Weight Loss Secrets of the Tropics

Healthy, trim, energetic, and alive! That's what you can be when you make The Coconut Diet your weight loss secret.With coconut oil, you can watch the pounds melt away. This secret ingredient has promoted great weight loss success for many, many people. You'll learn what makes coconut oil a fast-burning fat and how that increases metabolism and promotes weight loss. You'll hear from scores of people who have lost weight-for many, lots of weight-and health problems, too. Most important, you'll experience a diet that works. Coconut oil received very bad press several decades ago. You'll learn why that was completely unfounded. But first I'd like to tell you how people have eaten in tropical, coconut-growing countries for centuries.You may be surprised to learn that a high-saturated-fat diet is the reason why most tropical islanders remain trim and healthy all their lives when they stick to eating their traditional foods rich in coconut oil.

COCONUT: A DIETARY STAPLE IN THE TROPICS

In tropical cultures where coconut is often a staple in the diet and traditional foods the local fare, one can find a preponderance of healthy, trim people, even though their diet is high in calories and fat-particularly saturated fat from coconut oil.

Prior to World War II (and for several decades afterward), people who ate traditional foods in countries such as the Philippines were rarely sick or overweight. The diet in most communities consisted mainly of rice, coconuts, vegetables, root crops (especially garlic and ginger), herbs, and meat that was raised locally. Many people ground their own rice by hand, leaving intact most of the bran and nutrients. Food processing changed following World War II. Rice mills replaced the need to hand-mill rice. These first mills were “crude” and did not polish the rice; thus people still ate healthy high-fiber grains. Later, the mills became more sophisticated and polished the rice, making it bright white, stripped of the bran and most of the nutrients.

The food consumed prior to World War II would be considered “organic” by today's standards. People had no access to chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The animals, such as chickens, cows, and goats, all grazed on natural green vegetation.

Coconut and coconut oil were used daily. The usual diet was quite high in fat-the saturated fat from the coconut. Many people made their coconut oil by hand using either the traditional boiling or fermentation method. For many Filipinos and other inhabitants of the tropics, the traditional method of making coconut oil fell out of vogue after World War II. Coconut plants and coconut oil mills were established for the booming baking industry in the United States. Refined coconut oil made its way into the local economy. Though some still made coconut oil the “old-fashioned” way, many people chose to buy the cheaper, odorless, refined coconut oil, which was readily available in the marketplace. But even the refined coconut oil made from copra (dried coconut meat) was done through a mechanical pressing that did not use solvents (chemicals).

Pharmaceuticals were introduced in the Philippines and other tropical countries after World War II, but people in many rural communities could not afford them. They had their own traditions of dealing with sicknesses using local herbs and coconut oil. When people did visit the doctor, which was rare, it was usually not for the ailments that plague Westerners today such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and thyroid problems. These illnesses were virtually un known prior to the 1980s, when Western foods began to saturate the market. People visited the doctor to treat wounds or because of sicknesses common in the tropics, such as malaria, dengue (tropical diseases transmitted by mosquitoes), and diarrhea.

Since entering menopause, my body really changed and I developed fat on my belly, the underside of my arms, my chin- all kinds of places that I never had fat before. I dieted and dieted. I always ate low-fat and low-calorie foods and never really lost any weight until I tried low-carb dieting with coconut oil. There are many low-carb diets but this is the only one that has worked for me. I eat all the fat [virgin coconut oil] I want and I don't worry about it. I now have only 10 pounds to go to be where I was in college. The virgin coconut oil has also been very good for my skin. I know that exercise and virgin coconut oil will help me get rid of the last 10 pounds. -Laurel

This picture of life in rural tropical communities is typical for those who grew up in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s (and before) eating traditional foods with an abundance of saturated fat from coconut oil. Sadly, this way of life is no longer the norm. Beginning in the mid-1970s, demand for coconut oil dropped so low that most coconut farmers could no longer afford to support their families on the income of coconut harvests. Many people left their farms and moved to the cities to find better employment, where they adopted Western-style diets.

Cheaper, mass-produced foods have replaced most of the local traditional fare people used to raise themselves. Snack foods and other fast foods made with hydrogenated coconut oil, which keeps them solid at sweltering tropical temperatures, made their way onto store shelves. Polished rice grown with chemical fertilizers is now a staple. Soft drinks loaded with refined sugars and chemicals are found on nearly every street corner. These drinks have replaced the natural buko juice-water from the inside of the coconuts-that earlier generations enjoyed. Even the coconut water drinks, once natural and healthy, are now loaded with refined sugar. The traditional high-fat, low-refined-carbohydrate diet has been replaced with many refined, high-carb substitutes.

In the 1950s it was very rare to see anyone in the tropics who was considered overweight, and almost never did people see someone who was considered obese. Since traditional diets have changed in these countries and coconut oil has been exchanged for refined oils, weight problems and diseases are on the rise.

Researchers have discovered that cultures that make coconut oil part of their daily diet enjoy great health. Research on the benefits of coconut oil also suggests that by making this oil part of your daily diet, you can also experience the weight management and health benefits long enjoyed by people of the tropics. In the pages that follow you will find a preponderance of research and supporting evidence as to why coconut oil is such a weight loss wonder.

Tags: Diets and Weight Loss

About the Author

Cherie Calbom is known to millions of fans as "The Juice Lady," and her infomercials are world-renowned. A registered nutritionist, Cherie Calbom has become one of America's foremost celebrity experts on "drinking your vitamins." Her previous books, Juicing for High Level Wellness and Vibrant Good Looks (Crown, 1999), and Juice Lady's Guide to Juicing for Life (Avery, 1992).