A Girl Worth Saving

Coconut oil is very versatile, with uses in cooking, for the skin and for the hair with very good benefits in every way. It nearly became forgotten in the West due to the advent of vegetable oils which came with heavy advertising against saturated fats. Now it has become clear that the type of saturated fats in coconut oil, the medium chain triglycerides, is exactly what we need for good health. Now coconut oil has become a super food and a super oil. Here are the 55 uses for coconut oil.

Cooking With Coconut Oil

1. Use for baking, cooking, frying, etc. to replace liquid oils.
2. Use for greasing pans and in pie crusts, etc. to replace butter and margarine.
3. Melt and add to smoothies.

Personal Care Uses of Coconut Oil

4. Toothpaste: Mix coconut oil with baking soda and some olive oil (to make it softer) and use that as your toothpaste.
5. Makeup Remover: Put coconut oil on a cotton swab and wipe away your makeup.
6. Moisturizer: Gently melt together 14 cup coconut oil, ½ cup shea butter, ¼ cup almond or jojoba oil, and 15 drops of essential oils. Apply that to the face. The essential oils differ depending on whether you have acne or you want deep moisturizing or you want to heal aging skin.
7. Body lotion: Melt together gently, ½ cup coconut oil, ½ cup shea butter, ½ cup almond or olive or jojoba oil and a few drops of essential oil. Apply that to the whole body as a lotion.
8. Eye cream: Apply coconut oil around the eyes to reduce puffiness, bags, and wrinkles.
9. Lip balm: Gently melt together 1 tablespoon of beeswax, 2 tablespoons of shea butter, 2 tablespoons coconut oil, and 20 drops of your moisturizing essential oil.
10. Deodorant: Mix coconut oil with cornstarch and baking soda. Apply that to daily.
11. Preshave: Coconut oil protects the skin from damage during shaving.
12. Aftershave: Coconut oil helps heal the skin after shaving without clogging pores.
13. Hair Conditioner: Use as a leave in hair conditioner by applying a teaspoon of coconut oil to your ends and then running your fingers through your hair to distribute the rest!
14. Deep hair treatment: Rub in a tablespoon of coconut oil onto your dry scalp and gently work through to the ends. Put a shower cap on to prevent transfer onto bed linens and leave on overnight.
15. Hair Gel/Defrizzer: Rub some coconut oil between your palms and either scrunch into hair (for curly hair) or finger comb in through from scalp to ends (for wavy/straight hair).

16: Lubricant: Coconut oil is an all natural, perfectly safe personal lubricant but it not compatible with latex.

17. Massage Oil: Add almond oil and a few drops of essential oil and you have massage oil.
18. Sunscreen: Coconut oil is a natural sunscreen with SPF of 4-5. Mix ½ cup coconut oil with 1 tablespoon raspberry seed oil with SPF of about 25 and 2 tablespoons of natural zinc oxide. Essential oil is optional.
19. Body scrub: Mix coconut oil and sugar together, rub all over and rinse off. Your skin will be super soft!
20. Stretch Mark Cream: Coconut oil nourishes damaged skin and reduces the damage.
21. Nipple Cream: Apply coconut oil on a cotton ball to cracked, sore, or dry nipples, and leave on your nipples between feedings.
22. Diaper salve: Coconut oil is comforting and safe for the diaper area.
23. Cradle cap: If your baby’s scalp is dry on the rub coconut oil.

General Health

24. Healing: Coconut oil speeds up the healing of bruises, cuts and scrapes.
25. Skin problems: Coconut oil relieves skin problems such as psoriasis, dermatitis, and eczema.
26. Bug Bites: Apply directly to a bug bite to stop the itching and burning sensation and hasten the healing process.
27. Digestion: Coconut oil has anti-bacterial properties that help control, parasites, and fungi in the gut. It also aids in the absorption of vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
28. Stress Relief: The natural aroma of coconuts is extremely soothing thus helping to lower your stress level. Apply to the head in a circular massaging motion.

29: Milk supply: Breastfeeding moms can take 3 ½ tablespoonfuls of coconut oil daily to increase milk supply.

30. Fitness: Coconut oil stimulates your metabolism, improves thyroid function, and escalates energy levels, all of which help decrease your unwanted fat, while increasing muscle.
31. Weight loss: It controls cravings.
32. Diabetes: it helps to maintain stable blood sugar levels.

