Coconut Oil
- Thread starter blindpsychic
- Start date
Stranger
Jedi
Ellipse said:
The melting point lies between 20 and 25 degrees (Celsius). So with room temperature it is completely normal for coconut oil to be solid (Don't throw it away!). Just put the bottle in hot water and wait. But, however, its unusual (but funny) to see coconut oil in a bottle with such a bottleneck. Intelligent design! :P
This is more common: _http://www.thedietsolutionprogram.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/coconut-oil.jpg
EGVG
Dagobah Resident
Hi, just read this thread and let me just say, coconut oil rocks, I've been using it to treat my acne prone skin and also as an energy source before going to the gym, I take one table spoon and put it in my green tea and drink it before working out, and it gives me energy but also makes me sweat a lot more.
So far my skin is breaking out much lees than it used to, I use it at night because at daytime it get to greasy and my skin being already oily doesn't need this extra oil.
My mom also takes coconut oil as a supplement, and also she mixed it with Shea butter, cacao butter and Sacha Inchi oil and makes a super rich moisturiser that works wonders for her.
So yeah, coconut oil, health and beauty supply. :) :) :) :)
EDU
So far my skin is breaking out much lees than it used to, I use it at night because at daytime it get to greasy and my skin being already oily doesn't need this extra oil.
My mom also takes coconut oil as a supplement, and also she mixed it with Shea butter, cacao butter and Sacha Inchi oil and makes a super rich moisturiser that works wonders for her.
So yeah, coconut oil, health and beauty supply. :) :) :) :)
EDU
Mr. Premise
The Living Force
Yes, I'd be more suspicious of the one that's liquid at room temperature. Are there any other ingredients in it?
Trevrizent said:
I buy organic coconut oil at the grocery in a wide-mouth jar, which seems the most sensible way to sell it. We use the solid oil as one would butter on our buckwheat pancakes and waffles, and they recently started selling coconut nectar, which is made just as maple syrup is, by tapping the tree and reducing the sap. It is much stickier than maple syrup, and is much lower in glycemic index as well, and has a rich complex flavor. I have used the nectar as sweetener in cooking and herb tea as well.
Ageeva
Jedi
I've been adding extra virgin coconut oil to my ultrashake lately. I just warm it to a liquid in the microwave and add it last to the mix. I think of all the good oils this one has the best taste and does add a nice delicate flavour to the shake. I used to eat a lot of coconut when I was younger but then got put off by the mainstream saturated fat propaganda for a few years. Glad to be back eating one of nature's best foods and enjoying the taste :) I'm planning to make some coconut ice cream for a nice dessert this week (dairy and soy free of course ;) )
Stranger said:
Yes, this is why I was suspicious but perhaps it's due to the fact that it come from Sri Lanka and I guess the average temperature is more hot there than from my flat.
Mr. Premise said:
No, 100% coconut oil. 1€80 250ml (8 1/2 floz) bottle.
Trevrizent said:
Good idea, I will put it in a boiled jam pot.
Re: Coconut Oil Benefits: When Fat Is Good For You
I have been using coconut fat thinking that it is the same as coconut oil and have found it to be a great substitute for butter on bread. It does hardly have any taste on the bread, but does have a distinct flavour in cooking. It can be found where I live in the local supermarkets and for the equivalent to a few dollars for 1/2kg tubs.
I have been using coconut fat thinking that it is the same as coconut oil and have found it to be a great substitute for butter on bread. It does hardly have any taste on the bread, but does have a distinct flavour in cooking. It can be found where I live in the local supermarkets and for the equivalent to a few dollars for 1/2kg tubs.
The article has a video from 2008, I believe, and many links. But the following is the Mercola text and is quite interesting.
Four Tablespoons of This "Brain Food" May Prevent Alzheimer's
Dr. Mercola's Comments
In the video above, Dr. Mary Newport discusses ketone bodies, an alternative fuel for your brain which your body makes when digesting coconut oil, and how coconut oil may offer profound benefits in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.
