Kitabı oku: «The Coconut Diet: The Secret Ingredient for Effortless Weight Loss», sayfa 2

Research now shows that cholesterol levels in food have little or no effect on blood cholesterol levels. Many researchers have rejected the lipid theory as a cause of heart disease. The cause of the rapid rise of heart disease in the U.S. is now attributed to many factors.

We know that after World War II there were significant changes to conventional diets, including the kinds of fats people began eating. Mary Enig, Ph.D. offers insight to the American diet:

Butter consumption was declining while the use of vegetable oils, especially oils that had been hardened to resemble butter by a process called hydrogenation, was increasing—dramatically increasing. By 1950 butter consumption had dropped from eighteen pounds per person per year to just over ten. Margarine filled in the gap, rising from about two pounds per person at the turn of the century to about eight. Consumption of vegetable shortening—used in crackers and baked goods—remained relatively steady at about twelve pounds per person per year but vegetable oil consumption had more than tripled—from just under three pounds per person per year to more than ten.¹³

Coconut Oil Becomes the Center of Attack

The saturated fats and cholesterol scare soon began to influence mainstream thinking, and before long certain groups started taking aim at the saturated fats found in coconut oil. At one time coconut oil was a significant part of the American diet. Suddenly, Americans were told to avoid anything with tropical oils—from theater popcorn to packaged snack foods.

In 1986, the American Soybean Association (ASA) sent out a “Fat Fighter Kit” to soybean farmers encouraging them to write to government officials and food companies protesting the importing of the highly saturated tropical fats of palm and coconut oil.¹⁴ And in 1988, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) published a booklet called the “Saturated Fat Attack.” Section III, “Those Troublesome Tropical Oils,” encouraged manufacturers to put warnings against saturated fats on food labels. “There were lots of substantive mistakes in the booklet, including errors in the description of the biochemistry of fats and oils and completely erroneous statements about the fat and oil composition of many of the products,” writes Enig.¹⁵

In 1988, Nebraska millionaire Phil Sokolof joined in the attack by taking out a full-page newspaper ad warning against coconut oil. Sokolof was a recovered heart attack patient and the founder of the National Heart Savers Association. His newspaper advertising accused food companies of “poisoning America” by using tropical oils high in saturated fats. He ran a national ad campaign attacking tropical oils as a health danger by showing a picture of a coconut “bomb” with a lighted wick, and cautioned consumers that their health was threatened by coconut oil.¹⁶

The tropical oil industry, centered in countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, did not have the financial resources to counter such negative media campaigns. However, many researchers who knew the truth about coconut oil tried to set the record straight, but public opinion was already very high against saturated fats and tropical oils.

Researchers familiar with tropical oils were called upon to testify before a Congressional hearing on tropical oils in June of 1988. “Coconut oil has a neutral effect on blood cholesterol, even in situations where coconut oil is the sole source of fat,” reported Dr. George Blackburn, a Harvard Medical School researcher at this congressional hearing.

Dr. Mary Enig stated: “These [tropical] oils have been consumed as a substantial part of the diet of many groups for thousands of years with absolutely no evidence of any harmful effects to the populations consuming them.”

Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former Surgeon General, even called the tropical oil scare “Foolishness!” and added “but to get the word to commercial interests terrorizing the public about nothing is another matter.”¹⁷

But despite their efforts, the voices of coconut oil defenders were drowned out by mainstream media sources informed by members of the edible oil industry and members of the scientific and medical community, thus, virtually banishing coconut oil to the margins of the American diet. But this is all about to change with the Coconut Diet.

I have lost 56 pounds so far and have another 20-50 pounds to go. I know I’ll get there. I have added coconut oil to a low-carb diet that I’ve been on for eleven months. I am now off all prescription medications for high blood pressure, asthma, and allergies. My cholesterol levels have improved greatly—triglycerides were 940, and in three months have gone down to 247. I have energy again and can exercise. A year ago I could not walk around the mall without stopping to rest. Now I go day hiking with my hubby. The coconut oil fits perfectly with this way of eating. I have my life back!

Dabs

The Truth Can Make You Trim

What we know today, but was not understood in the 1950s, is that hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils create trans fatty acids that have been linked to heart disease as well as other health problems. And vegetable oils, which are made up predominantly of LCTs can cause us to gain weight.

