Coconut Oil: Read the label, duh.

A couple years ago I went through a semi Paleo phase.  I had read Weston A. Price's publication about nutrition and how it affected teeth and facial features.  It's called "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" and it's a great collection of Weston Price's observations as he trekked to remote villages all over the place to observe people cut off from western influences.  He recorded the diets of the natives, took samples of their food for testing, and took photos of their teeth and faces.  What he found was that these people who didn't have access to sugars and processed foods had straight teeth, wide faces, and no tuberculosis.  Pretty cool, right?

Okay, so I went through this halfhearted Paleo phase that was fueled by this publication.  I searched different Paleo bloggers and resources and somehow got to the conclusion that I needed to be cooking with coconut oil and I needed to do it right now!  I'm not a big fan of spending money on things I don't know will work out so I had in the back of my mind that I could always use the coconut oil for a deep conditioner if cooking with it didn't work out.  Great, let's do this!  So, I went out and bought this...

This is Spectrum Organic Coconut Oil.  I started cooking with the oil, used it in my hair a couple times and all was well.  For whatever reason, I stopped using it.  It was fine.  It was oil.  I wasn't blown away like the rest of the blogger world.  I didn't even smell the coconut.

Flash forward to a couple days ago.  I've been incorporating Paleo back into my lifestyle in a major way and I needed more coconut oil.  This time, I bought this...

MAGIC!  I get it now.  This is the best smelling oil in the entire world.  Since I bought it yesterday, I have used it to make coffee creamer,  pancakes, and slathered it on my body as an after shower moisturizer.  The difference is refined vs. unrefined.  The Spectrum Organic Coconut Oil I previously bought was refined.  Dr. Bronner's Coconut Oil is unrefined (and MAGIC).  Clearly, I hadn't done my research well the first time and really reading labels and comparing oils pays off.  I found mine at my local health food store but you can also purchase Dr. Bronner's Coconut Oil here.

So, if you're not in love with your coconut oil, try again!  What's your favorite?