GINOCO Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil

Boracay Launching Party for Ginoco

Ginoco recently launched its Virgin Coconut Oil and its cosmetics

line in Boracay at Fridays Resort.

Gracing the elegant event was Gina Fernandez Bartholomi, President of Ginoco and her Boracay Distributor Gigi Piit.

Ginoco has been very popular in the island with Filipinos and foreigners alike because of its proudly “made in the Philippines” label with world class international merchandising design.

The event’s theme was of course coconuts. From the table and buffet decoration, to the presentation, the drinks and food menu, all prepared with a few drops of the virgin coconut oil. Red wine was provided from the cellar of Titania Boracay’s Tita Trillo and Nini Legaspi.

Therapists were on hand to demonstrate the soothing effects of Ginoco and to offer complimentary massages.

Present were the various store owners, resort & spa owners and managers who are distributing the complete line of Ginoco products in the island. Among the early guests were Brigitte Clayton of Boracay Hills, Crystal Perez de Tagle, Linda Naulty and Dang Romero of Mandala Spa, Artist Edgar Allegre, Tootsie Ronnhol, Blossom Sanok of Blossom”s resort, Nenette Graf of Boracay Beach resort, Stephanie Dornau, Maria Schroeder, Girlie Glasser, Jiro Azanuma of Surfside resort, David Godberg of Heidiland, Suzanne Munro of Cocomangas, Nini Legaspi of Titania Boracay, Corine Latter of Nami and Don’t Panic its Organic, Chris Lee of Hey Jude as well as some VIP foreign guests of Fridays.

A video presentation was made by Gina and Gigi followed by games, fun and entertainment.

Ginoco is presently distributed in Boracay in Fridays resort, Nami Private villas, Surfside Resort & Spa, Don’t Panic It’s Organic store, Catch! Store, Craft of Boracay Department store, Fairways & Bluewater Resort & Golf and at the Welcome Center, Seawind resort, Regency, Seraph hotel, Asian Spirit Lounge in Caticlan, Boracay Tourist Center.

The new cosmetic line, using 100 % Ginoco coconut oil, was presented: aromatic massage oil, foot mist, foot lotion and foot scrub; body lotion, coco-vanilla butter, coco-vanilla scrub, tanning oil, insect repellent, hand sanitizer and various soaps.

Ginoco is also distributed in all GNC Live Well outlets nationwide, all Rustans outlets nationwide and in other establishments like the Peninsula Hotel, the Philippines Plaza Hotel, Nurture Spa Tagaytay, Graceland Estate & Country Club Tayabas Quezon. Ginoco Showrooms is located at 3rd floor NYS bldg., 1156 in Pasong Tamo street, Makati.

Ginoco has a very informative website at www.ginoco.com.

Ask Dr. CoconutTM

I went to the health food store to buy coconut oil, but all the brands they carry were solid. None were liquefied. Is this how it is always sold? Can you eat it solid? Does it matter?

One of the characteristics of coconut oil is its high melting point. At temperatures above 76 degrees F (24 C) coconut oil is a liquid. At temperatures below this it becomes a solid. The oil will be either liquid or solid depending on the temperature of the room. There is nothing wrong or unusual about this. Butter for instance, does the same thing. In the refrigerator it is sold but take it out on and hot day and let it sit on the counter and it melts. If you refrigerate olive oil it becomes solid as well, but out of the refrigerator it is liquid.

Sometimes you will see two bottles of coconut oil side by side and one will be solid while the other is liquid. The reason for this is that it takes several hours for the oil to adjust to the room temperature. If the room is below 76 degrees F then the liquid bottle came from a warmer environment before it was placed next to the solid bottle. Oil can hold on to heat for a long time so it may take several hours for the oil in the bottle to solidify. If the room temperature is in the mid or low 70s it may take 24 hours or more for the oil to solidify.

Critics who try to discredit coconut oil claiming it to be an "artery clogging" saturated fat will often justify their position by pointing out the fact that coconut is solid at room temperature. They say when you eat the oil it will solidify in your arteries, implying that the oil will clog the arteries and cause a heart attack. This idea is totally preposterous. For one thing, our body temperature is 98.6 degrees F. Coconut oil is a complete liquid at that temperature. For another, coconut oil does not circulate inside the arteries after you eat it. Coconut oil, like any other fat or oil, is digested and broken down into individual fatty acids in the digestive tract. The fatty acids from coconut oil are used by the cells in the body as food to produce energy. There is no way they could clog the arteries.

