Product Review: Skinny & Co. Coconut Oil

This is a review of a product that was sent to me by the manufacturer, Skinny & Co. I'm not being paid for this product review, but I also didn't pay for the product. It's a freebie. You can view my unboxing of the product here. Now let's get started.

Skinny & Co. make fancy coconut oil products. Raw, pure, vegan, extra-virgin, wild-harvested, single-source . . . any other catch-words I can include? It's coconut oil, so it's also gluten-free. They also emphasize their charitable work in Vietnam, whence they source their coconuts, and the fact that they recycle a lot.

The packaging is pretty cool. They sent me five of these little jars that are quite pretty. My only complaint is that it's hard to tell which one is which. All the jars look the same, and the product name does not stand out very well. So far I haven't put facial oil in my oatmeal or anything, but I could see it being a problem with this packaging. In this box, I have the coconut oil, body butter, sugar scrub, oil pulling, and facial oil.

If you've read this blog for a long time, you know that I went through a raw foods phase. I'm over that now, and I'll tell you why: it's really hard to do, it didn't make me feel any better, and it's based on scientific quackery. That's part of why I'm skeptical when it comes to the health benefits of things like single-sourced and cold-pressed. But I also really like coconut oil, so I've tried all of the products (even the oil pulling) with an open mind.

All of the products except the sugar scrub look just like this

Skinny & Co. Coconut Oil
Surprisingly, I already had organic, extra virgin, cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil in my pantry (because that's the coconut oil that Trader Joe's sells). This coconut oil smells like the Trader Joe's kind, maybe slightly less coconutty. Tastes a little better on its own than the Trader Joe's brand, I think. I've put it in smoothies, and oatmeal. It adds a nice flavor. Seems like a good product.

And this is the sugar scrub.

Skinny & Co. Sugar Scrub
This is my favorite product of the five I've tried. It has a strong flavor of brown sugar, which makes me really want to eat it. The sugar is pleasantly abrasive and washes away easily in the shower. It's a nice alternative to exfoliating products with stupid microbeads, which I don't like to use because of the environmental concerns associated with them. Once the sugar is gone, the coconut oil in which it is suspended remains to leave my skin feeling very soft without feeling greasy. Love this stuff.

Skinny & Co. Body Butter
This is coconut oil with some essential oils so that it smells nicer (and maybe blah blah blah something about the health benefits of essential oils). Except that Emily and I both hate the smell. It smells strongly of black licorice, so I assume there's anise oil in there. It's a nice product, and I like it as a moisturizing product, but I do not like the smell. If you like black licorice or anise, though, you will probably like this.

Skinny & Co. Facial Oil
I was excited to try this product, too, because the skin of my face is frequently dry. It also has lavender and chamomile in it, so I thought it might be good as a natural sleep aid. Unfortunately, it has the same essential oil blend as the body butter, and that anise smell overwhelms everything else for me. I like the way it makes my face feel, though. I can't speak to how well it removes make-up, because I don't wear make-up.

Skinny & Co. Oil Pulling
Have you heard of oil pulling? I hadn't. I've done some research on it, though, and found that it's a traditional practice in Ayurveda (much of the empirical research that's been done on oil pulling is from India). I probably read about it in the Hatha Yoga Pradapika and didn't even realize it. In Ayurveda, it's traditionally performed with sesame oil, but Skinny & Co. sells coconut oil, so they advocate using coconut oil (preliminary research shows that coconut oil is also effective, though). I followed an online guide for how to oil-pull for the first time this morning. Coincidentally, I had a root canal on Wednesday, so my mouth hasn't been feeling awesome. I hoped that the oil pulling would help soothe my gums and make my breath better. It hasn't made any difference so far, but the studies I've read suggest it might not make a difference until after 5-8 days. It's kind of gross, though, and time-consuming. You're supposed to swish a tablespoon of oil in your mouth for 5-20 minutes. Not seconds; minutes. That's a lot of time when you have appointments starting at 5 a.m. I wonder if it's equally effective if you do it before bed.

