The Coconut Oil Miracle (14 page)

The two most influential factors over which we have control in determining body weight are calorie consumption and physical activity. Let’s look at an example of how food consumption and exercise affect weight. A 150-pound man with a sedentary job, such as a computer programmer, needs about 1,600 calories for basic metabolic functions and another 800 calories for daily physical activities. He would need to consume a total of 2,400 (1,600 plus 800) calories a day to maintain his body weight. Weight gain could be caused by two factors: (1) if he eats more than 2,400 calories, all the additional calories will be converted into fat, and he gains weight; and (2) if he becomes less active than he already is, his body will use fewer calories
and turn the excess into fat. But our man could also lose weight in two ways: (1) if he doesn’t get 2,400 calories from his diet, his body will produce them from the breakdown of fatty tissues; and (2) if he exercises, his body will draw on his fat stores to provide the energy for his increased activity level.

A healthy calorie intake will vary from person to person, depending on activity level, and from men to women. A man with a job that requires moderate activity, such as janitorial work, needs about 2,600 to 2,800 calories a day to maintain his weight. For an activity-heavy job, such as bricklaying, one needs about 2,800 to 3,200 calories a day. An average-sized male needs between 2,200 and 3,200 calories a day, depending on his level of physical activity. Women are generally smaller and have less muscle mass than men, so they need fewer calories—about 2,000 to 2,800.

You’ve seen the advertisements. “I lost fifty pounds in four weeks.” “I went from a size eighteen to a size eight in thirty days!” All sorts of diets claim that you can lose weight “quickly.” Is it really possible to lose weight this fast? Let’s take a look at the facts.

A pound of body fat stores about 3,500 calories. To lose it, you must reduce your calorie intake by 3,500. On average, a reduction of 500 calories a day (3,500 per week) brings about a weight loss of one pound a week. A reduction of 1,000 calories a day equates to a loss of 2 pounds a week. To eliminate 1,000 calories a day, an average-sized person would need to reduce his or her food intake by nearly half. That’s a big reduction! What this means is that true fat loss takes
time. You cannot lose 50 pounds of fat in six weeks! It’s just not possible unless you are very obese and don’t consume anything except water. Six to twelve pounds is more realistic in this time frame.

Many people would disagree with this statement and claim that they lost 10 pounds in two weeks or some other short amount of time. But weight loss can be deceiving. A pound lost does not necessarily indicate a reduction in body fat. Quick changes in weight are not changes in fat but are due primarily to a loss of water. Look at the numbers. On average, we need about 2,500 calories a day to maintain current weight, whether we are over- or underweight. This is the amount needed just to stay even. Out of this number, two-thirds, or 1,667 calories, are needed just to power basic metabolic processes. A reduction of 1,000 calories a day is dramatic and borders on starvation because you would not even get enough calories to fuel these functions, let alone your daily activities.

This great a reduction in calories would also require you to drastically reduce the amount you eat each day, even if you chose low-calorie foods. At this drastic rate you would only lose 2 pounds of fat a week. In addition, you would be constantly hungry and fatigued due to a lack of energy. Claims in advertisements that somebody on a particular diet lost 10 pounds in one week or 40 pounds in four weeks or some other incredible figure may be true, but it wasn’t fat they lost, it was muscle mass and water. In time, the water will be added back and weight will increase. If water isn’t eventually replaced, it can lead to some very serious health problems caused by chronic dehydration.

In order to lose fat and excess weight permanently and healthfully, you need to do it slowly. The best way to lose weight is to make small
adjustments in the types of foods you eat, increase your activity level, and stop worrying about counting calories or denying yourself. It can be done. And as I will soon show, adding coconut oil to your diet will make weight loss easier.

