The Tree of Life

 The Tree of Life

The scientific name for coconut is Cocos nucifera. Early Spanish explorers called it coco, which means "monkey face" because the three indentations (eyes) on the hairy nut resembles the head and face of a monkey. Nucifera means "nut-bearing."

The coconut provides a nutritious source of meat, juice, milk, and oil that has fed and nourished populations around the world for generations. On many islands coconut is a
  

Harvested coconuts lined up on the beach.

staple in the diet and provides the majority of the food eaten. Nearly one third of the world's population depends on coconut to some degree for their food and their economy. Among these cultures the coconut has a long and respected history.


Coconut is highly nutritious and rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It is classified as a "functional food" because it provides many health benefits beyond its nutritional content. Coconut oil is of special interest because it possesses healing properties far beyond that of any other dietary oil and is extensively used in traditional medicine among Asian and Pacific populations. Pacific Islanders consider coconut oil to be the cure for all illness. The coconut palm is so highly valued by them as both a source of food and medicine that it is called "The Tree of Life." Only recently has modern medical science unlocked the secrets to coconut's amazing healing powers.

Coconut In Traditional Medicine

People from many diverse cultures, languages, religions, and races scattered around the globe have revered the coconut as a valuable source of both food and medicine. Wherever the coconut palm grows the people have learned of its importance as a effective medicine. For thousands of years coconut products have held a respected and valuable place in local folk medicine.

In traditional medicine around the world coconut is used to treat a wide variety of health problems including the following: abscesses, asthma, baldness, bronchitis, bruises, burns, colds, constipation, cough, dropsy, dysentery, earache, fever, flu, gingivitis, gonorrhea, irregular or painful menstruation, jaundice, kidney stones, lice, malnutrition, nausea, rash, scabies, scurvy, skin infections, sore throat, swelling, syphilis, toothache, tuberculosis, tumors, typhoid, ulcers, upset stomach, weakness, and wounds.

Coconut In Modern Medicine

Modern medical science is now confirming the use of coconut in treating many of the above conditions. Published studies in medical journals show that coconut, in one form or another, may provide a wide range of health benefits. Some of these are summarized below:

    *    Kills viruses that cause influenza, herpes, measles, hepatitis C, SARS, AIDS, and other illnesses.
    *   Kills bacteria that cause ulcers, throat infections, urinary tract infections, gum disease and cavities, pneumonia, and gonorrhea, and other diseases.
    *      Kills fungi and yeasts that cause candidiasis, ringworm, athlete's foot, thrush, diaper rash, and other infections.
    *      Expels or kills tapeworms, lice, giardia, and other parasites.
    *      Provides a nutritional source of quick energy.
    *      Boosts energy and endurance, enhancing physical and athletic performance.
    *      Improves digestion and absorption of other nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.
    *      Improves insulin secretion and utilization of blood glucose.
    *      Relieves stress on pancreas and enzyme systems of the body.
    *      Reduces symptoms associated with pancreatitis.
    *      Helps relieve symptoms and reduce health risks associated with diabetes.
    *      Reduces problems associated with malabsorption syndrome and cystic fibrosis.
    *      Improves calcium and magnesium absorption and supports the development of strong bones and teeth.
    *      Helps protect against osteoporosis.
    *      Helps relieve symptoms associated with gallbladder disease.
    *      Relieves symptoms associated with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and stomach ulcers.
    *      Improves digestion and bowel function.
    *      Relieves pain and irritation caused by hemorrhoids.
    *      Reduces inflammation.
    *      Supports tissue healing and repair.
    *      Supports and aids immune system function.
    *      Helps protect the body from breast, colon, and other cancers.
    *      Is heart healthy; improves cholesterol ratio reducing risk of heart disease.
    *     Protects arteries from injury that causes atherosclerosis and thus protects against heart disease.
    *      Helps prevent periodontal disease and tooth decay.
    *      Functions as a protective antioxidant.
    *      Helps to protect the body from harmful free radicals that promote premature aging and degenerative disease.
    *      Does not deplete the body's antioxidant reserves like other oils do.
    *     Improves utilization of essential fatty acids and protects them from oxidation.
    *      Helps relieve symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome.
    *      Relieves symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (prostate enlargement).
    *      Reduces epileptic seizures.
    *      Helps protect against kidney disease and bladder infections.
    *      Dissolves kidney stones.
    *      Helps prevent liver disease.
    *      Is lower in calories than all other fats.
    *      Supports thyroid function.
    *      Promotes loss of excess weight by increasing metabolic rate.
    *      Is utilized by the body to produce energy in preference to being stored as body fat like other dietary fats.
    *      Helps prevent obesity and overweight problems.
    *      Applied topically helps to form a chemical barrier on the skin to ward of infection.
    *      Reduces symptoms associated the psoriasis, eczema, and dermatitis.
    *      Supports the natural chemical balance of the skin.
    *      Softens skin and helps relieve dryness and flaking.
    *      Prevents wrinkles, sagging skin, and age spots.
    *      Promotes healthy looking hair and complexion.
    *      Provides protection from damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
    *      Helps control dandruff.
    *      Does not form harmful by-products when heated to normal cooking temperature like other vegetable oils do.
    *      Has no harmful or discomforting side effects.
    *      Is completely non-toxic to humans.

