i love coconut milk..don’t you?
nutrition facts and numbers in this entry are obtained from some websites about food nutrition and health..
photo taken from an image bank
as most people already know, coconut milk is widely used in asian cooking..be it in indian cuisine, malay, thai, indonesian and even chinese..coconut milk in curries and other dishes give it that creamy texture and taste that’s incomparable to other types of dairy substitutes..well, in my opinion at least..i normally use coconut milk for curries and stuff..i’ve tried substituting it with evaporated milk and even yoghurt, but it ended up making the dish totally different tastewise..and if you ask me, i’d rather go for coconut milk in my curries anytime..
past health studies have been giving the good ol’ coconut milk a bad reputation for quite some time..facts that claim it’s high in cholesterol, high in calories and generally just bad for health reasons..i have a friend or two who’d literally skip any dish that contains even a hint of coconut milk in it..their reasoning for it? they don’t wanna get fat and coconut milk is the mother of all fat generators..
sigh..
however, in other studies it’s been scientifically proven that coconut milk contains a lot of nutrition and some other beneficial substances such as protein, carbohydrates and fiber..you can get approximately 230 calories of energy in 100 grams of fresh coconut milk..well, obviously the fresh version is better than the canned or dried version..in that 100 grams of fresh coconut milk, you can also be guaranteed of a certain percentage of niacin, phosporus, magnesium, folate and even calcium..doesn’t that sound good by now?
photo taken from image bank
in supermarkets and most sundry shops, one can find the canned and cream version..what’s the difference between fresh coconut milk and those two? fresh coconut milk is normally extracted using water, while the cream version consists of pure coconut extract..thus, it’s commonly known as coconut cream..the liquid is very thick and the extraction of the cream is done without using water at all..now the coconut milk gives you 230 calories, but the coconut cream adds a further 100 calories, bringing it to a whopping 330 calories..plus, carbohydrate and the other substances come in greater amounts too..
how about the canned version? this one generally offers the lowest calories..at the same time, the amount of beneficial substances in canned coconut milk is the lowest compared to the other two above..
now that we’re done with the statistics and facts stuff, let’s move on..
i’m not gonna say one should down a bottle of coconut milk in one go because it’s good for health, but you get the drift..coconut milk is not all bad after all..it’s not going to give you a heart attack right there and then each time you consume any..it’s all about taking it in moderation..being a potential victim of a heart attack happens when a lot of other factors are combined, not just consuming coconut milk alone..
photo taken from image bank
so please, stop giving the good ol’ tasty coconut milk a bad name already..eat it in moderation and enjoy it while doing so..besides, it’s no fun living in fear of practically every gram of food you put in your mouth..again, eat everything in moderation..your body needs all the beneficial substances you can give it..
2 Comments on “i love coconut milk..don’t you?”
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whytevee
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Hey I am constantly researching for ways to get healthier by using coconuts, I like your blog post! I wish I would have thought of about coconuts sooner! This is actually really good info!
yup..coconut’s actually not all bad..people just need to realize it’s all about eating in moderation and living an active lifestyle, instead of blaming certain foods blatantly..