From what I’ve read it appears that coconut oil is a very healthy addition to one’s diet. If I can get a hold of some I’ll definitely start using it in my cooking instead of butter.
My question is: do you get the benefits from eating raw coconuts and coconut milk? That’d be sweet. 
And is there any truth to the claims that coconut oil increases metabolism. Have Berardi or others written about this? If not, it would make for a great article.
-Zulu
I think the deal with coconuts is they have MCT’s. MCT’s are handy if you are lowcarbing because they convert to ketone bodies very rapidly thus becoming a “quick” enery source when lowcarbing.
don’t know about cooking with it, never heard of using coconut oil for frying, I don’t think it hold up to heat very well, which is the top requirement(heat resistance) for a cooking oil.
Since coconut oil is mostly saturates, it’s probably stable for cooking, not sure if it’s as good as butter though.
Coconut oil is a saturated fat and therefore very heat stable, so it is safe to cook with.
Zulu, coconut oil is available from health food stores and on the 'Net.
I don’t know about cooking eggs with it, though, as it does impart a “tropical” flavor of sorts. (grin)
One of my buddies swears by the stuff. They buy some fancy cold pressed coconut oil (not cheap), and use it to cook their eggs and most anything else that they put on stovetop.
Yes it’s a saturated fat, thus it’s pasty solid at room temp and works fine to cook with.
Flavor isn’t that strong, I guess it would depend what you are cooking and how much you use.
Forgive my ignorance but what are MCTs?
I beleive coconut oil is 96% saturates as opposed too 62% for butter.
If it does indeed higher BMR it might be an important tool in dieting. I’m assuming raw coconuts have the the same properties as the coconut oil but with some additional carbs and fiber?
-Zulu
Zulu, been using coconut oil for years. Its fantastic from a health perspective. We use it and butter to cook with, it is a very very sturdy oil and will not be damaged by heat.
Someone mentioned the MCT low carb connection which is accurate.
Virgin Coconut oils have a mild coconut flavor and odor whereas brands like spectrum and omega have no odor or taste.
I’m new to the hardcore bodybuilding scene so someone may want to comment on that aspect however from a health and usability perspective coconut oil is awesome.
MCT = medium chain triglyceride. meant to be less likely to be stored as fat and acts like carbs. i have never used them, nor really intend to. Very popular in the early 90’s and made a come back with old aktins etc. i’m sure there are t-men that use them, especially on low carb diets.
In what way do they act like carbs and why is that a good thing?
-Zulu
MCTs increase fat oxidation and energy expenditure.
Most coconut oil is 50% stearic acid. Great for your heart. Also since it is a saturated fat, it will remain stable with cooking. But I recommend using a low heat because it will smoke pretty easy. The MCT’s in it make you sweat something fierce. The health benefits of coconut oil are immense, I would suggest you research it. I also cook with something called ghee. Its clarified but with a caramel taste to it. Its butter that has had the milk solids cooked off, great stuff.
I would seem that coconut and other tropical oils were vilified for many years due to their high content of saturated fat. This played nicely into the anti saturated fat mania that was fueled by our producers of soybean and corn oils, who naturally, wanted the American public to use their polyunsaturated oils vs. those demon imported tropical oils.
Durk Pearson pointed out years ago, in his book Life Extension, that people living in areas where coconut constituted a large portion of their diet did not suffer from high incidence of coronary artery disease.
We are now beginning to see (as has been pointed out in this thread) that these oils may confer many health benefits. Note that Biotest uses palm and palm kernel oil in Grow Bars.
I’d have to think that eating raw coconut would be fine, although not as concentrated a source of the beneficial components as the pure oil. And, just think of the workout you’d get just busting the damn thing open.
Our friend, the somewhat radical, Dr. Mercola has some info on his site.
Dr. Mercola's Censored Library (Private Membership) | Dr. Joseph Mercola | Substack
What are other sources of MCTs? Cool info, thanks guys.
What about the coconuts themselves?
-Zulu
Perhaps I am missing something here, but wasnt the excessive amounts of saturated fat the same thing everyone was bashing Neil G about a few weeks ago. If I am missing the idiosyncracies of different types of Saturated Fats can someone please enlighten me
I dont know if its good for you but it sure as hell tastes good on a german chocolate cake.
hahahah bored out of my mind at work and goldberg hits me with that one. woke me up a bit 
biltritewave:
Neil G gets bashed for everything 
I think that saturated oils like coconut often get lumped in with the trans fatty acids found in hydrogenated vegetable oils. Crap like partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Great for the giant growers of soybeans. Great for the manufacturers of packaged foods for extended shelf life. Not great for us.
This is from a site that sells coconut oil but does explain things
I think you are right both about the sat fats getting lumped with the trans fats.
I heard we won’t be hearing from Neil G anymore cuz he was banned from the forum