I don’t know why it’s suddenly become cool to crave coconuts. Coconut water is not a new thing and I’m pretty sure most people have had it before. Most of my backpacking days seemed to involve lying on a white sandy beach sipping away at the guts of one of those hairy little blighters with a straw. In Southeast Asia, Africa and the Caribbean it is a common drink, but in the Cotswolds … well I’ve been on the lookout, so yesterday I nearly crashed my trolley in the odds and sods aisle in the supermarket when I saw a carton of this new bling. Not because I had finally found it, but because it cost nearly £5 for one litre.
Everyone has been raving about the health benefits of coconut water for some time but I have tried to ignore it. I hate buying fad items in the middle of the day (I work from home so I shop during the day to avoid the zombie commuters) it makes me look like a kept woman prancing around with my organic vegetables and miso soup. Sometimes I feel I should stick a bunch of fresh flowers and a bottle of Gin in my basket to complete the cliché. Anyway I couldn’t help picking this carton off the shelf. If it cost that much did it mean it was good for me or that these young coconuts had been decapitated and decanted of their insides in a land far far away and I was paying the price? What are the benefits of coconut water and is it worth it?
Apparently it is high in potassium – which reduces hypertension and risk of strokes but at that price I reckon my blood pressure shot up as I strode quickly towards the check out. Another benefit of coconut water is that it is rehydrating. It has natural electrolytes similar to those found in those bright blue sports drinks. Potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium and phosphorous all help the body to rehydrate. It also has low levels of fat, carbohydrate and sodium. It’s been used for intravenous rehydration in developing countries and athletes love downing it after a bout of exercise. I’ve just completed the Malta Half marathon (2 hours and 6 minutes of slow undulating hot pain) and I do understand the need to rehydrate after sport as it helps muscles repair and reduces the pain the next day. But what is wrong with a banana and a bottle of water on the finishing line? Apparently you’d have to have a bunch of bananas to get up to the coconut water levels of potassium and I’d have looked a bit greedy snatching more than one considering some people had just done the full 42k…
So is it worth it? My fiancé nearly dropped his Jaffa cake when I told him how much this dream juice was, but I figured if I can sit in the pub and drop £10 on a few pints, then surely a couple of litres of coconut water a week is a better idea? I don’t even know if I’m going to like the stuff without all the hair and sand. I’ll give it a go but I’ll have to shop under the cover of darkness. I’m not on the Gin yet.