Like butter, you can eat coconut oil whether it is liquid or solid. There is no difference in nutritional value or chemical makeup. You don't need to liquefy the oil before you use it. Solid coconut oil melts very quickly when put in a hot pan. Personally, I like to keep the coconut oil I use solid. I use a knife to spoon it out. When I pour liquid oil it often drips down the side of the bottle making a mess. Using the solidified oil prevents this problem.

If your kitchen is kept under 76 degrees F coconut oil will always be solid. On a hot day it may melt. You can keep it in the refrigerator if you like. However, it isn't necessary. Coconut oil does not need to be refrigerated. It is very stable and has a long shelf life so it can be kept on the kitchen counter or in a cupboard.

Slim, Healthy People Eat Fat

Here’s a statistic to take your breath away. At least 155 million kids worldwide – about 10 percent of all children - suffer from being overweight or obese. Countries like the US lead the way with a staggering 30 percent suffering from overweight or obesity. Australia and Europe are not far behind.

These aren’t just plump children who’ll grow into large adults. These are children who look forward to a future shaped by a set of symptoms the experts are calling metabolic syndrome – a combination of conditions like diabetes, raised cholesterol and high blood pressure being found more and more to effect adults who suffered childhood obesity.

Prevailing thinking has us reducing consumption of all fats, particularly those saturated fats derived from animal sources. This belief, the ‘lipid hypothesis’ is based on a theory put forward in the late 1950s by Ancel Keys.

Researchers have spent the last fifty or so years disputing his findings and creating their own theses. One group, however, was never confused. Vegetable oil and food processing industries immediately saw profit in the ‘lipid hypothesis’, and set about demonizing traditional, and in many cases natural foods, in favor of their heavily processed products.

Lets go back a little, before Dr. Keys came up with his theory. Before 1920 coronary heart disease was rare and most people were slim. During the next forty years the incidence of heart disease soared. Now heart disease causes at least 40 percent of all U.S. deaths. As we already know, the incidence of obesity has skyrocketed.

From approximately that same period, 1920, to 1970 and at the same time as highly processed vegetable fats were successfully promoted as healthful, the proportion of traditional fats in the American diet fell from 82 percent to 62 percent. Butter consumption fell from 18 lbs per person per year, to 4 lbs per year.

While saturated fat consumption fell, the percentage of vegetable oils as margarine, shortening and refined oils, denatured and chemically altered, increased about 400 percent. Consumption of sugar and processed food increased about 60 percent.

Who’s the villain in this story. Animal fats? Or is the villain hydrogenated oils and processed foods?

Remember when pasteurization of milk was first established as necessary to good health? Did you know heat alters milk’s amino acids, locking away the proteins that make milk so healthful?

Heat application allows the unsaturated fatty acids to become rancid over a shorter period. Heat destroys vitamins. And to complete the process of destruction, heat also destroys all enzymes in milk - the enzymes needed to help the body assimilate calcium.

And, by the way, that’s how pasteurized milk helps you gain weight.

It’s certainly difficult to believe the good news food they’ve being feeding us for the last fifty years might actually be killing us.

It’s already common knowledge that natural foods can work miracles with ADHD children. If natural foods are so beneficial, would they benefit the obese elderly? Jill Engelmann, Ph.D., a nutritionist and author of Healthy Slim People Eat Fat, conducted a simple study to find out.

Twenty-five very overweight or obese adults, most in their 60’s, were documented over a 17 week period. All participants began with a full medical check up. Health problems included diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, urinary tract infections, fibromyalgia and gout.

All gave up processed foods. Instead they ate fresh natural foods including ‘unhealthy’ butter and raw milk. The test subjects took cod liver oil and magnesium and a dessertspoon of organic coconut oil before each meal. They also engaged in moderate exercise.

So what happen to these 25 elderly people at the end of their 17 weeks as guinea pigs? Again, they were given a full medical check up. Overall health was greatly improved. Weight loss ranged up to 38 pounds. Most were able to discontinue all drugs. Notably, blood fats had normalized, something no other eating plan had been able to achieve.

