As most of my long time readers know, I use coconut oil quite often in my recipes. Lately, I have been receiving quite a few emails about this oil and whether it is ‘healthy’ or not. In the past, this food has had a bad reputation for being full of unhealthy saturated fat. However, coconut oil is in fact considered a SuperFood. Yes, it IS a saturated fat, but these fats are made up of MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides), which are metabolized differently. They are easily absorbed by the body, help reduce body fat and improve insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. On top of all of that:
1) Coconut oil also helps lower total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol, while increasing HDL (good) cholesterol.
2) MCT’s in coconut oil can increase energy expenditure
3) It can help reduce hunger
4) It keeps your skin soft
Now can you see how many amazing benefits there are to incorporating coconut oil in your diet?!! It’s great! This information also applies to coconut butter too! One of my favorites! What is the difference between coconut oil and coconut butter? Coconut oil is just the oil that has been extracted from the meat of a coconut where coconut butter is both the oil and meat ground into a thick butter form! (Coconut butter makes me swoon by the way ;))
Some of my favorite ways to include coconut oil or butter into my every day meals include:
- Topping a sweet potato with coconut oil or butter and cinnamon
- Drizzling it over waffles
- Sautéing and roasting veggies in coconut oil
- Spreading coconut butter on toast
- Adding coconut oil or butter to my smoothies
- Melting coconut butter over fresh berries for dessert
And so many more!!! You can also find coconut butter in many different flavors!! My favorites are from the brand SweetSpreads! Whether you use the coconut oil, coconut butter or the flavored coconut butter, you will get all the amazing benefits listed above! Give it a try! I promise you won’t regret it! 
More exciting news for you all……
Sweet Mama Mel at SweetSpreads has offered to give ONE reader a free sample pack of her 6 flavors of coconut butter! How AWESOME is she!! In order to enter you must repost this picture on Instagram:
Tagging both @sweetspreads and @fitchick428 and tell us why YOU are crazy for coconut butter!!!
(please make sure not to just tag us in the comments — you MUST tag the photo so we see it!)
The contest will be open until 11:59pm EST on Friday July 18th!!
Good Luck!
*Do you use coconut oil?
*Do you prefer coconut oil or coconut butter?
*Have you noticed any health benefits from using coconut oil/butter?