This is truly remarkable news, and I urge you to watch Dr. Newport's video in its entirety to get her full story. If her theory is accurate, this could be one of the greatest natural health discoveries in a long time. Backing up her claims is the remarkable recovery of her own husband.
Bear in mind however that contrary to Dr. Newport, I personally do NOT support using drugs to treat Alzheimer's, and based on his condition believe enrolling him in a vaccine study is completely contraindicated and ill advised.
That said, I believe Dr. Newport may have stumbled upon a powerful natural strategy to help prevent and treat Alzheimer's, and that's what I want to address here.
"Brain Starvation" is a Hallmark of Alzheimer's Disease
One of the primary fuels your brain needs is glucose, which is converted into energy.
The mechanism for glucose uptake in your brain has only recently begun to be studied, and what has been learned is that your brain actually manufactures its own insulin to convert glucose in your blood stream into the food it needs to survive.
As you may already know, diabetes is the condition where your body's response to insulin is weakened until your body eventually stops producing the insulin necessary to regulate blood sugar, and your body's ability to regulate (or process) blood sugar into energy becomes essentially broken.
Now, when your brain's production of insulin decreases, your brain literally begins to starve, as it's deprived of the glucose-converted energy it needs to function normally.
This is what happens to Alzheimer's patients - portions of their brain start to atrophy, or starve, leading to impaired functioning and eventual loss of memory, speech, movement and personality.
In effect, your brain can begin to atrophy from starvation if it becomes insulin resistant and loses its ability to convert glucose into energy.
It is now also known that diabetics have a 65 percent increased risk of also being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and there appears to be a potent link between the two diseases, even though the exact mechanisms have yet to be determined.
It seems quite clear however that both are related to insulin resistance - in your body, and in your brain.
Alternate Brain Food Can Stop Brain Atrophy in its Tracks
Fortunately, your brain is able to run on more than one type of energy supply, and this is where coconut oil enters the picture.
There's another substance that can feed your brain and prevent brain atrophy. It may even restore and renew neuron and nerve function in your brain after damage has set in.
The substance in question is called ketone bodies, or ketoacids.
Ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy. And a primary source of ketone bodies are the medium chain triglycerides (MCT) found in coconut oil!
Coconut oil contains about 66 percent MCTs.
The benefits of ketone bodies may also extend to a number of other health conditions, according to Dr. Newport:
"Further, this is a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), drug resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and diabetes type II, where there is insulin resistance.
Ketone bodies may help the brain recover after a loss of oxygen in newborns through adults, may help the heart recover after an acute attack, and may shrink cancerous tumors."
Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) are fats that are not processed by your body in the same manner as long chain triglycerides. Normally, a fat taken into your body must be mixed with bile released from your gallbladder before it can be broken down in your digestive system.
But medium chain triglycerides go directly to your liver, which naturally converts the oil into ketones, bypassing the bile entirely. Your liver then immediately releases the ketones into your bloodstream where they are transported to your brain to be used as fuel.
In fact, ketones appear to be the preferred source of brain food in patients affected by diabetes or Alzheimer's.
"In Alzheimer's disease, the neurons in certain areas of the brain are unable to take in glucose due to insulin resistance and slowly die off, a process that appears to happen one or more decades before the symptoms become apparent,"
Dr. Newport states in her article.
"If these cells had access to ketone bodies, they could potentially stay alive and continue to function."
The Ketonic Diet - Why Avoiding Grains Also Protects against Neurodegeneration
Another way to increase ketone production in your body is by restricting carbohydrates.
This is what happens when you go on a high fat, high protein, low carbohydrate diet: Your body begins to run on fats instead of carbohydrates, and the name for this is ketosis.
This is also why you don't starve to death when you restrict food for weeks at a time, because your body is able to convert stored fat into ketones that are used as fuel instead of glucose.
Consuming medium chain triglycerides such as coconut oil is a better option, however, because the ketones produced by ketosis are not concentrated in your bloodstream, but are instead mostly excreted in your urine.
MCTs and Alzheimer's Research
The mechanism of this MCT-ketone metabolism appears to be that your body treats MCTs as a carbohydrate and not a fat. This allows the ketone energy to hit your blood stream without the normal insulin spike associated with carbohydrates entering your bloodstream.
