Coconut Oil Health Benefits

Health Benefits of Coconut Oil Most people are afraid of eating anything that has a lot of “fat” nowadays, but there is a difference between “good fats” (i.e. saturated) and “bad fats” (i.e. trans fats, hydrogenated fats). Often, these bad fats are produced in food processing and are thus present in many foods that aren’t healthy to begin with, such as processed food. However, we have remember that, as humans, eating “good fats” (i.e. saturated fats found in avocados and coconut oil) are very important for our health and even our brain function.

Coconut oil is an example of an incredible oil that is actually considered a superfood. Coconut oil contains “saturated fat” which is a good fat that constitutes 50% of our cells’ membranes. These saturated fats are necessary in our body to strengthening our cell walls and protecting the inside of each cell.

Coconut oil has many other health benefits because of it’s unique combination of “good fats”. For example, the saturated fats in the oil play a vital role in the health of our bones, protect our liver from alcohol and other toxins, and ensure the proper use of the omega-3 fatty acids.

Virgin coconut oil is a medium-chain saturated fat (MCFA), and because of this it can actually will speed up weight loss, lower cholesterol, reduce the risk of heart attack and improve diabetic conditions. Furthermore, MCFA do not need the liver and gallbladder to digest them, which means instant energy and increased metabolic rate through thermogenesis in your body.

Coconut oil is actually quite beneficial to the immune system because it has antimicrobial and anti fungal properties. It can also target the thyroid and beef up the metabolisms, melting any abdominal fat quickly and is a surprisingly great addition to any weight loss program.

Best Tea Shop For Quality and Unique Gifts

Up until this point, eco-savy has focused a lot on harmful chemicals in products and what to stay clear of. However, now and again we are going to shift our focus on the importance of behavioural science and mindset in staying healthy. Let’s face it, when we are in a great mood/mindset or someone reaches out and does something so kind and unexpected, it has a lasting affect. Having the right mindset is important for you to achieve success and happiness in all areas of your life…along with surrounding yourself with the best, healthy (toxin free) products 😉

Continuing this thought, I Sara (founder of Eco-Savy) would like to mention one of my favorite places to go in Aurora Ontario (town I am from in Canada). This small town as one of the best tea shops I have ever been to in Canada and in my travels around the world. It is called Bonsai Hill, and the owner is probably the most dedicated, educated man about tea I know.

The atmosphere is so magical at Bonsai!! Just to give you an idea, imagine drinking tea and having soft classical music playing in the background, all the while you are surrounded by really high-end unique gifts for sale (from all around the world). This is followed by local unique artwork for sale and fresh teas mounted on one wall all around the world.

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We all know the incredible benefits of tea for our health in helping us loose weight (i.e. ultra skinny detox tea), have great skin and preventing illness (due to the high antioxidants), so I won’t get into that in this article. What I want to talk about primarily is kindness and mindset.

Normally, we don’t get personal here on Eco-Savy, but I felt so compelled to share my little story that sometimes it’s okay to make an exception. Anyways, today was my birthday and {of-course} I had to stop into my favourite tea store Bonsai Hill on the way home from work. Immediately I was greeted by Yanding (the store owner). Despite the fact that the store was busy, the owner still took the time to speak with me and show me all the amazing new tea additions to the store (and cute silver teaspoons which I just HAD to buy… view picture below).

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When I was at the cash register, the store owner did the most kind, unexpected thing. He gave me a big bag of high-end white tea to take home. If you aren’t a tea fanatic like me, just know that “white tea” is very expensive and contains the most antioxidants of all the teas {it is also super tasty and less bitter than green tea}.

This unexpected act of kindness touched me so much that it literally made my whole day and birthday complete.  It also reminded me the power of going “out-of-the-way” sometimes and being kind to others, because you may really make a difference in that person’s day or life. For example, that small act of kindness compelled me to write this article to all 20 thousand of you who read this blog….bet Yanding (store owner) didn’t see that coming 🙂

In a world where everyone is so busy and caught up in their day-to-day activities, it’s important to reach out to one another sometimes and be kind. You just don’t know what it will lead to, or how it will positively impact that person.

Cheers.

Coconut Oil Benefits

There has been a lot of hype around coconut oil this year, but is it really good for you? What are some of coconut oil’s benefits? To clarify all the benefits of coconut oil and why it is so good for you, we created an info-graphic for your liking’s.

Let us know what you think of coconut oil the comment section. For example, do you use coconut oil? What are the benefits you have discovered?

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Fire Retardant Chemical In Mountain Dew

Let’s face it, we all have a carbonated beverage now and again, or a Gatorade after a long workout. Or maybe your the one who opts for the “sugar-free” beverage FRESCA when you want to reduce your caloric intake and be nicer to your body (even though it still contains aspartame).