While some foods provide more calories than others, overeating any food will add additional pounds to one’s waistline. There are three nutrients that give us energy, or calories—fat, protein, and carbohydrate. Every gram of protein we eat, whether it comes from meat or wheat, supplies our bodies with 4 calories. Carbohydrate, which is the primary energy source in vegetables, fruits, and grains, also supplies 4 calories per gram. Fat, however, supplies more than twice that—9 calories per gram. So you would need to eat more than twice as much protein or carbohydrate to get the same amount of calories as you do from fat.

Reducing the amount of fat we eat is a logical way to reduce total calorie consumption and lose unwanted weight. But few people can stick to a low-fat or no-fat diet for long. Fats make food taste better and are necessary in the preparation of many dishes and baked goods. Statistics show that nearly all those who go on low-fat diets to lose weight regain the weight after a couple of years, often putting on more weight than they had before. Eliminating fat from the diet takes a tremendous amount of willpower and to be truly successful requires a lifelong commitment. Most of us aren’t willing to eliminate fat from our diet for the rest of our lives.

In addition, fats are actually important food components without
which we would suffer from nutrient deficiencies. It is through the fats in our food that we get the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K and beta-carotene). Researchers are showing that these nutrients protect us from a myriad of diseases, including cancer and heart disease. Fat is required in our foods in order to obtain and absorb these nutrients. A low-fat diet can lead to nutrient deficiencies and increase the risk of numerous degenerative diseases.

Some fats are considered essential because our bodies cannot make them from other nutrients. This is why the American Heart Association, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and other organizations all recommend that we get 30 percent of our daily calories from fat. In comparison, these organizations also recommend that we get only 12 percent of our calories from protein and that the rest should come from carbohydrates.

Isn’t eating a lot of fat fattening? The more fat we eat, the more calories we consume, and the harder it is to lose weight. But fat is an important part of our diet. If we cut down on fats, we also cut out essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins.

What if there was a fat that had fewer calories than other fats and actually promoted better health—would you be interested? Sound like a pipe dream? It’s not. There actually is a fat that can do this. That fat is found in coconut oil.

Replacing the fats you now eat with coconut oil may be the wisest decision you can make to lose excess body fat. We often think that the less fat we eat, the better. However, you don’t necessarily need to
reduce your fat intake; you simply need to choose a fat that is better for you—one that doesn’t contribute to weight gain. You can lose unwanted body fat by eating more saturated fat (in the form of coconut oil) and less polyunsaturated fat (processed vegetable oils).

All fats, whether they are saturated or unsaturated, from a cow or from corn, contain the same number of calories. The MCFAs in coconut oil, however, contain a little less. Because of the small size of the fatty acids that make up coconut oil, they actually yield fewer calories than other fats. For example, MCT oil, which is derived from coconut oil and consists of 75 percent caprylic acid (C:8) and 25 percent capric acid (C:10), has an effective energy value of only 6.8 calories per gram. This is much less than the 9 calories per gram supplied by other fats. Coconut oil has about 8.6 calories per gram. This isn’t a big difference but if you replace all the other oils in your diet with coconut oil you will be reducing your total calorie intake. Over time this reduction in calories can make a difference.

This small reduction in calories is only part of the picture. The type of calories coconut oil contributes is in effect closer to that of carbohydrate because coconut oil is digested and processed differently from other fats.

When people go on diets to lose weight, the foods that are restricted most are those that contain the most fat. Why is fat singled out? We know it is high in calories, but there is another reason. Because of the way it is digested and utilized in our bodies, it contributes the most to body fat. The fat we eat is the fat we wear—literally.

When we eat fat, it is broken down into individual fatty acids and repackaged into small bundles of fat and protein called lipoproteins. These lipoproteins are sent into the bloodstream, where the fatty acids are deposited directly into our fat cells. Other nutrients, such as carbohydrate and protein, are broken down and used immediately for energy or tissue building. Only when we eat too much is the excess carbohydrate and protein converted into fat. As long as we eat enough to satisfy energy needs, fat in our food ends up as fat in our cells. Only between meals, when physical activity outpaces energy reserves, is fat removed from storage and burned for fuel.

