Virgin Coconut Oil Uses and Benefits

Virgin Coconut Oil has really come on to my radar lately so I checked out The Coconut Oil Tips Web Site to learn more ways to use this great natural product. 

Virgin Coconut Oil General Health Benefits

1. Antioxidant
2. Antiviral
3. Antibacterial
4. Antifungal
5. Boosts metabolism, burns quickly
6. Immune support
7. Improves mineral absorption (calcium and the ever-important magnesium)

 Coconut Oil Uses for Beauty

1. Cuticle oil — Softens and strengthens cuticles, and soothes/prevents hangnails.

2. Eye makeup remover — Use it to remove makeup, even waterproof mascara.

3. Wrinkle buster — Reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

4. Defrizzer. Use to defrizz and smooth fly-aways. Works especially well on dark hair.

5. Deep conditioner – Coconut oil works extremely well as a conditioning treatment, especially as a pre-shampoo hair repair mask.

6. Natural deodorant — You can dab some under your arms plain, or mix it with baking soda.

7. Toothpaste — Use it as an ingredient, with baking soda, for homemade toothpaste. Good for gum health.

8. Sunscreen (SPF) — It doesn’t sound like it, but coconut oil has an SPF of 4-6. And if you use it while tanning, it prevents skin damage due to its antioxidant and moisturizing properties.

9. Body scrub — Mix with a little sugar or sea salt for a yummy, moisturizing body scrub.

10. Lip balm — Hydrating on dry or cracked lips. You can try mixing it with shea butter to make it richer.

11. Foot/Heel softener — Softens and smooths dry, cracked heels.

12. Facial cleanser — Massage in like any facial cleanser and rinse with a cloth. Some have reported that it works especially well if you rinse it off with tea tree oil. (Not sure about coconut oil for face?

13. Body butter –  Coconut oil is a great moisturizer by itself, but for even more pampering, whip it into a homemade body butter using a kitchen mixer.

14. Aftershave — Men can use this on their face, and for ladies it is amazingly soothing on legs and the bikini area.

15. Massage Oil — Just melt some down.

16. Elbows — Improves look of dry dark elbow patches.

17. Shaving “cream” – Just use it in the shower like you would with shave cream/gel, or apply it before shaving normally as a pre-shave preparation.

18. Hair growth

19. Bug repellant — Just mix with a few drops of peppermint oil and apply to skin.

20. Stretch mark oil — Use it on your pregnant belly to prevent stretch marks. It also works on stretch marks to reduce their appearance.

21. Bath oil — Add to your bath for a tropical and moisturizing pampering.

22. Fades age spots.

23. Mole removal — Use it after removing moles with the apple cider vinegar compress method.

24. Tattoos — Aids in healing a new tattoo, and regular use prevents the ink from fading.

25. Cellulite.

26. Hair dye help — Use on skin along hair dye to keep dye off during coloring process.

Coconut Oil Uses for Health

1. Keratosis Pilaris – Slather on a little bit of coconut oil after your shower while your skin is still damp, and over a couple of weeks it will drastically reduce the appearance of the little red bumps known as KP or “chicken skin”.

2. Herpes treatment – reduces viral loads in test subjects, use internally and externally.

3. Candida – reduces candida culture in the gut.

4. Dementia/Alzheimer’s – Because of its ketogenic diet benefits, coconut oil improves symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

5. Hypothyroidism – boosts metabolism, raises basal body temp.

6. Cold sores – can be applied topically to remove them.

7. Lice — Just slather some on the scalp under a shower cap for a few hours. A lot of people report success with this!

8. Detox.

9. Helps absorb vitamins and mineral supplements.

10. Scrapes and cuts ointment — Use coconut oil, which is antibacterial, topically to kill bacteria and heal the skin.

11. Athlete’s foot.

12. Nail fungus.

13. Pink eye.

14. Burn ointment — Like aloe vera, coconut oil has anti-inflammatory properties and is soothing.

15. Canker sores.

16. Gum disease/gingivitis — aids in gum health when used as toothpaste or rubbed on gums.

17. Asthma.

18. Autism.

19. Epilepsy — Coconut oil has been known to reduce epileptic seizures.

20. ADHD.

21. Breastfeeding discomfort — Sooth chaffed nipples from breastfeeding with coconut oil.

Coconut Oil Uses for Cooking

1. Cooking oil – Virgin coconut oil has a high smoke point, so it is less likely to degrade during cooking than other oils, and is more suitable for healthy cooking.

