Need to detox? Try coconut oil

Add a tropical taste to your dishes this summer with this health-boosting oil

Coconut oil has fast become a store cupboard essential in our kitchens, but as it’s a fat, there is still debate about whether it is good for us. 

Pure virgin coconut oil is 92 per cent saturated fat, but compared with animal fats and butter, it does appear to have some impressive health benefits. As with all fats, though, it should be consumed in moderation – the NHS recommends no more than 20g saturated fat a day for women. One tablespoon of coconut oil is about 12g saturated fat.

Coconut oil is a blend of fatty acids known as short-chain and medium-chain triglycerides, and this unique combination is what provides its health benefits. When consumed, coconut oil is metabolised differently to other saturated fats; it passes straight to the liver from the digestive system, where it is used as a quick source of energy.

 It has also been shown to have a therapeutic benefit for brain disorders such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s.

Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) may also aid weight loss, as they can
boost metabolism and feelings of fullness, as well as stabilise blood sugars. The MCT lauric acid may also support the immune system, as it can help to kill harmful bacteria and viruses.

Coconut oil does not contain cholesterol, but it can increase both our LDL (bad) and HDL (good) cholesterol levels. 

A 2011 study indicated that coconut oil intake among pre-menopausal women was positively associated with HDL cholesterol 

and therefore may have some beneficial effects on blood lipid profiles. However, it was not significantly associated with LDL. 

So, all in all, a lot more research is needed into this little beauty, as its full benefits have not yet been discovered. 

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Healthy Eating Tips

Aug 27, 2015

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Chelsea Handler's bottomless selfie makes us feel uncomfortable (PHOTO)

So, it is no real shocker that her latest Insta post shows her in next to nothing again. But this time, it wasn't her nipples that were bared; she covered her downtown lady bits with some fruit — an apple, to be precise.

She captioned the awkward snap, "Look at my hair. Something must have happened while I slumbered."

Chelsea Handler apple pic

Chelsea Handler apple pic

More: Chelsea Handler posts her 897th topless pic — this time from Japan (PHOTO)

While the comedienne has a penchant for going topless and we are all for her war with Instagram over their nudity policy, there is so much about this photo that is both awkward and uncomfortable.

There are just so many questions!

What is up with her facial expression? Why does she have an apple in her bathroom? Seriously, what is going on with her hair? What does she do to keep those rock-hard abs? Is that night cream on the counter? *Leans in close and almost puts nose on screen.* What kind is it?

More: Chelsea Handler goes topless for a camel ride in Israel (PHOTO)

I would assume most would consider this photo a tad more risqué than a simple nip pic, but it should more than meet Instagram’s strict guidelines regarding nudity. So, brava to Handler for expertly pulling off another blow to the ridiculous rules and for her epic use of photo props.

Echoing many of her fans, I think we can safely say most of us want to be Chelsea Handler when we grow up.

More: Chelsea Handler outs her ex-boyfriend's horrible behavior (PHOTO)

Our Little Family's Michelle blogs about her growing, changing family

More: Jack's best one-liners on Our Little Family

As much as I love the normal girly gifts, especially jewelry, I think it was so much better this year for Dan to help the kids focus on giving me something they made themselves. It really is much more from the heart and means so much more than a purchase from the mall. There are enough other occasions through the year for that still.

More: Exclusive interview about Season 2 with Our Little Family's Michelle Hamill

The one thing that really stood out watching the new premiere episode of our second season is how much the kids have changed. When you are with them every day, you notice little things and little moments sometimes, but when you stand back and watch like we are blessed to be able to do, you really notice how grown-up and outgoing the girls are. Jack is really a young man now, and although he has child moments, you really are starting to see how intelligent, thoughtful and even funny he has become.

More: Michelle teaches her children that it is OK to be different on Our Little Family

My family life is even more than I have always dreamed about; I am so lucky to have found such a loving, caring partner, and we are both working hard at helping our kids become great young people. I think they are starting to teach us about life as much as we are teaching them.

What was your favorite part of the premiere episode? Do you have any questions for Michelle? Ask in the comment section below.

Lose Weight the High-Tech Way

For many people, losing weight is difficult. It takes a lot of hard work and …

The post Lose Weight the High-Tech Way appeared first on The Best Of Health.

Bounce authors explain how they treat all those steamy sex scenes in the book

The girls' final installment of the Boomerang series, Bounce, comes out today, and for the first time in the trilogy, they navigate new territory: that of the enigmatic younger man.

Skyler Canby is a 22-year-old cellist trying to make her way in Los Angeles as a musician when she lands the starring role in a hot new romance film. Grey Blackwood is her audition partner — a fellow musician and general go-to guy for his brother the film executive, Adam.

When Skyler and Grey kiss as part of the audition, sparks fly, but Grey is only 19. Skyler can't have a romantic attachment to an immature younger guy, can she? No matter how sexy he is.

Bounce is part of a super popular genre, hot right now, called New Adult. Rossi explained, "The genre focuses on the stage of life that occurs after high school, into the early 20s. Characters are often in college and have more independence than in Young Adult novels, but they're still trying to find their way in the world."

More: New Adult vs. Young Adult: What’s the difference?

Oberweger said, "Writing about characters who are more fully entering the adult world, engaging in love relationships with greater acknowledgment of its physical expression, dealing with who they want to be — creatively and professionally — is truly compelling."