So in effect coconut oil is a fat that acts like a carbohydrate when it comes to brain fuel.
Therapeutic levels of MCTs have been studied at 20 grams per day. According to Dr. Newport's calculations, just over two tablespoons of coconut oil (about 35 ml or 7 level teaspoons) would supply you with the equivalent of 20 grams of MCT, which is indicated as either a preventative measure against degenerative neurological diseases, or as a treatment for an already established case.
Remember though that people tolerate coconut oil differently, and you may have to start slowly and build up to these therapeutic levels. My recommendation is to start with one teaspoon, taken with food in the mornings. Gradually add more coconut oil every few days until you are able to tolerate four tablespoons.
Coconut oil is best taken with food, to avoid upsetting your stomach.
You Also Need Dietary B12 for Optimal Brain Health
According to a small Finnish study recently published in the journal Neurology, people who consume foods rich in B12 may also reduce their risk of Alzheimer's in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 (holotranscobalamin) the risk of developing Alzheimer's was reduced by 2 percent.
However, I strongly disagree with the dietary advice published by CNN Health on this topic, which included fish and fortified cereals.
Fortified cereals are most definitely NOT a good source of dietary B vitamins. They also have inorganic iron added. This is the worst type of iron to use as a supplement and it will raise already elevated iron in those that don't need it, like most adult men and postmenopausal women.
Elevated iron levels will actually increase your risk of Alzheimer's
Additionally, most fish are today so contaminated, I cannot recommend increasing consumption of fish either. One exception would be sardines, which are high in B12 and small enough to typically be less contaminated, compared to larger fish.
Instead, your ideal dietary sources of B12 vitamins would include:
* Liver from organic calf
* Wild caught salmon
* Organic, grass-fed beef
* Lamb (which are typically grass-fed even if not specified as organic)
* Organic, free-range eggs
Vitamin B12 is present in natural form only in animal sources of food, which is one of the reasons I advise against a strict vegetarian or vegan diet. The few plant foods that are sources of B12 are actually B12 analogs. An analog is a substance that blocks the uptake of true B12, so your body's need for the nutrient actually increases.
There are many well-documented cases of brain abnormalities in strict vegetarians, resulting from vitamin B12 deficiency.
Foods to AVOID to Keep Your Mind Sharp
Meanwhile, besides incorporating ketone therapy (coconut oil), as either a preventative step or as a treatment, there are other steps you can take to help minimize your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease decades from now.
For instance, it's important to know what foods to avoid, in order to protect the health of your brain.
These four foods in particular can be pinpointed as enemies of optimal brain health:
1. Sugars, especially fructose - Excessive sugar and grain consumption are the driving factors behind insulin resistance, and the strategies that protect your brain are very similar to those for avoiding diabetes.
There is simply no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage, as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain.
Ideally, you'll want to restrict your total fructose consumption to below 25 grams a day. This includes refraining from eating too many fruits, if you normally eat a lot of them. If you consume more than 25 grams a day of fructose you can damage your cells by creating insulin and leptin resistance and raising your uric acid levels.
Berries tend to be lower in fructose, and wild blueberries, for example, are also high in anthocyanin and antioxidants, and are well known for being beneficial against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.
2. Grains - Even whole, organic grains will convert to sugar in your body and spike your insulin levels.
Ideally you'll want to devise a nutritional plan geared to your specific nutritional type to maximize your health benefits, as grain carbs are far more detrimental to some than others. I believe this is essential to everyone's health, and I'm very pleased to now be able to offer the full online nutritional typing program for free. We've previously charged $29 for this test, so please do take advantage of this free offer.
3. Artificial sweeteners - Aspartame, for example, is an excitotoxin that can literally destroy your brain cells. There are many studies showing the dangers of aspartame. For example, one study published in 2000 found that aspartame shortens the memory response, impairs memory retention and damages hypothalamic neurons in mice.
And the results from a 2002 study published in the journal Nature suggest that aspartame may cause mental retardation, although the mechanism by which it does that is still unknown.