So what do Gatorate, Powerade, Mountain Dew and Fresca all have in common? A chemical called “Brominate Vegetable Oil” (BVO). BVO is classified as a food additive, but there is limited knowledge of its composition, researchers have found. However, it does contain bromine, which is also a flame retardant! YUCK! It’s main use however is to keep flavor oils in suspension and provide that cloudy appearance.

SOFT DRINK SHOCKER Although, Health Canada and the Food and Drug Administration in the USA say there are “no health risks associated with BVO when the density-adjusting agent is used according to regulations” (i.e. 15 ppm are allowed to be used in citrus or spruce-flavored beverages as consumed), it still doesn’t sit right with many consumers today. If it there are no health risks, why is it banned in Japan and mostly all EU countries?!

It is important to note the BVO was used in Canada prior to the creation of Health Canada’s food additive table in 1964 and was only formally added to the table with its current restrictions in the late 1960s or 1970s (aka, when North American’s were not addicted to soda!). The problem only escalates when you learn that carbonated soft drinks are the most-consumed beverages, with an average of 44.7 gallons consumed per person, per year in America (source: Huffington Post). So it is most likely, that consumers will ingest more than the limit of 15ppm of BVO – making it harmful to one’s health!

Health Effects of Bromine To Body

So what are the exact health implications BVO causes? There is limited research but scientists will acknowledge that bromine Bromine will build up in your body lipids (aka your body holds onto it and doesn’t properly excrete it). According to Mary Hartley, R.D. in SHAPE Magazine

“BVO leaves residues in the body’s fatty tissues, including the brain, liver, and other organs,” Hartley says. “It can cause a wide variety of symptoms, such as headaches, vision problems, loss of coordination, and skin rashes. Animal studies show that BVO is transferred from mother’s milk to a nursing infant, which, in theory, could cause heart lesions, fatty changes in the liver, impaired growth, and behavioral problems.”

Action Taken to Remove Brominated Vegetable Oil From Gatorade

There has been an overgrowing movement to take BVO out of PepsiCo’s drinks. In fact, a young girl by the name of Sara Kavanagh, now 16, created a petition on the ever-so-popular “change.org” website  last year called “Don’t put flame retardant chemicals in Gatorade” after Goggling the ingredient found on her Gatorade. As a result 206,652 people signed her online petition and as of January, 2013 PepsiCo removed BVO from Gatorade, and replaced it with “sucrose acetate isobutyrate” (SAID).

Small Problem – PepsiCo’s ONLY removed BVO from Gatorade, not Mountain Dew or Fresca

I applaud PepsiCo for doing the responsible thing and voluntarily getting BVO out of Gatorade without waiting for government officials to require it to do so. That said, Gatorade without BVO is nutritionally no better than with it.

The unfortunate part about all this, is that despite PepsiCo taking BVO out of GATORADE and replacing this chemical with SAID, they did NOT REMOVE BVO from any other products they make. It is still in Mountain Dew and a slew of other soft drinks -grr!

remove BVO from mountain dew If you want PepsiCo to remove BVO from all drinks, sign the petition here.

12 Best Foods For Skin Detoxing

Do you ever find that no matter what products you use, your skin doesn’t improve? We have put together another free report (full of research and great facts) that describes the 12 best foods for your skin. Specifically, we focus on foods for reducing acne, improving skins radiance and reducing acne. To access the report, just subscribe to our e-mail list 🙂

12 best foods

People who have a lot of “wrinkles” and “deep lines” on their face, tend to eat a lot of congesting foods, such as meat, shellfish and dairy; all which contain no fiber and move much more slowly through the digestive tract. As soon as your clear blockages in the colon, the lines on your face may start to lighten.

Dull skin has the inevitable effect of undermining your beauty. It is impossible to truly hide dull skin behind mineral-infused foundation and shimmery highlighters. This is why you need to eat certain food’s which will eradicate dull skin and replace it with lustrous, velvety luminescent skin. Also, looking radiant will help you FEEL radiant, which can change your whole outlook on the world, and change the way the world looks at you.

You may be one of those people who have wondered why you can’t get your pesky acne to vanish. Our approach to acne addresses the root cause, which concerns blockages within the internal organs, specifically the liver and colon.

skin detox

The liver filters toxins and usually pushes the waste into the colon. But when these organs become overloaded with waste and toxins, the toxins have to be pushed out through the sin, another elimination organ, creating those ugly pimples.

 Yes, it may perhaps seem strange that you intestines, deep within you body affect the skin on your face. But all parts of your body are interconnected. If you want to eradicate acne, you have to eliminate the root case by minimizing toxicity in your body and maintaining ongoing cleansing of your digesting tract through better dietary choices.

So if you want access to our mini report with the 12 best foods for your skin, just subscribe to our e-mail list.







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12 BEST Foods For Skin Detoxing

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