Coconut Oil re-post and Tropical Traditions Giveaway!

Ends Wednesday August 3rd!  (Now Closed)

When I first posted this I had maybe 5 followers so hopefully this will be a new read for a lot of you guys.  I did changed it up AND included a giveaway for you guys!!!  32 oz. of Virgin Tropical Traditions Coconut oil.

 

This is how you can WIN:  (please include email on one of your entries)

1. Please leave a comment below, have you used coconut oil before??

2. You don't need to be a follower or subscriber to enter the contest but while you are here   take a look around and if you like what you see and decide to become one, (or are one) please leave a separate comment letting me know as this will give you your second entry.

3. If you would like to subscribe to Tropical Traditions Sales Newsletter   leave a comment you did so and it will give you another entry for a total of three entries.

 
Originally this post was inspired from my Healthy Food on a Budget post.  Some people wanted to know what all the hubbub was about using coconut oil.  I completely understand! 

I remember going over to my friends house and seeing her little jar of coconut oil and thinking now why would I spend 3 times the amount on THAT oil instead of the other oils?? 

                                                                 click for photo source


So began my coconut oil research………I’m not going to go into depth about everything you can do with coconut oil, but YES, when I’m not cooking with it, I have used it as a toothpaste, a deodorant, and as a fantastic body moisturizer!    I’m sure it sounds strange to a newbie, but this stuff is amazing!


Coconut 101 – Why?

1.) The main reason I use coconut oil is for it’s nutritious properties.  It is full of all the good fats, which isn't suppose to make me fat!  My friend Heather from Mom4Life just sent me this fantastic article How to Lose Weight Fast with Coconut Oil.

2.) It can withstand a higher heat without losing all the great nutrients in the oil.  (other oils once heated lose almost all the good attributes they have)

                                                                   click for photo source


What to look for 101

Buy Extra Virgin coconut oil - unrefined and cold pressed. (extra virgin usually means unrefined).  Organic is very nice but not a necessity because with the coconut it’s not a “fruit” that will be full of pesticides like spinach. 

NEVER buy coconut oil that says RBD on the label.  It stands for Refined Bleached and Deodorized!  Crude coconut oil is first Refined, Bleached and then Deodorized. Basically it is stripped of everything that makes coconut oil good for you.  Look for preservatives that are added to coconut oils also. (Or to anything for that matter!)  I find that with any food, flour, sugar, anything, knowledge is power and hopefully I am making it a little easier to sort through all the junk and you can learn how to get the "right" stuff.
The "right" stuff would be the closest to raw and natural.  Processed, heated, bleached, deodorized, refined, taken to hell and back is not good.  Just stay away!!!  I have to tell you Wal-Mart is king  of selling the wrong kind of "healthy".  Read the labels and small print.  What you will find is they will almost always be filled with preservatives and made as inexpensive as possible  :-) 

Let me review the above in a nutshell. (ha-ha!) 

                                                             click for photo source


Cold pressed - better than hot pressed  (hot kills nutrients.  The lower the temperature process, for ANY food, the better.

Unrefined - better than refined.  (refined takes it through yet another step meanwhile losing even more nutrients)

Unbleached - better than bleached.   (bleach is a chemical -right?  Do I really want my food going through a chemical?)

Not deodorized - better than deodorized (do I even need to say anything to that?  Deodorizing what goes into my mouth....why?)

They say to store in a cool, dry place (50 to 68° F) away from direct sources of sunlight, heat and oxidizers. I keep my extras in the back of my pantry and the one I am using at the moment on my counter.  My research says it has a 2 year shelf life.

Here are some coconut oil recipes.

Thanks you guys!

Selina – Creative Juices Décor!! 

Disclaimer: I am not a certified nutritionist and do not claim to know everything :-)   If you find something that might not be correct on this post please leave a comment to help us all out.  Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.