The Benefits of Coconut Oil

By Eve Pearce

Totally Devoted’s range of cookies contains so many wonderful, natural ingredients that it’s hard to pick out just one. However, given the multiple benefits offered by coconut oil, it’s worth highlighting how this key element in each of our cookies can help support your health and wellbeing; both inside and out!

What is coconut oil?

Coconut oil is extracted from matured coconuts and is used widely in foods, medicines and soaps. In terms of its nutritional qualities, coconut oil is rich in a medium-chain triglyceride called lauric acid, which is a particular type of fatty acid. Incidentally, this is also found in mother’s breast milk, which makes it a great addition to our feeding cookie. It is also dairy and wheat free and suitable for vegans, for whom it provides a great, sweet-tasting cooking ingredient. While coconut oil is a saturated fat, rest assured that it’s not one of the bad guys. Indeed, much of the negativity that once surrounded coconut oil has been disproved and it is actually now widely advocated as a healthier alternative to other types of saturated fats, such as butter. This is because medium-chain fatty acids are usually quickly burned as energy rather than being stored as fat like their long-chain counterparts. In fact, you’ll now find it on the shelves of many health food stores, as people are increasingly discovering its versatility. Added to this is the fact it offers a whole host of valuable health benefits.

[Image of coconut – the oil extracted has a host of health benefits]

Everyday health benefits

Saturated fats are essential to support the growth and development of babies and young children. Lauric acid is only available to babies through mother’s milk, so by boosting your own levels, you’re also boosting your baby’s intake. Once in the body, lauric acid is converted to monolaurin, which has powerful antifungal, antiviral and anti-microbial properties. This provides essential support to young immune systems, which are still in the process of developing. Medium-chain fatty acids are also easily absorbed by the body, providing babies with an important energy supply.

As well as these great health benefits, coconut oil is also a centuries-old beauty product! In particular, it’s great for the skin and hair. Because it is easily absorbed into the body, it provides excellent nourishment and protection from the ageing effect of those nasty free radicals. Its benefits are so widely appreciated that I’ll bet if you take a look at the ingredients in any of your favourite hair treatments and body lotions, you’ll find coconut oil listed. By enjoying our range of cookies, you can reap these benefits at a time in your life when you may be especially in need of a little pampering.

Additional benefits

Beyond day-to-day health, coconut oil may also have a role to play in brain health. Indeed, there is evidence suggesting it can even improve some serious degenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease. Again, this is due to the high lauric acid content of coconut oil, which is processed by the body to make something called ketone bodies. Our brain uses these ketone bodies as fuel when its main source, glucose, is not available. With some conditions, the brain becomes unable to use glucose as its regular fuel supply, which is where the ketone bodies come into play. This fuel theory also extends to treating and controlling epilepsy by reducing seizures. In this context, it can complement something called a ketogenic diet, which is high in fats and low in carbohydrates. By forcing the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates, glucose levels drop and the level of ketone bodies increase, leading to a reduction in epileptic seizures.

Of course, these are extreme examples of how coconut oil can be utilized, but anything that promotes brain health has got to be worth knowing about. While many of us are concerned about looking after our body’s health, often the brain is overlooked; maybe because we think about loss of brain function as something we only need to face in our senior years. However, given the fact the brain is at the heart of everything we do, it’s a good idea feed it things it loves; such as our great new clever cookie, which, of course, is made with coconut oil!

Keeping healthy the easy way

Looking after your health is important throughout your life, but there are certain times when it should be the number one priority. With our great range of cookies, you can be sure you’re getting a delicious treat filled with ingredients that are specifically included to help you take care of your health and that of your family during these key times. Our use of coconut oil is a great example of this; providing an easy and tasty way to include it in your family’s diet. 

The benefits of a natural diet

By Eve Pearce

On the surface, it seems pretty easy to ensure both you and your family eat a healthy diet by simply cutting down on products containing high levels of fats, salt and sugars. But, in reality, foods marketed as healthy options can often contain many unnatural and decidedly unhealthy ingredients added to make up for what’s missing. Look at a label for a low-fat, processed product, for example, and you’ll likely find a high sugar or salt content to boost the flavour appeal. When looking to improve your family’s health and overall nutrition, therefore, it is important to choose foods that contain natural ingredients, rather than foods that just substitute one unhealthy element for another.

