Much Ado About Coconut Oil

As many folks struggle with their weight, diet and health, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the vast amounts of food/health information out there. One day an egg is good for you, the next it's bad. And so on and so forth...right? This week the spotlight is on coconut oil-as evidenced by a recent New York Times piece on the product. (Read it by clicking here.) Is it good or bad for us?

Well, after my nutrition work at Whole Foods Market, and with my own personal experience as a fast food junkie turned healthy runner, I can tell you the answer is simple...and complex.

It's simple in that it really boils down to this:

That's the simple way to think about it. Whole versus parts. Do you want to eat a real coconut with all the fiber, phytochemicals, nutrients and minerals it has to offer, OR do you want to eat the oil that has come from a factory where they took the coconut and extracted stuff from it to make the oil? The extracted oil is then left with only a fraction of the nutrition (and I'm being generous here) offered by the real, whole coconut. I mean it comes in a jar folks!

Ok that was the simple. Now to the complex. I'm not saying we should give up on coconut oil altoghether-I find American eaters for the most part tend to think in extremes, all or nothing. That part, is not that simple. Nutritionally-coconut oil does have saturated fat in it, which we know is bad. There are somewhat "healthier" saturated fats that are called mono-or-polyunsaturated fats, but at the end of the day coconut oil still has saturated fat in it (as does an actual coconut but I'll get to that in a minute). And it also has 120 calories ALL from fat per TABLESPOON. So this is where the complex answer comes in.

Is it bad for us? Well sorta. If you are focusing on getting the most bang for each bite you take in, coconut oil will pretty much give you empty calories without fiber (to fill you up) and with potentially fattening effects. AND if you are already getting too many calories each day as it is, without lots of fruits and veggies-this will do you no good. So avoid it AS YOU WOULD ANYTHING WITH EMPTY CALORIES AND SATURATED FAT.

Please don't go bash coconut oil as you eat your cheeseburger-that's just ridiculous. Apply these rules across the board. Catching the drift?

Now-that said. If you read my "Moderation" blog post from earlier this week you know what I'll say next. People who have healthy diets across the board-meaning they eat lots of plants and omit lots of processed foods-would probably use this in a veggie stir fry or to make vegan cupcakes. That is ok and in fact healthy. They are getting a great diet as it is, they are not overdosing on chips and fat and can stand a little fat and/or variation here.

Almost done...so back to simple. If you don't want to worry about all the stuff I just wrote, it is as simple as eating whole, real foods-stuff that is not in a jar, and/or that does not have a label. A coconut. Yes, an actual coconut has saturated fat (as we talked about above), but it also has fiber, nutrients, minerals and other things that will really contribute to a healthy diet. So again, get rid of the extreme here-I'm not saying eat coconuts all day everyday, but if you want one, eat one. A real one.

Plants are easy folks. They are built to nourish us in ways we don't even know possible yet. Eat them whole and often. Keep that simple mentality in your head everytime you see the latest spin on a food and you will be golden. Hope it helps!