commercial salad dressings, mustard, ketchup, salsa,
pickles, barbecue sauce, and tomato sauce, because of
their high salt, sugar, and omega 6 fatty acid content.
Almost all vegetable, salad, and cooking oils, except those
we recommended in chapter 1, should also be relegated to
the discard box.
How about coconut oil? Coconut oil, meat, and milk are
traditional foods of tropical islanders living close to the
world’s oceans and seas. These foods are concentrated
sources of lauric acid, a saturated fat that elevates blood
cholesterol levels and increases the risk for cardiovascular
disease in Western populations. Strangely enough,
traditional cultures that consume coconut foods have little or
no heart disease, stroke, or other cardiovascular problems
normally associated with eating saturated fats (such as the
lauric acid found in coconuts).
Although we don’t completely understand this
inconsistency, it may be due to lauric acid’s positive
antibacterial effect in the gut. Lauric acid from coconut
foods may protect your heart and blood vessels from
cardiovascular disease by reducing those gut bacteria that
increase intestinal permeability, a known risk factor for
heart disease because of chronic, low-level systemic
inflammation. Based on the evidence of traditional Pacific
Islanders, coconut oil, meat, and milk do not increase your
risk for cardiovascular disease, particularly as part of a
modern Paleo Diet. So let your palate “go back to the
islands” and enjoy the delicious health benefits of this time-