I have just finished reading the Ketogenic coconut diet--I don't remember why I got it now.

I discovered that virgin coconut oil was the one I needed to buy. (Just one more label I need to read at the store, LOL)

I was delighted with the recipes, particularly the ones that used whipping cream. Yum. Can hardly wait to try them all! Even the pumpkin delight.

I have both virgin and the refined versions so why is the first better?

According to the author of the Coconut Ketogenic Diet, on page 227, he says the virgin coconut oil is made from fresh coconuts with very minimal processing, and the other is refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD).

RBD coconut oil comes from copra (air dried coconuts) and has gone through extensive processing, but no chemicals are used.

If it is virgin coconut oil it will say so on the label. It smells like coconut. RBD does not smell so it is a good option for those who don't want the smell.

The virgin oil contains more nutrients than the RBD. It is also more expensive simply because more care is taken to preserve the oil as naturally as possible.

I guess the difference is similar to "organic" foods and their prices.

If you can't get virgin CO, the other is good too.

My local grocery had the virgin as well as the RBD. WalMart carries the RBD too.

I have gone through several jars of both. I went back and forth as to whether I really needed the extra fat with my Atkins WOE since I already consume a good amount of fat from bacon, butter, fat in my meats and cream in many coffees per day and I was adding the coconut oil in addition to the cream in coffee.
A lot of people say that you don't have to count calories but that they do count so I began thinking maybe that extra fat was adding up to too much.

Good question Meme. I hope someone answers it.

I have a question for anyone who has CO first thing in the morning. Some say they out it in their morning coffee. I treid that.

Yesterday, I put 1 measured teaspoon of CO in my morning coffee. I became hungry right away--something that does not happen to me usually for several hours after drinking coffee. In addition I felt hungry for several hours. Almost all day really. I rarely feel hungry on low carb so this is unusual.

Is this common or is my body reacting differently?

I too question the need to add coconut oil, but for different reasons than Benay. Mainly it depends at what level fat you are shooting for. I am able to keep mine in the 70-80% range without adding coconut oil. Most days I eat bacon eggs, avocado, dark chicken, with skin. I eat the skin on salmon and am learning to eat the fat on meat. So no need for added coconut oil. If I were to add CO, I'd probably have to delete something else as I find I have to restrict calories somewhat. I think I have a good balance right now.

I do think coconut oil is a useful product in the kitchen. I pan fry some foods in a combo of olive oil + butter (low heat) and others, particularly chicken thighs, in coconut oil (can go a bit higher with heat).

I've never experienced increased hunger with CO. In fact the opposite is true. It leaves me feeling full, very full. I have occasionally eaten a tsp or two before going to the gym (if I were hungry and afraid of running out of steam) and it seems to give me boundless energy.

I can see why some might find that energy boost very appealing.

I'm on the fence with all that ... I started using coconut oil to cook with and then recently when I got into my big health kick and started reading more I kept coming across how good coconut oil is. In particular, I had no idea it was used for the things people are apparently using it for ... hair .. and dogs!!

OK I know this might gross some people out but I'm considering combining it with my coffee for a real boost before working out. I came across an article (http://projectwriteasmile.com/coconut-oil-in-coffee/) and was disgusted at first but then after reading it I actually got to considering it. I'm actually afraid to try it, lol ...

Not disgusting at all. I've had co and heavy whipping cream in my morning coffee pretty much every day for the past 18 months. I love it. It also may be responsible for clearing up my candida overgrowth (red patches on my chest) and toenail fungus. CO is good stuff.

I put Co, butter, and HWC in my coffee and use my immersion blender to mix it. Makes some foam on top. No oily stuff on top anymore.

Fat calories are the ever present question.

It is asked at the beginning of this thread, page 2 post #20
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...29&page=2&pp=15

which will take you here
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...03&page=1&pp=15

Which can take you here (WAY BACK)
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...05&page=1&pp=15

And then there are the wonderful month long experiments done by Sam Feltham of Smash the Fat
A summary of his daily diary
http://live.smashthefat.com/why-i-didnt-get-fat/

menu
http://live.smashthefat.com/the-21-...orie-challenge/

and a blog about it.
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index....ing-experiment/

So what do you think about fat calories?

PS I LOVE coconut oil in my coffee

I can't deal with oil in my coffee. I do cook with it, though. I love the taste. And for the first time ever, my fingernails are growing and my hair isn't falling out all over the sink and shower floor. I have taken a spoonful of it if I didn't cook on a particular day. I'm all for Coconut Oil!! Just...not in my coffee!

I have CO and HWC in my coffee too, yum. I do love CO but lately have been buying the cheaper store brand to save money, and miss the coconutty taste!

Hasn't seemed to help with much else that others attribute to it. Still had a bad yeast infection recently, still have constantly breaking fingernails, still have toenail fungus. :(

From everything that I've read, the fat calories are not the issue--it's hard for your body to use them efficiently, as opposed to carbs, which can be flown to the fat cells for storage by insulin--and, because of that, you tend to slow down the level of eating.

Original Atkins had NO restriction on any of the allowed foods, other than veggies, and people lost beautifully. Dr Pennington's rules had no restrictions, either, and people lost beautifully.

