilised as energy. This is what makes coconut oil a powerful source of instant energy, a function usually served in the diet by simple carbohydrates.

Though coconut oil and simple carbohydrates have the ability to deliver quick energy to your body, they differ in one crucial respect. Coconut oil does not produce an insulin spike in your bloodstream. Yes! You read that right! Coconut oil acts on your body like a carbohydrate, without any of the debilitating insulin-related effects associated with long-term high carbohydrate consumption.

Diabetics and even those with pre-diabetic conditions should realise the benefit of a fast-acting energy source that doesn't produce an insulin spike in your body. Coconut oil when added to the diets of diabetics and pre-diabetics has actually been shown to help stabilise weight gain and dramatically decrease your chances of contracting adult onset type-2 Diabetes.

One of the most beneficial virtues of coconut oil lies in its ability to help stimulate your metabolism. Years ago, farmers accidentally came across this effect when they tried using coconut oil to fatten their livestock. The livestock didn't get fat. Instead, coconut oil made the animals lean and active.

However, many animal and human research studies have shown that replacing LCFAs with MCFAs results in both decreased body weight and reduced fat deposition suggesting that coconut oil is magic oil for obesity and weight loss.

(To be continued) The writer is a holistic lifestyle guru. You can mail him at jaison@jaisonsfitnessfirst.com or call 0484 280 5345