See Research to read some of the published studies regarding the above mentioned uses of coconut products.

Coconut Oil

While coconut possesses many health benefits due to its fiber and nutritional content, it's the oil that makes it a truly remarkable food and medicine.

Once mistakenly believed to be unhealthy because of its high saturated fat content, it is now known that the fat in coconut oil is a unique and different from most all other fats and possesses many health giving properties. It is now gaining long overdue recognition as a nutritious health food.

Coconut oil has been described as "the healthiest oil on earth." That's quite a remarkable statement. What makes coconut oil so good? What makes it different from all other oils, especially other saturated fats?

The difference is in the fat molecule. All fats and oils are composed of molecules called fatty acids. There are two methods of classifying fatty acids. The first you are probably familiar with, is based on saturation. You have saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats. Another system of classification is based on molecular size or length of the carbon chain within each fatty acid. Fatty acids consist of long chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached. In this system you have short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), and long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). Coconut oil is composed predominately of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), also known as medium-chain triglycerides (MCT).

The vast majority of fats and oils in our diets, whether they are saturated or unsaturated or come from animals or plants, are composed of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). Some 98 to 100% of all the fatty acids you consume are LCFA.

The size of the fatty acid is extremely important. Why? Because our bodies respond to and metabolize each fatty acid differently depending on its size. So the physiological effects of MCFA in coconut oil are distinctly different from those of LCFA more commonly found in our foods. The saturated fatty acids in coconut oil are predominately medium-chain fatty acids. Both the saturated and unsaturated fat found in meat, milk, eggs, and plants (including most all vegetable oils) are composed of LCFA.

MCFA are very different from LCFA. They do not have a negative effect on cholesterol and help to protect against heart disease. MCFA help to lower the risk of both atherosclerosis and heart disease. It is primarily due to the MCFA in coconut oil that makes it so special and so beneficial.

There are only a very few good dietary sources of MCFA. By far the best sources are from coconut and palm kernel oils.

3:31 AM | 1 komentar | Read More

Health Benefits of Coconut

Coconut is a tropical fruit that is rich in protein. The meat of the coconut is very good in destroying intestinal parasites, that we get from eating infected food. Coconut water is good for kidney and urinary bladder problems.

Matured Coconut

Nutritive Values : Per 100 gm.

    * Vitamin A :
    * Vitamin B : Thiamine .10 mg.;
    * Riboflavin :
    * Niacin :
    * Vitamin C : 2 mg.
    * Calcium : 21 mg.
    * Iron : 2.0 mg.
    * Phosphorus : 98 mg.
    * Fat : 34.7 gm.
    * Carbohydrates : 14 gm.
    * Protein : 3.4 gm.
    * Calories : 359

Other Health Benefits of Coconut :

   1. Prevents simple goiter (enlarged non-toxic thyroid) because of its organic iodine content.
   2. Good body builder, so it is a food recommended for building up the body muscles of thin and emaciated individuals.
   3. Constipation and for any build-up of gas in the stomach and intestinal tract.
   4. Coconut milk has been found to help cases of sore throat as well as relieving stomach ulcers.
   5. Coconut oil has been found to heal cuts, scratches, burns and sunburns.
   6. The oil has also been recommended for facial massage and is reported to be good as a wrinkle remover.
   7. Coconut oil is also good for the scalp and hair and makes hair dressing unnecessary.
   8. Intake of at least 2 Tbsp. of Virgin coconut oil per day can lessen your Vitamin E requirement.
   9. Coconut water is good for kidney and urinary bladder problems.

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3:28 AM | 1 komentar | Read More

7 Reasons Why You Need to Drink Coconut Water

Well .. for coconut water is not wasted, you need to know what the efficacy and usefulness. Here's seven reasons why you need to drink coconut water:

1. Coconut milk is more nutritious than whole milk (whole milk) because it contains no cholesterol and low fat.

2. Coconut water can improve blood circulation and is known to cleanse the digestive tract.

3. Coconut water will not only make your immune system is better, but also helps the body fight some types of viruses that cause disease.

4. If you suffer from kidney stones, make it a habit to drink coconut water regularly. Drinking coconut water will be helping with kidney stones and make it easier to break them out of the body.

5. Coconut water is also known since long ago to heal urinary tract disorders. A glass of coconut water will relieve pain due to difficulty urinating.

