Are you a little confused about whether coconut oil is actually good for you or not? I don’t blame you, there’s so much conflicting information about there, some information says it’s bad for you and some says that it’s the magic cure for weight loss and brain issues, among other things.

Well you don’t have to be confused anymore. I have done the hard work for you and sifted through papers and papers of research on coconut oil to bring you a balanced perspective.

I get my nerd on discuss the available research in relation to every claim that’s been made about coconut oil that I can think of. I also get even deeper into my nerd form and talk about the composition of coconut oil, the different types of fatty acids it contains and what these do.

Listen on the Soundcloud website here or in the embedded player below.

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Podcast Breakdown

0:00 Intro

2:12 How research on coconut oil can be confusing as the type of coconut oil makes a big difference, and how research on nutrition has a few issues we need to take into consideration when applying the information to our lives.

3:50 Traditional Use of Coconut Oil

6:22 About Virgin Coconut Oil

7:00 Copra (copha) vs. virgin coconut oil

7:31 Saturated Fat, medium chain triglycerides, short chain triglycerides and the breakdown of coconut oil (read more about it here)

9:00 Can coconut oil help you to lose weight?

10:00 Can we extrapolate the benefits of MCT (medium chain triglycerides) onto coconut oil?

10:50 How does our body use MCT different to LCT? Plus more on MCT and body composition.

14:50 Coconut oil makes you feel fuller

15:30 Antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties of coconut oil

16:54 Coconut oil protects again antibiotic damage to the liver

17:20 Coconut oil for head lice treatment

17:47 Coconut oil for hair health

18:17 Coconut oil can help heal wounds

18:35 Oil pulling – how coconut oil can help your teeth and gums

19:47 Coconut oil for brain health, what research is available for its use in Alzheimer’s disease

22:32 Can coconut oil help underactive thyroid (hypothyroid).

23:35 Can coconut oil endanger your heart

24:21 Is coconut oil a cure-all for thyroid function

25:02 Coconut oil and heart health: danger or not? How does it affect cholesterol?

26:00 Cholesterol is evil vs. Cholesterol isn’t the enemy

28:37 Let’s go back in time to when coconut oil actually was bad for you.

29:28 Virgin coconut oil but not copra is good for the heart

30:30 How to get the best out of coconut oil for weight and heart health

31:30 The dark side of coconut oil, and how to reduce the negative impact of coconut oil

32:20 Allergies and coconut oil

33:00 The environment impact of coconut oil, food miles and sustainability

34:00 Summing up, do I recommend using coconut oil as a supplement, as a cooking oil, topically or for oil pulling?

The post Coconut Oil Podcast appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

I don’t think there is a food quite as debated about as coconut oil. A quick google search brings up a multitude of articles with differing opinions, some authors claiming coconut oil is a miracle cure-all, some claiming it is the devil incarnate.

The arguments about coconut oil bring along with it the debate of recent years, about the links between heart disease, saturated fat and cholesterol.

It’s incredibly difficult to unravel this mystery because there is a limited amount of research on coconut oil (especially in comparison to olive oil), and a lot of the claims made on the benefits of coconut oil are somewhat hypothetical, based around knowledge of its constituents such as the type of saturated fat, lauric acid. The claims made for coconut oil’s health benefits can at times be outlandish, one article I found listed a whole 200 benefits.

But if you look, there is research.

Compare the amount of research available on olive oil to that of coconut oil and you can understand why mainstream dietary recommendations are still not sold on this tropical oil, however in the last few years there has been some promising studies emerging that demonstrate some of its potential benefits, such as increasing HDL (“good”) cholesterol and reducing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

In this article I wrote for Casa de Karma, I went into detail on what the research says about the good and the bad of coconut oil.

So if you want to know about any of these points, then follow the link below and have a read of the full article.

What are the traditional uses of coconut oil and how does this relate to us now?

The different components of coconut oil, in particular the medium chain fatty acids.

