Coconut Oil is becoming an increasingly popular essential oil these days as some of the major health benefits of it are becoming more well-known.
Unlike certain other essential oils which you can rely on to benefit you in one or two ways, the benefits of coconut oil are pretty numerous.
You can both incorporate the oil into your diet or you can rub it into your hair and skin, depending on what effect you want from it.
Here are fives ways that coconut oil can help you out:
- Prevents Heart Disease
There’s many different things that will factor in to you suffering from heart disease at some point in your life.
Things like family history and birth defects are a part of it for some people, but it has a lot to do with lifestyle choices too.
With it being one of the leading causes of death in the world right now, you should always be thinking about how you can avoid it. Luckily, you can take many preventative measures.
And coconut oil happens to be one of the things that can help a lot. The reason for this, is that coconut oil is high in the saturated fats that will help increase HDL cholesterol in your system.
We would more commonly describe this as being the ‘healthy cholesterol’, with LDL being the unhealthy cholesterol.
The interesting thing about coconut oil is that it can also convert LDL cholesterol into HDL cholesterol. The more HDL you have, the lower your risk of heart disease.
- Boosts Your Immune System
There is a specific acid found in coconut oil known as lauric acid, and it’s known for being a strong immune system booster.
It’s good for fighting against bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, all things that are responsible for some of the more serious diseases these days.
One thing that it’s particularly effective against is a fungus knowns as candida albicans. This is a form of yeast that causes all sorts of issues with your body
It can make you tired, it can cause weight loss, joint pain, gut aches. Just all sorts of general unpleasantness really.
It’s a difficult enough thing to treat but coconut oil does reduce the presence of candida in your system so it will be helpful.
Keep it in your diet anyway to maintain a strong immune system but you should especially take a few spoonfuls of coconut oil everyday when you’re sick.
- Keeps Your Hair Healthy
I’m sure the idea of rubbing coconut oil in your hair probably grosses you out a little bit, but it’s a proven method of keeping your hair healthy.
This is how women who live in the places like Hawaii and the Caribbean countries always have such beautiful, shiny hair.
It’s because they use coconut oil on a daily basis. The oil itself is thick but it actually has a very low molecular weight, which allows it to easily penetrate your hair shaft.
A big reason for unhealthy hair growth is the loss of proteins inside the hair itself as it ages, but coconut oil will prevent this kind of protein loss.
If you think that you’re hair is already in trouble, have no fear because coconut oil is also very effective in treating hair that’s already been damaged.
It will provide your hair with the same proteins, meaning that when it regrows it will regrow healthily.
- Keeps Your Skin Healthy
There is tons of ways in which coconut oil is beneficial for your skin. It’s probably one of the better essential oils for skin health.
It’s been known to reduce aging, by improving antioxidant levels. Incidentally the antioxidant properties of the oil are also good for liver so that’s yet another plus.
Coconut oil is also very good for relieving skin irritation issues such as dermatitis, eczema and psoriasis. They won’t get rid of the diseases completely but will definitely decrease the severity.
It’s good for soothing burns too and using virgin coconut oil on any kind of wound you have will actually speed up the healing process.
In addition to all of that, it’s also a pretty good way to protect yourself from UV rays and any kind of damage caused by the sun.
I’m suggesting that you should stop using sunscreen by any means, but if you’re looking to make you own natural sunscreen then coconut oil should definitely be an ingredient.
The list of reasons why you should be including coconut oil in your skincare routine are actually pretty endless. It’s got many advantages in this regard.
- Improves Your Brain Function
So it’s not just your skin that coconut oil will keep young, but it’s also pretty great for brain health too.
The oils is packed full of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids, or MCFA’s for short, which are known to help increase brain function in older people.
Specifically, it’s good for one’s recall ability. It’s great that you can rely on this as a supplement when you’re older but it’s a good idea to take it for brain function when you’re young too.
Plant the seeds early, keep your brain young while you’re still young and set yourself up for the future in this way too.
It’s come to light in the last few years that degenerative brain issues such as Alzheimer’s disease actually take root a lot earlier than we initially thought.
If you want to avoid it, then start taking the measures early. There’s lots of ways to keep your brain young, but coconut oil is a very easy thing to include in your diet and it’s effective too.
Conclusion
As you can see, there is quite the multitude of reasons to look to coconut oil for a boost in your health.
It’s good for pretty much every organ you’ve got and there’s a bunch more reasons for taking coconut oil than I’ve listed here too. You won’t regret it.