Sweeten Your Life with Healthy Coconut Oil
With all the new research about how bad sugar is for your health, many people are searching for alternatives to sweeten their beverages and desserts. One popular alternative is coconut oil.
This oil, made from natural coconut pulp, is widely used in cooking and cosmetics. Its use as a natural sweetener may come as a surprise because while it doesn’t contain any sugar, it still tastes sweet.
Discover more about coconut oil in this article and sweeten your life in the healthiest way possible.
Read also: How to Make Garlic Oil at Home
The health consequences of sugar
We know it’s really difficult to completely eliminate sugar from your life. It’s used to sweeten things like desserts, coffee, and afternoon tea.
How can you resist it? It may be difficult, but it’s worth it weighing the damage it can do to your body. Let’s take a closer look:
- Sugar is a highly processed food. It causes dangerous spikes in glucose levels, which causes fat to accumulate in your veins and arteries.
- If you eat a lot of sugar, your blood glucose can get so high that you’ll end up with elevated LDL (bad) cholesterol or heart problems.
- Sugar can cause diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
- What’s more is that it could be a silent trigger for the appearance of different types of cancers.
In short, sugar is dangerous for your health, and you should try to give it up as soon as you can. If you decide to give up sugar, what’s a healthy way to sweeten your life? Coconut oil.
Healthy coconut oil, the best sweetener
Coconut oil is easy to find. It’s sold in organic markets and supermarkets that specialize in natural, healthy foods. It can be a little pricier when compared to ordinary sugar, but given its benefits, it’s a small price to pay.
Want to know why it’s one of the healthiest natural sweeteners out there? Pay attention:
1. Coconut oil is delicious and doesn’t contain any sugar
Coconut oil doesn’t contain any type of sugar, not even fructose. Yet the taste is incredibly pleasant and so sweet that it will surprise you.
In fact, it’s ideal for making desserts, but you can add it to any dish you like knowing that it doesn’t contain even one gram of carbohydrates.
2. Coconut oil is loaded with healthy fatty acids for your body
Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, one of the most beneficial fatty acids in existence. This oil also contains many antioxidants and is really healthy for your heart.
What’s also interesting is that it possesses antibacterial and antifungal properties. These properties help keep food fresher longer by preventing oxidation.
3. Foods made with coconut oil provide more energy
Coconut oil offers a lot of energy. By choosing coconut oil, you’ll be keeping your blood sugar levels in check since it’s not metabolized into glucose. Instead, it is directly converted into energy, which is why it’s great as a healthy substitute for white sugar.
4. The versatility of coconut oil
You probably had this problem before: many desserts require liquid sugar which leaves you with no choice but to heat it, oxidizing it and releasing free radicals that are harmful to your health.
This doesn’t happen with coconut oil. It’s usually sold as a solid in jars, but when it reaches temperatures of 68°-75°F, it becomes a liquid. This makes it really convenient to mix in with other ingredients.
In conclusion, coconut oil is a good substitute for margarine and butter, and you can even use it to sweeten recipes and add an exotic touch to your food. That being said, we still don’t have enough scientific evidence to prove these health benefits, so don’t go overboard.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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Eyres, L., Eyres, M. F., Chisholm, A., & Brown, R. C. (2016). Coconut oil consumption and cardiovascular risk factors in humans. Nutrition Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuw002
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Nevin, K. G., & Rajamohan, T. (2006). Virgin coconut oil supplemented diet increases the antioxidant status in rats. Food Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.06.056
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Arunima, S., & Rajamohan, T. (2012). Virgin coconut oil improves hepatic lipid metabolism in rats-compared with copra oil, olive oil and sunflower oil. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology. https://doi.org/10.1139/Y09-045
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Intahphuak, S., Khonsung, P., & Panthong, A. (2010). Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antipyretic activities of virgin coconut oil. Pharmaceutical Biology. https://doi.org/10.3109/13880200903062614