2. Butter substitute — Great substitute for baking, or just plain on toast!

3. Popcorn – Coconut oil has traditionally been used for movie theater popcorn and it’s just as tasty but much healthier if you use the extra virgin, unrefined kind! Just put a big spoonful in a pot, let it melt slightly then add the kernels on top for popping. Amazing!

4. Smoothies — Add 1 to 3 tablespoons of coconut oil to fruit smoothies and green smoothies for a subtle tropical flavor. This is my favorite way to get my daily fix and boost my energy, since it revs metabolism and also is known to help you absorb vitamins and nutrients.

Household Uses for Coconut Oil

1. Conditions wooden cutting boards.

2. Wood polish.

3. Furniture polish (mix with lemon juice).

Coconut Oil Uses for Baby

1. Diaper rash cream.

2. Cradle cap.

3. Circumcision healing.

4. Breastfeeding salve.

Miscellaneous Coconut Oil Uses

1. Massage oil.

2. Personal lubricant.

3. Shoe polish.

4. Unsticks fabric in zippers.

5. Unsticks gum.

Conclusion

Virgin coconut oil is an awesome product that everyone ought to keep around the house! If you want to learn more about coconut oil uses and cures, you can browse the rest of the Coconut Oil Tips site. I also highly recommend you check out the book The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife.

There are several good brands of coconut oil — Just always make sure you choose well: It must be unrefined (also called “virgin”) coconut oil, ideally that has been cold-pressed and is stored in a nontoxic container.

46 Ways to Use Coconut Oil ... Yes, 46!!!!

Coconut Oil has really come on my radar this year. Here is a poster from The Coconut Oil Tips Web Site.

How to Start Eating Clean

Want to Save Money on Groceries? Grow These Six Veggies at Home

If you are growing vegetables in the hope of saving money, here are some suggestions for crops which have delivered real cost savings for us…

By Greg Seaman, Eartheasy
Posted Jan 19, 2011

There are many benefits to growing your own vegetables, but saving money is not necessarily one of them. Some vegetables are simply cheaper to buy at the grocery store, and no amount of gardening savvy will result in a cost-saving benefit.

Over the years we have experimented with many vegetable crops, and while saving money is not the prime reason we grow vegetables, it is a consideration in our choice of what to plant. Although we are fortunate to have plenty of ground space for gardening, the work required to keep the beds fertile and weed free discourages us from planting some crops which are ‘dirt cheap’ when bought in season.

If you are growing vegetables in the hope of saving money, or want to make the most from limited garden space, here are some suggestions for crops which have delivered real cost savings for us. When planning your garden and buying seeds, however, be sure to choose varieties which do well in your growing region. Even within regions there are ‘micro-climates’ which affect growing conditions, so check locally for advice about recommended varieties for your locale.

1. Lettuce

You may have noticed the price of lettuce has risen considerably in the past two years. At a nearby market today, red leaf lettuce cost $1.79 for a small bunch. (And the Spring Mix, a ready to serve assorted lettuce mix sold in a plastic box, cost $4 per 300 grams!) If you grow your own lettuce, from a $2 package of seed you’ll recoup the cost within a few weeks and enjoy your own fresh lettuce for months. Be sure to plant only a small amount of seed, or the unharvested mature lettuce will bolt. Save the remaining seed for replanting every two to three weeks throughout the growing season. This will ensure a steady supply of fresh greens for the table.

In our garden we grow two varieties of leafy lettuce, Magenta (red leaf) and Concept (green leaf). We do not grow head-forming lettuce, like Iceberg, because it takes longer to mature and when ready it gives us too much lettuce at one time. We find that head lettuce also harbors more slugs. The leafy varieties are easy to harvest by picking the outer leaves, and this lets the plant continue to grow and produce.

2. Bell peppers

Green bell peppers cost about $1.50 each at our supermarket, and yellow and red peppers are even more expensive due to their extended ripening times. Pepper starter plants, however, cost about $1 each at our local nursery. This past year we planted ten pepper plants and each plant produced at least six peppers. We let most of our pepper crop mature until they turn red because they taste sweeter than green peppers. My rough estimate is that our $10 investment yielded about $100 in peppers. We don’t use commercial fertilizers, but did add about $5 in peat moss and $5 in amendments like rock phosphate and lime.

