This link has a six part YouTube video that explains how coconut oil helps with Alzheimer's: https://sites.google.com/site/
This link explains about hypothyroidism and coconut oil (and much more): http://www.naturodoc.com/
This is an excerpt:
General aging, and especially aging of the brain, is increasingly seen as being closely associated with lipid peroxidation.
Several years ago I met an old couple, who were only a few years apart in age, but the wife looked many years younger than her doddering old husband. She was from the Philippines, and she remarked that she always had to cook two meals at the same time, because her husband couldn't adapt to her traditional food. Three times every day, she still prepared her food in coconut oil. Her apparent youth increased my interest in the effects of coconut oil.
In the 1960s, Hartroft and Porta gave an elegant argument for decreasing the ratio of unsaturated oil to saturated oil in the diet (and thus in the tissues). They showed that the "age pigment" is produced in proportion to the ratio of oxidants to antioxidants, multiplied by the ratio of unsaturated oils to saturated oils. More recently, a variety of studies have shown that ultraviolet light induces peroxidation in unsaturated fats, but not saturated fats, and that this occurs in the skin as well as in vitro. Rabbit experiments, and studies of humans, showed that the amount of unsaturated oil in the diet strongly affects the rate at which aged, wrinkled skin develops. The unsaturated fat in the skin is a major target for the aging and carcinogenic effects of ultraviolet light, though not necessarily the only one.
In the 1940s, farmers attempted to use cheap coconut oil for fattening their animals, but they found that it made them lean, active, and hungry. For a few years, an anti-thyroid drug was found to make the livestock get fat while eating less food, but then it was found to be a strong carcinogen, and it also probably produced hypothyroidism in the people who ate the meat. By the late 1940s, it was found that the same anti-thyroid effect, causing animals to get fat without eating much food, could be achieved by using soy beans and corn as feed.
Later, an animal experiment fed diets that were low or high in total fat, and in different groups the fat was provided by pure coconut oil, or a pure unsaturated oil, or by various mixtures of the two oils. At the end of their lives, the animals' obesity increased directly in proportion to the ratio of unsaturated oil to coconut oil in their diet, and was not related to the total amount of fat they had consumed. That is, animals which ate just a little pure unsaturated oil were fat, and animals which ate a lot of coconut oil were lean.
In the 1930s, animals on a diet lacking the unsaturated fatty acids were found to be "hypermetabolic." Eating a "normal" diet, these animals were malnourished, and their skin condition was said to be caused by a "deficiency of essential fatty acids." But other researchers who were studying vitamin B6 recognized the condition as a deficiency of that vitamin. They were able to cause the condition by feeding a fat-free diet, and to cure the condition by feeding a single B vitamin. The hypermetabolic animals simply needed a better diet than the "normal," fat-fed, cancer-prone animals did.
G. W. Crile and his wife found that the metabolic rate of people in Yucatan, where coconut is a staple food, averaged 25% higher than that of people in the United States. In a hot climate, the adaptive tendency is to have a lower metabolic rate, so it is clear that some factor is more than offsetting this expected effect of high environmental temperatures. The people there are lean, and recently it has been observed that the women there have none of the symptoms we commonly associate with menopause.
By 1950, then, it was established that unsaturated fats suppress the metabolic rate, apparently creating hypothyroidism. Over the next few decades, the exact mechanisms of that metabolic damage were studied. Unsaturated fats damage the mitochondria, partly by suppressing the repiratory enzyme, and partly by causing generalized oxidative damage. The more unsaturated the oils are, the more specifically they suppress tissue response to thyroid hormone, and transport of the hormone on the thyroid transport protein.
Plants evolved a variety of toxins designed to protect themselves from "predators," such as grazing animals. Seeds contain a variety of toxins, that seem to be specific for mammalian enzymes, and the seed oils themselves function to block proteolytic digestive enzymes in the stomach. The thyroid hormone is formed in the gland by the action of a proteolytic enzyme, and the unsaturated oils also inhibit that enzyme. Similar proteolytic enzymes involved in clot removal and phagocytosis appear to be similarly inhibited by these oils.
