Coconut oil

[Coatue]

If a steak is low in fat, would covering it in coconut oil make up for the loss of fat?

[maxscan]

I read something about coconut oil not being truly raw - even extra virgin coconut oil - in that it is all heated between 45 c and 60 c (which is 'cold' by oil standards hence they use the term 'cold pressed')

That said, I also read something that said there are no enzymes in coconut oil or any oil so perhaps the heating doesn't matter so much as the fats in the oil are stable up to fairly high temperatures

Raw butter might be a better bet if you can get it, or coconut cream you've made yourself from raw coconuts...

Also, different fats have different properties so adding any fat to the meat would make up for the lack of fat in the sense of calories etc. but it's not exactly the same as having the actual fat of the meat...

[dsohei]

very good coconut oil is extracted using a fermentation process (and i think is highly digestible for most people.) tropical traditions gold label i believe is the name, or blue breeze. there are a few high quality brands.

[sabertooth]

I use raw coconut butter as a dipping sauce for nearly all my meat

totally awesome tasting

It is very rich and taste like sweet cream, so much better than plain oil

It is like a mixture of oil and cream and has the nutrition of the whole coconut

Expensive but worth it

[kurite]

I use raw coconut butter as a dipping sauce for nearly all my meat

totally awesome tasting

It is very rich and taste like sweet cream, so much better than plain oil

It is like a mixture of oil and cream and has the nutrition of the whole coconut

Expensive but worth it

sounds good is it raw?

[sabertooth]

It says its raw

kind of expensive

13 dollars a jar

[needs_and_wants]

what brand do you use sabertooth?

[sabertooth]

Artisana raw organic coconut butter

www.premierorganics.org

You can get it on line or whole foods, I think its worth trying

It works real well with my low carb approach

I eat a couple of table spoons with every meal and besides a little lemon water, it the only non animal food I have been eating for the last 4 months, and have had real results as far as health vitality and wellbeing.

I feed it to my kids, even my 6 month old likes it, I believe adding extra quality fat is good for babies.

[Michael]

My favourite Virgin Coconut Oil is sold by Wilderness Family Naturals as found here: http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com/.  It's so much better than all of the other, so-called, 'raw' oils I've tried that it's worth the expense and time importing it from the US.  Highly recommended!

[ThatWasJustYourLife84]

My favourite Virgin Coconut Oil is sold by Wilderness Family Naturals as found here: http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com/.  It's so much better than all of the other, so-called, 'raw' oils I've tried that it's worth the expense and time importing it from the US.  Highly recommended!

Thank you for this recommendation. I plan to order some as soon as I get paid on Friday. I've been wanting to try Coconut Oil again to fight my Candida problem, but even the "raw" oils are heated to 118 degrees F.

I've tried Coconut Oil in the past and gotten extreme nausea, thrown up and diarrhea from it. I'm willing to bet that it's die off.

[sabertooth]

coconut butter is far Superior in taste and digestibility compaired to oil.
please take the challenge.try a Jar (IM totally addicted to the stuff)

[ys]

wouldn't you think that fresh coconut meat is way better than either butter or oil which are always processed to some degree?

i buy fresh coconuts from korean supermarket, crack them open and scrape meat.  it can't get fresher than that and zero industrial processing.

[PaleoPhil]

coconut butter is far Superior in taste and digestibility compaired to oil.
please take the challenge.try a Jar (IM totally addicted to the stuff)

FYI: coconut butter is just another name for coconut oil (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-coconut-butter.htm).

[sabertooth]

have you tried it

Coconut butter is not the same at all, it has the milk cream, flesh and oil blinded into a velvety treat.{its like a more concentrated raw coconut with some of the fiber removed),<<<low temperature prosess>>>

Oil is just coconut grease

 Raw Coconut Butter is made using a low-temperature process (below 115° F.) that preserves the vital enzymes, vitamins, and proteins. It is made from 100% certified organic coconut, with no preservatives or other additives, in a facility that does not process any peanut, gluten, or dairy products.

