Apple cider vinegar and lemons have made their appearances on the blog as super foods and I would like to add the wonder of coconut oil to the mix.
We use a lot of coconut oil in our house.
Recently when our dog was having some skin trouble I woke up one morning and thought to give him coconut oil on his food.
I like to fancy that I live an intuitive life.
This might be nothing more than a rationalization for laziness interrupted by bursts of creativity, but this is what I have to live with.
My dog Ollie is about eleven, and he has had chronic ear infections his whole life. We always feed him top-notch food and treat the infections when they come up but can never get them to go away completely.
Last fall I took him to a vet that suggested a prescription diet for the yeast problem with his ear.
We went for it and it was pretty amazing how the yeast problem cleared up and his ear looked better than it had in years.
But, throughout the next couple of months, his skin and digestion took a beating even though his ear remained clear.
At a crossroads of confusion, I didn’t want to give up the food because of how good his ear looked but the downsides were pretty weighty.
That fateful morning I woke up and gave Ollie a tablespoon of coconut oil on his food and continued to do so for several days.
Of course, I thought he was healed immediately and my wife thought I was nuts.
Eventually, I searched online and found out that my instinct was right but my dosage was off.
A fifty pound dog like Ollie should be getting five tablespoons of coconut oil a day.
Two months and five tablespoons of organic coconut oil later Ollie’s skin is stellar his energy is great and he has one spot on one of his paws that hasn’t healed but is on the way.
I did have a consult with a vet recently who suggested that I switch to fish oils, which might be a good idea.
Either way, I am seriously into superfoods and the healing nature of plants.