Another Healthy Gift From The Coconut
You’ve read my reports on the many uses and health benefits of coconut oil. How about the liquid, or water, of the coconut?
The liquid inside a coconut is an amazing alternative to water – low in calories, zero fat, and lots of naturally occurring nutrition including potassium, magnesium and calcium, fiber, proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. It is isotonic and contains more potassium than a banana and the perfect balance of electrolytes. It rehydrates you 3 times faster than water can. These qualities make coconut water a natural sports drink that stands apart from the blue-dye, chemical-sweetener-added competition.
One of the amazing things about coconut water is that it has the same osmotic pressure as that of blood plasma – which means it can be safely administered as an intravenous fluid. In fact, it was used during World War II to save the lives of many wounded soldiers in the Pacific, where emergency transfusions using coconut water replaced lost blood plasma. Coconut water has also been used to treat cholera because of its electrolyte properties.
But the benefits don’t stop there. Coconut water is a natural diuretic that helps to dissolve kidney stones. It has oodles of potassium, which helps the body to fight water retention, muscle cramps and heart irregularities.
The readily bioavailable calcium in coconut water is an important mineral for bones and teeth. It also plays a role as an electrical conductor in nerves and muscles.
Sodium is also needed in the body to maintain life. This vital electrolyte plays a number of roles to support health and wellness. Potassium and sodium interact electrically within the cells and outside the cells in the blood plasma and this is required for cardiac contractions, skeletal muscle movement and nerve impulses.
These are just some of the nutritious features of coconut water – there is also protein, antioxidants and other vitamins and minerals in there. Interestingly, a coconut takes 9 months to draw the water up from the earth through the trunk, into the nut and develop, just like a baby in the womb.
As more is known in the mainstream about coconut water, it will become harder to obtain. I am already having a hard time buying young coconuts – which are sold as a drink all over Asia, the Pacific, and many other places in the world I have been in the past several years.
I recommend buying cases of canned coconut water and keeping it in your long-term storage for emergencies. It’s a power food. And it has the benefit of tasting lovely. Coconut water is in my Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie every morning (Ch. 10 of 12 Steps), which may be part of why I suffer from no chronic health conditions at age 45.
The young coconut is truly a miracle of nature, a gift to human beings.