Weird Stuff I’ve Been Doing with Coconut Oil

Greatest blog post title ever, right?  I couldn’t think of anything more fitting.

Let’s get to it!

Weird thing # 1: Putting coconut oil in my coffee.

I first heard about this last summer from one of Kelly Olexa’s vlogs and I thought she was crazy, but this week at Trader Joe’s the coconut oil was calling to me, so I picked it up.  Over the weekend, I tried it in my coffee and I was pleasantly surprised.

The trick is to use a blender to get it all mixed in and nice and frothy.  Someone asked me if I had to melt the coconut oil first (coconut oil is solid at room temp) but I did not have to because my coconut oil had already liquefied due to my hot kitchen.  Coconut oil serves as a replacement for cream or milk.  It adds a lovely creamy texture to the coffee and a mild hint of coconut.  I added some sugar, and sprinkled the top with cinnamon.  It was pretty decadent!

Coconut oil is popular right now for a variety of reasons.  I love to try all the new health crazes!

Weird thing #2: Oil pulling with Coconut Oil. Read about it here.

I’ve been oil pulling every morning for 5 days now.  What is oil pulling, you ask?  Basically, it is using coconut oil (or other unrefined oils such as sesame or sunflower oil)  as a mouthwash and swishing it around your mouth for 15-20 minutes first thing in the morning.  It sounds gross, and to be honest, it kind of is!  The first day I did it, I had to fight the urge to spit it out of my mouth. Having a mouth full of oil produces a very strong gag relfex!  But once I resisted the urge to gag, I got used to it.

Now my routine is to wake up, walk to the kitchen and shove a tablespoonful of coconut oil to my mouth, swish it around for 15 minutes or so while I shower, and then spit it out into the trash so it doesn’t clog the drain (it solidifies!).  I read that the pulled oil becomes full of toxic pathogens so it is dangerous, and needs to be disposed of immediately.  This seems far fetched to me.  My logic is: If the toxic pathogens were already in my mouth, they must not be that harmful! But who knows….

After I spit the oil out, I rinse my mouth out with water, and then brush my teeth.  The first day I did it, I noticed that my teeth looked whiter right away, and after a few days, CJ noticed that they were whiter, too.  It also really helps to wake me up first thing in the morning.  I have noticed that my skin looks a little more glowy, but that might be a stretch.  I plan to continue on with the oil pulling, so I will update you on any more health improvements!

Have you tried coconut oil?  What health craves have you tried recently?