As per Nicole's suggestion, here is a recipe of vegan brownies that uses coconut oil. I adapted it from http://www.veganbaking.net/recipes/brownies-and-bars/brownies/ultimate-brownies

To make the recipe more healthy, instead of all-purpose flour I used whole wheat flour and instead of vegan butter I used coconut oil. Also, half of the sugar I used was organic coconut palm sugar. I omitted the espresso powder.

The previous time I made these I used coconut butter and there was a slight difference in flavor and texture: coconut oil gives a less strong coconut flavor to the brownies, but makes the consistency softer, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a good idea to let the brownies cool completely as it says in the recipe, which will make the consistency firmer. I was too eager and tried them straight from the oven and found the brownies very soft.

I have experimented with making baked goods more healthy and it is often very difficult to do that and maintain the same delicious flavor. With this recipe I was able to use whole wheat flour and coconut sugar without diminishing the deliciousness of the brownies. I acknowledge that it is nice to have something sweet sometimes and I think that this recipe is one that will be as close to a healthy treat as you can get! These brownies contain flax seed with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, whole wheat flour with fiber and B-vitamins, coconut oil with medium chain fatty acids and antioxidants, and cocoa powder with antioxidants and fiber. There is no cholesterol or animal fats. They do contain white sugar, but by using coconut sugar, I was able to decrease it by half. So good!

Thanks, Nicole for the suggestion!

If you have recipes that use coconut oil, please share with us!

Love,

Anna-Kaisa

Berkeley and Coconut

I have just finished my first semester at Berkeley and I must say it has been very exciting, yet tough (which explains the absence of new posts). Transitioning from the small classroom setting and the “easy” pace of the community college to large lecture halls and mountains of material to memorize was challenging and somewhat stressful. Still, I really enjoyed my time at Berkeley and can’t wait to take more classes soon!

One of the great things about Berkeley is that now my classes have been more directly about nutrition. I was excited to learn about a number of metabolic pathways in the body and for instance how the B-vitamins work in energy production. It is great to understand the workings of the body and not just accept information as facts as I have had to so far. I also had the opportunity to research coconut oil for one of my classes and I would like to share some of my findings here.

Non-scientific Internet articles boast that coconut oil has quite a few positive effects on the body. While it is good to take these kinds of big promises with a grain of salt, in this case at least there is truth to them. Scientific evidence shows that virgin coconut oil may help weight loss as its medium chain fatty acids are not deposited into adipose tissue like long chain fatty acids are (these are found in most other oils and fats, eg. soy bean oil, canola oil etc). Also, virgin coconut oil may reduce inflammation and have antioxidant effects, both of which help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. And these are just a few examples.

I, as many others, have long been under the impression that saturated fat is bad for you, no matter what its source. Most of the fatty acids in coconut oil are saturated, and so I was surprised to find that coconut oil has these very different health effects. However, these results pertain to virgin coconut oil, not highly processed coconut oil, which is often called copra oil. Coconut oil was indeed long believed to be very bad for you and many experiments reflected this fact – then all of a sudden, coconut oil experiments started yielding positive results. It seems to me that the distinction between virgin coconut oil and copra oil is what caused the change. Probably the coconut oil that was used in the past was the copra oil form of coconut oil, not virgin coconut oil, and as soon as scientists began to make the distinction, results also started to shift.

Impressed by virgin coconut oil’s health benefits, I decided to try it myself. I now add it to my oatmeal every morning and find it very delicious. If you’d like to try coconut oil, it is best to buy organic virgin coconut oil. Health food stores sell it and I noticed that Trader Joe’s carries it too. When it comes to weight loss benefits, coconut oil is something to use as a substitute, not necessarily as an addition, as it still contains plenty of calories. You might try to use it in cooking partly substituting some other oil for example.

I hope you enjoyed the post, please let me know if you have questions about anything at all!

Wishing you success and wellbeing for the New Year 2015!

Anna-Kaisa

References

Basic Report:  04047, Oil, coconut. United States Department of Agriculture. National Nutrient Database. http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/636?fg=&man=&lfacet=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=&qlookup=coconut Accessed October 25, 2014

Jaarin K, Norliana M, Kamisah Y, Nursyafiza M, Saad Qodriyah H. M. Potential Role of Virgin Coconut Oil in Reducing Cardiovascular Risk Factors. Exp Clin Cardiol. 2014Vol 20 Issue 8:3399-3410. http://cardiologyacademicpress.com/soap/pdf/delme_2111_53e5509713a294.54422935.pdf Accessed October 26, 2014.

Nevin K G, Rajamohan T. Influence of virgin coconut oil on blood coagulation factors, lipid levels and LDL oxidation in cholesterol fed Spraguee Dawley rats. e-SPEN. 2008;3:1:e1–e8. DOI: 10.1016/j.eclnm.2007.09.003

Granholma A-C, Bimonte-Nelson H A, Moore A B, Nelson M E, Freeman L R, Sambamurtia K. Effects of a Saturated Fat and High Cholesterol Diet on Memory and Hippocampal Morphology in the Middle-Aged Rat. J Alzheimers Dis. 2008; 14(2): 133–145. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2670571/ Accessed October 26, 2014

Nagao K, Teruyoshi Y. Medium-chain fatty acids: Functional lipids for the prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome. Pharmacological Research. 2010; 61:208–212. http://www.meltorganic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Medium-chain-fatty-acids-Functional-lipids-for-the-prevention-and-treatment-of-the-metabolic-syndrome.pdf 

Marten B, Pfeuffer M, Schrezenmeir J. Review: Medium-chain triglycerides. Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry of Nutrition, Federal Research Centre of Nutrition and Food, International Dairy Journal. 2006;16:1374–1382. DOI: 10.1016/j.idairyj.2006.06.015 

Hamsi M A, Othman F, Das S, Kamisah Y, Thent Z C, Saad Qodriyah H M, Zakaria Z, Emran A, Subermaniam K, Jaarin K. Effect of consumption of fresh and heated virgin coconut oil on the blood pressure and inflammatory biomarkers: An experimental study in Sprague Dawley rats. Alexandria Journal of Medicine. 2014; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajme.2014.02.002