Monday, October 19, 2015

Oil Pulling || WTF is All The Hype For?

Oil pulling is an ancient all natural method used for purifying and detoxifying the body. There's loads of potential health benefits (although not too many of them have any scientific research backing them), and tons of online testimonials with people swearing by this practice.

Basically, all you do is swish an form of vegetable-based oil in your mouth for 20 minutes, many people prefer coconut oil for its MANY antibacterial properties. If you didn't already read this post, you should know that I'm a firm believer in the power of coconut oil.

How To Oil Pull

1.) Use about 1-2 teaspoons of oil. 

Again, my preference is coconut oil, but the choice is entirely your own. Another extremely popular oil used is sesame oil. I like to let my coconut oil melt down to its liquid form before I put it in my mouth, it just makes the process easier for me.

2.) Get to swishing for 20 minutes. 

Timing is pretty important in this process, so try your best to get to the suggested 20 minutes, but it's alright if you can't quite make it there. The magical 20 minutes come from the idea that it is long enough to break through plaque and bacteria, but not long enough for your body to start re-absorbing the toxins. As you swish the oil will mix with your saliva and begin to get thicker in consistency, that's normal. By the time you spit it out it will be whitish in color.

3.) Spit the oil into a TRASH CAN. 

This is especially important when using coconut oil, as it resolidifies above a certain temperature, which can lead to drainage issues (and nobody wants to deal with that)

4.) Rinse with warm water.

Just to get out any remaining oil.

5.) Brush those pearly whites. 

Now that your mouth is clean and refreshed, give everything a final brush over, for an extra clean feeling.

It's super simple and ideally you should be doing it once a day, or at least a couple of times a week. Personally, I fall in and out of the habit of doing it but the best results are achieved with consistency. But, that still doesn't answer the question of why anyone would voluntarily swish oil in their mouth for that long. So let's talk about...

The Benefits

♡ Whitens teeth, without the use of chemicals.
♡ Detoxes the body
♡ Helps to reduce headaches (and possibly hangovers too...)
♡ Promotes good oral hygiene 
♡ Improves energy levels
♡ Helps to keep skin clear
♡ Helps improve bad breath
♡ Improves jaw strength (which is especially helpful if you struggle with TMJ)
♡ Prevents cavities
♡ Soothes dry throat
♡ Boosts your immune system

Even if you don't buy into all of this, the good news is that there's no risk in trying it (that is as long as you're not allergic to the oil you swish with). For me, I instantly notice how clean my mouth feels, imagine that after the dentist feeling whenever you want. It definitely does help with bad breath, and I did notice a little whitening effect, but I don't ever do it for a long enough time period to notice drastic differences.

This is just a little information, that you can either choose to add to your beauty arsenal, or completely enjoy.

either way,
keep smiling,
until next time.
x kirst

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