Why I Am Now An 'Oil Puller' For Life

I Tried Oil Pulling and I Liked It. Why I'm Now An Oil Puller For Life...

I tried oil pulling, after much trepidation (read all about why I decided to give it a go and my first experience with oil pulling HERE). I learned that it didn't suck and decided to do it every day for a whole week to see what happened.

Here's what I experienced...

I pulled organic coconut oil every day for a week. I started out with just 1/2 a teaspoon of oil for 5 minutes and built up each day to a full teaspoon and 20 minutes.

I would pull oil while I was doing household chores because I didn't have time to just stand around in my bathroom for 20 minutes a day.

I started looking forward to pulling oil. It was a great exercise for my mouth, face and neck. The swishing motion was something I didn't do very often before this exercise. It felt invigorating and good to move these muscles. I suffer from jaw clenching when I sleep and I noticed that I was clenching less after a good oil pulling session. I felt like I was releasing tension from those muscles that did the clenching. Less clenching for me meant better sleep and less headaches in the mornings. This was a welcome and surprised side effect of oil pulling for me.

One week isn't long enough to notice if I was improving my oral health in a major way, or making any beneficial changes to my internal organs but I did notice THIS, my teeth have never been whiter. I use a whitening toothpaste, I use the whitening strips, but they hadn't had anywhere near the whitening effect that oil pulling had. I loved it!

I also noticed that my skin was more vibrant. I'm not sure if this was from the oil or the increased blood flow from using all the muscles in my face to swish but I like what I was seeing.

The simple fact of taking time to do this self care act was also beneficial. I felt calmer, more peacful, more grounded and a lot less stressed. Taking a little time each day for me was a huge benefit for me.

Time will tell if I notice any other long term effects of oil pulling, but I can tell you this, I'll be able to find out because I'm now an oil puller. I haven't done it every single day since that first week but I make sure to pull my oil a few times a week and I'm loving the results I'm seeing.

So grab some coconut oil (organic if you can) and start pulling oil.

Let me know in the posts below if you notice any great results too.

Happy swishing my friends.

Why I Decided to Give 'Oil Pulling' a Go...

Oil Pulling - What It Is and Why I Decided To Give It A Go

I had never heard of oil pulling before I started my education to become a Health Coach with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

In one of the first course modules it was suggested that we get some coconut oil and start putting globs of it in our mouths and swishing it around for 20 minutes a day. When I first heard this in my lecture I thought "what kind of hippie crap school have I signed up for?" There was no way I was going to put a yucky glob of oil in my mouth to swish around. First of all, I don't have time for that. And, second of all, eeeeew!

But then I read the rest of the lecture and saw the list of benefits associated with oil pulling. These benefits include clearer skin, whiter teeth, improved oral health, decreased inflammation, improved allergies, improved digestion and kidney function and more. This list is, admittedly, impressive. But I still wasn't going to start doing some mambo jambo gross thing that I didn't have time for anyway.

Or, so I thought.

The list of benefits of oil pulling haunted me. I read social media posts from fellow classmates who were starting to do oil pulling and having great experiences doing so. I also was getting deeper into the school curriculum and loving the information they offered. My respect for the school was so great that I knew they weren't a 'hippie crap school' so I had trust that the information they were giving me was legitimate. All of it, even the 'mambo jambo' oil pulling.

It took a few months of stubbornly resisting before I finally caved in and decided to give oil pulling a go. I grabbed my jar of organic coconut oil and a teaspoon from the kitchen and headed to the bathroom. I started small and just put half a teaspoon of oil in my mouth. It was pretty grody at first. The globby, oily consistency in my mouth was odd. But I put my big girl panties on and didn't freak out. I started swishing and the globby oil became a liquid as it heated up to my body temperature.

This first time I only swished for about 5 minutes and then spit it out into the garbage (you don't want to spit it down the drain and have the heated oil solidify in your pipes as it cools). I rinsed my mouth thoroughly, brushed and voila! I had just pulled oil!

I felt cool and alternative. It didn't suck, not one bit. I actually enjoyed the time to myself while I 'pulled' the oil. Standing in my bathroom swishing the oil, moving the muscles in my face and mouth and letting my mind wander was an extremely relaxing experience. I actually enjoyed myself.

I decided to keep this up and pull oil every day for a week.

Each day I used a little more oil and each day I 'pulled' for a slightly longer amount of time until I was oil pulling for the full 20 minutes. I didn't have time to stand in my bathroom just pulling oil for this amount of time so I pulled oil while I folded laundry, or put away the dishes, or watered my plants. I did chores that I would have been doing anyway, but pulled oil while I did them. It was some brilliant multitasking.

I did this every day for a week.

Read about my results and if I continued to pull oil after the week HERE.

What Is A Health Coach? And, What Do They Do?

What Is A Health Coach? And, What Do They Do?

As well as being an Exercise Physiologist and Fitness Expert I am also a Health Coach.
This is my most recent certification. And I LOVE it. :)

Since the term 'Health Coach' is a relatively new career many people do not know exactly what a Health Coach is or does.
So, this blog is to help you learn exactly what it is a Health Coach does and how they can help YOU.

I'm going to borrow the definition of a Health Coach from the IIN website. IIN (Institute for Integrative Nutrition) is where I am receiving my training. They are the world's foremost school for Health Coaching.

What is a Health Coach?

A Health Coach is a wellness authority and supportive mentor who motivates individuals to cultivate positive health choices. Health Coaches educate and support clients to achieve their health goals through lifestyle and behavior adjustments. Proper health coach training programs and health coach certification ensure that Health Coaches know how to work with diverse groups of people and equips them with the tools necessary to best fit the needs of their clients.
(from the IIN website http://www.integrativenutrition.com/career/healthcoaching).

In my opinion a Health Coach combines a counselor, a great friend, a personal trainer, a private diary and nutrition expert all into one. The Health Coach isn't there to tell you what to do, or how to do it. The Health Coach is there to coach you to find healthier ways of doing things that fit your life and your world on your terms.

“The primary objectives of health coaching are to educate the patient regarding self health management and to encourage patients in taking a more proactive role in staying healthy.”-Medical Economics, Nov 2010

The Health Coach wants YOU to be the healthiest and happiest YOU that you can be. And health and happiness come in all shapes and forms. Health includes fitness, diet, rest, social life, spirituality, creativity, finances, career, education, joy, and more. ALL of these things are important to the Health Coach.There are 12 areas of your life the Health Coach will challenge you to find greater happiness in. It's not just about eating more veggies and getting on a treadmill.

“Chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes wreck our quality of life and cost a fortune. In recent years, a new and intriguing concept has emerged in the prevention and treatment of chronic illness: the health coach.” –CBS News, October 2009

I strongly believe that EVERYONE can benefit from a Health Coach. We can all use a little help to increase the happiness in some area of our lives. There is nothing wrong with getting a little assistance to see things through different eyes and reach improvement and change a little faster. Life is short, being happy is important.

Health Coaching is often a 6 month program. I am offering a special introductory phone session for you to experience what Health Coaching is first hand. A 90-minute Introductory Health Coaching session with me for only $65 is available for the month of February. I'd love to show you what Health Coaching could offer YOU and your life. I'd love to be your Health Coach.

If you are interested in experiencing, first hand, what a Health Coach can offer you and your life please contact me to schedule your 90-minute telephone appointment. Session times are limited.