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Coconut Oil


Kerala - Coconut country. When I first moved to Kerala, the abundance of coconut oil in everything,including food, sickened me. You see, I come from the eastern part of India where we use coconut oil only to condition our hair. To use it as a cooking oil was revolting. Plus its difficult to adjust to the flavour. Thankfully, after two years , I did. And I must say that even though I still use vegetable oil for cooking at home, I certainly don't mind eating food cooked in coconut oil when I'm eating out.In fact, I found that if you do not reuse the oil for frying, you don't even get the smell. People here use coconut oil for everything. They cook in it, they use it on their hair,they even use it on the skin. Coconut oil is used extensively for conditioning the hair. In fact, here in Kerala, people oil their hair after taking a bath. The morning shift buses are full of women going to work with oil dripping hair and a jasmine tucked very aesthetically. Malayalee women are very proud of their hair, though in my personal opinion, somebody should introduce them to shampoo.(They shampoo their hair with the leaves of the hibiscus plant and of course that's not enough to get rid of the oil.) Coconut oil forms an excellent base for moisturisers and hand creams. The oil helps in moisturising the skin and is also helpful in removing stretch marks. It lightens the skin and is helpful in removing acne scars. Mix it with a little salt and use it as a body scrub or mix it with some lemon juice and use it as a furniture polish. Read somewhere a few days ago the ingestion of coconut oil prevents dementia/alzheimers and regulates bowel movements, even in children. Tender coconut water is extremely nourishing and helps you keep cool in summers. Grated coconut is used as a garnishing in most dishes.
After reading up on all the health benefits of the oil, I've decided to toss the usual bland vegetable oil that i use for cooking and switch over to coconut oil. It'll take some time getting used to but eventually I hope I will.
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