The media, doctors and health experts all agree on 2 things that we are supposed to adhere too to be healthy and fit. Those two things are to eat less and exercise more. But it is extremely hard to eat less when you have uncontrollable cravings and food obsessions. Are we to forget and ignore what our bodies are trying to tell us when we can’t stop eating?

A few months ago my husband and I went out to eat at a restaurant in the city. I had a hard time finding food on the menu because they mainly served pastas, pizzas and sandwiches. There was only one Low Carb option and that was the Salmon Plate for a whopping $16-17. It was a salmon steak served with a small amount of veggies and a ridiculously small salad. But the salmon was a good size. It did fill the plate up and it did look like it would fill me up too.

The problem was that after leaving the restaurant I should have been quite full but instead I was still hungry. The salmon, even though it was big in size was baked with only lemon juice. There was hardly any noticeable fat on it. Fat (especially healthy saturated fat from healthy animals) helps quench those hunger pangs. It was a tasty meal, but it really lacked substance.

When I got home, I had to eat again. There is nothing more frustrating than being hungry after a meal you paid $17 for!

Now lets look at a different scenario…

If you check out my May 8th Low Carb and Anti-Candida menus blog, you will notice that at 4:30 pm I had a high fat snack, at 6:30 pm I had a homemade Caesar Salad with organic bacon. I made my own high fat salad dressing and then I added my bacon drippings on my salad. And that was all I ate for the rest of the evening and I felt like I ate a very satisfying dinner. If I had a low fat salad, I would need to eat a full meal with it!

Now my 2pm lunch on that day was rather low fat because my beef stew was made with Organic Grass fed Beef (grass fed beef is naturally low fat) and I did not add butter to it like I did with my dinner the night before. So I ended up needing a high fat snack in mid-afternoon.

So if you feel like you still have food cravings while on a low carb diet then add some more fat to your meals.

I get dismayed when the “health professionals” demonize fat and then talk about portion control. Are we supposed to ignore our bodily signals and live feeling deprived and hungry? And what about getting more exercise? Well exercise stimulates appetite! So with the “eat less, eat low fat and exercise more” philosophy you are setting yourself up for failure.

To watch your portions and eat smaller meals, add more fat to them. You will not be left hungry.

With love,

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Including Coconut Oil in your Low Carb diet may be the way to lose those last stubborn pounds. I do have coconut oil in my cupboards and use it on occasion. I dislike the taste of it in my cooking unless it is a curry or coconut bread. For instance I would not like coconut oil in my eggs because it will give my eggs a coconut taste. However I do know the benefits of Coconut Oil and will be taking it daily to help me lose my last 10 lbs. Here are some great reasons why everyone could benefit from coconut oil:

Dr. Weston A. Price was a dentist who wanted to find out why Americans had such poor dental health. He travelled to many nations to study diet all over the world. He found that the populations that ate coconut oil were the slimmest even though they ate a more fats then western diets.

Coconut oil contains lauric acid which is also found in breast milk and known to be antimicrobial, antiviral, and antifungal. Coconut oil is 50% lauric acid.

Coconut oil is thermogenic and will raise body temperature and speed up metabolism. It will also help with thyroid function.

It will also benefit the heart. Studies have shown that it can prevent heart disease. Saturated fats get lumped together as being bad for the heart but that is not true and coconut oil has been shown not to cause heart disease. It is hydrogenated oils and oxidized vegetable oils that are very bad for heart health. Coconut oil is also has the most saturated fat of all edible oils (90%).

Coconut oil is comprised of such fatty acids as caprylic, capric, stearic, oleic and lauric acids. These oils are metabolized directly by the liver and used as fuel.  It gives the body an instant energy source.

Coconut oil is great for suppressing appetite. When I have a light meal, I can almost always predict that I will be having the munchies. To get rid of late night snacking and food cravings I eat fat! The recipe that I use coconut oil is great for appetite suppression. In my own experience I find fat to be better than fiber for controlling cravings.

A bonus is when you eat coconut with coconut oil. To make a low carb cereal I use dried shredded coconut mixed with coconut oil and yogurt. The coconut has the fiber and the coconut oil contains the fat to suppress the appetite. Adding walnuts, flax or chia seeds to this low carb cereal will also add beneficial omega 3 EFA.

The recommended therapeutic dose of coconut oil is 3.5 tablespoons. It is good to start adding it to the diet slowly (1tsp a day and add in slow increments) to see how your body reacts to it. If you have an undiagnosed case of candida you may experience a die off and may have some gastro-intestinal distress.
Because of the anti-fungal properties coconut oil is a beneficial treatment of Candida (as well as removing all sugars, grains, fruits out of the diet). Adding lacto-fermented foods such as sauerkraut and naturally fermented pickles (Bubbies brand or homemade), yogurt, kefir, raw milk also feed the good intestinal bacteria and are good treatments for Candida. (as a side note I did finally make my first successful batch of sauerkraut and will be making a video of it. Stay tuned!)

Here is a video that does a great summary of the many health benefits of coconut oil.

It is important to get the Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. The kind that is unrefined. The oil should smell and taste like coconuts. Even if you don’t like the taste of the oil it is still worth the effort to try to swallow it. A lot of coconut recipes have sugars or honey in them. I don’t recommend you do this because this will sabotage any fat loss. Any sugars will spike insulin. Insulin is known as a fat storing hormone.

I would love to know if you take coconut oil and how you eat it. One recipe I use it in is sugar free almond chocolate clusters. This recipe I will post later this week as well.

To your health and wellness,

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