Let me just say that oil pulling can be a messy job (especially if you’re clumsy me), and is not something I necessarily look forward to every day, but it is worth every moment because of the health benefits!
What is oil pulling and how does it work?
Oil pulling is simply swishing your mouth with oil to pull all mucous, bacteria and toxins from your body through your saliva. It is said that acute diseases can be cured within 2-4 days by practicing oil pulling 3 times a day on an empty stomach. [1]
Who should oil pull?
Anyone with a disease, ailment or who wants to help rid their body of toxins that we all have – so basically everyone! 🙂 I would recommend everyone practice oil pulling on occasion for 4 weeks at a time. You just may discover amazing healing in your body! Children over 5 can oil pull also.
Health Benefits of Oil Pulling
As I’ve previously said, oil pulling helps to detox the body by pulling out toxins, viruses, and bacteria (and some even say parasites as well.) Here are some specific ways it can assist the body to better health. [2] [3]
- Heal cavities (I am currently oil pulling to heal some dental issues I have. I can already see a difference!)
- Whitens teeth
- Fights bad breath
- Heals gum disease and bleeding
- Improves digestion
- Clears acne
- Reduces inflammation
- Boosts the immune system
The Reason I Use Coconut Oil
While olive, sesame, and sunflower oils do a great job when oil pulling, I typically use coconut oil. The reason why is because coconut oil has so many health benefits. It balances hormones, kills candida, fights Alzheimers, and inhibits the growth of the Streptococcus bacteria, which is a big contributor to tooth decay. [4]
How To Use Oil Pulling for Self-Healing and Detoxification
- First thing in the morning, before eating or drinking, place 2 tsp to 1 tbsp of oil in your mouth. This can be olive, sesame, sunflower, or coconut oil.
- Slowly swish, suck, chomp and pull the oil through the teeth. Make sure you swish between the back molars too. I have to admit that I felt kind of gaggy to swish oil in my mouth for several minutes the first few times I oil pulled, but I quickly got used to it and keep myself busy while I do it so that it goes by quicker. As I’ve said, the health benefits make it very worth it!
- Pull the oil through your teeth for 15-20 minutes. I always do it for 20 minutes. You can start out with 5-10 minutes a day until you get used to it. I almost always oil pull while I’m showering in the mornings. By the time I’m out of the shower, dressed, putting on makeup, etc. my 20 minutes is up and the time goes by very quickly.
- Spit the oil out and rinse your mouth out well. Never swallow the oil because you will be swallowing all the bacteria, parasites, and viruses that you’ve just pulled out of your body. If you use coconut oil, do not spit the oil down the sink because it will solidify and clog the drains. Instead, spit in the trash or outside.
- Drink a glass of water right after.
Just a word of advice. Don’t ever oil pull when you are extremely tired and it’s way past your bedtime, and you realize you forgot to oil pull that morning. You may just sit on the couch swishing it in your mouth because such persistency and consistency are the keys to changing your health, so you must do it before bed, right? The problem with that is that (remember you are very tired because you lead a very busy life) you might wake up a few hours later realizing you fell asleep while doing the oil pulling and swallowed the oil. You can then only hope that you didn’t swish it around for too long before dozing off and hopefully the oil did not contain too many toxins. Don’t ask me how I know.
Note:
- Children ages 5 and up can oil pull using 1 tsp. of oil.
- People with dentures need to remove them before using this method.
- To do this 3 times a day to heal an acute disease, you would need to do this before breakfast, lunch and dinner. Be sure to wait at least 4 hours after meals before you oil pull, and at least 1 hour after drinking anything. Once you are finished oil pulling, you can eat and drink right away – you will then need to be sure not to eat or snack between breakfast and lunch if you are oil pulling 3 times a day to heal something serious.
- As with any detoxing, you may or may not experience a healing crisis. You may feel worse, have headaches, or you may not. If you do have a healing crisis, do not stop oil pulling! This is a sign that your body is healing and the ailment is being remedied. Sometimes we feel worse before we feel better.
