★★★★★
It is doing wonders for my dried up, sun damaged skin.
If I am going to be in the sun for long, I still put on sun screen over the coconut oil. It seems to lock in the coconut oil. I do the same at night (put other creams over it) and it locks in the moisture. The next morning my skin feels like a baby.
Thank you Earth Clinic, you have opened up a new world for me.
★★★★★
Rancid Coconut Oil
Rancid Coconut Oil
Skin Issues
★★★★★
My grandmother Guffys skin was as soft and smooth as a babys butt till the day she died at 94. One day, when I was a younger woman constantly on the go, she noticed how dry and ashy my skin was and elected to tell me about her method of bathing. It was the only thing she said she did to keep her body clean and soft. First, she never took long baths (and NO, she did not smell). She said bathing dried out skin. Second, she never used hot water on her skin. Third, she never needed lotions. I listened; yet, despite the evidence before me, I did not take her advise. Hot showers were invigorating, I exclaimed. Who ever heard of not bathing, I secretly thought. Why do not the young listen! For years now I have suffered with extremely dry and itchy skin. FINALLY! I recalled my grandmother Guffys bathing method for clean, itch-less, soft, ageless skin. Here it is:
1) Massage 2-3 tablespoons of (antibacterial, anti-fungal) coconut oil over your entire dry, naked body, but not your face. Be sure to include your private areas and feet - get utterly greasy with it! Let it soak 5 minutes.
2) Take a clean, white, DRY bath cloth, folded in fours and scrub your entire body. When one side of the cloth gets cruddy, refold to a clean side of the same cloth. Don't forget private areas.
3) Shower/rinse in very lukewarm to cold water and ONLY wash your private areas with diluted baking soda and water or an organic non-soap or as I sometimes do, diluted ACV.
3) Get out of the shower and barely pat dry.
Believe! This works! People who touch my skin always exclaim at how soft it is AND my husband who has scratched my back many a time has taken to gently rubbing my arms a lot. Just try it! It is not real expensive or hard to do and results are quick. If you are allergic to coconut oil, switch to a light olive oil or sesame oil. Soon you will do as I did - throw away all your bathing soaps and bottles.
Menstruation
★★★★★
Hair Loss
Thank you so much for your input. I will consider a perm next. I have been going to physical therapy for my shoulder and as soon as I can hold my arm above my head long enough to color again THAT will be my first mission. i am almost 45 but the gray is nearly 55-60% and has taken over since my shoulder has been out of commission. I will consdier the perm as soon as I get the color taken care of; a week or two later of course as not to irritate anything further. Thank you so much for your input!
Pat
Hair Loss
Hair Loss
Hair Loss
You mentioned the perm helping with the itchy scalp. Have you had the same experience with hair color? My stylist says I can do one or the other but that both would fry my hair. I'm only 44 and reluctant to be grey just yet. I used to color my hair, up until about 4 months ago and am about 50-60% gray and now that it is growing out it looks awful I hate to cut it because I'm trying to grow it out. I haven't had a perm in about 10 years and my scalp is already sensitive and having some "issues" thus the reason for my not coloring recently. I'm not a happy camper with my hair at all. Falling out, turning gray, scalp is red, oily, itchy and irritated and I'm at a complete loss. Not sure what to do and my dermatologist just says come back in 4 weeks, if not better by then we'll do a biopsy - scary on it's own accord. I'm really wanting to color again and another reason I haven't done so is I recently had shoulder surgery and just can't get my arm up there long enough to do the deed. I'm very frustrated and I jokingly say I'm ready to just shave my head - but really my heart is aching over the whole ordeal. I'm desperate for a cure. I was just wondering if you've had any experience with color helping this, should I try a perm or should I just leave well enough alone and see what happens and give the natural remedies a chance... I'm getting impatient as this has been going on for some time.
Thanx.
Pat
Sweet Cravings
★★★★★
Hair Loss
One thing which has always helped me when my hair is falling a lot, my scalp is greasy and itchy is, strangely enough, to have a perm. That dries my hair a bit and it stops falling right away. My perm is now almost out and I want to see how my hair is going to behave without it because not only do I want to avoid the chemicals but also the money I pay for it.
