Coconut oil’s ability to nourish and heal the skin has been known in the tropics for hundreds of years. One need only look to the Philippines to see the first hand evidence of this. Filipinos have been using coconut oil on their skin for generations because they known about its wonderful moisturizing and healing powers. Another interesting thing to consider is that skin cancer in tropical places like the Philippines, where its people are constantly exposed to the sun’s rays year round, is virtually unheard of. This may well be due to their regular use of coconut oil, with its protective qualities.
Most commercial skin care products in the US today are made from polyunsaturated oils, which oxidize and turn rancid very quickly causing free radical damage in the skin. Coconut oil on the other hand has wonderful antioxidant properties that protect the skin from free radical damage. That’s one of the reasons it makes such an excellent skincare ingredient. Of course virgin coconut oil is the purest form and the only one that should be used in formulating skincare products especially lotions and creams.
In addition to its highly moisturizing properties, it also helps to keep connective tissues strong and supple so that the skin doesn’t sag and wrinkle. In some cases it can even restore damaged or diseased skin. The natural oil our bodies produce is called sebum. This oil is very important to skin health because it softens and lubricates the skin and hair and prevents them from drying and cracking. Sebum also contains medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs), in the form of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) that can be released to fight harmful germs.
While coconut oil applied directly to the skin doesn’t have any immediate antimicrobial action, when bacteria, which are always present on the skin, turn the coconut’s triglycerides into free fatty acids, just as it does with sebum, the result is an increase in the number of antimicrobial fatty acids on the skin, which provide protection from infection. By using a coconut oil cream, lotion or just pure coconut oil you can quickly help reestablish the skin’s natural antimicrobial and acid barrier.
Because coconut oil can help reduce chronic skin inflammation within days and be soothing and healing to wounds, blood blisters, rashes, etc., it’s also an excellent ingredient to use in healing salves and ointments.
If you use coconut oil both internally as a nutrient in your diet, and externally as a skin care ingredient you will reap its numerous health benefits!
New year’s is usually a great time to give your bathroom cabinet a makeover. If you didn’t get a chance to do a New Year’s Makeover, it’s not too late to start. You can make it part of your spring-cleaning ritual instead. Start now by taking a closer look at what’s inside your bathroom medicine cabinet as well as what may be lurking under the sink or in an adjacent closet. Even the most seemingly innocuous items can contain a veritable of soup of chemicals that may be doing you more harm than good.
It is truly amazing how the green revolution has changed our lives. We separate our garbage, carpool to work, and even consider buying hybrid cars just to help save Mother Earth. Ironically, many of the everyday household cleaning products we still use are loaded with dangerous chemicals that are anything but environmentally friendly, and potentially quite toxic for us.
Happy Independence Day! I’m off to the annual High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, CA. This is a 4-day, almost non-stop musical event that takes place on the Plumas County Fairgrounds nestled in the beautiful and majestic Sierra mountains of northern California. I love going to this event, not just for the great music it always has but because something happens to me when I’m up in the Sierras surrounded by all those Redwoods. It’s hard to explain, but there’s a feeling of total serenity and contentment that washes over me when I’m up there and it starts during the drive up –when I get to the Feather River Canyon. With its scenic and winding road, it represents the last stretch of the 4+ hour trip and fills me with excitement and anticipation.
In November 2008 and January 2009, TerraChoice (a Market Research firm) sent its researchers into leading ‘big box’ retailers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia with instructions to record every product making an environmental claim. For each product, the researchers recorded product details, claim(s) details, any supporting information, and any explanatory detail or offers of additional information or support.
Most of us (75%) don’t consume enough daily amounts of this vital mineral. But You can address this problem by eating foods naturally high in magnesium like raw almonds and cashews, dates, brown rice, sardines, steamed shrimp, cheddar cheese, and roasted turkey. For a variety of reasons, including foods grown in mineral depleted soils, farming methods that don’t create nutrient-dense produce, and our consumption of processed foods, we simply don’t get enough magnesium in our diets, so taking it in supplement form can really help.
Among all the natural lipids, olive oil has the most similar chemical composition to sebum, which gives it a strong affinity to human skin. Completely safe and easily absorbed, it has exceptional penetrating ability, and is high in well-documented antioxidant properties including tocopherols (vitamin E), beta-carotene (vitamin A), phytosterols, flavonoids (including quercetin and squalene), and phenolic compounds.
