I don’t know about you, but I use coconut oil ALOT. It’s great for desserts (hello coconut + cacao!) cooking, smoothies, soups, as a moisturizer, to remove make-up and who knows what else. Since I’ve started cooking more following Nourishing Traditions and the Paleo way, I just love using it to stir fry with ginger and garlic – easy and Thai-licious! It can be used in high-temperature cooking without creating mutant (eek!) fatty acids like other oils. I also LOVE to slather it all over my body. In winter, I blend it with shea butter for a thick, decadent body buttah. Here is a clip of my coconut oil shea butter moisturizer recipe that I whipped up with my smart-alecky “assistant.”

Coconut oil (or butter as it’s often referred to when solid below 78F degrees) is a saturated fat but unlike long-chain animal fats that come from animal products, coconut oil is medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) – a fat with smaller molecules that require less energy and fewer enzymes to break them down for digestion. Some of the benefits of coconut oil:

1. Does not oxidize
2. High in antioxidants
3. Very beneficial for the skin

The Coconut Showdown!

If you think coconut oil is coconut oil is coconut oil, you are sadly mistaken my friend. Over the course of the years, I’ve noticed a DEFINITE difference in the characteristics of different oil brands. Some are creamy, some are grainy. Some smell very coconutty and some have a slight aroma. Some I love to lick off the spoon and some are just too waxy. So when Tropical Traditions sent me a sample of their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil, I decided take into the test kitchen and conduct an “official” taste comparison.

The line-up of usual suspects are all organic brands that I’ve tried listed in alphabetical order. (Do most people have 3 jars in their home or is that just me? LOL. Would have been four, but I just finished my Nutiva jar last week.) I’ve included the method of extraction, packaging, aroma and price in the comparision below.

My Coco Line-Up (Nutiva's M.I.A.)

Nutiva

• Method – cold pressed within 2 hours of chopping
• Packaging – plastic jar
• Coconutty Aroma – medium
• 29 ounce $14.49 ($.50/ounce)

Raw Food World
(Disclosure: I am an affiliate for The Raw Food World)

• Method – centrifuged
• Packaging – glass jar
• Coconutty Aroma – mild
• 16 ounces $14.95 ($.94/oz)

Sunfood
(Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Sunfood)

• Method – dried and cold pressed
• Packaging – amber glass
• Coconutty Aroma – strong
• 24 ounces $29.95 ($1.25/oz)

Tropical Traditions

• Method – traditional methods of grating & extraction
• Packaging -  glass jar
• Coconutty Aroma – mild
• 1 Quart – $27.50 ($.86/ounce)

So which one fared the best? Find out in my next post. But in the meantime, let me know if YOU have a fave coconut oil.

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If you missed the deadline for the awesome Real Time Physique Transformation contest, well you’re out of luck. But I just got an e-mail from Precision Nutrition and they are about to start up another Lean Eating Program with $20,000 in prize money – cha ching!!

I think the Precision Nutrition (PN) program is very sound and Dr.  John Berardi is tops in his field. He’s the author of The Metabolic Advantage. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s worth a read. If you’re a raw foodist, than PN is not for you. But if your vegetarian, PN can be adapted to your lifestyle to help you lose weight if that’s your goal. It’s probably best for people who currently know they are eating a crappy diet and want to transition and learn more about nutrition and get super fit steadily in a maintainable way for life.

The Lean Program incorporates the PN guidelines but includes 6 months of world class coaching including nutrition AND fitness. It’s kind of a tailor-made personal training program with some of the top professionals in the field AND if you achieve the best body transformation, you’ll win $10K. Wow! Being in awesome shape is motivating enough, but add $10K to sweeten the pot and it’s over the top! (Hmmm…imagining where I could travel with that kind of change.)

A year ago, I would have considered joining in when I had 20+lbs to lose but right now, I don’t think my transformation would be dramatic enough to win, but maybe you’ll want to give it a shot. Registration opens May 26th and because it’s tailormade training, spaces are limited. Here’s my link if you want more info: PN Lean Eating $10K Challenge. Please let me know if you enter. I would LOVE to hear about your experience over the course of the 6 months training.

Speaking of fitness I wish I had bought a TRX before I left Oz. It would have been so sweet to be able to fit in some workouts here in Bali. I do it miss it when I don’t work out regularly. I’m walking everywhere and taking yoga classes, but miss the strength training. I just read a blog post from TRX fitness and they just attached it to tree and go, go, go! Bet that would get some stares outdoors here in Ubud. LOL. But I have a perfect beam in my room that would have worked out great to swing on.