Amidst all the hype and hoopla about coconut oil—you now know the full story. Coconut oil is one of the reasons Asians and people of the tropics eating a traditional diet that includes coconut are typically not overweight and don’t usually suffer from diseases that plague Westerners. The secret of the tropics—the key to weight loss and vibrant health—is in eating the right kinds of fats, avoiding refined carbohydrates, and consuming a diet of whole foods.

The 21-day program in the Coconut Diet will help you to make dietary changes for the better and reap the benefits of improved health and weight management. You will lose weight on the Coconut Diet and the program, meal plans, and recipes will help you put this diet into action.

chapter 2
the carbohydrate conundrum

When I mention the word carbohydrate, what comes to your mind? If you’re like most people, probably sugar and starch. The topic of carbohydrates is certainly confusing for most people. Do we need these sugars and starches or don’t we? For decades we’ve been told to eat lots of carbs, making them the highest percentage of our diet, and to limit protein and fat as much as possible. Now, we’re being told the opposite.

Because of all the encouragement over the years to eat carbs, Americans have become the main refined carbohydrate consumers of the world, closely followed by the UK and Australia. From bagels, muffins, boxed sugary cereals and orange juice for breakfast, sweet rolls and doughnuts for coffee break, sandwiches and French fries for lunch, and pasta and bread for dinner, many people have centered their entire day around carbs.

Unfortunately, most of the carbs we eat are not the healthy, fiber-rich carbohydrates eaten in many other parts of the world; they’re simple, refined carbs that have had the fiber and nutrients stripped away. Once ingested, these foods rapidly turn to sugar in the body. And all this sugar, scientists are telling us, is making us fat and unhealthy.

What are Carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are macronutrients known as sugars, starches, and fiber. A carbohydrate is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and they come arranged in three sizes—monosaccharides, disaccharides, or polysaccharides. Sugars such as glucose with a single sugar ring are known as monosaccharides, sugars made from pairs of single rings such as sucrose are known as disaccharides, and large molecules like starches, which are long chains of single-ring sugars linked together, are known as polysaccharides. The monosaccharides and disaccharides are simple carbohydrates such as white sugar. The polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates that include starches, glycogen, (a polysaccharide, stored in the liver; easily converted to glucose) and most fiber.

To help you succeed on the Coconut Diet, you’ll need an understanding of the difference between the good carbs and the bad.

Simple Carbohydrates: The Bad Ones

When it comes to our blood sugar and weight management, simple carbs such as sugar, starch, and refined flour products are the biggest obstacles. These foods have little or no fiber and plenty of readily available sugar. French fries, sweet rolls, pretzels, potato chips, soda pop, milk shakes, ice cream, doughnuts, bagels, alcohol, and most packaged breakfast cereals are all examples of foods that provide high amounts of simple carbs, very few, if any, nutrients, and little to no fiber. They convert to sugar quickly in our bloodstream, which often goes straight to the fat cells.

Some of the simple-carbohydrate foods can catch us off guard—they don’t taste sweet, and we may think we’re actually eating something healthful. Take a savory-flavored rice cake, for example. It has no fat and not a lot of calories, but look out when it comes to carbs—about 12 carbs in each rice cake; plain has about 8 grams of carbs. Many people have felt good about eating three or four of these snack crackers in place of something that has fat in it. But they are not a good-carb choice. They are made of puffed rice, which is high on the Glycemic Index. (An index that shows the rate at which carbohydrates break down to glucose in the bloodstream and turn to sugar). White bread is another example; it doesn’t taste sweet either. We may think it’s okay when it’s French or sourdough bread or a sesame bread stick—at least these forms of white flour have a more sophisticated image than a slice of plain white bread. There’s not much difference, however, between eating these breads and a sweet in terms of how quickly they turn to sugar when they are digested.

Your body’s primary way of getting rid of sugar is to burn it. What your body can’t burn, it will store as glycogen. When glycogen stores are filled up, then it will get stored as fat.

“Sugar is a turbo charger—a very hot burning fuel,” says Dr. Ron Rosedale. When you eat a lot of carbohydrates, and particularly simple carbs, your body will convert it quickly to sugar and burn it, and it will stop burning fat.¹ (This is the reason low carb diets are so effective—they promote fat burning.)

With an emphasis on lots of carb servings every day, our bodies may not get around to fat burning at all. For instance, start the morning with a bowl of cornflakes, one-half cup skim milk, a small banana, and a glass of orange juice. How about a bran muffin for coffee break—that’s healthy right? Maybe you choose a sandwich with no mayo for lunch. How about pasta primavera and garlic bread for dinner? And you could end the day with a bowl of plain popcorn for an evening snack.

