Coconut milk, coconut water, coconut cream and other natural coconut constituents should be consumed daily for weight loss. Now, this doesn't mean you have to go buy one of those brown hairy round balls that sit next to the bananas in your Acme and sledgehammer it open when you get home. The Whole Foods industry is on the same page here, so most health food stores now carry cans of coconut milk.

How does eating coconut help you lose weight? It's the medium chain fatty acids in the coconut oil. Medium chain fatty acids (MCTs) are used in the body for energy, as opposed to long chained fatty acids ((LDTs) from vegetable oils, that are stored as fat. Medium chain fatty acids create "thermogenesis" in the body which increases metabolism and burns energy.

One way to get the "skinny" on how coconut oil creates weight loss is by looking at how it affects animals when given in their feed. The animal feed industry has known about this for years.

The livestock industry always liked fat pigs for good taste, and fed them foods to fatten them up. When lard was a household staple, feeding pigs polyunsaturated fats, like soybean and corn oil before slaughter fattened these guys up. These fats are long chained fatty acids. Today, now that 'thin is in' and low fat meats are more desirable, there's a way to feed the pigs to keep them lean. According to the Department of Animal Science of 

North Carolina State University, feeding pigs the good fats (saturated) such as coconut oil, helps produce lean pigs.

You can buy coconut milk at health food stores, but if you want it fairly inexpensively, try your Asian markets. Make sure you are getting pure coconut milk without sugar or any additives. In the health food stores the cost of a can runs about $1.79. In the Asian markets its about 79 cents.

You can make the most delicious shakes with coconut milk. This would also be a good choice if you want low sugar non-dairy milks. Rice and almond milks are high glycemics, and soymilk is not the best choice either.

Here is a fabulous recipe for a most delicious shake - and you can use your therapeutic grade essential oil of orange to flavor it up: