So, What’s So Great About Coconut Oil?

I’m so glad you asked!

What first got me interested in coconut oil was reading about its antifungal properties when used on the skin. I started using coconut oil soap and noticed a huge improvement in my own skin.  I am diabetic and would always get red itchy patches in the creases of my skin. After using this soap for about two weeks, not only were my frequent fungal rashes a thing of the past, but my skin was less dry and very smooth. My husband had had a nasty yellow toenail fungus for about a year - the kind that you usually have to go to a podiatrist for and take massive doses of oral antifungal meds in order to get rid of it. Within a month of using this soap on his feet, the yellow had faded considerably and the new nail coming in seems to be fungus-free.

We found a great local source for coconut oil soap - the Rad Soap Company in Cohoes, NY.  We buy it at our local farmer’s market - the Schenectady Green Market. The company also has a web presence at www.radsoap.com so you can try it for yourself, wherever you are. As far as I know all their soaps contain coconut oil - and they are all homemade.

My favorite is the Love Bar which has a lovely cherry-almond scent. Once we discovered this soap, we started buying it for all our family and friends. Here is some of the feedback we’ve gotten: “the lather is wonderful” - “it’s really helped my son’s acne” - “I love the smell it leaves in the shower!”

I know that this probably sounds like a commercial for Red Soap, but I’m not being paid to endorse it - I truly love it!

Of course the more I read about coconut oil, the more I learned about its many other health benefits. More about those in my next entry.

Easy Ways to Introduce Coconut Oil into Your Diet

Ever since I learned about the health benefits of coconut oil about a year ago, I've been sharing this knowledge with friends, family and even strangers in the supermarket. But I find that many of them have no idea how to go about using this wonderful food.

That's why I've started this blog. I'll be sharing ideas and recipes as I come across them and invent them.

First of all, substituting coconut oil for most cooking oils works pretty well.  You just can't heat it over medium high or it will burn - so, it's not good for traditional stir-frying. It's perfect, however,  for sauteing - eggs, veggies, meats, fish - anything, really.

Another great way to use it is for "buttering" toast, or making grilled cheese sandwiches.

Adding a couple of tablespoons to your bowl of oatmeal is a tasty way to start the day.

I'll be going into more detail about the benefits of coconut oil in later blogs. I've done a lot of research and will be more than happy to share what I've found.