The fear of eating too much fat leads more people to eat too little. Which means, if they are eating low carb, they end up eating too much protein, which is more easily converted to sugars, which increases insulin levels, which lowers ketone levels, which means that less fat is mobilized from the fat cells....you can see where this is going.

I'm 64. I've read so many posts from women who think they need to lower calories and/or fat because they're menopausal. My weight loss has sped up since I upped the fat content of my diet.

And, to stay on topic, LOL, I just made my first fat bombs with CO and butter and peanut butter and chocolate...oh MY!

Think I'll get another jar to keep in the bathroom for my skin.

Can you tell us more? How much have you increased fat/calories? Do you track your macronutrients? If so, what proportion of your diet is fat? How long have you been eating LC?

I don't track macros, except for carbs. I try to keep them under 30, and they usually end up under about 25. I've been a wellness coach for years, and have a pretty good guess how much protein I'm getting from pretty much anything, but the fat was harder to figure out.

My baseline for calories, pre-LCHF, was about 1400-1500/day, and I weighed 189 at my highest. Now I eat about 1800-2100/day, and have, since April, lost 12 pounds I'd regained by chowing on dried fruit this past winter. A combo of stress related to concussion rehab and lower thyroid function probably led to that. Exhaustion is not a good state to make good choices!

I have had Herbalife shakes for breakfast (and lunch, usually) for well over a decade, and didn't want to stop that. So I modified it to drop the carbs by 3, and started adding a big bloop of heavy cream to it. I make sure that I get extra fat with everything I eat, and it's probably about 200 cal/meal, or 22 grams/meal more.

So long as it keeps working, I'll keep doing it.

If you can deal with the language (my background is nursing, so I'm used to reading nutrition jargon) read, or reread Gary Taubes GCBC. Especially, read the chapters where he goes into detail about how our bodies' need for homeostasis creates a vastly different profile in burning calories, and the source of the calories burned, when in ketosis VS insulin use.

We all were fed a lot of garbage, when the real meat was out there. But it was not being published, because a handful of dominant, charismatic men were able to push their specious science to the forefront.

OH! I get so angry sometimes. I'm a smart person, and I understand the science. And I still, for decades, ate the way that the prevailing "wisdom" told me to. What's worse, I taught my kid to eat that way, too.

Love your posts, MickiSue. I stopped tracking and weighing a while ago, but just started again so I could make sure I am at 75 to 80% fat. Got a bit startled by the calorie numbers, but that was an OLD gut reaction. Now, I keep my carbs to VLC, like you or even lower and I know the fat is not stored. I, too, taught my children the wrong way to eat but they are learning. I keep sending them information and one is now a nutritional therapist. I'm afraid I see what is going to happen, tho. I see fat is now good for us so MANY are going to start eating it again, along with too many carbs. That is the problem. Until we can get rid of the "good grain" thinking, we will still have an obese world.

Thanks, Micki Sue. I've read Taubes a couple of times (I don't have a strong science background, but with a couple of readings I think I have a good understanding of what he says) and totally agree with what he states, at least in principle. I too am post-menopausal and have been eating LC since late 2003 (starting with South Beach, progressing to Atkins, and a little over a year ago adding limited IF).

I certainly agree that replacing carbs with fat allows one to eat more calories on a daily basis with less propensity to store some of those calories as fat. However, whether one has to limit calories or not I think has to do with appetite, amount of activity, and some genetic or epigenetic variants such as initial carb tolerance. Like you, I lost quickly when I switched my diet to Low Carb, and maintained effortlessly for a couple of years.

However, eventually my appetite rebounded, and without increasing carbs, I began to gain weight. Over the 10+ years I have been low carb, I have periodically needed to tweak things to maintain and/or lose additional pounds.

You may never have to do this - I hope that will be the case. Most LC experts agree that even though Low Carb is your best bet to control weight, one cannot totally ignore calories. Jeff Volek states that it is in fact possible to gain weight while eating ketogenically if you exceed your daily need for calories. What I've learned on these boards after many many years is that everyone is a little different in what they have to do to lose and/or maintain.

I definitely encourage you to keeping doing what you are doing as long as it is working for you. I would also encourage you to look at what others are doing if your weight begins to creep up. Good luck!

Thanks, Aradasky and Liz. I realize that things change. People lose eating cheese, then stall, lose the cheese, and start losing again.

I've kept my goal weight high enough (I'm 5'5") that I THINK I should be able to maintain on what I'm doing. But, as you noted, there are a lot of people with experience to draw from, if I can't!

Hello all, this is my first post on this forum. I've been on Atkins Induction for almost 7 weeks now and stopped losing weight almost three weeks ago. I tried different suggestions that I read about online and in some of the Atkins books. Then I found this thread. I bought virgin coconut oil yesterday and added lot of extra butter and olive oil to my food. Holy moly. It worked! This morning a pound was gone and this afternoon, another half pound gone. I've been drinking a lot of water (as usual), so I'm not concerned that I'm dehydrated. How exciting to know that the extra fats in my diet broke my stall. Just thought I'd share!

I lost another 1.8 lbs in the last three days. The coconut oil is still working its magic!