Please consult your doctor or regular health physician before following suggestions found in any Sun Day
health columns/stories.
Let’s go back to World War II, from 1941 to 1945. The Japanese military occupied the Philippines and other South Pacific Islands, where bloody battles were being fought. The supply of coconut oil was effectively cut off from the United States.
Although coconut oil had been popular as cooking oil and an ingredient in numerous food products, the occupation continued to interrupt the supply for several long years as the war slowly dragged on. Manufacturers began to develop alternative sources of cooking oils and the polyunsaturated oil phase was born.
By the time the war was over, there was a lot of money at stake in the promotion of these oils. By the end of 1950, public opinion had turned against saturated fats like butter, lard, and coconut oil, calling them the evil enemy that raised cholesterol and caused heart disease. They were replaced with margarine and processed vegetable oils. This new invention was called “heart healthy.”
I remember this era well, as I was still living at home in Des Moines. I was in my teens and early 20s. Mother was known for her excellent pies and flaky crusts make with lard. When the hydrogenated fats were introduced, she changed to Fluffo and Crisco. We replaced the butter with margarine by using hydrogenated fat and adding yellow food coloring to it to resemble butter. About the same time, my parents were on a diet and eliminated cream from their coffee. I was just learning to drink coffee and had to drink it black. To this day, it is not my favorite beverage.
God gave us food to eat, not man-made chemicals. Quoting from Genesis 1:29, and God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of the earth and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food.” And in Genesis 30b, “I have given every green herb for food” and it was so. The coconut and palm trees are food. For health we need whole food; nothing should be added or taken away from it.