That's about all I have to say about Skinny & Co. I like the product well enough, although I probably wouldn't have gone out and purchased it on my own. Health and beauty products in fancy little tins aren't really my thing. I do like the sugar scrub, though. I may even keep using that.

For more info on Skinny & Co., you can visit their website here. If you have other questions you'd like to ask or are a raw foodist who wants to attack me as a heretic, please do so in the comments below!

A Part of the World: Eating

For the intro to this series, see here.

Living as a part of the world isn't easy. For one thing, it's not a one-off decision, a one-step process. It took millenia for our human cultures to stray this far from nature; it'll take more than a few months (and a few articles by yours truly) to get back.

A second significant barrier that stands in the way of living as part of the world presents itself when we start looking for how (exactly) we're supposed to do that. My topic for this initial article is eating as part of the world, and for an example of what I mean, read here, here, and here.

See? Everyone has their own idea of what the most natural diet is like. Raw foodists believe that we should eat everything raw, because our most primitive ancestors wouldn't have had the capability of cooking food. Mark's Primal Blueprint advocates eating plenty of meat, because "Grok" would have had to eat meat to fill out his diet through the bare winter months. And fruitarians . . . well, I have to confess that I think fruitarians are a little bit weird. The point is that every one of them claims that their collective lifestyle (because it becomes more than just eating, you know) is the most natural, which is why you should be following it with them!

So what's a neophyte Ishmaelite (Ishmaelist? Ishmaelian?) to do? How do you determine which style of eating is actually the most natural, the closest to the world, and therefore (we suppose) the most beneficial?

Um, I don't think you can.

What you have to do, I think, is determine first what manner of eating is going to make the most sense for you. I, for example, tried to eat raw. It was a mess. I am not going to be able to eat raw all day every day (at least at this point in my life). Nothing wrong with that. You can eat healthy and be healthy without being a raw foodist. Furthermore, there's no reason to assume that you have to agree with one of these pre-fabricated eating plans; you can figure out your own way as you go along.

That said, you need to follow your common sense and your conscience. Common sense should tell you that high fructose corn syrup is not good and natural, no matter what they say. Use your brain (and a little low-key research) to figure out which foods (and food additives, if you must) are naturally-occurring. From there, your conscience takes over. In your heart, do you believe that people really shouldn't be eating animals? Do you prefer only to eat foods that would have been available to your ancestors? Do you draw the line at corn on the cob? Corn meal? Corn syrup? These are questions that need to be addressed individually, according to what you know and what you believe.

In short, I can't tell you how you should eat. What I can do is give you a few broad guidelines as a starting point for eating as part of the world.

1. Make your own food. You don't want nasty additives (unnecessary sweeteners, flavorings and colorings, preservatives) in your food. You don't want HFCS. You don't want MSG. The best way to ensure that those things are not in your food is to make your food yourself. Come on. This is your first step. Stop buying convenience foods. No more TV dinners. No more 100 calorie bags of snacks. No more spray cheese. No more canned pasta sauce. Do you really need those things? No. Make good, clean food for yourself!
2. Grow your own food. If you can buy produce, good; if you can buy organic, even better. If you can grow your own, though, that's the best. And you can make it as easy or as extreme as you like. Maybe you keep a few potted herbs on your counter so you don't have to buy dried. Maybe you buy a bison every year, slaughter it, and freeze the meat (I really did know a family that did that). You have options here, you know.
3. Store your own food. Connect the dots from the last two. You want all-natural applesauce. You happen to have some apples from a tree in your backyard. See where I'm going with this? Canning isn't that difficult!

Sacrifices will have to be made, but you can make them gradually. And you can pick and choose which ones to make. One of the advantages to the advances that we've made, culturally, is that we have consistent availability of a large variety of food. I can eat kiwi. My ancestors wouldn't have eaten kiwi. Grok probably wouldn't have eaten kiwi. But I get to eat kiwi. And you know what? I really like kiwi. So I'm gonna have kiwi, every now and then.