Other animal studies have linked aspartame to brain damage and brain tumors, even in low doses. I believe aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are dangerous to your health in so many ways, I even wrote an entire book on this topic called Sweet Deception.
4. Soy - Unfermented soy products are another common food that should be avoided if you want to maintain healthy brain function.
One well-designed epidemiological study linked tofu consumption with exaggerated brain aging. Men who ate tofu at least twice weekly had more cognitive impairment, compared with those who rarely or never ate the soybean curd, and their cognitive test results were about equivalent to what they would have been if they were five years older than their current age.
What's more, higher midlife tofu consumption was also associated with low brain weight. Shrinkage does occur naturally with age, but for the men who had consumed more tofu showed an exaggeration of the usual patterns you typically see in aging.
Dr. Kaayla Daniel has written an excellent book, The Whole Soy Story, which covers the health dangers of soy in great depth and I highly recommend it to anyone still under the illusion that soy is a health food.
Additional Guidelines to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease While Combating Diabetes at the Same Time
Clearly, the best-known "treatment" for Alzheimer's disease is prevention, not drugs.
There is no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain - just as it destroys the rest of your body and contributes to degenerative and chronic diseases of all kinds.
As a general rule for optimal physical and mental health, you'll want to keep your fasting insulin levels below 3.
Interestingly, normalizing your body's insulin and leptin levels will typically help raise your production of brain insulin, which is a good thing.
In addition to the dietary recommendations already discussed above, the following seven guidelines can further help you prevent Alzheimer's disease and keep your mind sharp as you age:
1. Optimize your vitamin D levels through safe sun exposure, a safe tanning bed and/or vitamin D3 supplements.
2. Take a high-quality animal-based omega-3 fat. I recommend consuming high quality krill oil to meet the optimal amount of omega-3 fats needed to achieve good health and fight Alzheimer's. I recently did an interview with Dr. Rudi Moerck, an industry expert, which goes into great detail as to why I am strongly recommending krill.
3. Exercise. You probably know that exercise is good for your cardiovascular system, but studies have found that exercise can also protect your brain, thereby warding off Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
According to one study, the odds of developing Alzheimer's were nearly quadrupled in people who were less active during their leisure time, between the ages of 20 and 60, compared with their peers.
Similar to a healthy diet, regular physical activity is one of those actions that can significantly improve many aspects of your physical and emotional health. For the elderly, simple activities such as walking and lightweight training would likely provide benefits. For those who are younger, more strenuous exercise will radically improve the benefits.
4. Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Even trace amounts of mercury can cause the type of damage to nerves that is characteristic of the damage found in Alzheimer's disease.
Dental amalgam fillings are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to your improved diet, you can follow my mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed.
Other sources of mercury include most seafood, thimerosal-containing vaccinations and flu shots, which contain both mercury and aluminum.
5. Avoid aluminum. Aluminum has been widely associated with Alzheimer's disease. Your main sources of exposure are likely through drinking water and antiperspirants.
Aluminum cookware may also be a source of exposure. Although aluminum pots are probably less problematic than the sources mentioned above, I personally would not use aluminum cookware.
6. Challenge your mind. Mental stimulation, such as traveling, learning to play an instrument or doing crossword puzzles, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.
7. Avoid anticholinergic drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain night-time pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.
A recent study found that those who took one drug classified as a 'definite anticholinergics' had a four times higher incidence of cognitive impairment. Regularly taking two of these drugs further increased the risk of cognitive impairment.
Final Thoughts on Combating Alzheimer's with Coconut Oil
The damage done to your brain from the wrong foods and from unbalanced insulin and leptin levels actually begins decades before you show any of the telltale signs of Alzheimer's. So it's vitally important to make healthy decisions now, before you unwittingly do decades of damage to your brain and nerves that you may not be able to reverse.
If you undertake a coconut oil or MCTs therapy protocol, be sure to start slow with the oil, and always take it with food to minimize stomach discomfort. If it takes you a few weeks to work up to the four tablespoons of coconut oil required for a therapeutic dose, that's normal. Not everyone can tolerate so much coconut oil in a single dose right from the start.
