You can do both or either. You should try taking a tablespoon a day. You can just scoop it up and eat it or use it as an ingredient to make a smoothie. It's also supposed to be great for the skin and the hair, but I've heard that if you color your hair, coconut oil will remove the coloring. I don't know about that last part because I never tried putting it in my hair. There's a new coconut oil forum on curezone that has tons of info. You might be interested in checking it out = )