Hair Loss
Thanks,
Pat
Broad Benefits
★★★★★
Hair Loss
I have used it for years and love my hair. There are several other videos on youtube about this subject.
Hope this helps
Annie
Hair Loss
That is so awful, I know. I had a terrible experience of having such a bad reaction after having my hair dyed. I have dark brown hair- close to black- and every time I would get it dyed I would have a reaction to it. My husband would tell me I was ridiculous because the itching would be so terrible for the first week after dying it. My vanity kept me going though. Then, it changed to also feeling burned. Finally, the last straw was the time that, in addition to these two symptoms, clumps of hair started falling out. Red Alert! That was it for me too. I can live with gray hair but not NO hair! So, now I have gray throughout my hair.
I did the coconut oil thing and had the same experience. Washing and washing to get it out and still it didn't all come out. My hair was limp and lifeless. Haven't done that since. Too much work and not the results I had hoped for.
My hair has finally been restored. It grew back in and thickened up after about two months of green juicing. We use lots of various veggies each day changing them up so we get a variety of vitamins and minerals. Also, we added in eating sea veggies daily because I read that that is also a reason why Japanese women often have such healthy hair. We continue to juice daily and my hair continues to get thicker. My next goal is to see if I can get it to grow dark again!
Another benefit is that, like you, I always had to wash my hair everyday otherwise it would start to itch and get oily quickly yet my scalp would flake. Contradictory sounding but true. Now I can go for 3 days without washing it with no bad effects. It's found a healthy balance- soft but not oily, no more dandruff and itching completely gone!
I hope this info can help you Pat. It really is distressing when your hair falls out and being distressed certainly doesn't help the situation! One other suggestion that I began about 3 weeks ago and now hair doesn't even fall out when I wash it is scalp stimulation. What I do is take hanks of hair in my hand and pull in different directions which stimulates and strengthens from what I understand. It actually feels really good.
Keep us posted, Lisa
Hair Loss
Hair Loss
also, take a zinc/copper supplemnent..(copper because zinc can effect copper absorption)...also a good B vitamin with Biotin....(or just Biotin 1000mcg daily) give this a test for about six weeks to see results... freeze dried stinging nettle may help as well...
Hair Loss
Hair Loss
Thanks Earth Clinic, I'm glad to have found you. Just need to know how to do the VCO thing right.
Pat
My stance with saturated fats -- as you know -- is quite friendly. I also distrust most polyunsaturated vegetable oils. My reasons are simply historic. Before 1900(and for centuries before this time) the fats we used in the West were mainly lard, tallow and butter - with a very small amount of monounsaturated oils like olive oil. During this time there was no heart disease, arteriosclerosis, Alzheimer's, high blood pressure, Parkinson's Disease, Arthritis, Obeisity, Diabetes, Cancer etc., that we now have today. So we can therefore say that, as proof from history, these saturated fats do not cause these auto-immune problems.
Since most vegetable oils today are manufactured and are heavily processed chemically -- as well as being unstable and suffering from relatively quick oxidation -- I therefore regard veg oils as unnatural to the human body -- in the large amounts we take them today, and simply not good as food. The main enemy, of course, is too much chemical processing and too many additives.
There are many ways you can take coconut milk or oil. You can mix the milk with ordinary milk and use it on cereal or simply use it in cooking as I do, or you can mix the VCO, perhaps, with natural honey and use it as a spread for bread or toast. I also often use coconut milk when cooking Malaysian Rendangs, makes it taste very creamy and delicious. I use a teaspoon of VCO in my coffee on most days, and I think coconut milk would make a wonderful additive to coffee as well.
Unfortunately, we have all been brainwashed into thinking that ALL saturated fats are bad for us. If you research coconut oil, you will find that this oil is remarkably stable and good for you in it's natural form. It was really only because of the big vegetable oil cartels in America that used what I call "spoiler research" to denigrate coconut oil's health benefits in order to sell more veg oil via inaccurate saturated fat propaganda (because coconut oil was capturing more and more of the world market in the 50s and 60s) -- and, sadly, this poor reputation continues to stick to all forms of saturated fat, animal or vegetable, even today.