This looks like a healthy-choice, low fat kind-of-day to many people across the U.S., but when we add up the carbs, it comes to over 200 grams. Guidelines for carbs on many low-carb weight-loss programs are usually around 30 grams per day. A bran muffin alone has about 28 carb grams.

Is it any wonder that many people can’t lose weight, have blood sugar problems, and experience insulin resistance? Their entire day is filled with one high-carb meal after another, and blood sugar that is bouncing around like a yo-yo.

As you maintain satisfactory blood glucose and insulin levels, the body will not easily store excess carbohydrates as fat, and it will burn existing fat stores faster. As you follow a healthful, low-carb food plan such as The Coconut Diet, you can achieve permanent fat loss and build more lean muscle.

I have been taking a tablespoon of coconut oil three times daily with meals. Taking the oil with my meals seems to give me a “full feeling” a lot faster. My sweet tooth has practically vanished—and this is from someone who should have bought stock in Hersheys long ago! Ironically, facilitating weight loss was my main reason for trying the coconut oil diet, but with all the wonderful benefits I am experiencing, the weight loss aspect almost seems like an afterthought.

About three days into the routine, I had an energy rush on a Saturday morning that kept me going until well after lunch. I can’t believe how much I got done that day! My mental state of mind seemed to be much sharper. I was able to focus on the tasks at hand without getting sidetracked. I was not exhausted at the end of running my errands, which included traipsing around a huge mall. It seemed like I was practically running, rather than the leisurely walking that was formerly my habit. In addition to my energy level, my mood has been very stable—no up and down mood swings—even with the onset of PMS!

My husband commented yesterday on how soft and silky my skin felt, and I have not used any lotion since I started taking the oil. This program also seems to have given my libido a jumpstart.

Theresa

Complex Carbohydrates: The Good Ones

The complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides) are condensed into molecules of starch, glycogen and cellulose. Starch molecules are rather large; a single starch molecule may contain 3,000 or more glucose units linked together. Starch is the stored form of glucose in a plant. Potatoes, rice and other grains, corn, and legumes are examples of starch. Glycogen is more complex than starch and is found in animal meats, to a limited extent. Cellulose is found primarily in plants and has long, branching chains that are not digestible by human enzymes. Cellulose is also known as insoluble fiber and it is very important in human nutrition, especially for colon health.

Most plant foods have fiber and an abundance of nutrients particularly the brightly colored vegetables, fruit, sprouts, legumes, herbs, and sea vegetables. These are powerhouses of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytochemicals, and fiber. Even on a carb-restricted diet, we can eat large amounts of most vegetables, salad greens, and sprouts and never feel deprived, while maintaining a low-carb intake. The high-fiber content of these foods slows down the rate that sugars enter the bloodstream, thereby lowering insulin secretion. These vegetables, sprouts, herbs, and salad greens will be your primary source of carbohydrates during the first three weeks of the Coconut Diet.

A few vegetables and fruits such as potatoes, parsnips, watermelon, pineapple, and bananas are not good-carb choices because they are higher on the Glycemic Index; they should be avoided especially in Phases I and II.

Sweeteners: The Good, the Bad, and the Dangerous

Sweeteners, no matter what we call them, are still sugars. Very few sugars are actually good for us such as fructooligosaccharides and other essential saccharides. But these sugars are rarely, if ever, found in snacks and treats; they are mostly used for medicinal purposes.

Most natural sweeteners such as honey and pure maple sugar are a little better than refined sugars, in that they have some nutrients and they aren’t bleached and refined, however, they are not healthful in the quantities consumed by the average person. And some sweeteners, namely artificial, can even be dangerous.

Sugar may have many detrimental effects on the body. One is suppression of the immune system. Here’s how it works: vitamin C has a similar structure to glucose and they compete with one another. In the 1970s, scientists found that vitamin C was needed by white blood cells so they could phagocytize (engulf and digest) bacteria and viruses. White blood cells require about fifty times more vitamin C on the inside as the outside and sugar completes with vitamin C for entry into white blood cells.²

Sugars can also contribute to a condition known as candidiasis (overgrowth of yeasts known as Candida albicans). A diet rich in carbohydrates stimulates yeast growth. When we eat sweets and other simple carbs, we feed the yeast in our digestive tract, which can cause them to multiply rapidly. Weight gain and a host of illnesses and adverse symptoms are attributed to candidiasis.

