Hi! I’m Lizanne, a 24 year old very happily married wife to Chris, and thoroughly-blessed mama to Elijah (10 Dec 2010). We live in Cape Town, South Africa. I blog at Clay Jar People. I love Jesus, blogging, reading, latin and ballroom dancing, cooking, playing with my boy, tea, daisies, clean laundry, cupcakes, unicorns, books, natural living, babywearing, breastfeeding, walking barefoot, cloth diapers, chocolate and Cluedo.
This lovely smelling coconut oil is so amazing, I could rave about it for ages! But I will just give you the basics here.
Starting with the beauty benefits:
Hair Care: Coconut oil is possibly the best natural nutrition for hair. It encourages healthy hair growth and makes it shine. If you massage your scalp regularly, it’s a great moisturizer and keeps dandruff, lice, and lice eggs at bay. I use it as a conditioner and in place of styling products to keep my curly hair controlled. The proteins in this oil helps nourish damaged hair.
Stress Relief: Coconut oil is very soothing, specifically when used as a massage oil, and is therefore stress relieving.
Skin Care: Coconut oil is a fantastic moisturizer and is perfect for all skin types. Its really good for dry skin and flakiness. It helps treat various skin problems including psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin infections.
Premature Aging: Coconut oil apparently helps prevent premature aging and degenerative diseases due to its antioxidant properties.
Almost more important than my own skincare routine, is that of my baby. The idea of putting a bunch of chemicals on his sensitive skin is scary. Each so-called baby product I have is filled with parabens and sulfates… not to mention the other carcinogens. This has made me decide to go all natural with his skincare.
Benefits of coconut oil for babies.
Nappy Rash: Because of the anti microbial lipids, the oil is perfect to heal nappy rash and thrush. Just apply to baby’s bum at nappy changes.
Moisturizing: Instead of chemical filled creams and lotions, use coconut oil to moisturize baby’s skin.
I found this recipe for nappy cream and its awesome! I use it as a baby massage oil as well, and can even use it as a moisturizer for myself. Its cheap and helps against thrush and rash, and leaves baby soft and smelling yummy.
The health benefits are:
Heart Diseases: There is a misconception spread among many people that coconut oil is not good for the heart. This is because it contains a large quantity of saturated fats. However, coconut oil is beneficial for the heart. It contains about 50% lauric acid, which helps in preventing various heart problems including high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. The saturated fats present in coconut oil are not harmful as it happens in case of other vegetables oils. It does not lead to increase in LDL levels. It also reduces the incidence of injury in arteries and therefore helps in preventing atherosclerosis.
Pancreatitis: Coconut oil is also believed to be useful in treating pancreatitis.
Digestion: This oil is perfect for cooking and baking. Coconut oil helps in improving the digestive system and thus prevents various stomach and digestion related problems including irritable bowel syndrome. The saturated fats present in coconut oil have anti microbial properties and help in dealing with various bacteria, fungi, parasites, etc., that cause indigestion. Coconut oil also helps in absorption of other nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
Immunity: Coconut oil is also good for the immune system. It strengthens the immune system as it contains antimicrobial lipids, lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid which have antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties. The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin which is claimed to help in dealing with viruses and bacteria causing diseases such as herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV (Source: https://www.stdaware.com/). It helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia.
Healing: When applied on infections, it forms a chemical layer which protects the infected body part from external dust, air, fungi, bacteria and virus. Coconut oil is most effective on bruises as it speeds up the healing process by repairing damaged tissues.
Infections: Coconut oil is very effective against a variety of infections due to its antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial properties. According to the Coconut Research Center, coconut oil kills viruses that cause influenza, measles, hepatitis, herpes, SARS, etc. It also kills bacteria that cause ulcers, throat infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and gonorrhea, etc. Coconut oil is also effective on fungi and yeast that cause candidiasis, ringworm,athlete’s foot, thrush, diaper rash, etc.
Diabetes: Coconut oil helps in controlling blood sugar, and improves the secretion of insulin. It also helps in effective utilization of blood glucose, thereby preventing and treating diabetes.
Bones: As mentioned earlier, coconut oil improves the ability of our body to absorb important minerals. These include calciumand magnesium which are necessary for development of bones. Thus coconut oil is very useful to women who are prone to osteoporosis after middle age.
Weight loss: Coconut oil is very useful for weight loss. It contains short and medium-chain fatty acids that help in taking off excessive weight. It is also easy to digest and it helps in healthy functioning of the thyroid and enzymes systems. Further, it increases the body metabolism by removing stress on pancreases, thereby burning out more energy and helping obese and overweight people reduce their weight. Hence, people living in tropical coastal areas, who eat coconut oil daily as their primary cooking oil, are normally not fat, obese or overweight.
Its been suggested that one eats a spoonful of coconut oil daily to increase metabolism. It’s yummy enough 🙂 I’d try it in food rather, or in a smoothie. My personal favourite is this healthy fudge – I would suggest a touch less cocoa though. It’s delicious and healthy!
Coconut oil is pricy, but gives great flavour to food, just a subtle coconut-ness, and it fabulous in baking. I will post some recipes soon using coconut oil. Its ideal for dieters or those desiring a healthier lifestyle, because of its low calories.
~ Lizanne
(information reference: http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html)