Skin Issues
Coconut Oil Recipes
Coconut Oil Recipes
In answer to your questions:
"One more thing, do you ever use olive oil or none at all?"
When I was living in UK, yes I used it a little for salads and Italian dishes, but never for English cooking, it's taste was just not right for this. And since moving to the Philippines, I've stopped using olive oil altogether, since much of my cooking is now Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai or Indian and olive oil also just does not suit these styles of cooking as far as I'm concerned. And of course, every third tree in the Philippines is a coconut tree, which makes VCO much cheaper than imported olive oil...lol.
As well, and as I've said already, olive oil is a mono-unsaturated oil -- so it will break down and oxidize much faster in sunlight or high heat than coconut oil which is a fully saturated and more stable oil. I've done some heavy heavy research between olive oil and VCO over the years, and have simply reached the conclusion that VCO is the better oil in terms of health. I would never argue about the health properties of olive oil, but the fact is that VCO seems to have even more health benefits.
"And as far as Ted's alkalizing drink, doesn't the bicarbonate neutralize the effect of the lemon juice?"
Yes, the sodium bicarbonate does neutralize the citric acid in the lime or lemon juice -- but that is a great advantage anyway because this creates sodium and potassium citrate salts which are then directly and easily absorbed in the duodenum with no need for further digestion processing. If you don't first neutralize the citric acid (from the lemon and lime) or acetic acid and malic acid (from ACV) or even ascorbic acid(Vit C) with BS, then your pancreas will have to use all its own stored bicarbonates to neutralize all these acids into citrates, acetates, malates and ascorbates etc. so that they can be absorbed into the body. More work for your body.
And also remember that the bicarbonates in the pancreas are also used for another important job -- if the bicarbonates from the pancreas aren't used in digestion, then they are simply released into the blood -- thus alkalizing it -- and they also play a vital role in helping to swap out carbon dioxide for oxygen in cells during respiration.
So if you create these these citrates, acetates, ascorbates etc before digestion, then you are actually helping to strengthen both your immune system as well as making your cell respiration more efficient. In other words your helping your body do its job.
Coconut Oil Recipes
Hi again, I don't think that you saw my last post:
Thanks once more Bill, you have been a great help so far. I have just received a book on Coconut oil in the post and I have started using it. I am starting to think that my allergies (never tested positive for anything), warts, tiredness, white spots on my skin which are not Viltiligo, bad digestion, coated tongue and maybe even the little red pearls on my skin might be Candida so maybe the VCO might help (I also had constipation for many years but I corrected it by eating fruit first thing in the morning). Worth a try..... My worry is that my husband who has daily medicines for high blood pressure might not react well to it. He is going to ask his doctor. Otherwise I will try sometimes to cook separately for myself. After seeing the bad effects those pills have on him I am trying my best to stay clear of them. And yes, so far VCO here is always solid, maybe in the summer it will change........ Anyway, if this oil was so bad why wouldn't all people in Asia be dying? One more thing, do you ever use olive oil or none at all? And as far as Ted's alkalizing drink, doesn't the bicarbonate neutralize the effect of the lemon juice?
Rancid Coconut Oil
What I think you must have purchased is a form of VCO made from the fermentation process. I have also used this form of VCO internally, and -- yes -- it does smell sour and rancid even, but it will not hurt you. The sourness is basically the coconut wine turned to "vinegar" that is left over from the natural fermentation process. Alot of Filipinos make VCO this way -- and regularly make a brew called "Lambanog" or coconut wine. I've tried this wine which is pretty unique, sort of like a tasty nutty wine but deceptively powerful stuff !! Interesting that coconut wine turns to vinegar very rapidly, so the Filipinos just adapt and use it for cooking instead. Nothing is wasted.
Check on the your bottles of VCO and see whether your VCO was made by fermentation. If this is the case, then this is why your coconut oil smells off or vinegary and it won't hurt you.