Just as metabolism is "activated" by consumption of coconut oil, which prevents the inhibiting effect of unsaturated oils, other inhibited processes, such as clot removal and phagocytosis, will probably tend to be restored by continuing use of coconut oil.
Brain tissue is very rich in complex forms of fats. The experiment (around 1978) in which pregnant mice were given diets containing either coconut oil or unsaturated oil showed that brain development was superior in the young mice whose mothers ate coconut oil. Because coconut oil supports thyroid function, and thyroid governs brain development, including myelination, the result might simply reflect the difference between normal and hypothyroid individuals. However, in 1980, experimenters demonstrated that young rats fed milk containing soy oil incorporated the oil directly into their brain cells, and had structurally abnormal brain cells as a result. Lipid peroxidation occurs during seizures, and antioxidants such as vitamin E have some anti-seizure activity. Currently, lipid peroxidation is being found to be involved in the nerve cell degeneration of Alzheimer's disease.
Here's an except from another website:
Hypothyroidism is a condition in the body that is caused by a reduction in the levels of the thyroid hormone. The thyroid gland is situated in the neck just below the Adam's apple and it is this gland that produces the thyroid hormone which determines the body's metabolism or the rate at which it burns calories.
Sometimes the thyroid gland may produce a quantity of the thyroid hormone much less than that required by the body to function normally and this results in a slower metabolism which shows physical signs manifesting itself in what most people call the symptoms of hypothyroidism.
Coconut oil acts as a catalyst to the metabolic activities of the body. It not only regulates, but the proper dosage will bring to moderation all the functions necessary to burn energy and consume calories. Coconut oil consumption creates a hormonal balance and raises the stamina and energy and also brings about mood stability.
If coupled with a healthy diet and reduced intake of toxins (such as wheat flour, potatoes, refined sugar and other foods that rate high on the glycemic index) then the results will be immediate and physically noticeable. Not only do the symptoms of hypothyroidism disappear but the body will feel fit and rejuvenated in comparison to the state of lethargy that is generally caused by a low hormonal level.
Coconut oil however should be taken in amounts that are befitting to your age and body structure. Most companies put on their coconut oil packages or cartons, an approximation or a suggestion for dosage and this is indicated with the use of a chart.
From what I've read, a tablespoon a day is sufficient for a child.
Here are some recipes using coconut oil... These are also gluten free.
Coconut Cake
Ingredients
6 eggs
¼ cup coconut oil
¼ cup coconut milk
2 Tablespoons of Agave nector
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon orange /lemon zest
½ cup coconut flour
½ teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
½ teaspoon sea salt
juice of ½ medium orange or lemon or other
Directions
Take your eggs out of your refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt coconut oil. Whisk the eggs, coconut milk, agave, vanilla and orange zest together.
Combine coconut flour, baking powder and sea salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Pour coconut oil into batter and mix until all lumps are gone. Stir well or else the eggs cook together in chunks.
Pour the batter into your greased pan and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean. 30 minutes for my red silicone bunt pan. Probably can cook in toaster oven since it's not tall. Place the cake on a cooling rack.
After the cake has cooled a bit, but is still warm, poke holes all over the top with a fork. Juice the orange /lemon half right over the whole cake, making sure to evenly distribute the juice.
I used cherry juice and it turned out well. It was super moist and a little greasy.
---
Recipe for coconut yogurt:
Coconut Milk Yogurt
3 14-ounce cans coconut milk
1/4 cup good quality commercial plain yogurt (or previous home made batch)
1 tablespoons agave
Candy thermometer
- Bring the coconut milk to ~125 degrees and remove from heat.
- Cover and cool to about 110 degrees. It is very important that you allow the temperature to drop so as not to kill the bacterial culture you are now ready to introduce.
