Health Benefits of Coconut: Digestion, Weight Loss, and Improved Heart Health

Is there any other way to artistically describe coconut other than by its benefits? Without the awareness of the benefits of using or ingesting its vast array of priceless products, its virtues remain untapped. Coconut is a fruit that comes from the coconut palm. Economically, it can serve as food, snack, or medicine. Nutritionally, it is high in ascorbic acid, B vitamins, and proteins.

The popularity of coconut doesn’t end with coconut water, other products gotten from Coconut include, coconut oil and coconut milk, and coconut flour, all increasingly being used in home kitchens. Medicinally, coconut is effective against bladder stones, diabetes, high cholesterol, and weight loss. It works like magic as a beauty portion and it reduces urinary tract infections.

Coconut is known to be so rich in calories and laden with saturated fat. The question then is, can these attributes be healthy?

So, in this article, we will uncover the health benefits and cons of coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut flour, coconut water, coconut meat, and coconut flakes.

To answer the questions around the health implications of coconut’s high calorie and saturated fat concentration, it is important to note that most of its calories come from its flour, which is prepared from the by-products of coconut after removal of coconut milk. The high amounts of calories contained in its dietary fiber are believed to help lower cholesterol and control blood sugar levels.

Secondly, the high amount of saturated fat called medium-chain triglycerides works differently compared to other types of saturated fat in the body to increase fat burning and reduce fat storage.

Health Benefits of coconut

Coconut has a lot of benefits to man which includes:

1. Prevents Dehydration

The best source of electrolytes are young coconut water. What are Electrolytes? Electrolytes are minerals that help to keep the body properly hydrated so the muscles and nerves can function appropriately.

Therefore, after an intense workout, it is best to rehydrate with water from a young coconut compared to commercial sports drinks.

2. Provides Food Rich in Antioxidants

The soft flesh inside the coconut contains healthy fats, proteins, and various vitamins and minerals that helps to restore oxidative tissue damage.

3. Offers Good Fat

As mentioned earlier do not mistake hydrogenated coconut oil with pure cold-pressed extra virgin coconut oil.

Pure coconut oil is derived from the harder flesh of mature coconuts. The white flesh is shredded, collected, and then cold-pressed at 90–100 degrees Fahrenheit. Unprocessed, unrefined virgin coconut oil is not hydrogenated and is a safe choice for consumption, plus it is known for its natural healing wonders.

4. Aids Weight Loss

Coconut oil is incomparable to other high-calorie, cholesterol-soaked, long-chain saturated fat. This is because of its richness in medium-chain fatty acids that help to boost metabolism and aid fat loss.

This implies that It is metabolised quickly ensuring that fat doesn’t stick to your belly, instead, it gets burned off as energy. It also performs the functions of a detoxifier, while helping to balances your digestive tract.

One of the better-known uses of coconut oil is for cooking food. Coconut oil is one of the most stable oils when cooking in high heat. It does not form harmful by-products when heated to normal cooking temperatures like other vegetable oils do. In addition, it can be used as a spread for baking and for making delicious raw, vegan desserts.

5. Improves Beauty and Skin Health

To add to its impressive list of benefits, coconut oil can also be used topically on the skin and hair. Instead of bathing your skin with synthetic toxic lotions and creams, coconut oil can be used to nourish and moisturize our skin, scalp, and hair.

Other health benefits of coconut are:

6. It supports immune system health: it is anti-viral, antibacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasite.
7. It provides a natural source of quick energy and enhances physical and athletic performance.
8. It improves digestion and absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
9. It improves insulin secretion and symptoms associated with diabetes.
10. It helps protect the body from cancers through insulin reduction and removal of free radicals that cause premature aging and degenerative disease.
11. It reduces the risk of heart disease and improves good cholesterol (HDL).
12. It restores and supports thyroid function.
13. It helps protect against kidney disease and bladder infection.
14. It promotes weight loss.
15. It helps keep hair and skin healthy and youthful-looking, prevents wrinkles, sagging skin, age spots, and provides sun protection.

The emphasis now is that coconut should absolutely be a part of a healthy diet. The hype it has gotten in recent years as being a super-healthy food should translate into its vast daily usage.

Among its usable products include coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut flour, coconut meat, and coconut flakes to deliver a varied healthy diet made up of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, proteins, and healthy fats.