The coconut oil or MCTs should also be taken in the morning, as it takes a minimum of three hours for the oil to convert to ketones and reach your brain. Repeating the dose of four tablespoons of coconut oil twice a day may be beneficial for those already suffering from pre-Alzheimer's or Alzheimer's conditions.
With 15 million cases of Alzheimer's predicted in the United States by the year 2050, you can help ensure you are not one of the victims of this tragic disease by taking steps now to take charge of your health.
Four Tablespoons of This "Brain Food" May Prevent Alzheimer's
Dr. Mercola's Comments
In the video above, Dr. Mary Newport discusses ketone bodies, an alternative fuel for your brain which your body makes when digesting coconut oil, and how coconut oil may offer profound benefits in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.
This is truly remarkable news, and I urge you to watch Dr. Newport's video in its entirety to get her full story. If her theory is accurate, this could be one of the greatest natural health discoveries in a long time. Backing up her claims is the remarkable recovery of her own husband.
Bear in mind however that contrary to Dr. Newport, I personally do NOT support using drugs to treat Alzheimer's, and based on his condition believe enrolling him in a vaccine study is completely contraindicated and ill advised.
That said, I believe Dr. Newport may have stumbled upon a powerful natural strategy to help prevent and treat Alzheimer's, and that's what I want to address here.
"Brain Starvation" is a Hallmark of Alzheimer's Disease
One of the primary fuels your brain needs is glucose, which is converted into energy.
The mechanism for glucose uptake in your brain has only recently begun to be studied, and what has been learned is that your brain actually manufactures its own insulin to convert glucose in your blood stream into the food it needs to survive.
As you may already know, diabetes is the condition where your body's response to insulin is weakened until your body eventually stops producing the insulin necessary to regulate blood sugar, and your body's ability to regulate (or process) blood sugar into energy becomes essentially broken.
Now, when your brain's production of insulin decreases, your brain literally begins to starve, as it's deprived of the glucose-converted energy it needs to function normally.
This is what happens to Alzheimer's patients - portions of their brain start to atrophy, or starve, leading to impaired functioning and eventual loss of memory, speech, movement and personality.
In effect, your brain can begin to atrophy from starvation if it becomes insulin resistant and loses its ability to convert glucose into energy.
It is now also known that diabetics have a 65 percent increased risk of also being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and there appears to be a potent link between the two diseases, even though the exact mechanisms have yet to be determined.
It seems quite clear however that both are related to insulin resistance - in your body, and in your brain.
Alternate Brain Food Can Stop Brain Atrophy in its Tracks
Fortunately, your brain is able to run on more than one type of energy supply, and this is where coconut oil enters the picture.
There's another substance that can feed your brain and prevent brain atrophy. It may even restore and renew neuron and nerve function in your brain after damage has set in.
The substance in question is called ketone bodies, or ketoacids.
Ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy. And a primary source of ketone bodies are the medium chain triglycerides (MCT) found in coconut oil!
Coconut oil contains about 66 percent MCTs.
The benefits of ketone bodies may also extend to a number of other health conditions, according to Dr. Newport:
"Further, this is a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), drug resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and diabetes type II, where there is insulin resistance.
Ketone bodies may help the brain recover after a loss of oxygen in newborns through adults, may help the heart recover after an acute attack, and may shrink cancerous tumors."
Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) are fats that are not processed by your body in the same manner as long chain triglycerides. Normally, a fat taken into your body must be mixed with bile released from your gallbladder before it can be broken down in your digestive system.
But medium chain triglycerides go directly to your liver, which naturally converts the oil into ketones, bypassing the bile entirely. Your liver then immediately releases the ketones into your bloodstream where they are transported to your brain to be used as fuel.
In fact, ketones appear to be the preferred source of brain food in patients affected by diabetes or Alzheimer's.
"In Alzheimer's disease, the neurons in certain areas of the brain are unable to take in glucose due to insulin resistance and slowly die off, a process that appears to happen one or more decades before the symptoms become apparent,"
Dr. Newport states in her article.
"If these cells had access to ketone bodies, they could potentially stay alive and continue to function."