Ingredients: Organic, raw coconut

http://livesuperfoods.com/raw-foods/coconut/artisana-coconut-butter.html

This stuff is not like other cooked coconut butter please don't jump to conclusions based on other brands and try it before you dismiss it(Its freaking great)

Those wise geeks dont know what ends up

[ThatWasJustYourLife84]

Well, I'd love to try that butter stuff but I can't because I can't tolerate carbs right now.

I don't like Coconut Oil, but I LOVE Coconut cream/milk. Problem is it has sugar in it.

[PaleoPhil]

have you tried it

Coconut butter is not the same at all, it has the milk cream, flesh and oil blinded into a velvety treat.{its like a more concentrated raw coconut with some of the fiber removed),<<<low temperature prosess>>>....

What do you mean by coconut cream and coconut milk, as the store-bought kind have non-raw, non-Paleo aspects, including the one ThatWasJustYourLife84 mentioned, with variations between the brands, of course. This coconut butter you're referring to must be a special kind, because most companies that use the term just use it as a simile for coconut oil. The company you buy from should give it a special name to distinguish it from the other coconut butters and minimize confusion (and probably increase sales ).

[sabertooth]

It is a special raw blend of coconut butter minimally processed

Its a phenomenon in itself(like nothing else, quasi paleo)
its coconut with some of the indigestible fiber cold pressed out

check the web page out: Its Artisana coconut butter.

http://livesuperfoods.com/raw-foods/coconut/artisana-coconut-butter.html

Its a shame that most people dont know about this stuff, I found it by chance sitting next to the oil at the Whole Foods. Its 13 dollars a jar, so I think the price deters most shoppers, but I can tell you its worth it.

It has the complete nutrition of a whole coconut without the tough fibrous material 

[PaleoPhil]

Hmm, it says here the carb content is only 2%: http://coconutbutter.org/, yet Sabertooth says it tastes good. Maybe that little bit of carbs is what makes it more tasty and digestible, like the wild berries did for me with coconut oil? They still need a more distinctive name for it, though. How about coconut ambrosia butter?

However, it doesn't pass the "raw" test per our local raw prelate, Tyler. According to TD, a food cannot be heated above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Farenheit) to be considered raw, whereas Artisana says their coconut butter "is made using a low-temperature process (below 115° F.)". However, it does pass my test for sufficiently low-heated to try it at least once, as I'm less of a purist.

[TylerDurden]

That 40-degree Celsius rule is not of my making. I merely quoted it as it is the main figure accepted in RVAf diet circles, more or less. That is, AV sometimes cites 37 or 38  degrees celsius as the upper limit which makes no sense as that is human body-temperature, while others cite 46 degrees Celsius, but most usually go for the 40 degrees celsius figure as a general rule.

[sabertooth]

There are 7 g carbs per serving and I eat about 3 servings a day so that is 21 carbs plus two glasses of lemon water that brings me to around 30 grams of carbs per day, it works for me
I have eatten about a 16 ounce jar per week for the past six months and along with my meat and fat trimmings,marrow,eggs,ect; it has improved my health and wellbeing dramatically.

I tried the plain oil with blueberries(Its just too high glycemic and always gave me sugar spikes and now for some reason anything high fructose makes my sugar drop into the low 70s an hour or so afterward) I think the ultra low glycemic carbs in this coconut butter is what keeps me in a good balance.

I wishfor anyone who thinks that coconut oil is a little bland and tasteless should give it a try

It does have a statement on the side of each jar that some here may find appealing

Artisana..always Full Power Rae
Handmade with care, our organic live foods
are crafted using a special low temp process that
always presever the life-essentail fatty-acids
enzymes and vitamines

[PaleoPhil]

That 40-degree Celsius rule is not of my making. I merely quoted it as it is the main figure accepted in RVAf diet circles, more or less. That is, AV sometimes cites 37 or 38  degrees celsius as the upper limit which makes no sense as that is human body-temperature, while others cite 46 degrees Celsius, but most usually go for the 40 degrees celsius figure as a general rule.

