In Praise of Coconut Water

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AlohaBird

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I was having a really bad night the other night.

(Some background: My seizures are nocturnal but I often get woken up on a bad night by what I call "Rude Awakenings" that are like my body trying to go into a full blown seizure but if I can get all the way awake fast enough I can fend it off. But this makes for a very un-restful night. More like a series of naps, not really sleep.)

The bad nights are not very often anymore if I watch my diet and lifestyle factors but, this was a special occasion, the wedding of one of my oldest and dearest friends. So there was some alcohol involved. :paperbag:

So that night I kept waking up and I was really scared that it was going to go full blown TC any minute.

Then I noticed a can of coconut water I had put down on the desk earlier but hadn't gotten around to drinking. It looked so delicious to me that I bolted down the whole 16oz can.

Then I went back to sleep and slept totally peacefully until late morning awaking rested and refreshed.

Was it just hydration that I needed? Was it the large amounts of potassium and magnesium in coconut water? I don't really know or care. It worked.

I just thought some other people might want to give it a try too. If you have that feeling that a seizure is looming, this might help. What do you have to lose? It tastes good too.

P.S. Just make sure to read the labels because some brands add sugar and other stuff. You want one that has an ingredient list not ingredientS.
 
AlohaBird

I never tried the coconut water yet but I have to, sounds good to me.
 
It's certainly better for you than gatorade or other sports drinks that have all kinds of fake stuff in them.
 
Is there a particular brand that is better than another? I picked up something called Vita Coco. The ingredients seemed simple enough..
 
I get one called C2O. But any brand that is just real fresh coconut water will work. No additives.
 
Coconut water and oil is amazing for me when it comes to fighting off seizures, and recovering after them. I use them in smoothies every day and I rarely have issues with partials, sugar spikes, and dehydration like I used to.

PROS
-------
-Great for hydration
-Less sugar than anything sweet you can buy
-More natural than any diet drink you can buy
-Potassium & Magnesium is great for energy
-Great post-seizure
-Oil is great for your skin, hair, and cooking!

Best brands of coconut water are ONE, C2O, and Vita Coco. Be wary of brands that add sugar to the water and "Coconut Juice", which usually come in cans.
 
Didn't know coconut water contained magnesium!

Aloha, maybe you were dealing with hypoglycemia caused by alcohol, known to amplify insulin secretion. The potassium and magnesium in the coconut water interact with insulin. So, maybe the underlying issue is insulin resistance caused by imbalanced gut flora.
 
Glad the coconut water helped.
I tried coconut water once but thought it tasted horrid! Maybe I need to try it again. The one I tried was in a can but I'm going to try one of the above mentioned brands.
Thanks for the info!
Cindy
 
Keith said:
Didn't know coconut water contained magnesium!

Aloha, maybe you were dealing with hypoglycemia caused by alcohol, known to amplify insulin secretion. The potassium and magnesium in the coconut water interact with insulin. So, maybe the underlying issue is insulin resistance caused by imbalanced gut flora.
Click to expand...

I generally have pretty stable blood sugar levels since I've been eating a paleo diet for many years without any grains, minimal starch and zero added sugar. I did spend two weeks in "vacation mode" however which included a lot of things I don't normally partake of such as alcohol and desserts.

Not long enough to develop insulin resistance but long enough to get a bit out of whack.

Have you ever tried noni juice? I think you would like it. It's fermented so it has all the wonderful probiotics in addition to antioxidants galore.
 
Aloha, I've read about noni and how it's anticancer, I suspect due to butyric acid which is why it's also called "vomit fruit" because of the smell (butyric acid stink bombs are used on anti-whaling ships to spoil the catch on deck of whaling ships!). But I didn't know it was fermented in juice, pretty cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arl88a-8IL0

Actually, two weeks is more than enough to shift flora to cause sugar imbalances. Diet can shift flora in a day.
Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3957428/
 
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Noni juice doesn't stink but it is rather tart. I mix it with coconut water and lemon juice in a big glass every morning. That way I get my electrolytes and antioxidants

My Hawaiian healer guy ferments his own noni in big glass pickle jars (the 2 gallon size) on the front porch for several months. I asked him if I could buy some of his final product but he said no that it was already earmarked for his cancer patients.

So I get mine from Maui from a company called Hawaiian Herbal Blessings. They sell on Amazon and will ship anywhere.

I managed to find noni when I was in California at both the Sprouts store and Whole Foods but they keep it in the supplements section, not with the juices. There is also a large asian population in San Diego so I was able to find lemongrass and fresh ginger to make tea.

It does feel like my gut flora are just now starting to get back to normal. My sugar was definitely imbalanced because I was craving sweets which I normally don't at all. I just meant that insulin resistance takes longer than two weeks of vacation to take hold.
 
Keith said:
I wonder what kind of microbes are in the fermented noni juice. Might they be the same kind of butyrate-producing microbes (clostridium clusters IV and XIVa) recently studied as the main group responsible for serotonin synthesis in the gut?! That would be a great find!!
http://www.caltech.edu/news/microbes-help-produce-serotonin-gut-46495
Click to expand...
I'm not sure but I will see if my healer knows. I have an appointment with him today. The ancient Polynesians knew the stuff was good for you long before anyone had ever heard of butyrate or pro-biotics.
 
Yep, that's the stuff.

I found this in an article:http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/benefits-of-noni-juice-for-skin-hair-and-health/

Scopoletin:This is a little known, but important chemical component of noni juice with wonderful health benefits which are attributed to its anti-inflammatory, anti-histamine, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. It regulates serotonin which is the body’s feel good hormone to ward off feelings of anxiety and depression. It also binds to melatonin to regulate sleep, hunger and body temperature.
 
I just started a thread about magnesium supplementation

http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/revisiting-magnesium-25241/#post297989

and then I remembered this old one about the coconut water. I think the common denominator is the magnesium. The time the coconut water rescued me from a bad night was when I was on vacation and had left my Mg supplement at home since it is a large spray bottle of a liquid (darn TSA rules). After that night I got some Mg tablets at the drug store to get me through the vacation.

2+2=4 Brain goes "Click"......................
 
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