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My sisters and I are having a ‘valuable treasures’ (aka garage) sale this weekend, so I spent most of the day cleaning out my garage. What a workout! I can’t believe how much stuff I threw into boxes and piled into my garage right before I left for Arizona 2 years ago. Tons of junk and it all falls into one of three categories:
1) Wow! I forgot I had this. Cool!
2) Why on earth did I pack and save this!?!
3) Can’t believe I spent hard-earned money on this.

I’ve only owned this condo for 4 years but you would think it was more like decades by the amount of accumulation. I’m going through everything with a vengeance and tossing out or selling 99% of it. I want to downsize my life to the point that all I own can fit into two suitcases. That would be nice!

On the shredding front things have been great. Still doing Warp Speed Fat Loss weight-training (loving it!) plus 4 athletic conditioning classes per week (brutal!) and yoga. I’m focusing more on weights and functional exercise. I really love the athletic conditioning because it raises my heart rate like crazy and makes me sweat! I can feel my upper body and abs getting stronger thanks to the the medicine balls and kettlebells. I dread the class when it starts, but I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot in the end.

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I’m currently reading a book called The Nutrition Solution: A Guide to Your Metabolic Type. The theory behind it is interesting and seems to make sense.

Metabolic Typing is a fusion of two systems of metabolic analysis: the Oxidative (or energy generating) and the Autonomic (or energy regulating). The basic premise is that one or the other of these two systems (the Oxidative or the Autonomic) will be more dominant in controlling a person’s metabolism. Metabolic Typing seeks to identify: 1) which system is dominant in any individual; and 2) which of two sub-types within that system characterizes the individual (Fast or Slow Oxidizer within the Oxidative system, and Sympathetic or Parasympathetic within the Autonomic system).

The reason that it is important to know the dominance system is that foods have opposite pH effects in members of the two dominance systems; e.g. foods that acidify the two Oxidizers (Fast or Slow Oxidizers) will typically alkalize the two Autonomics (Sympathetics or Parasympathetics), and vice versa. Acidifying the Oxidizers is desirable for the overly alkaline Slow Oxidizer, but contraindicated for the overly acid Fast Oxidizer. Conversely, alkalizing the Autonomics is desirable for the overly acid Sympathetic, but undesirable for the overly alkaline Parasympathetic. – The Nutrition Solution

I’ve tried taking self-test questionnaires but I’m never quite sure if the result is accurate. On the author’s website Bloodph.com, he offer a a self-test kit with include taking simple blood sugar readings (with an enclosed glucometer), checking your respiration rate and breath holding capacity, measuring urine and saliva pH and asking yourself a series of questions. Then you mail it in and get a custom analysis and diet. Interesting. I just completed this metabolic typing questionnaire on another website and I think I’m a slow oxidizer. Does anyone have an opinion on metabolic typing?

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Thanks to a tip from Michael: The Fat Burning Machine Blog, I went to the Kingsley Institute this morning to have some diagnostic tests performed and a consultation with a nutritionist. Unfortunately, the tests weren’t as comprehensive as Michael or Bec’s. They measured my height, weight, bodyfat and 30 minute resting metabolism – no moving test.

After filling out a ton of forms, I then met with the nutritionist. This sessions was mostly a recounting of my past and current eating habits and physical, mental and emotional attachments to food including mood eating and body image. I also gave her a rundown of what I typically eat in a day, when and how often I exercise and what my exercise entails. Next week, I go back for the full results of my tests and a customized diet.

From my discussion with the nutritionist thus far, my expectations aren’t very high. I did get her to reluctantly divulge my RMR in advance and it’s 1,279 calories per day which is roughly what all the formulas I’ve ever tried say it should be. Yet she insisted, my resting metabolism is impaired and needs to be brought up. Frankly, I was quite pleased because with all my wacky yo-yo dieting last year and 30lbs lost, I thought my metabolism was shot at around 1,000 calories or less, so I’m glad to hear it’s close to where it should be for my height, weight and age. So I’m roughly burning 12 calories per pound of bodyweight – maybe I did put some muscle on after all. I’ll be curious to hear the rest of the test results including my bodyfat (hoping for 17% or lower) and lean muscle percentages.

On the workout front, I just found out my gym will be closed for a week starting Monday! So now I don’t know what to do about my 4-week Warp Speed Fat Loss program. I really wanted to get a clean 100% compliance with the exercise plan. On the nutrition front, it’s nearly impossible to meet the specific WSFL ratios and calorie counts with a high raw food diet, but I’m trying to match the plan as best I can and estimate my compliance on the nutrition side to be around 85-90%.

So what do you think I should do about Warp Speed? Should I do TT Bodyweight exercise or Crossfit classes and yoga while my gym is closed and re-start Warp Speed yet again in a week? I don’t know what else to do if I really want a to monitor 100% on the WSFL exercise. I’m also thinking I can put together a raw food plan in the meantime that comes closer to the macronutrient ratios that WSFL calls for. What to do…

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