The importance of variety

Traditionally, diets that omit excess fats, sugars and processed ingredients were pretty uninspiring. Fortunately, the days of endless salads and steamed vegetables are long gone! Today, there are many tasty, natural foods available that offer plenty of variety for adults and children alike. For example, snacking can be a particularly problematic area for people looking to eat a healthy, natural diet. Most snack foods, such as cookies, are usually the first thing to go when trying to cut out fats and excess sugars. However, the Totally Devoted range of cookies taste great and contain plenty of natural ingredients that can provide health benefits for mums-to-be and the whole family. With natural ingredients, such as oats, linseeds and coconut oil, you can snack away with a clear conscience! 

The value of everyday changes 

Improving your diet doesn't necessarily mean making drastic, expensive changes. Often, it's just a matter of being aware of what has gone into the foods you already enjoy and finding natural alternatives. For example, protein is an essential element in any diet, as it provides energy and helps repair tissue, but some sources of protein are far from healthy, as they contain added fats and sugars. Therefore, when looking to boost your protein intake, stick to natural sources that can be easily incorporated into your diet. For example, you can sprinkle natural whey powder on to your morning oat bran, or blend it into soup or fresh fruit smoothies for the whole family. This way, you are adding a valuable complete protein source to your diet without the added sugars often found in shop-bought protein shakes, powders and processed dairy products. Whole grains, such as quinoa and brown rice, can be great, versatile options for adding to a salad or stew; while nuts and pulses can also be incorporated into a variety of dishes.  

[Image of oats – a great natural source of protein]

Easy substitutions for everyday favourites include switching from sugar-laden flavoured yogurts to low-fat or fat-free natural yoghurt sweetened with fresh fruit or a little honey, and swapping fatty red meats for grilled fish or poultry. Made with buckwheat flour and oats, which contain the eight essential amino acids that make up complete proteins, Totally Devoted cookies can also contribute to your daily intake. The advantage is that you’re getting a whole host of other health benefits too, such as fibre, B-vitamins and iron. 

Health Benefits of Herbs and Spices

One area often overlooked by people wanting to improve their diet is the natural health benefits provided by herbs and spices. For example, ginger, a key ingredient in our pregnancy cookie, can help to relieve a number of ailments, such as nausea, heartburn and motion sickness. It has also been found to contain properties that soothe migraine and aid cold and flu prevention.

Two beneficial ingredients added to the feeding cookie are fenugreek and fennel. You may well be familiar with fennel as a cooking ingredient, but as a herbal remedy it can promote healthy lactation. It is also known to help maintain and improve digestive function. Fenugreek, which also helps to stimulate milk flow, is an aromatic Mediterranean plant often used in dishes from the Indian subcontinent. It can be prepared as a vegetable; but can also be used as a herb. Both fenugreek and fennel can also help to counteract infant colic.

New Zealand’s own kawakawa leaf, an ingredient in the family cookie, can help with digestive and respiratory issues, toothache, and has traditionally been used as a treatment for colds and influenza. It can also aid stimulation and has anti-fungal properties.

Special dietary needs

If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, it is important to pay particular attention to your diet, as by making sensible choices you can support your body’s natural functions. Great foods for pregnancy include beans, which contain protein, fibre and key nutrients; they are also versatile and can be easily added to soups, salads and pasta recipes. Well-cooked eggs are a great source of calcium, and are also one of the few natural sources of vitamin D; both of which are essential for strong bones. As well as ginger, Totally Devoted’s tasty Pregnancy Cookie contains other beneficial ingredients, such as chia seeds, which are a great source of protein and calcium, as well as a host of other essential nutrients. 

[Image of chia seeds – these have a whole host of health benefits for pregnant women]

One great food for lactating mothers is salmon, which contains a type of fat called DHA. Also found in breast milk, DHA is crucial to the development a baby's nervous system. Whole-grain cereal is also beneficial as a source of vital minerals, vitamins and energy; while leafy vegetables and lean beef can provide much-needed iron. In addition to whole-grain oats and iron-rich buckwheat flour, Totally Devoted’s Feeding Cookie contains ingredients coconut oil, which is a source of lauric acid. Not only is this a component of breast milk, it also has antifungal, antiviral and anti-microbial properties. 