The Ketonic Diet - Why Avoiding Grains Also Protects against Neurodegeneration
Another way to increase ketone production in your body is by restricting carbohydrates.
This is what happens when you go on a high fat, high protein, low carbohydrate diet: Your body begins to run on fats instead of carbohydrates, and the name for this is ketosis.
This is also why you don't starve to death when you restrict food for weeks at a time, because your body is able to convert stored fat into ketones that are used as fuel instead of glucose.
Consuming medium chain triglycerides such as coconut oil is a better option, however, because the ketones produced by ketosis are not concentrated in your bloodstream, but are instead mostly excreted in your urine.
MCTs and Alzheimer's Research
The mechanism of this MCT-ketone metabolism appears to be that your body treats MCTs as a carbohydrate and not a fat. This allows the ketone energy to hit your blood stream without the normal insulin spike associated with carbohydrates entering your bloodstream.
So in effect coconut oil is a fat that acts like a carbohydrate when it comes to brain fuel.
Therapeutic levels of MCTs have been studied at 20 grams per day. According to Dr. Newport's calculations, just over two tablespoons of coconut oil (about 35 ml or 7 level teaspoons) would supply you with the equivalent of 20 grams of MCT, which is indicated as either a preventative measure against degenerative neurological diseases, or as a treatment for an already established case.
Remember though that people tolerate coconut oil differently, and you may have to start slowly and build up to these therapeutic levels. My recommendation is to start with one teaspoon, taken with food in the mornings. Gradually add more coconut oil every few days until you are able to tolerate four tablespoons.
Coconut oil is best taken with food, to avoid upsetting your stomach.
You Also Need Dietary B12 for Optimal Brain Health
According to a small Finnish study recently published in the journal Neurology, people who consume foods rich in B12 may also reduce their risk of Alzheimer's in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 (holotranscobalamin) the risk of developing Alzheimer's was reduced by 2 percent.
However, I strongly disagree with the dietary advice published by CNN Health on this topic, which included fish and fortified cereals.
Fortified cereals are most definitely NOT a good source of dietary B vitamins. They also have inorganic iron added. This is the worst type of iron to use as a supplement and it will raise already elevated iron in those that don't need it, like most adult men and postmenopausal women.
Elevated iron levels will actually increase your risk of Alzheimer's
Additionally, most fish are today so contaminated, I cannot recommend increasing consumption of fish either. One exception would be sardines, which are high in B12 and small enough to typically be less contaminated, compared to larger fish.
Instead, your ideal dietary sources of B12 vitamins would include:
* Liver from organic calf
* Wild caught salmon
* Organic, grass-fed beef
* Lamb (which are typically grass-fed even if not specified as organic)
* Organic, free-range eggs
Vitamin B12 is present in natural form only in animal sources of food, which is one of the reasons I advise against a strict vegetarian or vegan diet. The few plant foods that are sources of B12 are actually B12 analogs. An analog is a substance that blocks the uptake of true B12, so your body's need for the nutrient actually increases.
There are many well-documented cases of brain abnormalities in strict vegetarians, resulting from vitamin B12 deficiency.
Foods to AVOID to Keep Your Mind Sharp
Meanwhile, besides incorporating ketone therapy (coconut oil), as either a preventative step or as a treatment, there are other steps you can take to help minimize your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease decades from now.
For instance, it's important to know what foods to avoid, in order to protect the health of your brain.
These four foods in particular can be pinpointed as enemies of optimal brain health:
1. Sugars, especially fructose - Excessive sugar and grain consumption are the driving factors behind insulin resistance, and the strategies that protect your brain are very similar to those for avoiding diabetes.
There is simply no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage, as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain.
Ideally, you'll want to restrict your total fructose consumption to below 25 grams a day. This includes refraining from eating too many fruits, if you normally eat a lot of them. If you consume more than 25 grams a day of fructose you can damage your cells by creating insulin and leptin resistance and raising your uric acid levels.
Berries tend to be lower in fructose, and wild blueberries, for example, are also high in anthocyanin and antioxidants, and are well known for being beneficial against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.
