Debunking the Bunk - Coconut

Coconut was one of the Big Evils when I was growing up. High in sat fat, bad for cholesterol, one of those foods that just wasn't worth it. It helped that I've never liked coconut, so it was one of those "bad" foods that I never missed. Something about the texture of it just doesn't sit right with me.

The Bad Stuff
And this post isn't to totally debunk coconut as bad, because it's never going to be one of those antioxidant superfoods we keep hearing about. It is high in saturated fat (one two-ounce piece contains more than 13g, two thirds the recommended daily limit) and delivers a higher sat-fat punch than butter, lard or margarine. Coconut oil also substantially elevates LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Given all this, you're probably asking right about now how coconut made it into my Debunking the Bunk series, right?

The Not-So-Bad Stuff
Well, it turns out that coconut isn't as bad as we thought it was. Sure, it's got sat fat, and it will raise your LDL if you eat too much of it. However, companies are now researching using coconut oil in place of the all nasty partially hydrogenated (trans fat) oils (shout out to my mother for being thoroughly ahead of the curve and teaching me at a very early age that partially hydrogenated was bad, before any of us had even heard the words "trans fat"). And the reason they're looking to use coconut oil is that while it does raise LDL, it also significantly raises HDL (good) cholesterol, whereas trans fats raise LDL and lower HDL. (Source)

The Good Stuff
So I read up on the good side of coconut at this obviously biased very helpful site. They claim that coconut is used by those with thyroid issues to increase body metabolism and for others to lose weight (wait, saturated fat helps us lose weight? Yippee!!). It's also used for soaps and they claim it's one of the healthiest products you can put on your skin (unless, of course, you're going to go out and fry in the sun in it). The claim is that the past studies done on coconut were done on hydrogenated coconut oil, which is altered from its original form (the source listed in the not-so-bad section makes no mention of what kind of oil was studied).

In studies, the medical community seems to be on board with the fact that coconut can be a powerful tool to use again immune diseases. Published studies in medical journals (mentioned at a site which conveniently doesn't link to them) list the following as some healthy applications of coconut:

- Kills a variety of fungi, bacteria, and parasites
- Improves absorption of vitamins and minerals
- Reduces certain problems associated with pancreatitis, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, osteoporosis, gallbladder disease, Crohn's disease, ulcers, cancer, periodontal disease, epileptic seizures, kidney disease (and disolves kidney stones), liver disease, psoriasis, and eczema
- Reduces inflammation and aids in tissue repair
- Helps prevent obesity and is lower in fat than other oils
- Softens skin and prevents dryness and cracking, prevents wrinkles and age spots, promotes healthy hair and complexion
- Helps control dandruff
- Does your laundry and pays all your bills

Ok, so that last one was just to see if you were paying attention.

Do I detect a note of cynicism?
Now, thing is, what with this litany of benefits from coconut, you'd think that that's all we'd be hearing about, right? Coconut this, coconut that. It would be the new blueberry, the new pomegranate, the new acai berry. Pardon me if I'm a little skeptical, but seriously, if coconut were all that, wouldn't doctors be prescribing it by the boatload? Our supermarkets would have a whole aisle devoted to coconut. And while it may have the effect as listed above on people, I tend to be skeptical about one kind of food that seems to be able to do absolutely anything. Cancer? Diabetes? Beautiful skin? Hmm.

So I'm debunking the fact that coconut is the evil is was always thought to be (at least, when I was growing up). But I'm not entirely swayed in the other direction. I'll wait it out and see whether all the happy happy coconut joy holds out (hope it does) or whether we should just put the lime in the coconut on special occasions.

Red peppers and poison control

A couple months ago, I brought back some small dried peppers from vacation in exotic climes. My intention was to crumble them up and make red pepper flakes.

The other weekend, I decided I was going to make chai (I promise, this is related...). I also had cardamom pods from said vacation, and needed to crush them up, and get a little jar to put them in. While I was there, figured I'd get jars for crushed coriander, whole cloves, and the peppers once I crushed them. Went on to make the chai - I'll list the ingredients here, though I haven't found the proportions that I really like yet, so I'm not giving quantities...

Chai - cardamom, coriander, whole cloves, allspice, black tea, fresh ginger, black pepper, water, milk (boil spices in water first, then add milk).

Ok, so back to the peppers. I bought myself a handy dandy spice grinder (think mini metal bucket and pestle) and crushed the coriander and cardamom. Then figured, while I was at it, might's well do the pepper. Then I figured out that the pepper crushes really easily by hand.

No, I didn't put gloves on, or cover my hands in plastic bags.

Idiot. I know that's what you're thinking. Yes, you're right.

So I get done crushing them up and I'm pretty proud of myself for finally getting around to it. I have fresh crushed pepper that came halfway around the world and I'm totally psyched about it.

Then I touched my lip. Firefirefire! Oops...hmmm.

So I wash my hands a couple times. No dice. Then I start to obsess about how I'm going to take my contact lenses out.

Oh, you can feel it coming, can't you?

So, I'm obsessing about my contacts, thinking about how I know it's going to sting like hell, and that I have to teach step and weight lifting in the morning (which really sucks in glasses), and it's like having a loose tooth. I just have to get the contacts out RIGHT THAT MOMENT.

So I do, and yes it stings. I have to take out the left one with a kleenex because it stings so badly.

Try washing my hands a few more times, still no luck.

I call a friend of mine who's a doctor, figuring she might have an idea how to get the damn pepper oil off my fingers (apparently my brain cramps on the idea of google during a pepper oil attack). She suggests I call poison control, because they'll probably know. Finds the number for me.

So here I am, 10pm on a friday night, hands covered in pepper oil, calling Poison Control to ask them how to get a food product off my hands. It would have been amusing if my skin hadn't been on fire whenever it happened to brush it.

Poison control recommends immersing my hands in oil (or a mixture of vinegar and water) for a while, or coating them in vaseline. As I don't have that much vinegar, and don't have vaseline, oil seemed to be the ticket. So I ask them how long "a while" is. I'm thinking 10-15 minutes. He says he doesn't want to give me a number, because then I'll just call back afterwards if it didn't work. So I ask for a ballpark. 45 minutes.

45 freaking minutes!

So I pour all my remaining canola oil (olive and grapeseed oil are way too expensive, thank you very much) into a metal mixing bowl, plop myself down in front of a dvd (which thankfully had more than 45 minutes left), and immersed my hands. My wrists were resting painfully on the rim of the bowl, and I just don't do well just watching tv (I normally cook, or cross-stitch, or do puzzles, or something with my hands). But I made it through. Maybe 40 minutes.

Then I realize I have a problem. There I am, sitting with my hands in a bowl of oil, in my armchair, 10 feet from the kitchen sink. If I take my hands out of the oil to carry the bowl, the bowl will either slip, or the oil will drip all over the floor. So here's where my weight lifting comes in handy.

I get up and walk in a squat, with the bowl in my lap, squat walking all the way over to the sink, manage to lift the bowl up (somehow, don't ask me how) to the sink, and pour out the oil, without spilling one drop. I impressed even myself.

Tested my hands on my tongue, still slightly peppery, but definitely much much better than before. Why didn't I wait to take out my contacts? Why oh why?

Poison Control thought the hydrogen peroxide would clear the contacts of the nasty oils overnight. So I put them in in the morning. Uh, no. Practically couldn't get them out because my eyes were screwed shut so hard against the pepper needles pricking them.

Note to self: buy plastic bags or gloves for the next time I take it upon myself to crush up some red peppers.

Have any other ideas to cut down spicy oil?