- Remove about one-half cup cooled coconut milk and make a paste with one quarter cup of good quality commercial yogurt. The commercial yogurt you use should be unflavored and unsweetened. You could use a starter but why spend the extra bucks? Commercial yogurt works fine. (The goat milk yogurt at Whole Foods has 10 live bacteria in it, so that would be a good one to use.) You can use your home made yogurt as a starter for your next batch.
- Mix the paste with the remainder of the cooled coconut milk, agave and stir thoroughly.
- Pour milk into any appropriately sized shallow glass, enamel or stainless steel container (I use a Le Creuset pot), cover and let stand for 24 hours at 100-110 degrees up to a maximum of 29 hours. To keep the correct temperature for the culture, I use a 60 watt bulb in my oven and leave the light on. No other heat is needed. Remember, too high a temperature will kill the bacterial culture; too low of a temperature will prevent the activation of bacterial enzymes.
- Remove from oven and refrigerate.
---
Another coconut yogurt recipe from the expert at SCD website
(haven't tried it myself)
Coconut Yogurt Recipe (1st draft)
1.5 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
3 cups water
2 tbsp honey (optional) {Can't use honey for infant, use 1/2 amount of agave}
starter
gelatin (optional)
Simmer coconut, water and honey for 5-15 minutes. Remove from heat,
cool for ~ 5-15 minutes. Place in blender/food processor and
carefully blend the mixture for 10-30 seconds (don't burn yourself!)
Strain coconut milk through a coarse (large)hole mesh strainer/sieve.
Next, run coconut milk through a fine (small) hole mesh strainer/sieve
and ensure that all pulp has been removed. If necessary, run coconut
milk through the strainer lined with a coffee filter or cheesecloth.
Put coconut milk in a pot and heat to ~180°F. Remove from heat and
cool to about room temperature 20-25 °C (64-77 °F).
When cool add starter and place coconut milk in yogurt maker. When
the temperature reaches 100°F, begin timing the yogurt for 8-12 hours.
Five minutes before removing the yogurt from the yogurt maker I
dissolve one packet of gelatin in ~1/8 cup water (or reserved coconut
milk) and then mix this gently into the coconut yogurt. Chill
approximately 8 hours and enjoy.
Notes:
Amount of yogurt starter.
For GiProstart: ~1/8 tsp for 1 quart/1 litre of coconut milk
For thicker coconut milk add extra coconut per amount water (eg. 2
cups coconut to 3 cups water)
I let the coconut yogurt ferment about 10 hours. It does not need to
ferment for 24 hours since there is no lactose. If you use extra
honey you may be able to let it go a little longer but when I let it
run longer than 12 hours I didn't see any noticeable change in the
acidity level so I stick with 2-3 tbsp of honey for ~ 2 cups of
coconut milk.
After the first straining I add fresh water to the coconut pulp,
simmer for 5 minutes then strain this second batch through the
strainers. It is thinner than the first batch, so I don't use it for
coconut yogurt but like to use it when making chai tea. The coconut
pulp is then discarded ( I compost it).
Here's a bunch of recipes using coconut. I haven't tried them all yet. Let me know how they work for you if you do try any.
Coconut Bread
Ingredients
¾ cup sifted Organic Coconut Flour
½ cup Organic Virgin Coconut Oil or butter, melted
6 eggs
2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Method
Blend together eggs, butter, honey and salt. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk thoroughly into batter until there are no lumps. Pour into greased 9x5x3 inch or smaller loaf pan and bake at 175C (350F) for 40 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack.
Pancakes
Ingredients
2 eggs
2 tablespoons Organic Virgin Coconut Oil or butter, melted
2 tablespoons coconut milk or whole milk
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sifted Organic Coconut Flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Method
Blend together eggs, oil, coconut milk, sugar and salt. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and thoroughly mix into batter. Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in a skillet. Spoon batter onto hot skillet making pancakes about 2 ½ to 3 inches in diameter. Batter will be thick, but will flatten out when cooking. Makes about 8 pancakes.