If you're not happy with this fermented VCO form, then next time just buy another VCO made from the boiling process or made by centrifuging -- this should be stated on the label.
Rancid Coconut Oil
I have been consuming VCO for a few months with no problems. A couple of weeks ago I put a spoonful into my oatmeal, took a bite, and it was rancid! It ruined my whole bowl of cereal. I had to throw away about 3/4 of a jar of oil. I bought a new jar, checked the expiration date (2011), had it for a couple of weeks and the same thing happened. I'm confused. I went through 2 or 3 jars with no problems. The storage temperature has been the same - 76 degrees, a soft solid state. I thought VCO was stable at room temperature. Anyway, this is becoming very expensive. Do you have any idea why this would be happening?
Coconut Oil Recipes
Coconut Oil Recipes
Perhaps the best way to use coconut oil to begin with is to use it for cooking, as this seems to cause the least problems. Many here on EC use it for oil pulling because it tastes so much better than olive oil but appears to achieve the same thing. Perhaps you could try oil-pulling with VCO first?
Using coconut oil for cooking seems to be the quickest way to get used to coconut oil. Since I'm living in the Philippines, my bottles of VCO are always as a liquid oil(The temperature here is always above 76 degrees). But if you're using VCO for cooking where you are(colder), then I would just treat it like butter for cooking, no difference really. Coconut oil is very safe for cooking -- safer than most other vegetable oils -- because it doesn't oxidize so quickly.
In my own mind, if you take the plunge and actually start using coconut oil, the worst that can possibly happen is the die-off or Herx effect. In my case, it wasn't that terrible, and always uppermost in my mind was the fact that I knew all about the problems that I had, so I also knew that my flu-like symptoms -- or die-off effect -- were confirmation that the coconut oil was actually helping and doing good. Many people on this site report that taking coconut oil has caused problems -- so they immediately blame the VCO or assume that they must have an allergic reaction to it.
Although an allergic reaction is possible, my argument is that VCO is very safe. However, all those people arguing against VCO have given their opinions and reasons as to why these adverse reactions have occurred in their bodies, without realizing or addressing or including the possibility of them having candida causing a Herx reaction -- Simply because there are many similarities between the symptoms of a Herx reaction and an allergic reaction and this causes confusion I think. And behind all of this is this seemingly ingrained and unmovable belief that saturated fats like VCO are bad for you, despite all the evidence I've provided to the contrary on EC.
In regard to its safety, why else would they have used coconut oil both in baby foods and with food for people in hospital with intestinal trauma since the 1960s? Isn't this a testament to VCO's safety? These facts alone, perhaps, represent the greatest proof that allergic reactions with VCO must be rare indeed.
Coconut Oil Recipes
EC: Hi Francisca,
Your coconut oil will turn to liquid on a warm summer day!
How to Take Internally
Coconut Oil Recipes
Coconut Oil Recipes
But if you have intestinal candida, then the likelihood is that when you start taking VCO you will feel worse before you feel better because of the fungal die-off or Herxheimer effect. I've been through this same Herx effect when I was getting rid of my candida, the symptoms are flu-like and you feel liverish because of the initial strain of the liver removing all the fungal toxins from your body. I simply persisted with the VCO, because I wanted the candida gone. Sure enough the Herx effect went after a while, but it still took about a full year to get rid of my candida(I was also using Ted's alkalizing protocols plus taking Blackstrap Molasses and liver/kidney support herbs as well).
I also suspect that some new users of VCO who perhaps may have had candida and didn't know it, have mistaken the Herx or fungal die-off effect for an allergic reaction, since both sets of symptoms seem very similar.
Coconut oil has also been used for years in baby foods, it contains lauric acid in similar amounts to human breast milk fats, which is a major ingredient that protects the baby and builds up the baby's immune system. Coconut oil is also regularly used in foods now given to hospital patients with intestinal trauma or after major intestinal operations -- such are its gentle and protective effects and qualities.
I also live in the Philippines now, all the locals use coconut oil for cooking here. Extra virgin coconut oil for me is way the best of all the veg oils, for all the reasons that I have given already. I only cook with VCO now, and sometimes take a raw tablespoon in my coffee when I'm ill or constipated now and then and I also use it on my own skin. I've been using VCO now for over 4 years.