It’s not rocket science – but it works. Fresh nutrient dense foods, healthy fats (such as coconut oil), and moderate exercise can change lives. This means we can overcome many of the health problems we see today and we can stop the obesity epidemic right now.

This article is based on A Current Affair ABC television program broadcast in Australia October 2005.

Coconut and Cholesterol—Study Reveals Facts

A study conducted by researchers at Mukogawa Women’s University in Japan recently revealed some interesting facts related to coconut and blood cholesterol levels and research practices in general. The research was sponsored by the Australian macadamia industry and the study itself was focused primarily on the effects macadamia nuts have on cholesterol levels. Coconut was used in the study only for comparison.

The aim of the study was to observe any beneficial effect of a macadamia nut rich diet in young women. Macadamia nuts are rich in monounsaturated fat. The oil is similar to olive oil in fatty acid content. The research was performed to evaluate the effects monounsaturated oil in macadamia nuts have on health. Since olive oil is believed to be heart healthy, researchers assumed that macadamia oil and nuts may also have health benefits.

Sixty young female students aged 18-23 years participated in the study. They were randomized into three groups, 20 in each, and were given three kinds of rolls topped with macadamia nuts, coconut, or butter. The subjects continued the regime for three weeks. Physical and metabolic parameters were measured before and after the intervention.

The researchers reported that body weight (BW) and body mass index (BMI) were reduced significantly from initial measurements in the group fed macadamia nuts. Total cholesterol fell from an average of 180 mg/dl to 169 mg/dl. LDL cholesterol, the so-called “bad” cholesterol, fell from 97 mg/dl to 90 mg/dl. All of these results were favorable.

The researchers concluded that macadamia nuts reduced body weight, BMI, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol in young Japanese women without adversely affecting risk factors for heart disease. They recommended the regular use of macadamia nuts as a means to reduce risk factors associated with heart disease.

It probably comes as no surprise to you to learn that macadamia nuts are good for you. But here comes the interesting part. Their data also showed that the cholesterol levels of the women who ate coconut was equal to or even better than that of those who ate the macadamia nuts.

In the coconut group total cholesterol dropped from an average of 180 mg/dl to 169 mg/dl, the same as in the macadamia group. LDL cholesterol dropped from an average of 103 mg/dl to 94 mg/dl. This is a drop of 9 mg/dl. The LDL cholesterol in the macadamia group dropped 7 mg/dl, showing that coconut had a greater LDL lowering effect than macadamia nuts.

If you read this study, however, you may be mystified because you won’t find any mention of the effects of coconut in the text. Although coconut gave an equal or better result than macadamia nuts, the authors didn’t bother to mention this in their write-up. The only way we know about the effects of the coconut is from the list of data. The authors of the study said nothing about the coconut. Their focus was on macadamia nuts. However, if coconut had a negative effect or gave results worse than macadamia nuts, the authors may have used that to their advantage. But they didn’t say a thing.

This is very typical in research. The fact that no mention was made in the text of the effect of coconut is a classical example of selective reporting by researchers. Only the favorable effects of the sponsor’s product were given. Many studies involving coconut are not reported for similar reasons. Because of bias in favor of the sponsor’s product or prejudice against a product (such as coconut) the favorable results of competing products often go unreported. Reader’s often have to examine the data in detail to discover all the facts.

Coconut Oil Dietary Supplements

The use of coconut oil has grown tremendously over the past few years. It is regarded as a “functional food,” meaning that it provides health benefits beyond its nutritional content. Coconut oil possesses anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-parasitical properties. It stimulates the immune system, helps protect against cancer and relives many of the symptoms associated with colitis, diabetes, arthritis, and other conditions. Because of this it has become popular as a dietary supplement.

To gain the benefits associated with coconut oil the general recommendation is to consume about 3½ tablespoons a day. Any amount is better than none. Even 1 to 3 tablespoons a day is beneficial. I normally recommend that people use the oil in their everyday cooking. I also recommend that you split the dose up throughout the day so that you get some for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This gives best results. A tablespoon with each meal works fine.

