Coconut Milk

Abandoned by Wolves · Post by **Abandoned by Wolves** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 2:36 am

I'd been reading up on EFA's and coconut oil etc in attempt to find some nutritional support for my thyroid, which my doc says that I basically fried by working 12 hour graveyard shifts, going to school, and then slapping bodies on my off hours instead of sleeping, and keeping this up for 18 months.

So one of the books that caught my eye was Enig's "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" book, which advocates various traditional methods of food prep and also a whole lot of coconut based products - mostly extra virgin coconut oil, but also whole coconut milk, etc. I'd been taking Carlson's Cod Liver Oil on her recommendation for a few weeks and I was feeling much better as a result, so I figured, what the hell...I picked up a can of whole coconut milk in the Asian foods section of my local hyper market; I was going to mix in some maple syrup, dolomite powder and water as recommended in Enig's recipes, but I said, "Nah", and just poured myself 8 ounces in a nice glass with some ice and sipped it through a straw. I figured I could always just toss it if it was too disagreeable. It was only 85 cents.

Holy Crap!

MAJOR energy surge - blew away the cobwebs like nobody's business and left me with more energy than I knew what to do with. I had to go outside and throw kettlebells around for 30 minutes just to deal with the excess energy I suddenly had (after feeling like road kill for the previous 4 hours). Plus the high fat content absolutely killed my gnawing hunger and left me feeling satiated for 4 hours afterwards.

My best guess (and it's only a guess right now) is that whole coconut milk is almost pure medium chain fatty acids, which the body LOVES to pounce on and use immediately in preference to almost any other nutrient, especially in the absence of carbohydrates.

Placebo effect? Maybe. I plan to keep experimenting with the recipes in the book and do another blood workup in a few months to see if anything's changed, and keep notes on bodyfat composition, etc. If anyone is interested, I'll put it in a training log.

amtroit2 · Post by **amtroit2** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:36 pm

Welcome to the Dark Side!
Coconut rules. Did you buy the Chaotai (Thai brand)?
Oh and try drinking coconut juice right from a fresh coconut. Most refreshing drink you ever had.

Grandpa's Spells · Post by **Grandpa's Spells** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 6:21 pm

Coconut milk is heavy on saturated fat, though it also has MCTs.

Obviously people are walking around eating it with no problem, but saturated fat + starch kills by almost anybody's standard.

You might consider getting a real MCT oil (Parrillo sells a good one) rather than coconut milk if you want to get the benefits.

CucumberSlumber · Post by **CucumberSlumber** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:04 pm

I tried making ginataan for breakfast. Filled me up so I didn't feel like eating lunch until much later than I normally do.

Ginataan is a Filipino dessert dish, but I got the idea to try it for breakfast. All it is really is plantains and sweet potato boiled in coconut milk. Some people like to add other stuff like balls of sweet rice flour (I'm terrible at making dough out of flour though, so YMMW), some other fruits and nuts, etc. I ate this for a week, then was warned about the fat content in coconut milk. I may give it another go eventually.

greenghost · Post by **greenghost** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 4:15 pm

Troy, Stop Your MCT's !!!

Parillo's CapTri is garbage!! It is fractionized coconut oil which means that it is highly processed and refined. I used it back in the middle 80s when it first came out. It's stripped of nutrients when it's fractionized, goes rancid quick and you can't cook with it at all. Useless!

I've been using Wilderness Family up in Minn. for a few years now for virgin coconut oil and many of their products. Best in the business , I've tried them all including tropical traditions.

Grandpa's Spells · Post by **Grandpa's Spells** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:21 pm

No shit? They've got Marty Gallagher and Ed Coan shilling for them. They also have a cookbook out on pan frying with the stuff.

I remember being surprised a while back when you said you did a lot of cooking with coconut oil. Do you just not worry about the saturated fat?

greenghost · Post by **greenghost** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:58 pm

Steve,

I have no reason to believe that saturated fats are harmful. Mind You, I don't eat starchy carbs ever. Only ones I eat are in the form of fibrous veggies. No sugar,sweets,grains or other junk food. Don't even drink.

Great book on the topic is : Saturated Fats May Save Your Life. It's by Bruce Fife.

Eddie

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:01 pm

greenghost wrote:I don't eat starchy carbs ever. Only ones I eat are in the form of fibrous veggies. No sugar,sweets,grains or other junk food. Don't even drink.

Which monastery do you live at? SHUGYO!

greenghost · Post by **greenghost** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:02 pm

One more thing. I've heard from a few different BB sources that CapTri is in use as a safer form of synthol. No lie, fucking BB'ers are injecting this shit into their muscle to appear bigger. They claim that's it's safer and much more cheaper than the synthol version.

greenghost · Post by **greenghost** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:03 pm

Mak,

Monastary? Anoha! Just here in Jersey. haha

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:04 pm

LOl, just ribbing ya.

Grandpa's Spells · Post by **Grandpa's Spells** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:07 pm

Interesting. I read about them using it to add massive calories without getting fat, which I thought was pretty ingenious.

Do you find this type of diet is keeping you pretty lean? I would think it does.

greenghost · Post by **greenghost** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:20 pm

The massive calories from MCT's are a scam. Remember the rule: calories in , calories out.

Yes, right now my bodyfat level is real low. Less stress in the form of bodyweight = less stress on my knees. I'm down to 190 from being 208-210 most of last year. My diet has not really changed but the total number
of calories has.

A Pro BBer named Franco Santoriello used to be sponsered by Parrillo in the 80s. I used to get the CapTri free from him. Franco, BTW was also a fellow LEO working with me for about 2 years. Then he quit and became pro.

greenghost · Post by **greenghost** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:21 pm

First line should read: Massive calories from MCTs without getting "Fat" is a scam.

Abandoned by Wolves · Post by **Abandoned by Wolves** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 7:11 am

The actual recipe for coconut milk 'tonic' calls for 2 cups of water to dilute the can, and hence isn't quite the calorie bomb that pure coconut milk would be if you only drink 4-8 oz. It still works well as an energy drink - 6-8 ozs and I don't want any more, and I don't want to eat anything else for hours afterwards.

And no, I am not planning on some kind of 'massive calories with no weight gain' gimmick - the plan is to consume 1800-2400 calories a day, and to try to go back to the kind of foods that our great-grandparents habitually ate (at least when they could get food at all). And now that I'm off the graveyard shift o' death, I hope to get a lot more exercise, mostly kettlebells, chi kung, and walking as much as possible for transportation and short distance errands (2 miles or less).

Saturated fats have gotten a bad rap. We need 'em, in moderation, to stay healthy. But mixing 'em with dry carbs and hyper processed crap is indeed diet disaster.

Next up: adventures in kvass!