However, MCFAs are digested and utilized differently. They are not packaged into lipoproteins and do not circulate in the bloodstream like other fats but are sent directly to the liver, where they are immediately converted into energy—just like a carbohydrate. But unlike carbohydrates, MCFAs do not raise blood sugar, so coconut oil is safe for diabetics. Many people report that coconut oil helps them control sugar cravings and reduces hypoglycemic symptoms. So when you eat coconut oil, the body uses it immediately to make energy rather than store it as body fat. As a consequence, you can eat much more coconut oil than you can other oils before the excess is converted into fat. It has been well documented in numerous dietary studies, using both animals and humans, that replacing LCFAs with MCFAs results in a decrease in body weight gain and a reduction in fat deposition.

These studies have scientifically verified that replacing traditional sources of dietary fat, which are composed primarily of LCFAs, with MCFAs yields meals with a lower effective calorie content. So MCFAs can be a useful tool in controlling weight gain and fat deposition. The
simplest and best way to replace LCFAs with MCFAs is to use coconut oil in the preparation of your food.

Don’t you hate them—those people who are as skinny as rails and eat like horses? They’re full of pep and vitality, gorge themselves on all types of fattening foods, and never gain an ounce. You, on the other hand, eat a celery stick and immediately gain 5 pounds. Why is that? The answer is metabolism. Your basal metabolic rate is slower than theirs. They burn up more calories with the same amount of physical activity as you. They can eat more than you but weigh less. Wouldn’t it be nice to increase your metabolic rate?

The best way you can rev up your metabolism is to exercise. When you exercise regularly, metabolism picks up. During exercise metabolism increases, and it remains elevated even when you’re not exercising. A physically fit body also burns more calories than one that is not, because lean body tissue burns more calories than fatty tissue. So a person in good physical shape uses more calories. This is why one person can eat like a gorilla and look as skinny as a bird, while someone else can eat like a bird and still pack on weight.

Metabolism is also affected by the amount of food we eat. If we suddenly start to eat less, as when we diet, it signals to our bodies that there must be less food available, and as a means of self-preservation our BMR decreases to conserve energy. The slower metabolism also means that our bodies produce less energy, and so we become fatigued more easily.

Because dieting tends to make us feel hungry and tired all the time
as our BMR drops in order to match the lowered intake of calories, in order to see a significant reduction in weight you must eat even less, essentially starving yourself, consuming fewer calories than your body actually needs for daily activities. If you are overweight and reduce your eating to just match the number of calories you use each day, you won’t lose a thing. You will maintain your current weight level. In order to reduce, you must nearly starve yourself—
or
you must significantly increase your physical activity. Exercise is beneficial because it keeps your BMR normal or increases it so that your body burns more calories. If you combine exercise with dieting, you get the most weight-reducing effect because you lower your calorie intake and increase both your daily use of calories and your BMR.

Someone once said, “Over the past several years I’ve lost two hundred pounds. If I’d kept it all off I would weigh minus twenty pounds.” Many people can identify with this statement. Dieting hasn’t helped. In fact, dieting can actually make you fat! How does it do that? After depriving yourself for a period of time in order to lose weight, you begin to ease up on the diet. Most people experience sensations of intense hunger and begin to eat at least as much as they ate before the diet started, if not more. The diet may have resulted in a loss of 10 or 15 pounds in the first few weeks, most of which was water. After you end the diet, your food cravings prompt you to eat and overeat. But now the calories you eat pack a heftier punch. Why? Because your BMR has decreased. The 800-calorie meal will have the same effect as, say, a 1,000-calorie meal. The result? You regain all the weight
you lost and then some. By the time your BMR catches up, you’re already overweight again. This time you weigh more than you ever did. With a lower metabolic rate, you burn less and less, and it becomes harder and harder to lose. When you do start eating again, you’re more likely to store fat rather than burn it because you’re burning it at a lower level.