2. Grains - Even whole, organic grains will convert to sugar in your body and spike your insulin levels.
Ideally you'll want to devise a nutritional plan geared to your specific nutritional type to maximize your health benefits, as grain carbs are far more detrimental to some than others. I believe this is essential to everyone's health, and I'm very pleased to now be able to offer the full online nutritional typing program for free. We've previously charged $29 for this test, so please do take advantage of this free offer.
3. Artificial sweeteners - Aspartame, for example, is an excitotoxin that can literally destroy your brain cells. There are many studies showing the dangers of aspartame. For example, one study published in 2000 found that aspartame shortens the memory response, impairs memory retention and damages hypothalamic neurons in mice.
And the results from a 2002 study published in the journal Nature suggest that aspartame may cause mental retardation, although the mechanism by which it does that is still unknown.
Other animal studies have linked aspartame to brain damage and brain tumors, even in low doses. I believe aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are dangerous to your health in so many ways, I even wrote an entire book on this topic called Sweet Deception.
4. Soy - Unfermented soy products are another common food that should be avoided if you want to maintain healthy brain function.
One well-designed epidemiological study linked tofu consumption with exaggerated brain aging. Men who ate tofu at least twice weekly had more cognitive impairment, compared with those who rarely or never ate the soybean curd, and their cognitive test results were about equivalent to what they would have been if they were five years older than their current age.
What's more, higher midlife tofu consumption was also associated with low brain weight. Shrinkage does occur naturally with age, but for the men who had consumed more tofu showed an exaggeration of the usual patterns you typically see in aging.
Dr. Kaayla Daniel has written an excellent book, The Whole Soy Story, which covers the health dangers of soy in great depth and I highly recommend it to anyone still under the illusion that soy is a health food.
Additional Guidelines to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease While Combating Diabetes at the Same Time
Clearly, the best-known "treatment" for Alzheimer's disease is prevention, not drugs.
There is no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain - just as it destroys the rest of your body and contributes to degenerative and chronic diseases of all kinds.
As a general rule for optimal physical and mental health, you'll want to keep your fasting insulin levels below 3.
Interestingly, normalizing your body's insulin and leptin levels will typically help raise your production of brain insulin, which is a good thing.
In addition to the dietary recommendations already discussed above, the following seven guidelines can further help you prevent Alzheimer's disease and keep your mind sharp as you age:
1. Optimize your vitamin D levels through safe sun exposure, a safe tanning bed and/or vitamin D3 supplements.
2. Take a high-quality animal-based omega-3 fat. I recommend consuming high quality krill oil to meet the optimal amount of omega-3 fats needed to achieve good health and fight Alzheimer's. I recently did an interview with Dr. Rudi Moerck, an industry expert, which goes into great detail as to why I am strongly recommending krill.
3. Exercise. You probably know that exercise is good for your cardiovascular system, but studies have found that exercise can also protect your brain, thereby warding off Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
According to one study, the odds of developing Alzheimer's were nearly quadrupled in people who were less active during their leisure time, between the ages of 20 and 60, compared with their peers.
Similar to a healthy diet, regular physical activity is one of those actions that can significantly improve many aspects of your physical and emotional health. For the elderly, simple activities such as walking and lightweight training would likely provide benefits. For those who are younger, more strenuous exercise will radically improve the benefits.
4. Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Even trace amounts of mercury can cause the type of damage to nerves that is characteristic of the damage found in Alzheimer's disease.
Dental amalgam fillings are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to your improved diet, you can follow my mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed.
Other sources of mercury include most seafood, thimerosal-containing vaccinations and flu shots, which contain both mercury and aluminum.
5. Avoid aluminum. Aluminum has been widely associated with Alzheimer's disease. Your main sources of exposure are likely through drinking water and antiperspirants.
Aluminum cookware may also be a source of exposure. Although aluminum pots are probably less problematic than the sources mentioned above, I personally would not use aluminum cookware.
6. Challenge your mind. Mental stimulation, such as traveling, learning to play an instrument or doing crossword puzzles, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.
7. Avoid anticholinergic drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain night-time pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.