Can coconut oil help you lose weight

Can coconut oil kill bacteria and fungal infections? (the anti-microbial effects of coconut oil)

Does coconut improve hair?

Coconut oil for wound healing.

Does coconut oil help your teeth and gums?

Does coconut oil prevent alzheimer’s disease?

Is coconut oil good for thyroid health?

Does coconut oil affect your cholesterol?

Is coconut oil bad for you?

Is coconut oil bad for the environment?

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://casadekarma.com.au/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coconut-oil-a-naturopath-explains/

Go (coco)nuts and PIN this article to your favourite Pinterest board. Go on 🙂

The post Everything You Need To Know About Coconut Oil appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

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This is a bit of a different style to the previous podcast/videos I’ve done which talk about conditions and naturopathy. In this episode Laura Burton and I talk about our favourite ‘health food’ items and discuss how we use them and what their benefits are. There are links to the items we mentioned in the podcast breakdown below.

But the most exciting bit about this video is that there’s a GIVEAWAY! The good folks at Loving Earth and the Gingerbread Folk have been particularly generous in donating some items for the giveaway, and Laura and I have chipped in a few goodies as well. Find the link to enter below.

Want to subscribe to get podcasts automatically? You can do that here: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/health-wellbeing-podcast/id1006574743

Laura is a clinical naturopath practicing in St Leonards and Dural. Her key areas of interest are female hormone disorders, digestive health, stress & adrenal fatigue. Through her clinical experience Laura has identified the prevalence of stress in our everyday lives and sees it as the most common cause or exacerbating factor of her patients health conditions. Laura believes that we need to get back to basics and work on our ability to release and manage stress in order to prevent and treat disease.

Last year Laura set herself the mission to reach beyond the walls of her clinics and send her de-stress message out to Australian and New Zealand households through the Burton Health Tea Club. Each month she sends love letters and tea packages to her members to inject joy and excitement into their days and to remind them to slow down, relax and reconnect while sipping on a cup of organic herbal tea.

You can connect with Laura via her website www.burtonhealth.com.au, on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.

If you’ve got something nice to say about the podcasts please leave a review on iTunes, but I’m also keen for any constructive feedback if you want to comment below!

Podcast Breakdown

2.00 Our favourite snacks

2.10 Nut Butter on brown rice crackers (Deli Grains with black sesame)

4.00 Pic’s Really Good Peanut Butter

4.20 Seaweed – Sea Shanti Sea Crisps and Sea Flakes

5.46 Bounce Balls

6.55 Miso Soup

8.07 Gluten free ginger bread – Gingerbread Folk

9.00 Crudites and dip (here are my recipes for guacamole and Baba Hummus)

9.25 Condiments

9.32 Ghee

10.22 Seaweed Salt 

11.23 Savoury Yeast Flakes

12.15 Honey

13.10 Maca Powder

14.11 Apple Cider Vinegar – try to get a brand that contains the ‘mother’ for probiotic content such as Melrose and/or Bragg

16.05 Saurkraut – Peace Love Vegetables or Kehoe’s

17.20 Coconut Oil – Melrose, Loving Earth, Coconut Magic

18.30 Great Lakes Gelatin (read more about gelatin here) Aussies can buy it here, but it’s also available on iherb here.

20.00 Jarred tomatoes – Blis, and BPA free tinned tomatoes from Global Organics

22.00 Achieving balance with the more expensive but ‘healthier’ options

23.53 Caramelised Buckinis – Loving Earth

24.35 Chia Seeds – The Chia Co

27.18 Sardines – Fish 4 Ever and Wild Planet

29.27 Raw cacao – Power Super Foods, Loving Earth

29.54 Cacao nibs – Loving Earth

31.06 Coconut sugar – Loving Earth

32.30 Our favourite drinks

32.40 Kombucha – Mojo, Tonicka, Remedy or make your own! (recipe coming soon)

35.08 Burton Health Tea – Shop Here

35.40 Coconut Water – Pure Natural Raw C

37.10 Keep Cup

38.10 Burton Health Tea Club –  Click here to learn more

40.34 GIVEAWAY!!! – Click here to learn more and to enter

The post Our Favourite Health Foods (PLUS A GIVEAWAY) – with guest Laura Burton appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

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Oil Pulling

Oil pulling is quite an old tradition that developed from Ayurvedic principles (traditional Indian medicine).  It’s a very simple practice that only takes 20 minutes out of your daily routine, but the benefits are many.  

