The Art of Pulling…Oil Pulling

Are you suffering from toothache? Perhaps you are hungover? Or battling chronic insomnia as those sheep you are trying to count skip further and further away? If so, read on.

A simple technique grounded in Ayurveda and popularised by a Ukrainian doctor may be just what you need to heal your woes âand it will cost you peanuts (or sesame seeds, or olives, or sunflowers). So what is it? It's called oil pulling and it involves swishing culinary oil around your mouth for 20 minutes. It whitens and tightens your teeth in the process and eliminates that which ails you.

First a little background…

The technique was brought to light by a Ukrainian doctor, Dr F. Karach MD, who presented a paper to the All-Ukrainian Association detailing the manifold benefits of chewing oil. Oncologists and bacteriologists attending the meeting from the USSR Academy of Sciences were understandably sceptical of Karach's claims that oil pulling heals headaches, bronchitis, toothache, thrombosis, eczema, ulcers, womens' diseases, stomach, intestinal, heart, blood, kidney, liver and lung diseases, paralysis, nerve disorders, encephalitis, cancer, insomnia and much more. It seemed to good to be true. And maybe it is. But we, at The Hopsack, know from first-hand experience that oil pulling banishes toothache, and painful twinges in our hips disappeared after sucking on sesame oil for a couple of days.

The technique seems to help the body heal itself by aiding the expulsion of toxic wastes via the mouth. Oil pulling is a simple, harmless and cheap biological remedy. All you need to get started is a cold-pressed, unrefined oil. Karach claims, in keeping with Ayurvedic tradition, that only sesame and sunflower oils work properly but internet oil pullers seem to use all sorts of oils (e.g. coconut, olive, Udo's, etc.) with excellent results.

Karach also says it's fine to use refined oil but given that refined oils go through toxic twists and turns to become the colourless, odourless, tasteless products lining our supermarket shelves, we prefer to use healthy, unrefined, organic, cold-pressed oils instead. And not just because I work in a health food shop!

How to do it

In the morning, before breakfast and on an empty stomach, pop one tablespoon of your chosen oil into your mouth. Do not swallow it. Slowly swish the oil around your mouth. Sip, suck and pull it through your teeth for 20 minutes. Tilt your head back a bit to make sure the oil travels through your molars. It will start to mix with your saliva. Swishing activates enzymes, which apparently draw toxins out of the blood, into the saliva and oil and, finally, down your sink. Do not swallow the oil, as the pulling process renders it toxic.

You will notice, as you swish, that the oil becomes more dilute. When you spit it out after 20 minutes it should be a thin white liquid. If it is still yellow, you haven't pulled for long enough (Note: extra virgin olive oil tends to remain yellow but other oils should turn white.) After disgorging the mixture down the sink, rinse your mouth thoroughly with warm water and sea salt and clean the basin well, as the spittle will contain toxic trash you don'€™t want lurking around.

In the beginning, you may find it hard to hold the oil-saliva emulsion in your mouth for very long. If it becomes impossible not to swallow or gag, spit it out and start again, making sure your consecutive sessions add up to 20 minutes. To accelerate the healing process, oil pulling can be repeated three times a day but always do it before meals on an empty stomach to minimise the risk of nausea.

The Results

During the oil pulling process, the metabolism is intensified, which leads over time to an improvement in health. Some people achieve varied and wonderful results from oil pulling, others see no results at all. The most striking results we've experienced and heard about relate to teeth. We've seen teeth whitening visibly. This is a particularly interesting benefit; it even seems to work on antibiotic-stained teeth. Toothaches have gone a packing by oil pulling for a day or two. Others also experienced relief from tooth pain: one had an abscess, the other an erupting wisdom tooth. Oil pulling killed the pain until they could get to a dentist. The elimination of bleeding gums and, more spectacularly, the tightening of loose teeth are commonly reported, too.

People often find it a good idea to switch oils after a few months. It seems to keep the process fresh. If your pearly whites start to dull, change your oil and they should brighten up again. It's fun to play with different oils and log the results. Some people view oil pulling as a worthless scam. Given, however, that it is easy and inexpensive, I ask myself who is benefiting from it if it is a scam€™ (unless, of course, Dr Karach has shares in a cooking oil company!).