30 Day Paleo: Day Twelve – Cook With Coconut Oil

Looking to make healthier choices? Perfect! This is Day 12 of 30 of my 30 Day Paleo Plan. For more information on 30 Day Paleo as well as 30 Minute Paleo, check out the get started page. Post each day on your 30 Day Paleo journey to Twitter or Instagram and show me by tagging me with @dranthonygustin — get after it! 

Coconut oil is pretty much magic paste. It has gained popularity recently and people use it for pretty much everything: to make skin smooth, hair shiny and silky, teeth clean and armpits fresh. You can get to all that fancy stuff later. Day 12 is about how to cook with coconut oil!

Coconut oil is high up on the list of essentials in the Pantry Guide because it’s so versatile. Coconut oil contains highly stable saturated fat and is largely made up of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). MCTs are quickly broken down into ketones, which help provide immediate energy for the body and assist in stimulating fat burning. Another fat in coconut oil, lauric acid, helps protect your body from harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungi as well!

And don’t worry, it isn’t going to make your food taste tropical. When you cook with coconut oil, it has a very mild taste. You shouldn’t have any vegetable oils in your pantry at this point, but if you have olive oil, stop cooking with it. Olive oil can be destroyed and become inflammatory easily by heat, and should only be used at room temperature. Due to the high smoking point, coconut oil can be used to stir fry veggies and cook at much higher heats, without breaking down like olive oil would.

Want some of the benefits of coconut oil but don’t want to cook with it? That’s fine. You can be trendy and toss it in your coffee. You can incorporate it with nuts, seeds and protein for a quick snack. If you need a snack due to hunger in the middle of day and don’t have time for a meal, spoon it out of the jar and into your mouth!

Yes, it is a little expensive at specialty grocery stores like Whole Foods. Fortunately, Costco and Sam’s Club have excellent tub-like options at fantastic prices that will last a very long time. When choosing a brand, look for unrefined, expeller pressed, virgin coconut oil. Pick some up and add it to your diet now!

Buy some coconut oil and cook with coconut oil. Use it to replace olive/canola oil if you are currently cooking with them. Eat it by the spoonful on an empty stomach if you’d like!