Eating Coconut Oil: Pros and Cons

Although many have eulogized it as the healthiest food on earth, eating coconut oil does have its cons besides the pros.

So, do not get shocked with your mouth open when you discover the cons of ingesting coconut oil later on.

Learn to accept and embrace the cons like you would to the pros. Doing so can help you better consume coconut oil in a way that will only produce positive outcome.

Pros of Eating Coconut Oil

Well, the benefits of eating coconut oil are many. But I’ll just bring up some of its pros that are more useful to you.

1. Taking coconut oil is good for your heart health because its predominant saturated fats can impair free-radical reactions. This can help to greatly reduce inflammation that kicks off atherosclerosis. In short, coconut oil does not clog arteries.

2. Coconut oil also has medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) that can easily permeate cell membranes without insulin. This means that you no longer have to suffer from low energy levels due to inadequate glucose uptake. This particularly benefits the diabetics.

3. MCFAs help to boost metabolism too. If you’re dying to get rid of excess fat, this weight loss benefit of eating coconut oil is something you won’t want to miss.

4. Got constipation? Yes, eating coconut oil straight from the jar can easily loosen your bowels. It has helped many to relieve their constipation.

5. When you’re down with flu, you’re better off ingesting coconut oil than taking medications. Coconut oil possesses very powerful antimicrobial properties. Another great benefit added to the pros of eating coconut oil.

Cons of Eating Coconut Oil

Consuming coconut oil can benefit you in many ways, but you may have to suffer the adverse effects (the cons) if you’re not careful.

Especially if you’re new, you tend to be more “vulnerable” to the bad side effects of coconut oil.

For example, coconut oil is good for constipation as said earlier. But if you consume too much out of desperation, it can have a reverse effect (diarrhea) on you.

Another common “drawback” of ingesting too much coconut oil is getting some symptoms of Candida die-off.

Yes, coconut oil is good at killing Candida yeast. But the die-off symptoms (such as a severe skin breakout) can make you cry for help too.

To uphold the pros while minimizing the cons of eating coconut oil, you should always start off with consuming just a teaspoon per day. And keep it that way for at least 3–5 days before you increase your intake to say, 2 teaspoons per day.

You should always build up your coconut oil intake gradually until your body can accept 3 or 4 tablespoons daily. This is the safe amount of coconut oil for daily consumption for health benefits.