Oil Pulling?

So I tried it.  It was hard.

It was gross.

I don’t think this will become a part of my daily routine.

What did I try?  “Oil Pulling”

Apparently it’s an ancient technique of swishing oil around your mouth for 20 minutes to get rid of toxins in your body.  People swear it works, that it makes their teeth whiter and their mouths healthier, and helps clear sinuses and relieve body pain and a whole myriad of other ailments.

Google it and there’s more articles for “it works” than articles for “it’s a myth”.

I don’t follow a holistic or naturpathic lifestyle, but I do know that some of those things that seem silly really work.  Like neti-pots.

Yep, pouring warm saline into one nostril and having it flow out the other really DOES clean your sinuses out.

So swishing oil in my mouth to pull the toxins…. maybe it works. Dunno, but I’ll give it a try.

I used my Trader Joe’s coconut oil.   I already use the stuff for cooking, as chapstick, as skin moisturizer, even occasionally on my face, so why not try Oil Pulling?!

The instructions were to put a spoonful (between 1 t and 1 T) in your mouth and let it warm naturally to melt.  Um, that was gross.  So I nuked it for a few seconds to liquefy it, put it in my mouth, and started swishing.

It’s greasy…..it feels greasy, it tastes greasy, I really didn’t like it.   And swishing anything in your mouth for 20 minutes is a huge challenge.  Heck, swishing Listerine in my mouth for 20 SECONDS is a huge challenge.

For my first time I immediately ‘hated’ it so I only set the timer for 10 minutes.  I spit it out after about 8 minutes.  That was all I could handle.  I felt like it was gooing all over my lips and mouth.  Yuck.

No noticeable benefits obviously.

I did it again the next day.  This time I put the spoonful in my mouth before my morning shower….I warmed the bottle under hot water and poured out 2 tsp…..put it in my mouth and hopped in the shower.  Learned that I breathe through my mouth quite a bit when I shower, so that was odd.  Anyway, I made it.  The full 20 minutes.  I had to get over the grossness of my saliva adding to the oil so I’m swishing saliva around my mouth- yuck.  I just tried to ignore that.

Saturday morning I was going to see if Jim wanted to do it with me- you know, we could sit there and stare at each other while swishing coconut saliva around our mouths, in silence for 20 lonnnnng minutes.  But you know what?  I enjoy my coffee.  And talking to my husband.  I’ll happily use my Crest White strips to whiten my teeth….and when it comes to pulling toxins out of my body, there HAS to be a better way.