Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
How Can I Ever Know What’s Good For Me?
About two years ago I replaced all butter, vegetable oil, and canola oil with ghee, olive oil and coconut oil. With that triple-play move I assumed I’d solved my cholesterol, Alzheimers, and heart disease issues.
Or did I?
I replaced my peanut butter with almond butter. I replaced my milk with almond milk. I take a daily multivitamin. I added a salmon oil supplement. Started sprinkling cinnamon in my smoothies. Started exercising. I replaced my mayonnaise with an avocado mayonnaise product.
Yesterday my wife said, “I just read something from the American Heart Association that coconut oil is the worst.”
So this morning I woke up early and read this, this, this, and this. I’m killing myself, I guess.
“Coconut oil is 82 percent saturated fat, and studies show it raises LDL “bad” cholesterol as much as butter, beef fat or palm oil. Canola oil, on the other hand, has only 7 percent saturated fat.”
Next I’ll probably hear my essential oils cause skin cancer and that my salt lamp will make me blind.
I like popcorn popped with coconut oil. I think ghee (aka clarified butter) makes my scrambled eggs taste better. A dab of coconut oil massaged onto my beard before shaving, and then another dab on my neck after shaving and a shower, has finally cured my lifelong battle with razor burn and post-shave acne.
Talk about “fake news”.
*sigh* I know the truth. I wasn’t looking to coconut oil to help me live forever. But I did read it made for the best stove popped popcorn, and it does. I read coconut oil has MCT and is good for the brain. I like the smell. I use exactly a teaspoon daily. I also know excess butter, ghee, canola, or vegetable oil is not as good as not using it at all. Just like I know if I was a vegetarian I’d be healthier than I am as a guy that eats cheeseburgers, steaks, ribs, and bacon.
All in moderation, right?
An expert quoted in the articles probably says it best…
“It’s a moderation thing. People don’t want to face reality when it comes to their own dieting, their own health. They want to believe in wishful thinking. … But thinking you can have unlimited amounts of one particular thing and everything will disappear is not based on reality.”
I wrote this Blog post for my wife.
Don Kowalewski 