Happy Sunday everyone! I’m back with a new wellness challenge. I’m sure some of you may have heard about oil pulling before. It’s an age-old remedy, but it’s gotten much more attention in recent years. While I had read some things about oil pulling, I didn’t try it because I didn’t really understand it. I did some digging though and I’m sharing why I’ll be curious to test out oil pulling, as the Wellness Challenge No. 12.
First of all, the idea of “pulling” sounds weird. What is that? I’ve had blogger friends who have sworn by oil pulling, but it sounded a little strange. I finally got around to looking into it and realized that it should probably be called oil swishing. You’re basically gargling with oil in your mouth. Not so intimidating, especially when coconut oil is involved!
Oil pulling is a practice that is supposed to “pull” toxins from your mouth and help improve oral health. It freshens breath, naturally whitens teeth, improves gums and removes harmful bacteria. All good things, right? The idea is that you have a food-grade oil in your mouth that you swish around, on an empty stomach, to help break through plaque and bacteria.
If you’re interested in oil pulling, here’s how you do it:
How to Oil Pull
Oil pull first thing in the morning, before eating or drinking anything.
Put a tablespoon of oil (I like coconut oil), in your mouth.
Swish for 10-20 minutes at a slow to moderate speed. This doesn’t have to be super aggressive swishing. Try not to swallow the oil since you’re removing the toxins from your mouth.
At the end of the 10-20 minutes, spit the oil into the trash can, not the sink/drain.
Brush and floss like normal.
- I heard adding a drop of peppermint oil would be good to help freshen breath too. I love how many uses there are for my oils!
Have any of you tried oil pulling before? I’d love to know what you think. I’m looking forward to trying this out this week and seeing how it goes!
xox
Check out some of the previous wellness challenges!
photos by Julianna Marie