Coconut Oil assists the Following Health Problems When Taken Internally

30. Eczema: In addition to taking it internally, many have success applying it externally, some don’t.
31. Toenail fungus.
32. Hot flashes.
33. Bleeding hemorrhoids (can also be applied externally twice a day).
34. Thrush.
35. Flaky dry skin.
36. Pain/cramps and heavy blood flow during menstruation.
37. Migraines (with regular use).
38. Alzheimer’s disease.
39. Candida albicans.
40. Acid reflux and indigestion.
41. Gallbladder pain.
42. Symptoms of an underactive thyroid gland, normalizing thyroid function.
43. Adrenal fatigue.
44. Depression.
45. Herpes (applied topically and taken internally).
46. Inflammation due to Crohn’s disease.
47. Mental clarity.
48. Immune system strengthened.
49. Asthma, even in children.
50. Autism.
51. Cholesterol – improves HDL (‘good’ cholesterol) to HDL (‘bad’ cholesterol) ratio in people with high cholesterol.
52. Chronic fatigue.
53. Circulation/feeling cold all the time.
54. Energy boost.

We’ve all probably heard about how important a healthy thyroid is for our bodies.

At least for me, it seems like every week I see that trademark phrase… some form of ‘The thyroid controls every metabolic action in your body. If you’re feeling tired or gaining weight, it’s probably your thyroid acting up! Here’s how you can fix it!’

It goes something like that.

A paragraph or two later, you’ll likely see an ad or a picture for their shady weight loss treatment program costing exuberant amounts and promising the heavens.

Little did I know there was some truth to those statements! No, not the weight loss pills… Ignore those!

Rather, our bodies autonomous activities of appetite and metabolism ARE influenced by the thyroid. To be fair, it is a complex system to say the least, but research does show that the thyroid plays a leading role in this network.

Behind this matrix of thyroid health and weight loss are the ever so important triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), and thyroid stimulating hormones (TSH).

As we get older, it seems harder to balance these hormones into ‘normal’ levels.

The American Thyroid Organization estimates that 12 percent of Americans has some form of thyroid disorder – likely hypothyroidism, or in other words, an underactive thyroid. With statistics like this, it makes sense that Synthroid is the most commonly prescribed medication in the United States!

A strong, healthy diet can also help support thyroid health. Research has shown that vitamins, minerals, and herbs help improve thyroid conditions.

Here’s a list of the top three nutrients for healthy thyroid functionality:

1. Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is part of the B complexes of Vitamins. These vitamins are the ones that primarily work in converting food and our diet into fuel and energy for our bodies through the day.

If you lack enough B12, you’ll feel a variety of symptoms – though the most prevalent and common is fatigue, especially as the day goes on.

According to several studies conducted with Vitamin B12 and thyroid health, approximately 40% of hypothyroid patients have a deficiency in B12.

After correct supplementation, significant amounts of hypothyroid patients reported improvements in their symptoms. The studies recommend checking B12 levels and getting it corrected if necessary.

Foods like fish, liver, milk all contain high levels of Vitamin B12.

2. Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is an Ayurvedic herb that has been around for centuries.

You don’t need it to survive, though. It’s not a vitamin, like B12, that our bodies need or a mineral like selenium, which we discuss later.

However, Ashwagandha is still very useful and remains as one of the popular natural remedies for hypothyroidism.

The reason behind this is the large amount of research that proves its effectiveness in producing more of the T4 hormone. In 2014, researchers conducted a study of 60 patients where half of them took a placebo while the other half took Ashwagandha.

The latter group saw an large increase in thyroid hormone levels, helping cure their hypothyroidism! The other half with the placebo did not see any significant changes.

Another study, although this one was carried out on mice, saw equivalent results, supporting this conclusion

3. Selenium

The thyroid gland contains the highest concentration of selenium in our bodies. Our bodies need it!

Selenium helps synthesis thyroid hormones and protects against elevated levels of iodine in the body.

According to a research study conducted in 2007 and published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, selenium supplementation during pregnancy and postpartum, “reduced thyroid inflammatory activity and the incidence of hypothyroidism” when compared to a control group that did not receive selenium.

Unfortunately, we cannot produce this mineral on our own. The only way we can get selenium is through our diet (eggs, beef, turkey, brazil nuts.)

And that is the essence of this post!

Diet is very important – not only for the thyroid – but many other organs! Be sure to eat healthy foods with lots of nutritional value!