Easy to grow, peppers are commonly started early in small pots and transplanted when it’s warm enough outside. Pick off any small peppers that may form on transplants or the plant growth will be stunted. Pick the green peppers as soon as they reach size; this will stimulate new fruiting and increase the yield per plant. You can leave some plants unpicked if you want the peppers to sweeten and turn yellow or red; however, these plants will produce fewer peppers.

3. Garlic

The price of a garlic bulb ranges from $1 to $7 a pound. Our homegrown garlic, grown from cloves saved from the previous crop, cost less than $.50 a pound to grow ourselves.
Garlic is one of the easier crops to grow, but we lost our first couple of crops due to over-watering when the plants were mature. Garlic is often grown over winter which makes good use of garden space. Weeding is important as garlic does not like competition. Harvesting on time and curing properly are important for producing bulbs with good keeping qualities.

In northern regions, garlic does best when planted in the fall. The timing of fall planting should be such that the roots have a chance to develop and the tops do not break the surface before winter, about three weeks before the ground freezes. In some regions spring planting is traditional. We have planted garlic in the spring with mixed results.

4. Winter Squash

At our local supermarket today, winter squash varieties cost between $1.29 and $1.99 a pound. (This is mid-winter pricing, which is more costly.) Our four homegrown squash plants yielded about 40 squash, weighing 4 lbs each on average, which adds up to about 160 pounds. This is worth between $200 – $300. We were given the starter plants, and spent about $15 in soil amendments. Squash starter plants are available for about $2 each.

Winter squash are a favorite among gardeners because they’re easy to grow, don’t require weeding once established, and most importantly, they keep through the winter to provide a valued vegetable for eating all winter and spring. The squash bed does need to be richly prepared before planting, and the runners need a lot of room to spread. If you have space to spare, then growing winter squash makes sense, and saves dollars. (In the photo below, all the squash leaves are from a single plant, which yielded 14 large squash.)

5. Tomatoes

It’s difficult to come up with an accurate figure for the cost of tomatoes because the cost varies so much by season and region. But assigning a range of $2 to $4 a pound is reasonable for this comparison. Last summer we planted four plants of a large variety (Big Beef), two cherry tomato plants (Sun Gold), and two paste tomato plants. Each of the larger plants produced at least 15 large beefsteak tomatoes weighing 1 pound or more. I would estimate that we grew 80 pounds of tomatoes (worth $160 – $320) for a cost of about $40. (Starter tomatoes are about $4 each, and we added about $15 in amendments.
We grew all eight plants in the same 6’ x 12’ plot. The cherry tomatoes provide an early harvest, the large tomatoes are used for summer and fall eating, and the meaty paste tomatoes are good for freezing and canning. Paste tomatoes also make excellent fresh or cooked salsa and sauces. Having a ready supply of tomatoes for cooking during the winter months adds value, since the price of tomatoes goes up in winter.

6. Broccoli

Broccoli costs about $1.50 a pound, which is pretty cheap. Central head weights range from 0.3 to 1 pound, so you get a fair amount of broccoli for the price. After cutting off the central head, many side shoots will grow below, and will equal two to three times the original crown. Our ten broccoli plants produced about 2 pounds each, so we grew about $30 worth of broccoli for a cost of about $10 in soil amendments. The amount of money saved is not enough to get excited about, but the convenience of having fresh-picked broccoli available for 6 – 8 months is a real bonus.

Broccoli is a cool-season crop, and can be grown both as a spring and a fall crop. Broccoli is a heavy feeder and requires soil rich with organic matter. We plant our beds in green manure during the off-season which is a low-cost way of fertilizing the soil. Before planting, compost and peat are worked into the soil, and lime and rock phosphate if needed.

Broccoli is highly nutritious and has been deemed an anti-cancerous food by the American Cancer Society. This vegetable is a good source of Vitamin A, calcium, and riboflavin (or vitamin B2). Even in our northern region, we are usually able to keep a few broccoli plants over winter and harvest the side shoots which continue to sprout. We’ve even had a few hardy plants continue to produce while covered in snow.

The figures used in this article are approximate. We did not weigh every tomato or leaf of lettuce. And the list is by no means exclusive. There are other crops which are cost-effective to grow, and some of the crops listed on this page may be difficult to grow in some regions. The examples listed here show what’s worked best for us, and serve to illustrate that growing your own vegetables can bring down your family’s yearly produce expenses.

As any gardener knows, growing vegetables is more than about saving money. Growing your own vegetables is healthier for the family because the produce is fresh and (hopefully) grown without chemicals. It is better for the environment by reducing the cost of food transport, there are educational benefits for the children, and oh yes, the vegetables will taste so much better!