She's right. Skyler and Grey are both just growing up, really. Skyler, for instance, feels the pressures of being thinner and thinner to make it in Hollywood. Grey feels the pressure of trying to live up to his family's (and his self-imposed) expectations.

Rossi admits she didn't want to make the body image stuff too heavy-handed. Instead, her intentions with taking on Hollywood were further-reaching. She said, "If the story was meant to 'teach' something, it would really be about being enough — realizing that your beauty is not dictated by outside constructs unless you buy into that. And realizing that your worth isn't dictated by your acts, only, but by who you are. And that who you are is perfect and enough."

More: Author challenges literary world to publish only female writers for a year

What's perfect about Bounce? The sexual tension. With the Young Adult genre, authors have to tiptoe around steamy content. According to Oberweger, not so in New Adult. "Veronica and I agree on the basics of treating sex with candor and sensitivity, making sure a sex scene does as much work as any other scene in the story, and focusing those scenes on character emotions, first and foremost. We want readers to think the scenes are hot and also to be moved."

Speaking of hot, let's take a moment to admire Grey Blackwood, our young male lead. He's a hard rocker, but he's a vulnerable disaster, too. "For me," Rossi said, "his real sexiness stems from his passion. He lives hard; he does everything full-tilt. I admire that. I find that kind of energy and confidence really attractive. People like that make you pay attention."

Oberweger continued, "I responded so much to Grey because he was a bit more of a mess than the others, because he did more stumbling — and, as Veronica remarked, he did it with gusto."

Although the ladies worked together to write Bounce, they didn't have the chance to hang out often during the course of writing. They wrote together from across the country, emails flying. However, they did have time to invent a drink while developing Bounce, called the Maverick, which, in Rossi's words, is "highly memorable."

More: The next big thing for YA: Is dystopian dead?

Now that the Boomerang series has come to a close, Rossi has a two-book Young Adult series coming up, with the first book, Riders, launching in February. She said, "It's a modern-day fantasy about four teens who unwittingly become incarnations of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It's got action, romance and general hilarity." Oberweger will continue to do what she does and rock life like a Choose Your Own Adventure book.

Now, enjoy a tease from Bounce, out today (reprinted courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers).

Why We Must Protect Healthy Dietary Guidelines from Political Interference

There are few tasks more important in creating a healthy community across the United States than creating environments in which all of us, especially children, have healthy diets and plenty of opportunity to exercise. Yet a recent U.S. government report that clearly outlines steps to achieve this goal is being subject to political scrutiny and an attempt to stop its implementation. Why? Because the food lobby does not like it.

It is time to stand up for science and evidence-based guidelines to help stop obesity and poor health in our population, especially in our children.

Every five years, a committee called the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is established by the government to consider how best to help Americans have a healthier diet and food environment.

This committee, on which I served for the past two years, is charged with advising the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on establishing guidelines on which the nutritional criteria for federal programs including the National School Lunch Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are based.

The recent report this committee issued emphasizes the sound science and extensive research supporting a healthy diet that includes more fruits and vegetables than Americans, including children, commonly consume. For the first time, our committee suggested that we consider supporting diets lower in meat intake in favor of more seafood, fruits and vegetables while continuing ample dairy intake. We described a variety of healthy eating patterns that along with exercise and outdoor activity can help reverse the obesity epidemic we currently face as a nation. We also addressed the need to ensure that foods are raised or grown in a healthy environment that supports our long-term needs. The next generation matters to all of us.

We did not recommend that individuals become vegetarians, that meat be eliminated from any feeding programs or that environmental concerns become the key driver in nutrition policy. The guidelines give multiple choices on building a healthy diet and do not indicate that any foods must be eliminated from the diet.

Of course, not everyone agrees with these recommendations. The meat industry does not like suggestions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease meat intake. But considerable evidence supports those changes, while allowing meat in the diet.

It is no surprise that some people don't like being told that we need to rethink how we eat and how we feed our children in schools. What is surprising and disappointing is that members of the food industry lobbying groups have prevailed upon the House and Senate appropriations committees to include "policy riders" in the proposed legislation that would severely limit the recommendations that can be included in the final guidelines. In fact, some have suggested that the government stop making dietary recommendations completely.

It is critical that we recognize a threat to the process by which scientific groups -- in a fair and established fashion -- evaluate science and make recommendations for a healthy diet, a healthy lifestyle for children and adults, as well as for a healthy planet. If this process can be blocked by Congress at the behest of food industry lobbyists, and if each recommendation is debated as part of a legislative rather than a scientific process, we will end up with nothing to guide consumers and the government in order to improve the health of the population, including children.

When science is subject to the political whims of Congress, no one wins. What is needed and demanded by pediatricians and families is the best available evidence. Where we may be lacking in the ideal nutritional science for adults, we are even more constrained by what we know for infants and young children. We must support the efforts of the Food and Drug Administration to educate consumers about what is in food, including added sugar.

Subjecting science to political whims sends a troubling message to those engaged in helping to enhance the health of our population -- that political whims, not science, are the drivers of what is fed in schools and other government-supported programs. Our health and that of our children hangs in the balance.

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Cutting public spending on the old is not the answer to youth crisis

Young people’s falling long-term economic prospects are not down to older people in society hoarding all the wealth, and will not be improved by cutting pensioner benefits to fund more public spending on young people, according to a new TUC report which draws on analysis by researchers from the University of Bristol.