EAT SOME FAT
COCONUT OIL
You’re a surfer, therefore you’re an athlete, and you need your body to be at its best. You should have some interest in nutrition if you’re aiming to keep up your performance in the water.
A critical piece of health and performance oriented nutrition is sufficient intake of quality saturated fats…..yes, you need to get over the fat-phobia and realize saturated fat is essential to your well-being and health.
The low-fat craze has unfortunately brainwashed people into thinking saturated fat is the all-evil food, and this has come at a rather severe detriment to their health. Get over your tasteless, vitamin deficient, low fat diet!
Realize saturated fat is essential to proper vitamin uptake, liver health, pulmonary health, proper cognitive function, cellular membrane quality, bone strength, immune system health, and many other vital aspects of your health.
For more info I urge you to take a look at the Weston A. Price Foundation. An excellent resource for some truth about fats, and truth about real nutrition.
COCONUT OIL
Besides ghee, grass-fed butter and high quality lard, coconut oil is one of the best options around for good quality saturated fat intake.
So why is it beneficial?
Medium Chain Fatty Acids– coconut oil is a medium chain fatty acid… some science talk explaining the structure of the molecule. What this means for you is that the body deals with MCFA’s differently than long chain fatty acids.
MCFA’s have actually been shown to have a metabolic boosting effect. This is a huge benefit for anyone looking to lose weight, or stay lean. Similarly, coconut oil has also been shown to stimulate the thyroid.
Lauric Acid– coconut oil contains lauric acid, which is anti-viral, anti-microbial, and anti-bacterial. This is of huge benefit, as many people in the modern world, due to crappy diets, have digestive issues and problems with fungi and parasites.
High Heat Tolerance– a BIG problem with many vegetable oils is they begin to oxidize and form free-radicals when exposed to high heat (cooking). This is especially true for canola oil, which is garbage in the first place.
People need to consume far less, and preferably NONE, of the omega 6 heavy vegetable oils. When oils are overheated, it alters the structure of the molecules, and they become toxic free-radicals. Free radicals have been shown to be involved in all aspects of cell degradation, mutation, and premature aging.
STOP COOKING WITH VEGETABLE OILS, STOP EATING VEGETABLE OILS.
Coconut oil is a highly stable fat, even at higher temperatures, so it’s great to cook with.
Source Of ENERGY– fat is one of the best sources of energy. Your body requires saturated fats to maintain optimum levels of health as well as maintaining a fully functioning hormonal system.
Also, due to coconut oil being a MCFA, the body deals with these saturated fats in a different manner. It is quickly and efficiently converted into usable energy…Great for some sustained endurance in the water.
Vitamins A & D – these two vitamins are critical for a variety of necessary bodily processes. Many unfortunate “low-fat” individuals are lacking these essential nutrients, as they are fat soluble vitamins.
These vitamins are required for adrenal hormone creation, maintenance of calcium levels, bone health, mineral absorption, and even some of your steroid hormones. With increased intake of coconut oil, your body can more readily absorb these nutrients.
I urge you to consider your nutrition as one of the most important aspects in determining your long term health, as well as your short term energy availability in the water, and workout/surf session recovery.
Saturated fat is a highly important nutrient in your overall diet, and has been essential to the development of human beings…. we NEED it. Our bodies are designed to utilize saturated fat, and require it for optimum function of the many inter-related bodily processes.
I urge you to consider your beliefs about saturated fat, and explore why you hold those beliefs, and if in fact they are false. Introduce coconut oil into your diet, and reap the previously mentioned benefits. It’s good stuff. Check out the links below for more information.
Marks Daily Apple – Coconut Smart Fuel
GET STRONG, GET MOBILE, EAT GOOD FOOD, AND SURF
Good article. I imagine researchers will eventually realize that any effects saturated fats may have on cholesterol values are physiological rather than pathological, and likely beneficial. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/tau-cn050511.php
@davebrown9
Absolutely agreed. Human beings evolved with the consumption of saturated fats. They are essential for many vital aspects of a healthy functioning body. Only within the last 60 years have we begun to consume the huge amounts of unhealthy (but told are healthy) vegetable oils. This can be extremely disruptive to many bodily processes, and really damaging to overall health. Gotta eat some fat…. but the good fat. Coconut oil, high quality grassfed butter, ghee…… And lay off the processed, genetically modified vegetable oils. Saturated fat is far from the killer it has unfortunately been deemed…. Although, fast food saturated fat is still terrible. Natural forms of saturated fat are a critical piece to the puzzle of beneficial nutrition.