The Coconut Diet: The Secret Ingredient for Effortless Weight Loss. Cherie Calbom

body’s primary way of getting rid of sugar is to burn it. What your body can’t burn, it will store as glycogen. When glycogen stores are filled up, then it will get stored as fat.

      “Sugar is a turbo charger—a very hot burning fuel,” says Dr. Ron Rosedale. When you eat a lot of carbohydrates, and particularly simple carbs, your body will convert it quickly to sugar and burn it, and it will stop burning fat.¹ (This is the reason low carb diets are so effective—they promote fat burning.)

      With an emphasis on lots of carb servings every day, our bodies may not get around to fat burning at all. For instance, start the morning with a bowl of cornflakes, one-half cup skim milk, a small banana, and a glass of orange juice. How about a bran muffin for coffee break—that’s healthy right? Maybe you choose a sandwich with no mayo for lunch. How about pasta primavera and garlic bread for dinner? And you could end the day with a bowl of plain popcorn for an evening snack.

      This looks like a healthy-choice, low fat kind-of-day to many people across the U.S., but when we add up the carbs, it comes to over 200 grams. Guidelines for carbs on many low-carb weight-loss programs are usually around 30 grams per day. A bran muffin alone has about 28 carb grams.

      Is it any wonder that many people can’t lose weight, have blood sugar problems, and experience insulin resistance? Their entire day is filled with one high-carb meal after another, and blood sugar that is bouncing around like a yo-yo.

      As you maintain satisfactory blood glucose and insulin levels, the body will not easily store excess carbohydrates as fat, and it will burn existing fat stores faster. As you follow a healthful, low-carb food plan such as The Coconut Diet, you can achieve permanent fat loss and build more lean muscle.

       I have been taking a tablespoon of coconut oil three times daily with meals. Taking the oil with my meals seems to give me a “full feeling” a lot faster. My sweet tooth has practically vanished—and this is from someone who should have bought stock in Hersheys long ago! Ironically, facilitating weight loss was my main reason for trying the coconut oil diet, but with all the wonderful benefits I am experiencing, the weight loss aspect almost seems like an afterthought.

       About three days into the routine, I had an energy rush on a Saturday morning that kept me going until well after lunch. I can’t believe how much I got done that day! My mental state of mind seemed to be much sharper. I was able to focus on the tasks at hand without getting sidetracked. I was not exhausted at the end of running my errands, which included traipsing around a huge mall. It seemed like I was practically running, rather than the leisurely walking that was formerly my habit. In addition to my energy level, my mood has been very stable—no up and down mood swings—even with the onset of PMS!

       My husband commented yesterday on how soft and silky my skin felt, and I have not used any lotion since I started taking the oil. This program also seems to have given my libido a jumpstart.

       Theresa

       Complex Carbohydrates: The Good Ones

      The complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides) are condensed into molecules of starch, glycogen and cellulose. Starch molecules are rather large; a single starch molecule may contain 3,000 or more glucose units linked together. Starch is the stored form of glucose in a plant. Potatoes, rice and other grains, corn, and legumes are examples of starch. Glycogen is more complex than starch and is found in animal meats, to a limited extent. Cellulose is found primarily in plants and has long, branching chains that are not digestible by human enzymes. Cellulose is also known as insoluble fiber and it is very important in human nutrition, especially for colon health.

      Most plant foods have fiber and an abundance of nutrients particularly the brightly colored vegetables, fruit, sprouts, legumes, herbs, and sea vegetables. These are powerhouses of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytochemicals, and fiber. Even on a carb-restricted diet, we can eat large amounts of most vegetables, salad greens, and sprouts and never feel deprived, while maintaining a low-carb intake. The high-fiber content of these foods slows down the rate that sugars enter the bloodstream, thereby lowering insulin secretion. These vegetables, sprouts, herbs, and salad greens will be your primary source of carbohydrates during the first three weeks of the Coconut Diet.

      A few vegetables and fruits such as potatoes, parsnips, watermelon, pineapple, and bananas are not good-carb choices because they are higher on the Glycemic Index; they should be avoided especially in Phases I and II.

       Sweeteners: The Good, the Bad, and the Dangerous

      Sweeteners, no matter what we call them, are still sugars. Very few sugars are actually good for us such as fructooligosaccharides and other essential saccharides. But these sugars are rarely, if ever, found in snacks and treats; they are mostly used for medicinal purposes.

      Most natural sweeteners such as honey and pure maple sugar are a little better than refined sugars, in that they have some nutrients and they aren’t bleached and refined, however, they are not healthful in the quantities consumed by the average person. And some sweeteners, namely artificial, can even be dangerous.

      Sugar may have many detrimental effects on the body. One is suppression of the immune system. Here’s how it works: vitamin C has a similar structure to glucose and they compete with one another. In the 1970s, scientists found that vitamin C was needed by white blood cells so they could phagocytize (engulf and digest) bacteria and viruses. White blood cells require about fifty times more vitamin C on the inside as the outside and sugar completes with vitamin C for entry into white blood cells.²

      Sugars can also contribute to a condition known as candidiasis (overgrowth of yeasts known as Candida albicans). A diet rich in carbohydrates stimulates yeast growth. When we eat sweets and other simple carbs, we feed the yeast in our digestive tract, which can cause them to multiply rapidly. Weight gain and a host of illnesses and adverse symptoms are attributed to candidiasis.

      If you crave sweets, breads, potatoes, or any other form of carbs, we suggest you fill out the Candida Questionnaire to help determine if you have an overgrowth of yeast in your body. Unless you deal with yeasts, you may never be able to lose the weight you want. The late Dr. Robert C. Atkins said that about 20 percent of the people on the Atkins Diet would not be able to lose weight because of yeasts.³

      Overeating sugar can also lead to insulin resistance, which contributes to weight gain and a host of physical ailments including autoimmune disorders such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis, some forms of cancer, candidiasis, celiac disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, Type II diabetes, digestive disorders, heart disease, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, infertility, obesity, panic and anxiety attacks, hypoglycemia, and polycystic ovarian syndrome.

       I consider Candida albicans a blessing, actually, because it was the only thing that motivated me to go off sugar and [onto] a low-carb diet. In the process, I lost 100 pounds!

       Marie

       Natural Sweeteners

      There are only a few natural sweeteners that we recommend for the Coconut Diet, and in very small quantities. But keep in mind that a sweet taste could possibly trigger an insulin response because your body may be conditioned to produce excess insulin no matter what the sweetener of choice and if it has been doing this for a while, you may be insulin resistant. Therefore, we recommend that in the first three weeks of the diet you avoid all sweeteners as much as possible to give your body a chance to restore insulin sensitivity.

       THE LOWER-CARB NATURAL SWEETENERS

       Birch sugar (xylitol) is a sugar alcohol. The healthiest xylitol is derived from birch bark. It has fewer calories than sugar with about the same sweetness. It has not been shown to promote tooth decay, and it is metabolized slowly, which helps prevent the sugar “highs”