I hope this helps to allay some of your fears about VCO.
Coconut Oil Recipes
By the way, I have started to try the watch this feedback option but I thought that I would get further feedback on the post in my inbox. It didn't happen so far though... not even with this one!
EC: Hi Francisca,
The "Watch this Feedback" option only shows the first post in a thread (the parent post). If we start adding all the responses to the parent post, it may clutter your account, but I will check with the programmer. We will try to implement the email notification soon!
Deirdre
Broad Benefits
★★★★★
Coconut Oil Recipes
Read the research about why coconut oil is so good for us here(no adverts) :
http://www.coconutoil.com/research.htm
Extracts from "Coconut Oil: Why It Is Good for You"
"In 1987 Lim-Sylianco published a 50-year literature review showing the anti-cancer effects of coconut oil. In chemically induced cancers of the colon and breast, coconut oil was by far more protective than unsaturated oils [or vegetable oils]. For example 32% of corn oil eaters got colon cancer whereas only 3% of coconut oil eaters got the cancer. Animals fed unsaturated oils[veg oils] had more tumors. This shows the thyroid-suppressive and hence, immuno-suppressive effect of unsaturated oils[read vegetable oils]. (Cohen et al. 1986)."
From "Thailand: Land of the Coconut"
"We hear a great deal these days about the presumed health benefits of Asian diets. China and Japan are presented as exemplars of "low-fat, high fiber, largely vegetarian" Oriental regimes. The foods of Thailand are often ignored in such discussions. The delicious, spicy cuisine of Siam is rich in saturated fat from coconut oil and lard, relatively low in fiber and features many and varied animal foods. Yet a comparison of autopsy reports on a group from Bangkok with a group from the US found that coronary occlusion or myocardial infarction was eight times more frequent in the US, diabetes was ten times more frequent and high blood pressure about four times more frequent.(4) Even more intriguing is the fact that Thailand has the lowest rates of cancer, for both men and women, of all the 50 countries studied by the World Health Organization.(3) Here is yet another paradox - Le Paradoxe Thailandais - that the "experts" would rather ignore than explain."
My own reasons for adopting my diet are simply historic. Before 1900, the only fats used within the Western diet were saturated fats like lard, tallow and butter, with a very small amount of monounsaturates like olive oil. This 1900 western diet was also enhanced by a much greater intake of salt(natural) by eating large quantities of salted fish and/or meat(or "jerky") because there were no refrigerators or freezers around to preserve these meats in 1900.
And even with this diet -- which by present day standards would be dismissed or defined as a "horrible and unhealthy" saturated fat and salty diet -- there was no Heart Disease, Cancer, Obesity, Altzheimers, Parkinson's, Diabetes, Arthritis etc. that exists in such epidemic proportions in the West today. Makes you wonder exactly how all that marvellous(sic) pro-vegetable oil research could have got it so wrong, doesn't it ?
In the Philippines, where I now live, I have observed that in the beautiful semi-provinces where I reside, most poor Filipino families make their own coconut oil for cooking by boiling or fermenting the coconut milk and living on a purely sticky rice diet that includes much caught fish as well as a considerable amount of dried, salted fish. And strangely, these poor people on this diet suffer no plague of 'western modern ailments' such as those I've defined above.
But also I've noticed in my treks into the larger and more modern Filipino towns and cities such as Manila or Cebu, I see and hear about the heart disease, the obeisity, diabetes, arthritis, Altzheimer's etc. The reason for this must be linked to the influx of MacDonald's, KFC, Burger King's and other fast food chains that always seem to spring up first in all the major towns and cities of poor developing countries. All that chemically processed food and fats from the fast food chains makes quite a difference in your diet or health and seems to have an entirely detrimental effect on the human body.
My diet hasn't got a fancy name. Just stay away from all processed food, avoid all veg oils, avoid canned goods, avoid sugar and sweeteners and you should become much healthier. And its not really a diet for me -- because a diet always implies that you will "come off the diet eventually". This has simply become a habit for life for me now.
Coconut Oil Recipes
Coconut Oil Recipes
Asthma
★★★★★
Broad Benefits
★★★★★
A few weeks ago,a friend gave me a bottle of unrefined coconut oil from West Africa. After reading it's uses,i have decided to apply it on my acne destroyed face.I have tried washing my face with warm water then apply coconut as a moisturiser.It has done wonders in just two days and im determined to use it forever.
I have wasted thousands of dollars buying a hell of creams and drugs to cure acne but with no success. My last and only trial is coconut oil.my mom had advised me to use it sinc eit's available in Africa my motherland, but i ignored her advice but have chosen to take it now. will update u on my progress.Thanks to your website.
Parasites
★★★★★
Seizures
How to Take Internally
Coconut Oil Recipes
★★★★★
Delicious Dairy Free Alternative Coconut Chocolate Spread: I like to get my daily dose of VCO by making a spread with 1 part coconut oil, 1 part agave, 2 parts raw cacao powder, pinch crystal salt, pinch stevia - stir. I love it on wholemeal organic spelt toast :).
★★★★★
Head Congestion
Head Congestion
★★★★★
Skin Issues
Flu
★★★★★
Menstruation
★★★★★
I am 32 and started using extra virgin coconut oil Oct 2009 (it is now Jan 2010). This is the first period I have gone through where it last half as long. I have noticed it was not heavy at all. I still had some cramps, but not as bad as usual. I have never had a period as short as this in my life, I didn't even think it was really possible...down from 7-8 days to 4. I take about 1 Tbsp of EVCO in my coffee daily. I did have to start out with a smaller dose and work it up. I hope to be able to consume more on a daily basis.
General Feedback
Skin Issues
★★★☆☆
BETTER BUT WITH SIDE EFFECTS
About 4 months ago I started using ACV as a toner which started to clear acne. I started turmeric capsules (i make these from the spice) and VCO as a face moisturizer about the same time (a month ago) so not sure which is giving me good results as they both work for acne. The first few week I experienced clearer skin but I did break out even more the second and third but now it is starting to get under control and the last few days it seems any break outs are not as severe and skin is almost blemish free.
Most likely it is a detox effect and will pass as I now believe I have some candida die-off symptoms. Try it on a different part of your body say hands or a small patch on your back. As I read these testimonials of side effects--it is sad for the ones that stop (most I read sound like candida die-off) seems they are the ones that can benefit the most. I agree there are a few that should not take it--do your own research on the internet and treat the advice of at least american dr's like a grain of salt. This is the information age--do your own research! No--nobody wants to deal with diarrhea, vomiting, embarrassing acne, flu like symptoms, brain fog and other possible side effects. These are temporary side effects of toxins that are in the body--and the body needs to expel them in some way or another. Start with a small amount--and start as young as possible (i read it is good for diaper rash) before you develop ailments that one by one rob you of YOUR life!
Mite Infestation
How to Take Internally
After researching the die-off symptoms I have self diagnosed myself with this. VCO has antifungal properties--killing disease-causing bacteria and leaving good bacteria alone, it will also kill candida and other fungi in the intestinal tract, further supporting a healthy intestinal environment. The road may be a little bumpy for some. The best advice in beginning VCO is start out small and listen to your body. If symptoms occur--back off the VCO. Around about week 2 and 3 was when I was having to back-off. Somewhere in week 4 and I know all last week I used as a moisturizer everyday after a shower. I might still have some minor flu like symptoms coming up but I think i'm in the clear of most the bad stuff that I was experiencing. I have also used it to oil pull but nothing on a regular basis. OP does not require you ingest VCO and you spit out most of it.
Go easy getting started and I wish everyone a sucessful experience with VCO in the long run. Dosages for this one is difficult as each person is different you kinda have to find your own dosage. Internally use less than 1/2 teaspoon. Externally on a small portion of your body say hands and face. Either way start small and increase as needed in a week-2 weeks. This will help reduce die-off symptoms if one were to have this existing condition and not know as was the case for me. I love VCO and this site. Thank you Earth Clinic!!