The point of all this "part of the world" stuff isn't to see how tough we can make it on ourselves; it's not an exercise in some survivalist mentality. The overarching purpose is to begin re-submitting ourselves to the laws of nature--those same laws which we've spent years conquering.

Because as long as we willingly choose not to follow the same rules as the rest of the world--exempting ourselves from drought, famine, natural disasters--we won't have a good reason for actively caring for the world. So keep the big picture in mind. What and how you eat is important, but it's about more than simply being healthy.

It's about being part of the world.

Beautiful stock photo by FantasyStock, not me!

RAW: Days 8 and 9

I was going to back off on the daily posts for a while, but I really must share.

I posted my concerns and questions at GoneRaw.com, and look what came back . . .

http://www.goneraw.com/forums/3/topics/3518

The response from this community overwhelms. I was expecting a little more vehemence. If someone were to challenge my way of life--and let's face it: raw foodism is as much a lifestyle as it is a diet--I think I would be more hostile in defending it. However, the posts here are nothing but helpful and encouraging.

Today was pretty difficult for me, in terms of detox. My stomach was turning over and over; I felt nauseous at points; and let's just say that things were a little, erm, loose. But that is an indication to me that my colon is cleaning out. Because things aren't just loose, they're also a strange color. I may be mistaken, but I take this to mean that a raw diet really is effective for me, in terms of cleansing. And I like the idea that my body is becoming cleaner and more healthy.

Also, my Amazon purchases (Larabars and hemp protein powder) arrived today.

Being raw is very difficult for me, for some reason, perhaps because I'm still so deep into my immortality phase that I'm not as pressingly concerned about my long-term health as I might be in another couple years. My extraordinarily (current) good health probably contributes to this mindset as well; this year has been awful in my area for flu and respiratory viruses, but I haven't gotten even a little sick. However, the three occurrences that I've mentioned above compel me to continue my raw food experiment, with one concession: I'll stay 80% raw, but allow myself 20% cooked food. I'll still try to stay as clean as possible in that 20% by avoiding gluten, red meat, high fructose corn syrup, processed flour, etc. (with the exception of Girl Scout cookies, of course). But I think that will give me some leeway, so that by the end of this month I don't hate (hate HATE) the very idea of living food.

I'm currently approaching this as an endurance activity. I think of this as a little run-walk strategy: 8 minutes of running, 2 minutes of walking. Maybe next season (month? year?) I'll be able to go 100% for longer. In the meantime, I intend to take care of myself as well as possible, and will continue to post on my experiences with raw and living food.

RAW: Days 6 and 7

Yesterday was race day. I ate mostly raw, but scarfed up whatever was on hand, right after (oranges, bananas, granola bars, gatorade) and celebrated by having a nice (COOKED!) dinner with my dad. Race report to follow.

Today is not going well. I am sick of eating frickin' leafy greens, but trying to stay away from too much dried fruit to avoid the simple sugars. I'm currently munching on mushrooms. Furthermore, I feel hostile towards the entire raw community. I've been surfing message boards, reading chirpy posts, and wanting to punch all those raw food nuts in the face. Not so much enjoying this lifestyle, at the moment.

Finally, I've been trying to find some solid evidence on the benefits of a living food diet. I know the basic theory: heating food above 118 F for longer than 3 minutes denatures the protein, caramelizes the sugar, and destroys the enzymes that are built into the food to help it be digested. But I would like to see some data on the actual science behind this. Every article I've found on line strikes me as a knee-jerk, defensive, propagandistic, and even fanatical. I get that this is something people really believe in; maybe it's something I could believe in. I've even found a few good articles, and I think, "Okay, I can buy that . . . but if you have studies, show me references." Because I don't want to be preached at; I want some facts.

I hope things start looking up in the next 3 weeks, because at this rate, I'm never going to want to eat raw veg again!

RAW: Days 4 and 5

I can tell you, the amount of fiber in my body currently is really intense . . .

I feel sorry for whoever might be so unfortunate as to end up behind me at any point during the YMCA Central indoor tri tomorrow . . . because they're in for a stinky ride.