If you crave sweets, breads, potatoes, or any other form of carbs, we suggest you fill out the Candida Questionnaire to help determine if you have an overgrowth of yeast in your body. Unless you deal with yeasts, you may never be able to lose the weight you want. The late Dr. Robert C. Atkins said that about 20 percent of the people on the Atkins Diet would not be able to lose weight because of yeasts.³

Overeating sugar can also lead to insulin resistance, which contributes to weight gain and a host of physical ailments including autoimmune disorders such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis, some forms of cancer, candidiasis, celiac disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, Type II diabetes, digestive disorders, heart disease, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, infertility, obesity, panic and anxiety attacks, hypoglycemia, and polycystic ovarian syndrome.

I consider Candida albicans a blessing, actually, because it was the only thing that motivated me to go off sugar and [onto] a low-carb diet. In the process, I lost 100 pounds!

Marie

Natural Sweeteners

There are only a few natural sweeteners that we recommend for the Coconut Diet, and in very small quantities. But keep in mind that a sweet taste could possibly trigger an insulin response because your body may be conditioned to produce excess insulin no matter what the sweetener of choice and if it has been doing this for a while, you may be insulin resistant. Therefore, we recommend that in the first three weeks of the diet you avoid all sweeteners as much as possible to give your body a chance to restore insulin sensitivity.

THE LOWER-CARB NATURAL SWEETENERS

 Birch sugar (xylitol) is a sugar alcohol. The healthiest xylitol is derived from birch bark. It has fewer calories than sugar with about the same sweetness. It has not been shown to promote tooth decay, and it is metabolized slowly, which helps prevent the sugar “highs” and “lows” often experienced with other sweeteners. Keep in mind that not all xylitol may be derived from birch bark and may not be as healthy.Sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, manitol, malitol, and xylitol are sugar alcohols that are derived from dextrose or glucose, or in the case of xylitol, from birch trees. On gum and candy labels they are often termed “sugar free,” but this is somewhat misleading because when broken down, they act similarly to other forms of sugar. None are free of calories, and only xylitol does not promote cavities. Sugar alcohols tend to ferment in the digestive tract, causing cramping and diarrhea. (See Resource Guide for more information.)

 Lo-Han Guo comes from the Chinese plant Lo Han Guo Siraitia grosvenorii, a perennial vine in the cucumber or melon family that grows in China. Lo Han fruits contain triterpene glycoside sweeteners known as mogrosides. When processed into a fine powder, this natural sweetener is soluble in water. It is about 300 times sweeter than sugar, so very little is needed to sweeten foods and beverages. It is also very low in calories.

 Stevia is extracted from a herbal leaf of a plant that grows in South America. Like Lo Han Guo, it is about 200-300 times sweeter than sugar, so you need only a small amount in comparison to sugar. It has virtually no calories. There is no evidence that it is harmful to the body in any way. The FDA does not allow it to be marketed as a sweetener, rather it is labeled as a nutritional supplement. Stevia comes in powdered or liquid form and can be found at most health food stores.

THE NATURAL HIGH-CARB SWEETENERS: NOT GOOD CHOICES FOR WEIGHT LOSS

The only advantage that natural high-carb sweeteners have over those that are processed is some nutrients and the absence of chemicals used in processing and refining of other sweeteners. They are still sugar. Be aware that they will raise blood sugar and insulin and they will contribute to insulin resistance. All these sweeteners, with the exception of honey, are about equal in carbs to white sugar; honey is slightly higher.

 Brown rice syrup is a naturally fermented sweetener in which enzymes convert carbohydrates to maltose. Maltose may be tolerated somewhat better than other natural sweeteners by people with blood sugar metabolism disorders. It is made from whole-grain brown rice (malt barley syrup from barley) and contains some B vitamins and minerals. The consistency is similar to honey, but it is less sweet and more delicate and subtle. It can be found in most health food stores.

 Date sugar is made of ground, dehydrated dates. It has a higher fiber (pectin) content than many other sweeteners and some vitamins and minerals. It can be found at most health food stores.

 Honey (raw is best) is composed of simple sugars, and it is both sweeter and slightly higher in carbs and calories than white sugar. When preparing recipes, you need less honey than white sugar. Its composition, color, and flavor are as varied as the blossoms that feed the honeybees. Most raw honey has been lightly heated and filtered, and retains some of the enzymes and traces of vitamins and minerals. Most commercial honey has been highly processed, and therefore, is less nutritional. Raw honey is usually available in health food stores and from private growers.