Pecan Pancakes
Make Pancakes as directed above and add ½ cup of chopped pecans.
Blueberry Pancakes
Make Pancakes as directed and, after mixing in the coconut milk, fold in ½ cup of dry fresh blueberries.
Banana Nut Bread
Ingredients
1 ripe banana, mashed
8 eggs
½ cup coconut milk
½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sifted Organic Coconut Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
Method
Blend together mashed banana, eggs, coconut milk, sugar, salt, vanilla and almond extracts. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk thoroughly into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in nuts. Pour into greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan and bake at 175C (350F) for 60 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack.
Honey Muffins
This is a basic coconut flour muffin recipe you can use to make a variety of muffins.
Ingredients
3 eggs
2 tablespoons Organic Virgin Coconut Oil or butter, melted
2 tablespoons coconut milk or whole milk
3 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup sifted Organic Coconut Flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Method
Blend together eggs, butter, coconut milk, honey, salt and vanilla. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and thoroughly mix into batter until there are no lumps. Pour batter into greased muffin cups. Bake at 205C (400F) for 15 minutes. Makes 6 muffins.
Brownies
Ingredients
1/3 cup Organic Virgin Coconut Oil or butter, melted
½ cup cocoa powder
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup sifted Organic Coconut Flour
1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)
Method
In a saucepan at low heat, blend together butter and cocoa powder. Remove from heat and let cool. In a bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in cocoa mixture. Whisk coconut flour into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in nuts. Pour batter into a greased 11x7x2 or 8x8x2 inch pan. Bake at 175C (350F) for 30-35 minutes.
Maple Pecan Cake
Ingredients
½ cup Organic Virgin Coconut Oil or butter, melted
½ cup coconut milk
12 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon maple flavouring
1 cup sifted Organic Coconut Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup pecans, finely chopped
Frosting
Method
Blend together butter, coconut milk, eggs, sugar, salt and maple flavouring. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk into batter until there are no lumps. Pour batter into a greased 11x7x2 inch or 9x9x2 inch pan. Fold nuts into batter. Bake at 175C (350F) for 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted into centre comes out clean. Cool and cover with maple frosting.
Crepes
Ingredients
2 tablespoons sifted Organic Coconut Flour
2 tablespoons Organic Virgin Coconut Oil or butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup whole milk
Method
Blend together eggs, oil, sugar and salt. Thoroughly mix in coconut flour. Stir in coconut milk. Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in a small skillet. Pour a quarter of the batter into the skillet; immediately rotate skillet until a thin even layer of batter covers the bottom of the skillet. Crepe should be about 5 to 6 inches in diameter. Cook until batter is bubbly and cooked around the edges. Turn and cook other side. Cover one side of crepes with your choice of chopped fruits, nuts or jelly. Roll up and sprinkle with powdered sugar or top with whipped cream. Makes 4 crepes.
Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
1/3 cup sifted Organic Coconut Flour
¼ cup Organic Virgin Coconut Oil or butter, melted
4 eggs
¼ cup honey
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Method
Blend together eggs, butter, honey and salt. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk into batter until there are no lumps. Drop batter by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 205 Degree C (400F) for 14 to 15 minutes. Makes 8 biscuits.
Super easy & healthy chocolate frosting or chocolate pie filling:
Chocolate Mousse
Just double the recipe for chocolate pie.
Makes about 2 cups
2 small ripe avocados
1/2 -3/4 C Madhava's Light Agave Nectar
1/4 C raw cocoa powder (or carob if you prefer)
2 T coconut butter or oil
1 T alcohol-free vanilla
dash of sea salt
dash of cinnamon (optional)
Preparation:
Place everything in an emulstion blender or high-powered blender or food processor and blend (on high) until very smooth.
