Friday, November 6th, 2009

BEAT BACK DRY SKIN THIS WINTER WITH HEALTHY FAT

If there's one thing I see plenty of in my practice it's dry skin, often accompanied by itching.  People usually deal with this common annoyance by applying creams or ointments, which don't always work and fail to address address the underlying issue.

 I usually find the answer in their diets.  Years of brainwashing by the medical profession and the popular media have resulted in an epidemic of fat phobia.  Most folks just don't get enough healthy fats in the foods they eat.  They're terrified that dietary fat is going to somehow clog up their arteries and cause a heart attack. 

 This simplistic notion of heart disease as a plumbing problem has no firm basis in science.  More likely than not, fat phobia has been the cause of more mischief, heart disease and early death by driving people to drop natural fats and replace them with highly processed low fat carbs in the form of breads, cereals, pasta and all manner of packaged junk food.

 COCONUT OIL FOR DRY SKIN

If you're suffering from dry skin, give coconut oil a try.  Still demonized as a life threatening saturated fat, coconut is in fact a health supporting food that has been enjoyed for centuries by traditional tropical societies around the world. With a long shelf life and stable at room temperature, coconut oil used to be a favorite of the baking industry in this country. 

 DEMONIZED BY INDUSTRY INTERESTS

Unfortunately, a long-term negative campaign driven by mainly by soy and corn interests aided and abetted by their paid friends in academic nutrition departments resulted in the replacement of coconut oil with highly processed polyunsaturated fats.  These chemically altered fats are best not allowed into our bodies, where they wreck everything - including your brain, heart and blood vessels -- generating tissue damaging free radicals, promoting disease causing inflammation and incorporating themselves into our delicate cell membranes where they spam up cell-to-cell signaling and communication.  And who needs any of that?

 HEALTH BENEFITS BACKED BY RESEARCH

Coconut oil offers a number of benefits backed up by independent research, we don't need to rely solely on research from countries where coconuts are an important cash crop.  It is rich in lauric acid, also found human breast milk.  Lauric acid can inhibit the growth of many disease causing bacteria and viruses.  Coconut oil is also rich in a type of fat known as medium chain triglycerides (MCT), an excellent, clean burning source of energy. 

 Coconut oil is indeed rich in saturated fats.  High quality organic forms do not come freighted with the antibiotic, hormone and pesticide residues that burden supermarket garbage meat and dairy products. The health damaging aspects of these foods may have much more to do with the toxic residues carried in the fats they contain rather than the fats themselves.  The whole saturated fat heart hypothesis is based on faulty research and the subject of ongoing debate and argument among scientists as we speak.  A complete discussion of this important subject is beyond the scope of today's bulletin.

 START NOW

Start using coconut oil as a low to medium heat cooking fat.  Add coconut milk to your smoothies.  If you want to establish a regular regimen for your dry skin, start with one to two tablespoons of coconut oil a day with breakfast and dinner.  Along with clearing up your dry skin, you might find you have more energy through the day and less illness this winter.  Another possible benefit?  Some people find it helps them lose weight.  Coconut oil can increase thermogenesis, a fancy way of saying it boosts metabolism and helps you burn more calories from the food you eat.

 There are plenty of high quality coconut oils available in stores and on the internet.  I recommend you price shop for an organic product.

A jar of expeller pressed organic unrefined virgin coconut oil from Spectrum sits in our kitchen cupboard.     

 Alan Inglis MD
American Country Doctor

Tags: coconut oil, dry skin, lauric acid, medium chain triglycerides