Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Here's my deal: I've got severe rheumatoid arthritis and I'm only 23. I've had it since I was 18. The Paleo diet has helped tremendously by making flare-ups a thing of the past, however there is still lots of inflammation. I'm underweight and always looking for ways to get healthy fats in me.

When I eat coconut/coconut butter, I feel great. I feel energetic, satiated, in a good mood, mentally clear. The problem is, my joints flare up like crazy. I'm not really sure why. Especially since coconut (butter) is touted as a powerfully healthful food. Hack away? I'd like to participate in the glorious coconut rainbow of goodness.

flag	asked Aug 25 at 23:24 Dan 4,144●5●12

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Have you tried eating plain coconut oil? Coconut butter contains the meat of the nut and you may be reacting to a protein. – Tamanduá Aug 26 at 0:01

Also, coconut butter contains about 1 g of sugar : Tbsp. – Tamanduá Aug 26 at 0:19

Good point about the proteins. I'll try just the oil and see how I feel. Ima miss those proteins, but if I feel better, I don't care. – Dan Aug 26 at 0:58

Have you tried the auto-immune version? My results for aut0immune issues was better on this. No nuts seeds, nightshades, alcohol, eggs or dairy in addition to standard paleo Fish oil every day – julianne Aug 26 at 1:14

That's what I'm doing, Julianne. I don't eat nuts, seeds, nightshades, alcohol, eggs or dairy. – Dan Aug 26 at 15:22

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kat · Answer 1 · 2012-08-26 01:01:49Z UTC

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Either Tamandua is right and you're reacting to a protein (so just eat the oil), or you're not taking in more omega 3's to compensate for the omega 6's in coconut. Different fats differently modulate the arachidonic acid cascade that is central to the underlying inflammatory process in autoimmune disorders. You basically want a high 3 to 6 ratio to keep the dominoes from falling the wrong way.

So you could try taking more fish oil to compensate. Another solution would be to substitute good animal fats in general for coconut fat. Grassfed beef, freerange chicken, eggs marked as good sources of omega 3, etc.

Another thing that really helped me with being underweight and joint painy was to go strict gluten and dairy free. Good luck!

answered Aug 26 at 1:01

kat
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	Coconut oil has very little omega 6. Fatty meats like chicken etc can have more. Eating seafood or - like you say fish oil -is your best bet for increasing omega 3 Check here for information of amounts of omega 6 in everything paleozonenutrition.com/2011/05/10/… – julianne Aug 26 at 1:12
	Thanks! It looks to me like your source actually says the omega 6 to 3 ratio of coconut oil is 1800:0. It is the ratio, not the absolute amount, that matters for how our bodies metabolize fats in anti- or pro-inflammatory ways. Coconut oil also contains lauric and myristic acids that modulate the arachidonic acid cascade in a weird way: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1542505/?page=4. Omega 3 is the anti-inflammatory winner in this biochemical reaction chain. Fatty meats from happy (not factory farmed) critters are the best way I know to get omega 3s > omega 6s. – kat Aug 26 at 2:13
	Coconut oil has 1.8 grams omega 6 per 100grams of oil (that's nearly half a cup) A small amount of coconut oil will not contain much omega 6. with regards to omega 6:3 ratio recent recommendations are total amounts per day. We need 2 - 4% calories per day omega 6 and 1000 - 3000 per day omega 3. Going by ratio in each food is not useful. The total intake over the day of each is easier to track and the only important factor – julianne Aug 26 at 3:23
	I take 5 grams of omega 3s a day, plus I eat 1-2 servings of wildcaught oily fish every day (salmon, sardines, anchovies, usually). I'm not sure I should or CAN, feasibly (read: financially) increase my omega 3s. – Dan Aug 27 at 1:53
	That's quite a lot of omega 3. There are some safety concerns with that high a dosage (chiefly bleeding) - livestrong.com/article/…. But I also see where that high a dosage was considered safe enough for trials - aafp.org/afp/2004/0701/p133.html. Perhaps cutting out coconut protein (DCing the coconut meat, milk, & cream in favor of only coconut oil) is a safer experiment than going up on the omega 3s. – kat Aug 27 at 5:23

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the_brazilian_body · Answer 2 · 2012-08-26 00:51:54Z UTC

Coconut oil has almost infinite benefits. To get my daily intake (about 3 tbsp. for adults), I either put mine in my tea or coffe, throw it in a salad dressing. I recently made a smoothie ice pops with coconut oil, mango and banana - its a super easy way to get your daily intake.

I really want to eat Coconut

2 Answers