What is it?

Oil pulling is considered to be helpful for an enormous range of conditions – ranging from issues such as general dental health, arthritis, inflammation, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.  Traditionally it was considered to work by drawing out toxins from the salivary glands, however as it has become increasingly popular in the last few years, researchers have looked into the practice and found that it provides its benefits by addressing the ‘bad’ bacteria in your mouth – you could say that it PULLS the bad bacteria out.  This action has a huge flow on effect to the rest of the digestive system, and therefore the rest of the body. Oil pulling also acts as a form of tongue massage, which acts on pressure points to support healthy energy flow along the meridians that flow all throughout your body, in a style similar to reflexology and acupressure.   

By reducing the bad bacteria in your teeth and mouth you can not only improve your dental health (by reducing the bacteria that cause plaque), whiten teeth and nourish gum health, but also improve the balance in the rest of your digestive system (remember the mouth is the entrance to the digestive system, so removing bad guys here will help further on down the line).  The good bacteria in your gut have an enormous amount of roles in the body – digestive bacteria affects inflammation, immune health, mood, hormone balance, and even contributes towards cardiovascular health (amazingly, an analysis of cardiovascular plaque has found that it contains a large amount of ‘bad’ bacteria which originate in the mouth and stomach!).    

Which Oil do I use?

Traditionally oil pulling was performed with sunflower or canola oil, and sesame oil is also a popular choice.  You could use any form of oil as long as it is organic and cold pressed.  Cold-pressed sesame oil won’t have as strong a taste as the type that you cook your stir-fries with.  Coconut oil is my personal preference due its taste, and is the most common recommendation amongst oil pulling advocates.  At the moment it’s probably one of the easiest to find in large quantities as well.  (Some people don’t like the consistency of coconut oil when it’s set which happens in colder months, so you can melt it before putting it in your mouth.  Personally, I like it!  It’s like a coco nutty treat, also like I’ve bitten into a Bounty.)  You can add a 3-4 of drops of oregano oil for its anti-microbial properties, however you might want to start with only 1 drop as this can be quite strong for some.

How to do it:

Take 1 tbsp coconut oil in your mouth, and swish around for 20 minutes.  You want to ensure that the oil is getting between your teeth and over and under your tongue.  Then spit it out!  Couldn’t be simpler.

During this time you can get creative about what else to do.  Read a book?  Take a shower?  Make the bed?  Clean the house? Prepare your lunch?  Water the garden?  Chill under a tree?  You can do anything as long as your don’t have to open your mouth.   

After the 20 minutes are up, SPIT the oil out (not into the sink or toilet as it can clog the pipes).  Then rinse your mouth thoroughly with water, and brush your teeth (consider keeping a separate toothbrush just for this purpose, and wash it with 3% hydrogen peroxide to kill the bacteria).  

It is very important not to swallow this oil, as it contains bacteria that you want to get rid of.  While you’re getting used to oil pulling you may accidentally swallow some of it, but keep working on it.  

If you are new to oil pulling, you may find it a bit challenging and need to spit the oil out earlier as the sensation can be a little strange.   (I only lasted 5 minutes the first time I did it!)  Try starting with a tsp instead of a tbsp.  After a few minutes of oil pulling you’ll feel like the oil has increased in quantity, it’s your saliva joining the coconut oil.  You’ll get used to this.  Try not to swish too vigorously as your jaw may get tired after 20 minutes – gently does it.  

The post Oil Pulling appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.