OK, thanks for that clarification. I'm curious--what do they base 40 degrees on and why do regard that figure as the best (and I'm not saying that it isn't)? Why not 39 or 41, for example?

Sabertooth: "Artisana..always Full Power Raw"

Yes, but again, TD's view is that anything above 104 F is not raw. Artisana's saying their product is raw does not make it so. Artisana merely mentions that the honey enzymes are not damaged below 115 F. Do you have any additional explanation to offer for why below 115 F should be considered raw instead of below 105 F? And TD, can you refute Artisana's claims on this? I'm open-minded on the subject and curious about the explanation from both sides. I think I would lean more towards Tyler's definition of raw, though, because heating even up to 114 F adds complexity to nature whose full effects we may not be aware of. Adding unnecessary complexity also adds unnecessary unknown risk. On the other hand, if I test the coconut butter and get benefits, I may decide that the experienced benefits outweigh the unknown risks.

[RawZi]

above 104 F is not raw. Artisana's saying their product is raw does not make it so. Artisana merely mentions that the honey enzymes are not damaged below 115 F. Do you have any additional explanation to offer for why below 115 F should be considered raw instead of below 105 F? And TD, can you refute Artisana's claims on this? I'm open-minded on the subject and curious about the explanation from both sides. I think I would lean more towards Tyler's definition of raw, though, because heating even up to 114 F adds complexity to nature whose full effects we may not be aware of.

    Plants don't have the same fats as animals.  Plants don't get damage to their myelin sheaths if they run too extreme a fever.  Plant foods can be heated to 114F.  Animal foods, like honey, should never go above body temperature.

[sabertooth]

In some tropical areas were coconuts are grown the temperature reaches 115  so I doubt that 115 could do damage that would cause harm to the nutritional qualities of the coconut, and with the indigestible fiber removed, the nutrients that are left are More bio available, so I think its not compromising anything , except  an Ideal that doesn't apply to coconut

[ys]

In some tropical areas were coconuts are grown the temperature reaches 115  so I doubt that 115 could do damage that would cause harm to the nutritional qualities of the coconut

here is another way of looking at it.  it is probably true that 115 degrees of outdoor temperature would not harm live coconut, in fact i think coconut gets even hotter under direct sunshine.
but coconut is in a live state and can probably tolerate wide range of temperatures because the fats are hidden well within the plant structure and are not exposed.

as soon as the coconut is harvested, it is not live anymore.  and if cracked open, all the contents immediately start react with oxygen in the air (very slow at first).  it starts to decompose even at room temperature and below.

i really do not know the answer to the debate, so make your own conclusions.

[PaleoPhil]

In some tropical areas were coconuts are grown the temperature reaches 115  so I doubt that 115 could do damage that would cause harm to the nutritional qualities of the coconut, and with the indigestible fiber removed, the nutrients that are left are More bio available, so I think its not compromising anything , except  an Ideal that doesn't apply to coconut

But other wild plants game animals live and have lived in areas where temperatures reach 115, so wouldn't that same argument apply to all edible plants and animals that can survive in temperatures up to 115? Heck, even here in Vermont the record high recorded temp is 105 F and the plants and animals didn't all die at that time.

Like you I don't care much about dietary "ideals"--just the facts ma'am/sir--and I'm interested to hear the facts from both sides of this argument. The 104 F (40 C) figure has dominated this forum up to now, but that doesn't guarantee it's correct and it's good to get different perspectives.

I'm still curious as to where the maximum 114 F and 104 F (40 C) figures come from. Why not 113 F or 115 F, or 103/105 F? If 114 F is OK because it's below a theoretical maximum temperature on earth (with possible higher temps in direct sunlight), an actual temperature of 159.3 °F was recorded in a desert in Iran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremes_on_Earth), should that then be the max temp to heat foods to?

So far we seem to have just opinions on what the max temp to heat food should be to still be considered "raw" or "nutritious"--I'm more interested in facts, please. I'm not taking a stance myself--I'm in information-gathering mode on this, so I'm soliciting facts. I've benefited from eating mostly raw, but I don't know all the details behind why and how it works.