If you’re old enough to remember Mikey, that cute little boy who didn’t want to eat his cereal (well, I can’t remember what cereal), you’ll remember his older brother saying “Try it, Mikey! You’ll like it.” it’s!”

I want to tell you the same thing about coconut oil.

I don’t like coconuts. I avoid any foods that contain coconut, so why should I try coconut oil? It is a very short story. She was having dinner with a friend who had sauteed some steak strips. He also served brown rice and fresh vegetables, and on the plate it looked attractive and healthy. At the time I didn’t know how I had prepared the steak, and at the first bite I exclaimed, “This is the best steak I’ve ever had!” To my surprise, he told me his secret: he cooks almost exclusively with coconut oil instead of butter, olive oil, or vegetable oil. Had I known that beforehand, I probably would have skipped the steak.

I’m glad I didn’t. Since then, I’ve had chicken, pork, vegetables, and (confession time) even a hot dog sautéed in coconut oil.

Coconut oil is very light and adds a delicious flavor to everything I have used. And, the biggest surprise of all, as Mikey’s mom knew about her cereal, it’s one of the healthiest oils you can use.

For thousands of years, coconut oil has been a staple food among tropical and Pacific island populations. Although they follow a relatively high-fat diet, it has long been known that these populations have very low rates of heart disease and cancer. Some thought a diet high in fish was the reason, and may be a contributing factor, but well-regarded lipid scientists have long known that coconut oil is also a major factor.

Why, then, did corn and soybean oil become America’s staple food? Obviously, we grow more corn and soybeans than coconuts. And in the 1950s and 1960s, the agricultural industry pushed hard to win over the market for cooking oil. Some people will say that his success was detrimental to the health of the United States and a major contributor to today’s obesity problem.

Ranchers have long known that corn and soybeans fatten cattle faster than any other type of feed. It was later discovered that the oils in these foods affect the thyroid gland and slow down metabolism, leading to weight gain. So what happens to people when they eat corn-fed meat, cook with vegetable oil, or consume any number of foods that contain these types of vegetable or hydrogenated oils? It doesn’t take a genius to make the connection.

Now here’s the hardest part to accept: coconut oil contains a high amount of saturated fat. But aren’t saturated fats bad for us? That is what we have heard for many years. But is it really true?

In the 1960s, the American Soybean Association began a media campaign against the tropical oil industries. You really can’t blame them. Coconut oil was cheap, and soybean farmers were protecting their territory from an intruder. His message was: Highly saturated oils like coconut oil and palm oil are bad; Soybean oil is good. At the time, several highly regarded scientists—George Blackburn, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School, Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, and the US Surgeon General E. Everett Koop, among others – tried to set the record straight. They knew coconut oil was healthy, but the soy industry won.

Not all saturated fats are created equal and I am not endorsing a diet high in saturated fats. However, my eyes have been opened to misinformation about fats. After all, has the low-fat diet solved America’s obesity problem? I urge you to do your own research on coconut oil and decide for yourself if something that makes food so delicious can also be healthy.