The Importance of Eating Spinach plus Recipe

I HATE SPINACH!!! ... or at least I thought I did.  What I hated was cooked spinach ... all stinky and slimey ... ewwwww!!

My latest discovery is that I DO like spinach ... as long as it is RAW!!  The following poster from the Healthy Food web site tells us how good spinach is for us!  I know, people have always said that, but this is the first time I have really eaten spinach so I am paying attention this time.

Here is a great summer salad using spinach and strawberries ... who knew they made such a great combination.  This recipe comes from the Mother Nature Network.

 

           Strawberry Spinach Summer Salad

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• 1 bundle fresh spinach
• 1 cup strawberries, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled

 

Time estimates

Prep time: 10 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Directions

1. Rinse veggies thoroughly.
2. Combine vinegar and oil in small jar. Close lid and shake well.
3. Over medium-high heat add dab of oil to saucepan. After one minute add almonds. Stir for five or six minutes or until light brown.
4. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Add feta. Toss gently and serve.

Serves 4

Growing Potatoes plus Recipe

We are getting ready to plant our potatoes next weekend. I found this great chart on FB for other novice farmers (like us).  I am also including a low fat potato recipe from Eating Well Magazine.

(P.S. The typo on the chart is theirs not mine -- they must have gone to school with Dan Quayle)

 

ROASTED POTATOES AND GREEN BEANS

Image from Eating Well Magazine

http:://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/new_potatoes_green_beans.html
From EatingWell: March/April 2011

Whoever said potato salad needs to be cold? For this warm version, new potatoes are roasted right alongside green beans, then tossed in a tangy champagne vinegar and Gorgonzola dressing. If you like, you can toss in some baby arugula.

           
6 servings, about 3/4 cup each | Active Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds new or baby potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half
• 8 ounces green beans, trimmed
• 5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
• 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar or white-wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped scallion greens

Preparation

1. Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 450°F.
2. Toss potatoes and green beans in a large bowl with 2 teaspoons oil, salt and pepper. Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast, stirring once or twice, until the potatoes are tender and golden and the green beans are tender and browned in spots, 25 to 35 minutes.
3. Whisk the remaining 3 teaspoons oil, vinegar and mustard in a large bowl. Stir in cheese and scallion greens.
4. When the vegetables are done, toss with the dressing in the bowl. Serve warm.

Nutrition

Per serving :151 Calories; 5 g Fat; 1 g Sat; 3 g Mono; 3 mg Cholesterol; 23 g Carbohydrates; 4 g Protein; 3 g Fiber; 295 mg Sodium; 567 mg Potassium
1 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 fat

How Low Glycemic Carbs Help Your Body

Low vs High Glycemic Index



Diagram from The Nutrition Geek Website



Eating low glycemic carbohydrates can do wonders for your health. Keeping blood sugar stable will help lose weight, have stable energy, avoid diabetes and improve longevity.

There are a couple tricks that can help lower the glycemic load of a meal. Combining protein and fat with carbohydrates will help. Also high fiber foods will slow down the digestion and will blunt the blood sugar spike.

University Study Finds Isagenix Superior to Leading “Heart Healthy” Diet

September 20, 2012 IsagenixHealth.net

Dr. Krista Varaday
University of Illinois
Chicago College of Applied Sciences

Dr. Krista Varady discusses clinical research on Isagenix products.

The highly anticipated results are in—Isagenix products are superior to a leading “heart healthy” dietary plan for weight loss and visceral fat loss. The manuscript has been submitted to two peer-reviewed journals and is still under review; however, you can read more details about the study on our clinical research summary and marketing flyer.

Krista Varady, Ph.D., the lead investigator of the study, is a prolific researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Applied Sciences with more than 30 peer-reviewed research publications. She has a Ph.D. in nutrition from McGill University—one of the top universities in Canada. Dr. Varady has devoted much of her time to investigating the ability of weight-management strategies to decrease cardiovascular disease risk and is one of the pioneers in research on alternate-day and intermittent fasting.

Dr. Varady’s research was presented in August at the 10th annual Isagenix Celebration in Phoenix. Eager to share the exciting results, Dr. Varady answered questions from Isagenix Chief Science Officer Suk Cho, Ph.D.:

Q: What did you think when you tried Isagenix?