References
- Oil Pulling With Coconut Oil Is A Powerful Way to Cleanse. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://www.be-healthy-with-coconuts.com/oil-pulling-with-coconut-oil.html
- Coconut Oil Pulling Benefits and My How-to Guide. (2014). Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://draxe.com/oil-pulling-coconut-oil/
- The Health Benefits of Oil Pulling. (2014). Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/benefits-of-oil-pulling/
- What Type of Oil Works Best for Oil Pulling? (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/05/oil-pulling-coconut-oil.aspx
This is linked to:
The Prairie Homestead Deep Roots At Home
This post has been updated from its original publishing date of October 19, 2011.
Visiting from the barn hop. I’m intrigued. I’ve been studying natural healing methods for almost 20 years and have never heard of this. Do you have any case studies or documentation on this procedure that you recommend reading? I would love to study it further, particularly using in conjunction with other methods or the effectiveness of possibly adding essential oils to the mix.
Here’s one website that might be a help. Best wishes! 🙂
http://www.oilpulling.com/
Jill, I truly wish you would link-up some of your great posts on Wednesdays. You are a wealth of information, and I appreciate your wisdom. I could really help so many!! Blessings to you, J
I have never heard of that! I wonder who figured that one out??? Thanks for sharing–I’ll have to look more into it!
Jill,
I’m with Carol…this is intriguing. I have Lupus and now my rheumatologist says I could also have RA. I’m wondering if this could help with the pain and swelling.
Lisa
This is really interesting. I’ll look into it further. Thanks for sharing! Found you on Deeprootsathome.com encourage one another link-up.
Tauna
Jill, I am doing it right now with olive oil! I have done this before and so has my 18 y.o. daughter, but we had forgotten about it. thank you for sharing your wisdom with us! Please, please come back and keep us growing in our health! Blessings!
How sweet, Jacqueline! I’m so glad something I’ve said can be useful and thank you for sharing your link-up with me! 🙂
Paula, Lisa and Proverbial Homemaker – let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
Oil pulling is great, especially with coconut oil!
Very refreshing website, Jill. I’ll be visiting again!
Jeanne
Thank you so much! I’ll be visiting you soon as well! 🙂
it is a well documented fact that most of the OLIVE OIL being sold in the super markets in USA is not real OLIVE OIL. When a chemical analysis of olive oils being sold in supermarkets in USA was done it was found that only 10% of the oil was OLIVE OIL, 90% was other cheap oils.
For doing oil pulling you need to use real, pure OLIVE OIL, COCONUT OIL, SESAME OIL
For all medicinal purposes, the ingredients have to be pure. Just make sure they are pure.
You can’t detox or cure any disease with impure, bad ingredients.
for example SALT sold in supermarkets is USA is not real, pure SALT. So, you can’t get cured by using impure, bad salt. To get cured and get good medicinal result you need to buy and use real SEA SALT or ROCK SALT.
It applies to every, all other medicinal ingredients used in natural medicine.
I completely agree!
Jill recently posted…How To Make A Cayenne Tincture
Does the waiting 1 hour after drinking include water too? Thanks! Great info!
Yes, Gretchen, it does! Thanks! 🙂
Jill recently posted…How to Survive a Heart Attack While It’s Happening
I’ve been oil pulling with organic virgin coconut oil for quite some time. When I first began using it, I had a bad reaction within 2 weeks (used it daily). Vomiting. I have been using it once a week and have had no vomiting since. My body had a lot of toxins in it- and I have some fillings that contain mercury so that doesn’t help.
Thanks for an insightful post.
Started this , this morning can’t wait to see what happens. I used organic coconut oil. Excited about this. Thank you for posting this. Cindy Johnson
Awesome, Cindy! I hope you experience great results!
Jill recently posted…How To Make A Cayenne Tincture
I’m anti depression pills and aniexty medicine also, will the pil,pulling hurt me being on theses meds??? Very nervous to try, but to thanks jodi
Hi, Jodi! You can oil pull while on medication. You may even find you need less medication or can completely come off it over time. You can oil pull a few hours before or after taking medication if that would make you feel better. I have dealt with anxiety a lot in my lifetime. I highly suggest supplementing with a B-vitamin complex, eliminating sugar, and taking herbs such as holy basil, st. john’s wort and ashwagandha. These things have given me healing! Best wishes to you!
Thank you very much!! I’ll give it a try if I’m not to chicken lol I dwell on alot of things make nothing into something. Thanks again Jodi