 Pure maple syrup is made from boiling the sap of sugar maple trees. It is less sweet than honey but sweeter than brown rice syrup. It comes in different grades according to how long and at what temperature it is boiled. The purest maple syrup may be imported from Canada as some U.S. producers use formaldehyde pellets to keep tapholes open. Look for labels that indicate the syrup has no added salt, chemical preservatives, or defoamers.

 Molasses is a by-product of the sugarcane refining process. Blackstrap molasses has a strong, bittersweet taste while sweet molasses is sweeter than blackstrap, but less sweet than white sugar. Blackstrap molasses is the final excretion of sugarcane and has some calcium, iron, and other minerals. A more nutritious purchase is unsulphured molasses, which is most readily found in health food stores.

 Raw sugarcane is the product that exists before the bleaching stages of making refined sugar. To prepare this sugar for market, it is steam-cleaned; it retains a fraction of the dark molasses produced in sugar refining. Raw sugar is not subjected to the same chemical whitening, as white sugar. Raw sugar may go by the names Turbinado or Succanat, which can be found at most health food stores.

I had lost 17 pounds just before I started on virgin coconut oil and have effortlessly lost an additional 6 pounds since I started including virgin coconut oil in my diet. A few months before I also stopped eating sugar and reduced my overall carb intake. I’m sure that has helped immensely.

Julia

REFINED SWEETENERS: POOR CHOICES FOR WEIGHT MANAGEMENT AND HEALTH

 White sugar refers to the pure white crystals that remain after sugarcane or beets are refined; the chemical name is sucrose. To produce white sugar, this product goes through a series of washings, filterings, and bleachings, and nutrients are stripped away. Since raw sugarcane is brown and sticky, most refineries use slaughterhouse bone ash as a filtering agent to remove the molasses and create a free-flowing sugar. This sugar has virtually no nutritional value. It is readily available and found in many commercial desserts and packaged foods and treats.

 Brown sugar is mostly white sugar flavored with molasses. Its brown color comes from a charcoal treatment that may introduce traces of carcinogenic impurities, resulting in a product that is more refined and possibly more harmful than white sugar.

 Fructose is the chemical name for one kind of sugar that occurs naturally in honey and ripe fruit. The connection between commercial fructose and natural fruit sugar is in name only, however. The product you find most often in packaged foods and table sweeteners is not from fruit or honey. Powdered fructose is often extracted from sugarcane, beet sugar, or corn syrup. In processing, the sucrose molecule is broken down into two component simple sugars—fructose and glucose. This makes fructose more processed than white sugar.Calorically, fructose is equivalent to sugar, but it is sweeter, so less is needed. Though fructose is often recommended for diabetics because it doesn’t affect blood sugar and insulin levels like sucrose, it actually is more likely to cause insulin resistance. Studies on animals and humans have shown that consumption of large amounts of fructose impairs the body’s ability to handle glucose (blood sugar), which ultimately leads to hyperinsulinemia (elevated insulin levels) and insulin resistance. Dr. Meira Field says, “All fructose must be metabolized in the liver. [In studies] the livers of rats on a high fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and chirrhotic.”4

 Corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup are highly refined sweeteners made from corn. Corn syrup is composed of dextrose and small amounts of fructose. It is considerably cheaper than sugar, which accounts for its popularity in processed food. Manufacturers make high-fructose corn syrup by converting some of the dextrose in corn syrup to fructose.”

 Dextrose is a powdered form of corn sweetener that is used widely by food processors. It is structurally similar and biologically identical to glucose.

 Table syrup (includes maple-flavored syrup, pancake syrup, and waffle syrup) are often confused with pure maple syrup. They can actually look and taste like maple syrup, but they are made from a blend of sweeteners with emulsifiers, stabilizers, salt, viscosity adjusting agents, acidifiers, alkalizers or buffers, defoaming agents, artificial flavors and colors, additives, chemical preservatives, and fats and oils, as desired by the manufacturer. All these additives are not healthful and contribute to the body’s burden of toxicity. This type of syrup should be avoided completely, even after you have achieved your weight loss goals.

Many of the sweetener definitions in this section have been adapted from The Goldbeck’s Guide to Good Food by Nikki and David Goldbeck.⁵