6. If you're still feeling a hangover, no one can recover quickly in addition to consuming coconut water.

7. Tender coconut water that tastes very rich in electrolytes and potassium. Potassium can help the body regulate blood pressure and cardiac function.

12:46 AM | 0 komentar | Read More

Stay Young Coconut good

Sometimes, young coconut that you are taking the remainder. In fact, had already dredged. To be durable, boil coconut milk, and enter the coconut that has been dredged, boil briefly. Turn off the fire.

Once cool, put into the refrigerator. Granted, young coconut dredging durable and not stale.

12:45 AM | 0 komentar | Read More

Young Coconut Water Benefits

culinary traces of the past is always interesting to trace. Each city must leave the story, like when I visited the town of Flower, Bandung.

Bandung scorching afternoon when it could be tamed a little in the way Tamblong. In a street close to the historic streets of this city, Jalan Asia Afrika, is there an ice cream shop with a European flavor, from about the 1930s until the 1940s. His name is Flavor Ice Cream & Bakery.

Once entered into the ice cream and cake shop, an employee at the store shows the name of Royale coconut, ice kopyor specials, and Tutti frutti ice cream as the most ancient and is championed by this store. Be three kinds of ice cream was chosen.

Soon came the order. A piece of young coconut (coconut Royale suitable name) that contains the three scope of ice cream strawberry, banana, and mocha. While ice kopyor special contains alias stroop syrup with kopyor and vanilla ice cream. Then Tutti frutti ice cream is old-fashioned three colors.

Once the ice in half a coconut shell in the young man entered the mouth directly nnyyyeesssss, drove a burning sensation that has now been mastered Bandung. Case taste this ice cream, was predictable. If in Jakarta, ice cream is practically the same age and type with ice cream Ragusa at Jalan Veteran, Jakarta Pusat. Ice cream is from the 1930's was formulated two Italian men.
  
In ice cream shop in the past called these hazes, ice cream offered was soft and did not make feel sick. It was mild, so eating three scope of ice cream did not make satiety.
  
Just to remind, the Baltic ice cream shop in the number Senen, Central Jakarta, has also opened a branch in Bandung. Unfortunately, then do not stand around in the 1970s. Luckily still remaining in Jalan Kramat it. In Bandung, the Baltic ice cream shop was then turned into a cake shop which is also legendary, Canary.

12:43 AM | 0 komentar | Read More

Coconut Royale, European Freshness Past

culinary traces of the past is always interesting to trace. Each city must leave the story, like when I visited the town of Flower, Bandung.

Bandung scorching afternoon when it could be tamed a little in the way Tamblong. In a street close to the historic streets of this city, Jalan Asia Afrika, is there an ice cream shop with a European flavor, from about the 1930s until the 1940s. His name is Flavor Ice Cream & Bakery.

Once entered into the ice cream and cake shop, an employee at the store shows the name of Royale coconut, ice kopyor specials, and Tutti frutti ice cream as the most ancient and is championed by this store. Be three kinds of ice cream was chosen.

Soon came the order. A piece of young coconut (coconut Royale suitable name) that contains the three scope of ice cream strawberry, banana, and mocha. While ice kopyor special contains alias stroop syrup with kopyor and vanilla ice cream. Then Tutti frutti ice cream is old-fashioned three colors.

Once the ice in half a coconut shell in the young man entered the mouth directly nnyyyeesssss, drove a burning sensation that has now been mastered Bandung. Case taste this ice cream, was predictable. If in Jakarta, ice cream is practically the same age and type with ice cream Ragusa at Jalan Veteran, Jakarta Pusat. Ice cream is from the 1930's was formulated two Italian men.
  
In ice cream shop in the past called these hazes, ice cream offered was soft and did not make feel sick. It was mild, so eating three scope of ice cream did not make satiety.
  
Just to remind, the Baltic ice cream shop in the number Senen, Central Jakarta, has also opened a branch in Bandung. Unfortunately, then do not stand around in the 1970s. Luckily still remaining in Jalan Kramat it. In Bandung, the Baltic ice cream shop was then turned into a cake shop which is also legendary, Canary.

12:42 AM | 0 komentar | Read More

Soup Sensation In Coconut Shell

China's vast territory and a diverse culture rich in culinary traditions store. Cantonese cuisine, for example, which is very popular here represents only one of the culinary traditions of the country's bamboo curtain.

At the end of last year, Crystal Jade Culinary Concepts Holdings, Singapore-based restaurant chain that has penetrated a number of major cities in Asia, to introduce a special new restaurant serving authentic Teochew cuisine from Chaozhou City in Guangdong Province, China. Teochew cuisine is delicious especially famous for seafood and vegetarian dishes. Compared to Cantonese cuisine, Teochew cuisine is lighter. Authenticity taste very material advantage. In order to meet that standard, the materials used must be fresh and natural. Stella To, special assistant to managing director of Crystal Jade, saying, Teochew cuisine is not much polish. Food presents a sense of what it is based on the materials used.

