The Coconut Diet

Coconut oil and its unusual properties are at the center of this new diet, brought to the world by Cherie Calbom, whose qualifications are pretty unclear. At first glance, this looks like another fad diet. After all, coconut oil has been marked out as one of the few saturated oils produced by plants, and has been considered to have similar properties to saturated animal fats, encouraging heart disease and obesity.

However, it may be worth taking the time to explore the theory a bit more thoroughly. It is certainly true that natives of South Pacific islands who traditionally had a large amount of coconut oil in their diet had low levels of heart disease, and were not generally obese. In fact, Ms Calbom quotes research done in India by the Indian Department of Medicine in 1998 which showed a significant increase in heart disease and diabetes as Indians began to use unsaturated oils for cooking instead of the traditional coconut oil.

A scientific basis for claims in favor of coconut oil has also been discovered, as it turns out that this oil is composed of medium chain triglycerides, instead of long chains like most oils. This means that it is metabolised differently, and is used more readily than other oils as an energy source. Since fats contain far more energy than carbohydrates, the result is that the body receives an energy boost which doesn't disturb the blood sugar balance, which means that it is much easier to cut down on carbohydrates and follow a low-carb diet.

In fact, this is exactly what the Coconut Diet does. The diet kicks off with a three week low-carb stage, during which no flour products, white rice, potatoes or sweets can be eaten, and coconut oil is used in all recipes. All carbohydrates come from vegetables high in antioxidants, which are encouraged, so this isn't as restrictive as some of the low-carb diets on the market. According to Ms Calbom, weight loss during this phase should be around 10 pounds, which is quite drastic, and tapers off to a pound a week in later stages.

Another interesting feature of the diet is an optional detox program, which uses a herbal and nutritional approach to cleanse the body of toxins, claiming that many people find weight loss hard because of toxins which affect the metabolism. The entire program is aimed not only on weight loss but also tries to improve general health, and the book includes sections on fibromyalgia and candidiasis, as well as recipes showing how to cook with coconut oil and detailed shopping lists.

On the whole, the Coconut Diet comes out as a fairly reasonable program, and will probably lead to weight loss if followed properly. The properties of coconut oil may help in weight loss for some people, and most of the dietary recommendations are sensible. Cooking with coconut oil may be off putting for some, since it has a completely different taste to other oils, and good quality oil is also sometimes difficult to find.