Oil Pulling
My latest foray into natural healing and general crunchy behavior is oil pulling. I only came across it on Pinterest while searching for who-knows-what. And I thought it was kinda crazy but yesterday’s crazy is sometimes today’s perfectly logical. What is oil pulling? Basically it is putting a tablespoon of coconut oil in your mouth and swishing it around for 20 minutes. It is supposed to kill bacteria and whiten teeth.
I finally decided to try this practice, which has its roots in Ayurvedic medicine, because I was having awful tooth sensitivity. And, if I’m being honest, I was procrastinating going to the dentist. So, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.
How it Works
First, I had to make sure I had the right kind of oil. Not just any will do, according to the oil pulling police. the recommendation is to use organic unrefined coconut oil. I had a jar in the pantry from Trader Joe’s, so that is what I used.
You can also find unrefined organic coconut oil at lots of other places like Thrive market, Amazon or even Target.
Next, the gurus recommend doing it first thing in the morning. I rose at my usual 6-ish am and headed down to the kitchen, and scooped up a tablespoon full. Blink, blink! I thought, “Wow that looks like a lot!” I am a tiny woman and I feared I would choke or gag. So, I started with just a teaspoon. I put it in my mouth and it only took a few seconds to melt.
Then, I began swishing and set my timer for 20 minutes. During this time, I did some of my normal morning stuff. Started getting the kids’ breakfast and lunches ready, etc. Twenty minutes might seen like a long time. It’s not. But, the hard part was that once the kids woke up, I had a mouth full of oil and wasn’t able to yell at them to get their butts moving. Did I say, yell? I meant, motivational speaking for young people who have no concept of time.
The Result?
So, what did I notice? My mouth definitely felt cleaner. But, even better was that the pain and sensitivity that I was having almost completely disappeared! I couldn’t really tell if my teeth got any whiter or not. I probably needed to stick with it longer to notice any real difference. Would I try it again? Yes, definitely! I just need to find the right time in my morning routine. The recommendation is to do it right after waking. But, I don’t tend to have my coffee until about 45 minutes after I wake up. It seems counter productive to oil pull before drinking my coffee. Give up coffee you say? Hah! Blasphemy! Actually, I did give up coffee for 21 days during a detox I was doing (more on that in another blog post). I missed my coffee terribly. Since I also do intermittent fasting (also another blog post topic) I don’t tend to eat until 10:00 or 11:00 am and I really count on the coffee to help power me through my morning workout.
Here’s a quick cheat sheet if you want to give this a try! Let me know what you think.
