Delicious Smoothie Made from Scratch!

Cooking with coconut oil is something which delights us and our many readers – that’s why we work tirelessly to bring you new recipes to try with your favorite ingredient! However, there’s a lot more to cooking with coconut oil than simply enjoying yourself and creating delicious foods. Cooking is an oft-neglected skill [1] in the modern world, but one which we could seriously do with reviving. Remember that when cooking or baking with coconut oil, simply replace it in a 1:1 ratio for any recipe that calls for butter or oil. Here are just a few reasons to grab your coconut oil and heat up the oven:

Cooking Helps You To Lose Weight

All coconut oil aficionados will by now be aware of the fact that coconut oil has been credited with some astonishing fat-fighting properties [2]. It’s good for the heart, it boosts metabolism [3], and it generally makes you a lot healthier. However, the simple act of learning to cook with it can also significantly cinch your waistline over time. It’s generally agreed by medical professionals [4] that taking control over your diet by cooking your own meals means that we’re more likely to make healthy choices. Pre-prepared junk foods are not only frequently poor in nutritional value, but they also hide a payload of unexpected calories – as well as sometimes making you crave more unhealthy foods to boot.

Preparing your own meals from scratch lets you know exactly what’s going in to the stuff you eat. Generally, humans aren’t particularly stupid about adding extra chemicals and calories to meals they cook for themselves, so no matter what you’re making, if you make it yourself, it’s likely to be healthier and better for your waistline than something you’ve bought in pre-prepared. For more helpful tips on which foods should be in your shopping cart, be sure to visit this blog.

Cooking Helps Us To Connect With Our Food

The Western mentality has a major problem with the way in which we think about food. Because it’s so plentiful, and because the majority of us do little to produce it, we tend to think of it as a disposable resource. We don’t value it so much for its functional uses, but rather use it as a tool either for modifying our emotions or our bodies. Sometimes, in the case of binging and purging disorders like bulimia, we use it for both purposes – which can have devastating consequences [5]. It’s often been said that our problematic disconnection with the realities of what food is and does for us is at the root of many Western problems like obesity and eating disorders [6].

Learning to cook helps us to reconnect with our food on a variety of levels. It gives us a greater practical appreciation of the ways in which diet and nutrition works, it gives us a pride in what we are eating, it teaches us about the importance of food, and it helps us to savor that which we cook rather than absently guzzling it down or shunning it. Try making our healthy desserts or crispy apple chips, both sweet options that are made from scratch. We always feel better about indulging a little if dishes are homemade!

Cooking Is Good For Your Mental Health

Increasingly, therapists are using the sanctuary of the kitchen to treat people with mental health disorders like depression and anxiety [7]. Cooking involves a non-stressful degree of focus on something other than one’s problems, and ultimately ends with an achievement (or a humorous mess – both of which can be uplifting in their way!). This can be profoundly healing for those who are suffering from repetitive thought cycles. There is something mindful and semi-meditative about preparing a meal, which many find to be a great help during challenging times. And if you’re cooking with coconut oil, you’ll get the added benefit of improved brain function!

– Anne Curtis

[1] Roberto A Ferdman, “The slow death of the home-cooked meal”, Washington Post, Mar 2015

[2] Healthy And Natural World, “What Eating Just One Ounce Of Coconut Oil Does to Your Weight”, Nov 2014

[3] Bodybuilding.com, “The Fat-Burning Fat: The Coconut Is Nature’s Premier Thermogenic!”, Apr 2015

[4] Terry Simpson, “Losing Weight and Keeping it Off”, Your Doctor’s Orders, Jan 2013

[5] Bulimia, “Medical Issues From Anorexia, Bulimia and Other Eating Disorders”

[6] P Rozin, C Fischler, S Imada, A Sarubin, A Wrzesniewski, “Attitudes to Food and the Role of Food in Life in the U.S.A, Japan, Flemish Belgium and France: Possible Implications for the Diet-Health Debate”, Appetite, Yale University, 1999

[7] Jeanne Whalen, “A Road to Mental Health Through the Kitchen”, Wall Street Journal, Dec 2014