The health benefits of a natural diet

There has never been a better time to make the switch to a natural diet. While it would be difficult to cut out all processed foods, the availability and variety of natural ingredients and products mean you can introduce them into your family’s diet with relative ease. In addition, the availability of snack foods, such as Totally Devoted’s range, mean that switching to a diet rich in natural ingredients won’t mean missing out on tasty treats!

I recently attended a very interesting seminar at the University of Auckland on the importance of infant nutrition and how it can affect a child's health for the rest of their life. The seminar was run over a day, covered a number of topics and had a range of different academics speaking on the subject.

The first speaker spoke on a subject called 'formative plasticity'. This means how an organisms genetics can be influenced and change within their lifetime based on environmental stimuli. He spoke of how a queen bee and worker bee have identical genes at birth. The only reason a queen becomes a queen is based on her nutrition. He also pointed out that humans have 90% of the same genes as insects when it came to formative plasticity. This talk set the tone for the rest of the seminar by illustrating how our genes also very responsive to our environment.

The next speaker spoke about how mothers who are obese during pregnancy expose their children to a number of health risks. She showed through her experiments that mothers that were obese during pregnancy could cause a negative change in their child's brain development that would give them a higher propensity toward obesity. Not to get into too much detail, but it related to the brains ability to measure their blood sugar levels etc, meaning that the child could over eat.

Another speaker showed that an undernourished mother during pregnancy would have exactly the same adverse on her childs future health as an overweight one. In this instance you're gearing the child to be's genes for an environment of thrift. This means that their body will have a lower metabolism, be less active, and have a higher desire for energy rich foods. The problem arises when they are born into a world of plenty and this 'nutritional mismatch' occurs, which inevitably leads to obesity.

Obesity was not the only negative health outcome on children as a result of the mothers nutrition during pregnancy. A higher propensity toward diabetes, high blood pressure and even cancer were listed. All speakers definitely dismissed the concept of 'eating for two'.

The last speaker covered off the importance of micro nutrients in early life for life long health. The ones to take center stage were Iron, Folate, B12 and Vitamin D. It was suggested that micro nutrients had a far greater bearing on a babys size and body composition that even protein.

All in all a very interesting seminar, reminding us of why both mothers and new research suggests fathers both have to be very careful with their diet and nutrition from before conception through to birth and after during breastfeeding.

And we've launched!! It's been a long time coming, but we're finally in stores and on shelves. Not only that but the 'mother' of the cookies Jesse is going to be on 'Breakfast' this coming Saturday!! The girls at the PR shop (with a special mention of Alisa) have done a great job of getting us coverage in some major media around the country. This also including Women's Day, Next, The Australian's Women's Weekly, More FM and Classic Hits to name a few. And that's just for starters.

We've now got a retailer in all the major centres. Check out http://www.totallydevoted.co.nz/retailers.htm for details. A big thanks to them all for trialing a new brand.

Now we move into the hard slog of production mode. Difficult when there's only two of us working with normal sized ovens, mixers and equipment. Hopefully soon we'll join the growing base of punters getting assistance from the ATEED funded Foodbowl. A facilty setup by Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development to enable startup food manufacturers to get off the ground. They have some seriously large equipment that will allow Jesse and I to take Totally Devoted to the next level!

A big thank you has to go out to the design team at OBD, without which we wouldn't have our awesome website, brilliant logo and fantastic packaging design. Looks fantastic guys, great job!
And lastly a mention of our new freight company Sweet Spot. They've been incredibly helpful and have shown us ways to cut our delivery costs by as much as 50%!
So yes everything is all go here at Totally Devoted. Will keep you posted on all the big developments coming up.

Welcome to the Totally Devoted blog! We're still just over a month off from launch, but moving forward we hope to use this space to keep you updated on all things relating to motherhood and nutrition. We promise to keep it entertaining and informative!