Some people, however, don’t use much oil in food preparation. Or they may be too busy to cook. For them it is easier to just take the oil by the spoonful. That’s fine. I often do this myself. If I’m in a hurry, don’t want to cook, or only want a small meal, I can get my allotment of coconut oil by simply taking it by the spoonful.

Some people just can’t stand putting a spoonful of oil into their mouths. They don’t like the oily feel or texture. I have found that the best way to eat coconut oil by the spoon is to get it hard first and then let it sit under my tongue. It takes less than a minute to melt, but it doesn’t give your mouth that oily taste and feel that you get by taking it in liquid form. Taking it this way is actually pleasant—especially if you use a good quality oil. There are a lot of brands of coconut oil that honestly do not taste very good. Many people don’t even know what a good quality coconut oil is supposed to taste like.

I often hear people say they don’t like the taste of coconut oil. I find that hard to believe because I love the taste of coconut oil, at least the ones I use. But I realize that some people buy the cheapest bands they can get. Consequently, these will not be the best tasting oils. Some are actually nasty. So it is no wonder why some people say they don’t like coconut oil.

There are people who won’t use the oil for cooking because they don’t like the “coconut” taste in their foods. I use coconut oil in all of my cooking and love it. Again it is probably because of the brand used.

Although some people don’t like the taste of the coconut oil, they still want the health benefits. They swallow the oil dutifully every day just as if they were taking a spoonful of full-flavored cod liver oil.

Some enterprising companies aware of this problem have devised a solution. Their solution is to put coconut oil into gel capsules like other oil-based dietary supplements. This allows those who don’t like the taste of coconut oil to get the benefits without having to eat the oil.

Many people like the idea of taking coconut oil in capsule form. There are several brands available now. The capsules are fairly large—1 gram. Four capsules a day is the suggested recommendation. One of the problems with the capsules is that in order to get the equivalent of 3½ tablespoons a day you would have to consume a total of 49 capsules! That’s a huge amount, and these are large capsules too. A single jar holds about 120 capsules. So one jar will last you a mere two and a half days! Most of what you eat will be the gel in the capsule and not the coconut oil.

The manufactures of these supplements admit that taking 1-3 tablespoons of coconut oil a day would be a lot of gel capsules. They acknowledge that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to try to get this amount of coconut oil in capsule form every single day. The real advantage of using gel capsules is for convenience. Use liquid coconut oil for cooking and meal preparation at home. When you go to work during the day, out to lunch or dinner, or are away from home for an extended amount of time, this is where the gel capsules come in handy. Unlike a bottle of oil that is large and leaky, gel capsules can fit into your pocket or suitcase and you don’t have to worry about them leaking or staining your clothes.

Gel capsules are convenient but most people still do not like the idea of taking a handful of supplements. Even 1 tablespoon’s worth requires 14 capsules. I have a better solution. I often want to have a tablespoon of coconut oil when I’m eating at a restaurant or when I’m away from home, especially when I traveling out of town. Large jars of oil are too big and they often leak or break. My solution is to package coconut oil into individual 1 tablespoon (single dose) servings. This way the oil can be taken anywhere and used at any time.

The idea has been so intriguing to me that I’ve made arrangements for a company to produce single dose packets of coconut oil. The packets contain 1 tablespoon of oil and can easily fit into your pocket or purse. Their primary advantage is that they are travel friendly. You can take them with you anywhere. When you eat at a restaurant you simply tear off the top of the packet and eat it straight, pour it on your food, or use it as a salad dressing.

If you don’t like the taste of coconut oil you may still prefer the gel caps. However, most people who say they don’t like the taste of coconut oil have never tasted a good quality oil. If they had the opportunity to taste a premium quality virgin coconut oil they would discover how much better it tastes. I scoured the world (literally) looking for the best tasting virgin coconut oil available. I’ve tasted hundreds of samples of coconut oil from the Philippines, Indonesia, Fiji, India and elsewhere in my search. I believe I’ve found it. The oil used in the single dose packets is absolutely the highest quality on the market. It has a delicate coconut aroma and flavor that is so good you can enjoy it straight from the packet. That’s the way I eat it.

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Copyright © 2006, Bruce Fife. All rights reserved.

Coconut Week at Megamall (September 2005)

Gina with special guests Dr. Bruce Fife and Mrs. Fife

Manila Bulletin Release (March 5, 2005)

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