Going Nuts for Coconut Oil

Barlean's Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil $15.99 @ drugstore.com

Coconut oil is a must-have for health and beauty. This curative oil has a myriad of uses, both as a healthy ingredient in recipes, and as a topical moisturizer with amazing healing abilities.

Extra-virgin coconut oil contains lauric acid which boosts immunity and fights infection. Anyone with a skin condition such as ezcema can use coconut oil as a moisturizer for soothing relief and prevention of bacterial infection due to broken skin.  

Coconut oil can also replace some of your usual beauty products; for instance, you can use the oil instead of eye makeup remover and even eye cream. To remove eye makeup, put a dab of coconut oil on a cotton pad and sweep over lids. In a recent study, under-eye skin showed improvement in fine lines and wrinkles by 42 percent in eight weeks. 

You can also use coconut oil instead of your usual acne treatment. It may sound counter-intuitive to put oil onto a breakout, but you can ease blemishes by rubbing a dab of conocut oil into skin until it is absorbed.  The lauric acid is 15 times more effective than benzoyl peroxide at killing breakout-causing bacteria and will not clog pores.

Of course, you can also cook with coconut oil, which has a wonderful aroma and delicious distinctive taste. And amazingly, using coconut oil to saute foods will also help you slim down.  Replace butter or vegetable oil with an equal amount of coconut oil; although the caloric value is the same as olive oil, the switch to medium-chain fatty acids revs up metabolism by 50 percent. When baking, swap out butter for coconut oil for a treat that is much healthier and equally fluffy (and vegan!). 

For a quick, easy way to try cooking with coconut oil, check out this recipe for coconut roasted sweet potatoes on Whole Food's web site. 

You can buy organic, extra-virgin coconut oil at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or any health food store, or even online at outlets like Drugstore.com.