A recent study found that those who took one drug classified as a 'definite anticholinergics' had a four times higher incidence of cognitive impairment. Regularly taking two of these drugs further increased the risk of cognitive impairment.
Final Thoughts on Combating Alzheimer's with Coconut Oil
The damage done to your brain from the wrong foods and from unbalanced insulin and leptin levels actually begins decades before you show any of the telltale signs of Alzheimer's. So it's vitally important to make healthy decisions now, before you unwittingly do decades of damage to your brain and nerves that you may not be able to reverse.
If you undertake a coconut oil or MCTs therapy protocol, be sure to start slow with the oil, and always take it with food to minimize stomach discomfort. If it takes you a few weeks to work up to the four tablespoons of coconut oil required for a therapeutic dose, that's normal. Not everyone can tolerate so much coconut oil in a single dose right from the start.
The coconut oil or MCTs should also be taken in the morning, as it takes a minimum of three hours for the oil to convert to ketones and reach your brain. Repeating the dose of four tablespoons of coconut oil twice a day may be beneficial for those already suffering from pre-Alzheimer's or Alzheimer's conditions.
With 15 million cases of Alzheimer's predicted in the United States by the year 2050, you can help ensure you are not one of the victims of this tragic disease by taking steps now to take charge of your health.
As I wrote in another thread: I just want to report that I think coconut oil is inflammatory for me. I've sure enjoyed it, but I also went into the pit of inflammation for a few days. I've cut it out completely now for the past three days to see what happens and sure enough, the inflammation is receding. I'll re-test when I'm completely clear.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that I am one of those people who cannot eat nuts of any kind (or eggs which have a similar protein) and am uber sensitive to seed lectins? A coconut is, after all, just a big seed!
It's really a drag because I sure did enjoy it!
Perhaps this is due to the fact that I am one of those people who cannot eat nuts of any kind (or eggs which have a similar protein) and am uber sensitive to seed lectins? A coconut is, after all, just a big seed!
It's really a drag because I sure did enjoy it!
F
forge
Guest
Coconut oil, seeds, nuts: inflammation experiment of blood type A.
Yesterday i caramelized a little chopped onion in 4 or 5 tbl spoon coconut oil, then poured in buckwheat flour and gave enough vegetable broth to make a sort of thick stirred mass. 3 times of the pink Himalaya salt it needed to taste anything salty.
20-25 minutes later i felt like on soft fire. Nothing painful, like mild fever in the joints, everywhere. I think with all the beneficial effects of coconut oil, direct energy to liver, thyroid, immune system, possible repair of nerve cells, etc.. it's worth it. The above was a big amount.
Peanuts: I can eat them for the 5-HTP content and anti-cancer properties of it's thin red shell(*Adamo). Negative effect is some inflammation and distended belly for at least 8 hours. Plan to eat up the rest i have and stop peanuts.
Sunflower seeds: Methylation - to avoid "depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, liver disease, ostoearthritis, Parkinson’s disease and even cancer as well as aging." Curiously the seeds seem to decrease the sharpness of certain needed thinking, alter brain function 10-15 minutes after eating them.
Yesterday i caramelized a little chopped onion in 4 or 5 tbl spoon coconut oil, then poured in buckwheat flour and gave enough vegetable broth to make a sort of thick stirred mass. 3 times of the pink Himalaya salt it needed to taste anything salty.
20-25 minutes later i felt like on soft fire. Nothing painful, like mild fever in the joints, everywhere. I think with all the beneficial effects of coconut oil, direct energy to liver, thyroid, immune system, possible repair of nerve cells, etc.. it's worth it. The above was a big amount.
Peanuts: I can eat them for the 5-HTP content and anti-cancer properties of it's thin red shell(*Adamo). Negative effect is some inflammation and distended belly for at least 8 hours. Plan to eat up the rest i have and stop peanuts.
Sunflower seeds: Methylation - to avoid "depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, liver disease, ostoearthritis, Parkinson’s disease and even cancer as well as aging." Curiously the seeds seem to decrease the sharpness of certain needed thinking, alter brain function 10-15 minutes after eating them.
