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What About Coconut Oil?
The truth about coconut oil is obvious to anyone who has studied the health of those who live in traditional tropical cultures, where coconut has been a nutritious diet staple for thousands of years. Back in the 1930's, a dentist named Dr. Weston Price traveled throughout the South Pacific, examining traditional diets and their effect on dental and overall health. He found that those eating diets high in coconut products were healthy and trim, despite the high fat concentration in their diet, and that heart disease was virtually non-existent.

Walt Edwards, Ph.D. - Dr. Health
Similarly, in 1981, researchers studied populations of two Polynesian atolls. Coconut was the chief source of caloric energy in both groups. The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,[2] demonstrated that both populations exhibited positive vascular health. In fact, no evidence exists that the naturally occurring high saturated fat intake had any kind of harmful effect in these populations!
That's not what you expected, is it? Based on 60 years of negative public policy towards naturally occurring saturated fats, you would expect these cultures to be suffering with clogged arteries, obesity and heart disease.
It may be surprising for you to realize that the naturally occurring saturated fat in coconut oil actually has some amazing health benefits, such as: (1) Promoting your heart health, (2) Promoting weight loss, when needed, (3) Supporting your immune system health, (4) Supporting a healthy metabolism, (5) Providing you with an immediate energy source, (6) Keeping your skin healthy and youthful looking, (7) Supporting the proper functioning of your thyroid gland.
Coconut Oil's Secret Ingredient
Fifty percent of the fat content in coconut oil is a fat rarely found in nature called lauric acid. If you're a frequent reader of my newsletter you already know that I consider lauric acid a "miracle" ingredient because of its unique health promoting properties. Your body converts lauric acid into monolaurin, which has anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-protozoa properties.
Monolaurin is a monoglyceride which can actually destroy lipid coated viruses such as: HIV, herpes, measles, influenza virus, various pathogenic bacteria, protozoa such as giardia lamblia. Lauric acid is a powerful virus and gram-negative bacteria destroyer, and coconut oil contains the most lauric acid of any substance on earth! Capric acid, another coconut fatty acid present in smaller amounts, has also been added to the list of coconut's antimicrobial components. This is one of the key reasons supporting those who may consider consuming coconut oil, because there aren't many sources of monolaurin in our diet. However, we do carry products that contain monolaurin and we also have a product that contains monolaurin and olive leaf for those interested in defending against cold and flu viruses.
In addition, your body sends medium-chain fatty acids directly to your liver to use as energy. This makes coconut oil a powerful source of instant energy to your body, a function usually served in the diet by simple carbohydrates. But although coconut oil and simple carbohydrates share the ability to deliver quick energy to your body, they differ in one crucial respect.
Coconut oil does not produce an insulin spike in your bloodstream. You read that correctly. Coconut oil acts on your body like a carbohydrate, without any of the debilitating insulin-related effects associated with long-term high carbohydrate consumption!
Diabetics and those with pre-diabetes conditions (an exploding health epidemic in America), should immediately realize the benefit of a fast acting energy source that doesn't produce an insulin spike in your body. In fact, coconut oil added to the diets of diabetics and pre-diabetics has actually been shown to help stabilize weight gain, which can dramatically decrease your likelihood of getting adult onset type-2 diabetes.
What Is Vitamin K?
It is absolutely essential to build strong bones and helps promote heart and immune health. This little-known vitamin may be one of the keys to fighting the signs of aging. Plus, it's a strong antioxidant.
Why Is The Hemoglobin A1C Blood Test Important?
Glycation is the chemical reaction between sugar and amino acids in your blood. The product of this reaction is a life-threatening compound known as an Advanced-Glycated End Product (AGE product). To measure how much glycation you have, doctors and nutritionists look at hemoglobin A1C. Increased A1C can be used to measure how much damage your body has suffered from the "lost blood sugar." Uncontrolled, the AGE products will elicit fatigue, depression, blurred vision/blindness, joint pain (osteoarthritis) and heart disease. It usually covers a blood sugar count for an average three month period. Readings below 6.5 are better than higher amounts. Check with your doctor for details.
Are Recreational Drugs Less Likely To Kill You Than Prescribed Drugs?
American children are about three times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic medication than children in Europe. The differences may be a result of differing regulatory practices, along with cultural beliefs about the role of medication in emotional and behavioral problems. A team of researchers from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands investigated prescription levels in the three countries. Antidepressant and stimulant use was three or more times greater in the U.S. than in the Netherlands and Germany, while antipsychotic prevalence was 1.5 to 2.2 times greater.
Every year more than 200 million prescriptions are written for children and teenagers in the United States, according to California's Board of Pharmacy. That works out to more than three prescriptions per child, every year! Meanwhile, in any two-week period in the United States, 13 million children take a prescription medication. Of them, over 6 million are taking them for chronic diseases, and the top five of these diseases that children take medications for are asthma, epilepsy, attention deficit disorders, arthritis and diabetes. Isn't it ironic that children are urged not to take recreational drugs, then are readily supplied with a steady stream of FDA-approved prescription medications, some of them mind-altering? It is presumed that these prescribed drugs are somehow safer than the illegal variety, when in reality prescribed drugs can be dangerous due to side effects and/or the wrong diagnosis.
Avandia Is Still On the Market
A September 23, 2010 article in the New England Journal of Medicine announced that, finally, the FDA has stepped forward and decided on regulatory action for Avandia, a diabetes drug that last year claimed 1,354 lives as a result of cardiac-associated problems.
The FDA is restricting access to Avandia by requiring GlaxoSmithKline to submit a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS. Under the ruling, the drug will be available to patients not already taking it only if they are unable to achieve glycemic control using other medications and, in consultation with their health care professional, decide not to take a different drug for medical reasons. Current users of Avandia will be able to continue using the medication if they appear to be benefiting from it and they acknowledge that they understand these risks. Doctors will have to attest to and document their patients' eligibility; patients will have to review statements describing the cardiovascular safety concerns.
But did the FDA go far enough - could it be too little, too late? Unlike the US FDA, British regulators have ruled that GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes drug Avandia could lead to heart attacks or strokes, and benefits no longer outweigh the risks. It would appear that the US is more interested in corporations making money than the health of US citizens.
Thought For The Day: Think of life as a journey and remember that it is important to enjoy the journey and not the destination which is a common mistake. In addition, the purpose of why we are here is to learn and experience our life's lessons while on our journey. How we perceive these lessons are directly associated to our health and well being!
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The Science Principles and Practices of Herbal Medicine
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