Coconut Oil For Weight Loss - Why It Works

It seems you can’t go a week without hearing of some new fad promising to help you lose weight in days. While coconut oil doesn’t help you shed pounds instantly, if taken as part of a balanced diet, it can have significant effects on your weight as well as your overall health.

Coconut oil is often considered a high fat food and generally languishes in the ‘World Food’ isle of your local grocery store, but science is now beginning to uncover its health benefits, including it’s significant effects on improving weight.

Coconut oil is harvested from the kernel in matured coconuts. Coconut palm trees mainly grow in South Asia and for centuries this oil has been used by South Asian people as a base to fry food in.

In recent years there has been a boom in the sales of coconut oil as people uncover the many benefits of this magical product.

It all comes down to the composition of the molecules that make up the oil. Every oil contains fatty acids which, when ingested, are converted by your body into fat. These fatty acids are usually long-chain triglycerides or LCT for short. Coconut oil is different. The fatty acids it contains are called medium-chain triglycerides, or MCT for short. Basically what this means is, unlike other oils, the acids it contains are soluble in water, and therefore, have more of a direct route to your liver where it is burned and used as fuel for your body. Coconut oil is one of the richest natural sources of MCT and also abundantly available. When your body burns MCT, it stimulates your metabolism which intern increases energy levels.

The other unique property of coconut oil is that it gives you the sensation of feeling ‘full’ after eating a smaller meal.

Many people have lost weight by taking a small amount of pure coconut oil every day, reporting higher energy levels and fewer cravings for sweets and carbohydrates. It may sound counterproductive that eating a food high in fat can help you lose weight, but when we eat a fatty food, it takes our body time to process it and the stomach empties at a much slower rate then when we eat low-fat foods. While any fatty food will suppress your appetite, some perform this task much better than others. Research has shown that opting to eat fats composed of MCT will have the same effect as eating foods high in LCT without the negative side effect of fat storage. Coconut oil, although high in fat, has the lowest amount of calories found in any natural food rich in MCT.

If you’re looking for a ‘magic bullet’ to losing weight, then coconut oil is not it. There is no shortcut to weight loss and any long-term dieter will know this. But if you eat sensibly and exercise regularly, you will start to see the numerous positive effects of using coconut oil in a matter of weeks.