Coconut Oil & Peanut Butter: New Advances for Alzheimer's

Coconut Oil & Peanut Butter: New Advances for Alzheimer's
Here is an article I think can be helpful. Another good use for coconut oil!

There are only two types of fuel your body can convert into energy: carbs/sugar, or fat. Again, ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy. And a primary source of ketone bodies are the medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) found in coconut oil. In fact, coconut oil contains about 66 percent MCTs.

Medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) are fats that are not processed by your body in the same manner as long-chain triglycerides. Normally, a fat taken into your body must be mixed with bile released from your gallbladder before it can be broken down in your digestive system.

But medium-chain triglycerides go directly to your liver, which naturally converts the oil into ketones, bypassing the bile entirely. Your liver then immediately releases the ketones into your bloodstream where they are transported to your brain to be readily used as fuel.

While your brain is quite happy running on glucose, there’s evidence suggesting that ketone bodies may actually help restore and renew neurons and nerve function in your brain, even after damage has set in. Interestingly, the mechanism of this MCT-ketone metabolism appears to be that your body treats MCTs as a carbohydrate and not a fat.  This allows the ketone energy to hit your bloodstream without the normal insulin spike associated with carbohydrates entering your bloodstream. So in effect, coconut oil is a fat that acts like a carbohydrate when it comes to brain fuel.

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Here is a favorite recipe using coconut:

Chocolate Coconut Balls

1 can coconut milk
shredded coconut (use unsweetened if possible)
coconut oil
coconut butter or Coconut Manna (optional)
vanilla flavored protein powder
chocolate chips (high percentage of cacao)

   Separate the milk from the liquid in the coconut milk can. Use the liquid for another recipe or just drink it. Mix the coconut milk with the coconut and add a little coconut oil and if available coconut butter and protein powder. You may need the protein powder to make the mix thick enough to form into balls. I also add about a tablespoon of stevia to the mixture. Form into balls and refrigerate. If mixture isn't thick enough, you can add more coconut to it before forming into balls. Heat the chocolate chips on very low heat. When melted, add the coconut balls and coat with melted chocolate. Refrigerate. Serve, eat and enjoy.