Habit Forming - Forming Habits

image by Ron Leishman: http://www.toonclipart.com/

I have always found replacing “bad” habits to be much more feasible than quitting anything. Quitting just leaves a void. Want, need, longing, fury, agitation, frustration - just to name a few - were my new companions in the void. Why not just find something I enjoy to replace the thing I enjoyed but found to be detrimental in some way.  It isn’t so much a question of will power as of energy.  Energy constantly transforms, but it doesn’t go away.  A habit is a pattern of energy.  It is constructive to work with it, creating change and transformation.

During the holidays I found myself inundated with ambivalence about all the sweets and treats I was confronted with constantly at that time of year. What should I do? I was tortured by the ice cream, chocolates, and egg nog. They made me suffer! - I want! I shouldn’t! I mustn’t! I want I want!

Ice cream was always one of my greatest addictions. Great in quality and size and challenge. Recently I have found a substitution which I find full-filling and delightful, leaving me without cravings. I make a shake. Not a milk shake! Young coconut banana shake. Delectable.

1 young coconut - water and meat
1 banana
6 pieces of ice
Blend all ingredients in a blender or vitamix

For instructions on how to open a young coconut, you can search youtube.com or google.com. If you are a beginner, just be very careful!
The consistency of the shake will vary depending on the youth of the coconut - but I find all variations to be yummy.

Good luck and please post questions!

I’m Cuckoo for Coconuts

I adore young coconuts.  There is nothing in the world so refreshing to me as young coconut water - the light, almost clear water that forms inside (not to be confused with coconut milk).

Coconuts have health benefits far greater than most of us are aware of, so I have included below the highlights from an article at:
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/coconutwater.html

‘Here is some information about Coconut Water:

“It’s a natural isotonic beverage, with the same level of electrolytic balance as we have in our blood. It’s the fluid of life, so to speak.” In fact, during the Pacific War of 1941-45, both sides in the conflict regularly used coconut water - siphoned directly from the nut - to give emergency plasma trasfusions to wounded soldiers.

Most coconut water is still consumed fresh in tropical coastal areas - once exposed to air, the liquid rapidly loses most of its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics, and begins to ferment.

• Coconut Water is More Nutritious than whole milk - Less fat and NO cholesterol!
• Coconut Water is More Healthy than Orange Juice - Much lower calories
• Coconut Water is Better than processed baby milk- It contains lauric acid, which is present in human mother’s milk
• Coconut water is naturally sterile — Water permeates though the filtering husk!
• Coconut water is a universal donor– Its identical to human blook plasma
• Coconut Water is a Natural Isotonic Beverage - The same level we have in our blood.
• Coconut water has saved lives in 3rd world countries thru Coconut IV.

“Coconut water is the very stuff of Nature, biologically Pure, full of Natural Sugars, Salts, and Vitamins to ward off fatigue… and is the next wave of energy drinks BUT natural!”, according to Mortin Satin, Chielf of the United Nation’s Food & Agriculture Organization.

Coconut water contains more potassium (at about 294 mg) than most sports drinks (117 mg) and most energy drinks.

Coconut water has less sodium (25mg) where sports drinks have around 41mg and energy drinks have about 200 mg!

Coconut water has 5mg of Natural Sugars where sports and energy drinks range from 10-25mg of Altered Sugars.

Coconut water is very high in Chloride at 118mg, compared to sports drinks at about 39mg.’

The Maligned Oil

Coconut oil is one of the most misunderstood and maligned of oils. The bad rap is changing, however, as indicated by the presence of numerous brands of virgin coconut oil available on the market. I am here today to contribute to the cause of dispelling unhelpful and unhealthful myths.

First I must say that oil in general is misunderstood. Most of the oil consumed by Americans is very unhealthy, but is thought to be healthy. Oils that are avoided by the general public are often the most healthy. This is probably due to marketing more than anything else. One huge point of misinformation is around the processing of oils. Most virgin oils - “virgin” means first cold pressing - are nothing like their heated counterparts. They are much more beneficial. Don’t waste your time on the heated stuff.

The virginity question is the crucial missing point in the studies showing that coconut oil is a “bad” saturated fat. The studies referred to in reports putting coconut oil in the “bad” catagory of good and bad oils and fats were carried out using heated, even hydrogenated coconut oil. Now you may remember my article on margarine and hydrogenated oils: hydrogenated = very bad. To lump this processed junk into the same category as the beautiful virgin stuff is a crime.

For scientifically minded, read this abstract on a study showing that virgin coconut oil reverses the tendency to make plaque.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14608053?dopt=Abstract

Recent reports discuss the dangers of trans fats. Why do we constantly trust that products we find on the market must be safe, when we constantly find that the reverse is true? One day margarine is safer than butter; the next day butter is healthier than margarine.

Too much is left to marketing, not enough on testing, tradition, common sense, good taste. Italians don’t eat 100% olive oil; they eat 100% extra virgin olive oil.

Coconut oil has been associated with weight loss, heart health, healing, benefits to diabetics, and skin care. The chain of molecules in coconut oil are medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). They burn up quickly in the body.  

The reason the fat in coconut oil burns (metabolizes) quickly is that the body treats its MCTs in a completely different way than it treats other fats.  LCTs (long-chain triglycerides) are slow to metabolize, so that they are more easily stored as fat.  In contrast, MCTs burn rapidly for energy use, and thus are far less likely to contribute to fat storage.

Informative links:
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/coconut-oil-studies.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0XUK/is_/ai_n17213451
A whole book on the subject: The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife and Jon J Kabara.

You can find organic virgin coconut oil in health food stores and through online resources, such as on my raw foods page: click on “raw food store” from here.