Crystal Jade Restaurant Toechew located at Pacific Place Sudirman Central Business District, South Jakarta. This is a restaurant to 9 from Crystal Jade Culinary Concepts Holdings in Jakarta. Since opening its first branch in 2007, the restaurant chain's target upper-class society is to aggressively continue to add branches. Stella To suggest, Teochew Crystal Jade Restaurant is a conversion of the Crystal Jade restaurant previously in that location, which opened in November 2007. But the restaurant that now has been renovated, and equipped breadth plus five private room.

In one private room some time ago that I tasted a variety of Teochew cuisine. My appetizer was the fried shrimp meatball, meatballs fried crab, and chicken wrapped in a team with egg white. Baso shrimp contains a variety of vegetables such as cut bengkoang and of course shrimp. Vegetables in a meatball feels very fresh.

The next treat, for me is very sensational and showed high creativity, namely seafood soup in coconut shells. Steaming soup from the mini-sized coconut shells which he said specifically imported from Thailand. In the 'bowl' that there is crab meat soup, which in one part is still fused with the shell. Shell is actually functioning as a handle, a sort of stick when you menyatap sate. In addition to crab, shiitake mushroom soup that contains black, mustard leaves and various spices. Of course you can enjoy the coconut meat is soft and chewy.

12:41 AM | 1 komentar | Read More

Young Coconut Restore Stamina

Because taste is sweet, young coconut is also good to be served directly without adding sugar or syrup. In Sundanese restaurant, served complete with coconut shell, coconut shell known.

Tree of Life
From some of the mass media (print and electronic) gives another news that coconuts have successfully save the life of some victims of the tsunami disaster in Aceh. Refugees who fled into the hills, the victim who escaped in a coconut tree, or floated on the beach, all survived thanks to the help of the coconut fruit, especially from the flesh of fruit and water.

There are many coconut trees in tropical climates and is expected to be found in more than 80 countries. Indonesia is an agricultural country which occupies the third position after the Philippines and India as the largest coconut producer in the world.

The number of palm trees that grow in Indonesia, particularly in areas near the coast, causing Indonesia given the nickname as the land of waving coconut. Traditionally, our ancestors have been very friendly with coconut plantations.

In fact, in some traditional ceremonies, the presence of oil is absolutely necessary as a symbol of hope and goodwill. Maybe because its benefits are very much used as the logo of palm shoots Praja Muda Karana (Scouts) in Indonesia.

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is a versatile crop, for both food and non-food purposes. Every part of coconut tree, from root to leaf, can be exploited for the benefit of man. Palm trees are often given the nickname of The Tree of Life (the tree of life) or A Heavenly Tree (tree of heaven).

Palm trunk can be used as building material, plaited leaves for roofing houses, young leaf to leaf, leaf bones to sticks, leaf midrib for firewood, palm to palm sugar, and the fruit for various purposes.

Coconut Fruit
One palm tree can bear fruit ranging from 10 to 13 times a year. Coconuts grow in clumps, could reach 12 fruits per cluster. Coconut meat is the most important part of the commodity from the coconut tree.

Flesh of fruit is a thick layer of white. This section contains various nutrients. The content of these nutrients varied according to fruit maturity.
During development, the coconut fruit weight increased continuously. The size of the maximum weight is reached in the seventh month. At that moment reached the maximum amount of coconut water.

After that period, reduced the amount of coconut water and coconut meat thickened. Thickening of the meat reached a peak at month 9. Above the 10th month, the oil can be said to parents. In that period, the water content decreased. That is what causes the old oil will sound if shaken-whipped.

Old coconut fruit consists of four main components, namely: 35 percent fiber, 12 percent of shell, 28 percent of the fruit flesh, and 25 percent coconut water. Old fruit flesh is a material source of vegetable oil (oil content 30 percent).

The fundamental difference between the young coconut meat and old is the oil content. Young coconut has a ratio of water content and a large oil. Palm called the parents if the ratio of optimum water content and oil to produce milk in the majority.
Conversely, if too old coconut fruit, its water level will decrease. In these conditions, the results obtained to be a little coconut milk.

Restore stamina
In our society develops a belief that coconut water, especially green coconut, very well taken by the pregnant mother for the birth process becomes easier and the children born have a white and smooth skin.

Young coconut water is also believed to have the effect of treatment on renal and hipretensi (high blood pressure). Regardless of whether or not such an assumption is, it's good we examine the nutrients that exist in water and young coconut meat.

The number of young coconut water per item varies, depending on the size of the fruit. In general, levels of not less than 250 ml per item. Nutrient composition of coconut water varies, depending on the varieties of palm and fruit maturity.

12:40 AM | 1 komentar | Read More