This raw thing comes in phases . . . sometimes it seems ridiculously hard, other times it's a breeze. For dinner tonight, I made some raw hummus using sprouted chick peas, and it tasted really good! Besides which, the friction from processing it in my food processor warmed it nicely. And I haven't had warm food in a while.

One of the most interesting parts about this whole process is wondering where I'm going to land: will I be so full of energy and healthy by the end of the month that I'll never want to go back to cooked foods? Will I be so sick of frickin' fruits and veggies that I'll cook everything forever, until all semblance of nutritional value is gone from whatever I eat? I'm betting that I'll end up halfway in between--glad to have had the experience, but ready to incorporate cooked foods (BREAD!) back into my diet. I could see myself being about 50% raw.

But it's thrilling, not knowing where I'll come down at the end of this experiment.

RAW: Days 2 and 3

Prompted by dinner with my grandmother last night (she's half-deaf, slightly senile, and loves me to death), I have decided that raw food rules do not apply in the following situations:

• Special family meals (because there's a special circle of hell reserved for people who turn down food prepared by doting grandmothers)
• Holidays and birthdays
• Race days
• Girl Scout cookies

You think I'm kidding about that last one. I'm not.

I figure even with these exceptions, I'm still in great shape; if nothing else, I'm still well ahead of the 80/20 curve (you know, eat well 80 percent of the time, drink beer and eat oreos after the race--I mean, the other 20 percent of the time). Which led me along the following line of thought: I don't really care about raw eating. I respect people who are raw vegans and who find all kinds of creative things to do with dates, almonds, a food processor, and a dehydrator. But when it comes right down to it, I don't have the kind of spiritual connection with the idea of raw fooding that it takes to give up so much that is totally normal (Girl Scout cookies, anyone?).

Which pretty much parallels my attitude towards Ironman. I respect people who do it. I think it's awesome and bad ass. But I feel no compunction to go out and do 140.6 miles of work in one day.

At least, not yet.

There's the kicker--as sure as I am that I don't want to do Ironman right now, that it's not my thing, that I lack the emotional and spiritual desire to go out and push myself through that kind of journey . . . I know that it's only a matter of time. It might be in two years or in twenty, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will someday finish an Ironman race. I will. It's written into my future; it's part of my destiny. And I'm sure that I'll find the strength for the journey--the emotional and spiritual connection that I currently lack--as I travel that road.

And maybe that's the way it'll be with raw food, too. Yeah, I don't really have the emotional or spiritual conviction that raw eating is the way to go . . . I'm not even sure about the biological basis of raw eating. But I know that I want to see if I can go the distance. And maybe as I test my limits with endurance and discipline in eating, I'll find some connection to this lifestyle that pulls me in and makes me want to give up Girl Scout cookies.

Fortunately, I'll still have these recipes . . .

RAW: Lessons Learned - Day 1

• Oils have lots of fats. If I want to eat a lot of salads, I'm going to have to find a lower-fat alternative for oil and vinegar dressing.
• Gotta cut the nuts and nut butters. High fats!
• I'm going to need to find a source of protein and B12. Percent of calories from protein today: 9%. Amount of vitamin B12: 0 mg. Might need to bust out the poke and ceviche sooner than I expected.
• Raw food can be good if it's done right. Yeah, if. My first experiment didn't work out well. My second and third were better. I'm starting to get the hang of it, now.
• I gotta get my mind off of bread, chocolate, bread, cake, bread . . . never mind. Sprouts! Veg! Frozen berries! Almond milk! Delicious, crispy, green, fragrant lettuces . . .
• Gas . . . not as bad as I thought.
  

And here's a (successful, I promise!) recipe . . .

Carrot Cumin Soup

2 carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
about 1/2 cup water
cumin, salt, pepper to taste

Blend everything until it looks like soup. Then eat it.

RAW

The title says it all. I am sitting in front of a big bowl of salad with homemade dressing and raisins and tomatoes. I had salad and fruit for breakfast. There's some (homemade!) almond milk in the fridge, and mung beans sprouting on the kitchen counter.

Can't wait to see what happens next!