A: I always try things before I make my subjects do it. I used Isagenix for three weeks in January before we began the study. I didn’t want to lose a ton of weight, but I did want to see if I could lose a few pounds with it. The easy of use was great—no dishes at breakfast or lunch; you didn’t even need to have milk at home. I went out and bought a few shake products to compare it to and I’m not sure what you guys do, but the consistency is like a smoothie. The other shakes were clumpy and it made them less appealing.

Q: What else impressed you about Isagenix products?

A: I was impressed by the Cleanse Day and the high-protein IsaLean® Shake. All the ingredients actually seemed wholesome. I had thought the shake would be a high-sugar beverage, but I found it to be really nutritionally complete.

Q: What attracted you to collaborate with Isagenix on research using their products?

A:  The main thing was that Isagenix incorporates fasting while on Cleanse Days. I find that really novel. If you look at other meal-replacement diets, they never really incorporate fasting or cleansing. Usually it is a shake for breakfast and a shake for lunch, but they don’t use all the other products Isagenix uses. I like that it is a multifaceted approach. You are also using supplements that may provide metabolic benefit and protect against free radicals—I thought that was really neat too, but the main thing was that there was a Cleanse Day every week because I am really interested in fasting research.

Q: What can you tell us about the study’s results?

A: Our main finding was that weight loss was actually greater in the Isagenix group. On average they lost 3.9 kg, so that works out to be around 9 pounds or so. Obviously, some lost more and some less, but the Isagenix group lost 3 pounds more on average than the other diet. We also saw those changes with fat mass. With Isagenix, we saw slightly greater reductions (although not significant) in fat mass. Neither group lost a significant amount of lean mass, which is great because you want to maintain your muscle mass to keep your metabolic rate higher and that allows you to burn more calories per hour.

Q: What are the results for visceral fat (fat that surrounds the organs)?

A: Even though it wasn’t statistically significant between groups, we found that there was a much greater reduction in visceral fat in the Isagenix group—about twice as much. They lost 0.7 kg, about 2 pounds. I find that amazing—they lost 2 pounds around their organs—that’s a lot!

Q: What other part of this study’s results do you find most exciting or intriguing?

A: What I found most intriguing at first was the adherence of the Isagenix group; they seemed to adhere better because of the convenience factor of the Isagenix system. Also, the Isagenix group lost more weight and more fat (especially visceral fat); and the blood chemistry looked wonderful.

Q: What other personal observations have you made about the Isagenix products and how they affect subjects?

A: Isagenix people just seemed happier. Also, the satiety (or fullness) aspect; people didn’t feel motivated to binge after a shake or cheat on the diet because they really did find those shakes quite filling, so I was pretty impressed with that. That is the main reason that I am even testing out these diets—to find diets that people will actually do and adhere to over the long term. They liked the taste of the shake and just in terms of the easiness too, they said small things like “there were less dishes to wash” and “for breakfast all you really have to do is keep the blender clean, there’s not that much prep involved and it is a portable system.” But those are actually really important things—if a diet is hard to do, people aren’t going to do it for very long. So making it easy, making it easy to clean up after—all those things add up for long term weight loss.

Q: You had some products left over after the study and people asked you for them, right?

A: Yeah, I had 3 boxes left of the shakes and I have never seen women diving in there, fighting with each other. They were all over each other. Those were gone pretty quickly after we opened them up!

Percentage of Body Fat Calculator

This is a great tool to figure out the percentage of body fat you are carrying.  Even more exciting is watching how much body fat you are LOSING!!!!

Body Fat Calculator:  http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator

About the Body Fat Calculator:

How much fat are you carrying? Find out if you are in the healthy range with this fat calculator. This tool provides: body fat percentage for women, body fat percentage for men. This body fat calculator is based on the body fat algorithms developed by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp and the YMCA.

Here is the information you will need to provide so the calculator can calculate your percentage of body fat:

Are you male or female? 

Waist size at narrowest point:  inches

Waist size at your navel:  inches

Hip size at widest point:  inches

Neck at narrowest point:  inches

Select your height: feet and inches

What is your weight?  lbs

SHORT VERSION BODY FAT CALCULATOR: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/bfc

How much fat are you carrying? Find out if you are in the healthy range with this fat calculator. This tool provides: body fat percentage for women, body fat percentage for men. This calculator is based on the YMCA formula.

Information you will need for the short version calculator:

Are you male or female?

What is your waist size? Inches

What is your weight? lbs

Thinking About It Diet!!!

Okay ... this does it .... I am off the "ThinkAboutItDiet" and starting the "DoingItDiet!!!"

Join Me .... log onto
www.thehealthyhelms.com