What's all the fuss about coconut water?

Everybody seems to be banging on about coconut water lately and it looks like we’re about to see bottled coconut water on the market in Australia. It’s quite big in the US, with flavoured coconut waters becoming increasingly popular, including lime flavoured coconut water (yep, that’s lime in the coconut).

I’ll have to try it myself, but I don’t imagine that it will be as good as the real thing; that is, drinking the water from young, fresh coconuts.

I spent a few months in India last year and every morning after yoga practice, we’d all go outside and the coconut man would be waiting to lop off the top of a coconut and hand it to you with a straw. Once you had finished drinking the water, you would give it back and he would fashion a spoon from the shell and hand it back to you so you could scoop out the flesh. So yummy. There were quite a few yogis at the time who would do regular coconut water fasts and just drink coconut water for days on end. (I think that’s fine for a day or so, but I obviously prefer juice cleansing as you get a many more different nutrients packed into the juices, but I digress…)

Coconut water is delicious and quite different to coconut milk (which is made from ground coconut flesh and coconut water). It has a yummy salty sweet flavor and is very easy to drink.

So what’s so good about it?

Coconut water is a natural isotonic beverage (meaning it’s designed to replace the fluid and salts lost from the body during exercise) containing the same level of electrolyte balance as we have in our blood. In times of war and famine, it has been used as an intravenous fluid and saved many lives.

It's naturally fat-free, relatively low in sugar and carbohydrates and helps to boost metabolism, promote weight loss, cleanse the digestive system and detoxify and fight viruses, among other things! I’ll also let you in on a little secret… it’s a brilliant hangover remedy.

Basically it’s a super healthy, nutrient-packed drink. We recommend it to our cleansers as a supplement to the juices if they are feeling hungry, but you can drink it any time.

If you’re so inclined, you can buy fresh, young coconuts from health food stores and specialty fruit and veg stores for about $3-4.

Enjoy.