Coconut!

What a wondrous drink, food, moisturizer! Especially since walking along the raw food path, I have heard and read plenty talk about coconut water, coconut oil, coconut butter, coconut "meat."

I only knew mister coconut in the Asian food section of the grocery store in a tin can, referred to as coconut milk. That stuff is processed using heat, thus not very nutrient dense. Many foods are healthy in their natural state, but once they get tossed into an assembly line, heated, and canned, they lose their high-ranking health status and become another component to America's SAD (Standard American Diet) way of eating.

Okay, let me share a line with you to remember as you go shopping for food or as you pick out a snack for your kids, CLOSER TO THE VINE IS DIVINE!

Simple. Eat the food in its most pure and raw form for the highest availability of its natural goodness.

Back to the coconut... I put a link over on the right side bar to a web site that has in-depth information on the ole coconut. And there is a catchy tune that plays in the background as you read. What fun! Go to the "articles" section and read the long one at the end...pretty informative and enlightening.

Nutiva Coconut

I will give you a basic run down on coconuts:

- Coconut water: the clear liquid in a coconut. This water is life-giving in more ways than one. The water is full of electrolytes. Drink it after a work-out. Or anytime. The electrolyte balance are the same in a coconut as in our body! 

"...during WWII, doctors discovered the water in young coconuts could be used as a substitute for blood plasma, because it's sterile, cool, easily absorbed by the body, and doesn't destroy red blood cells."  (p. 137 "Ani's Rawfood Kitchen" by Ani Phyo) 

Amazing! Imagine a liquid that has been sucked up a palm tree's trunk from deep within the earth and the deposited into a perfectly sealed package. As Ani points out in her book, it takes nine months for one liter of mineralized water to be sucked up from roots to the coconut.

- Coconut butter: 75 degrees and lower, it is a white solid a.k.a. "butter." 

- Coconut oil: above 76 degrees, the coconut butter melts and is in the liquid state a.k.a. "oil." 

*make sure to buy a raw, cold-pressed, organic coconut oil*

Uses for the coconut butter/oil are many. Topically, I use it as a  moisturizer. I like to keep things simple. So a small jar of it sits in my bathroom. In the winter/spring/fall I need to scrap it out as it is in the "butter" state, but it immediately it melts from the warmth of my hand. And in the summer, it is liquid and a little more messy. 

I use it in place of lotion. And just two weeks ago I started to use it on my face instead of my high-end, expensive health food store facial lotion. Wowzer. It is amazing. And contrary to your first reaction, it does not oil up or clog-up your pores. It has something to do with the fatty acid structure being small... Anyway, it works wonders. I even put it on a break-out area and by the next morning, it was nearly cleared up! I imagine that was because it does have anit-bacterial properties in it too.

Go ahead, slather some on yourself. Just steer clear of the dogs for a few minutes until it absorbs! Otherwise the pooches think you are a walking lick-stick for them!  ;-)

When I was a huge popcorn-eater, I melted it and added some sea salt and a dash of garlic powder and drizzled this over the warm popped corn. Yum. So if you are looking to make a movie night snack that is healthy, toss the butter junk! 

Nowadays I like to add it to my raw food cookie and pie crust recipes. It is sooo good. Here is a simple recipe. You will need a food processor for this one.

2 cups of almonds (pre-soaked overnight and rinsed)

1 1/2 cups of dates (pitted) (or any combo of dried fruits)

1 TBSP raw coconut butter

honey or agave nectar (to taste)

flavoring (lemon juice or raw carob powder) if desired

Process it all with the "S" blade. It will sound like you are whizzing up gravel, but stay with it. When you have a crumbly texture, it is done. You can press it into a greased pan (use coconut butter) and cut out of chunk as you desire or make it into balls and flatten them into little cookies. I like to do this and then store them in the freezer.

Mess around with the ingredients and amounts of each.

I will talk about more coconut uses and aspects later on...gotta go for now. Don't forget to click on that link and learn some more about coconuts!