Oil pulling is an ancient remedy used for generations in India for insuring good dental health. Oil pulling therapy consists of putting a tablespoon of vegetable oil normally sunflower or sesame seed oil in your mouth and swishing (or pulling) it around in your mouth for an extended period of time, normally 10 to 20 minutes and spitting it out.

Oil pulling was used to help prevent tooth decay, stop bleeding gums, ease bad breath, and help to heal a dry throat and mouth and chapped lips. Oil pulling also was used to help re anchor loose teeth and to help reduce gum disease as well as help to whiten and brighten teeth.

With the recent re surge of interest in ancient remedies for the treatment of various medical conditions Oil pulling has come to the attention of those seeking natural remedies for an assortment of medical and dental problems and there have even been several studies done to determine whether or not oil pulling can improve dental health and the findings have been extremely positive.

In several informal studies that were conducted oil pulling was shown to help reduce both plaque and gingivitis resulting in healthier gums and teeth. People who have tried oil pulling for 3-6 months have stated that they have had fewer cavities, loose teeth have firmed back up and they see less redness and swelling in their gums. While such testimonies are only anecdotal evidence that oil pulling is good for your dental health this evidence certainly carries weight in the absence of more scientific studies.

In addition, there have been few negative side effects reported either by the study subjects or those who have tried oil pulling on their own which means that there is every indication that oil pulling may be a safe way of treating a wide array of dental problems or simply keeping your dental health to begin with.

If you have been dealing with a build up of plaque, gingivitis, bad breath or just discolored or loose teeth that you might want to try oil pulling and see if it works for you.

How To Do Oil Pulling

First thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything pour a tablespoon of sesame seed oil, coconut oil, or olive oil into your mouth and swish it around for about 20 minutes. As you swish the oil will become thinner due to your saliva. Keep swishing. You will know when it is time to spit out the oil when it becomes whitish and once again begins to thicken from the germs and plague that is being pulled into the oil.

If you find that you cannot resist the urge to swallow spit the oil out and start again. It may take some practice until you can swish the oil long enough to complete the process.

After spitting the oil out rinse your mouth with warm salt water.

The oil will remove the plaque and other bacteria from your mouth and the warm salt water will help clear the oily feel that remains in your mouth. Over time your teeth should look whiter and your gums should look healthier. It can be done 1-2 times weekly with good results and even daily if you have problems, such as cavities or sore gums.

Oil pulling may not be for everyone but, it is a cheap and effective way to protect your dental health.

Related: Oil Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansing

The Coconut Oil Miracle

It’s that time again. For many women their periods can be a painful and uncomfortable time. Many women don’t simply have the cramps that are expected as part of the menstrual cycle but, also experience a wide range of symptoms from headaches to backaches and aching thighs to feeling tired, bloated, and just out of sorts. Reluctant to take pain medication each and every month, some women dread the onset of their period and simply grit their teeth and suffer through all the pain and discomfort. It really doesn’t have to be that way. There are several things you can do to ease menstrual pain and discomfort.

Here are a few suggestions:

Reduce Salt and Alcohol Consumption

That bloated feeling most women get during their monthly flow is due to water retention. You can reduce that bloated uncomfortable feeling by cutting back on your salt and alcohol intake starting about a week before your period is due. Both alcohol and salt makes the body retain water so by cutting back on these two items you can reduce the amount of fluid your body retains. You may also want to increase the amount of water you drink during this period as it will help to rinse the salt from your system faster than just reducing your salt intake alone.

Eating Healthy

While eating healthy regularly is good for your overall health, it is especially important to eat healthy immediately before and during your period. Some studies show that by increasing the amount of green leafy vegetables you eat during this time that feeling of constant tiredness is reduced and adding bananas and other sources of vitamin B to your diet may help to ease the cramping that occurs during this time.

Aroma Therapy Baths And That Hot Water Bottle

Many women find that when that cramping starts taking aroma therapy baths using either lavender or rose scented bath oils can help to reduce those muscle spasms that lead to those cramps and aching back and thighs and help to relax you overall. By relaxing your muscles you reduce that crampy feeling which results in your being able to sleep and function with less pain. Using a hot water bottle or heating pad can also reduce those cramps and ease some of your menstrual discomfort. If you want a greener option than a hot water bottle go with a Warmables heat pack. The outer shell is cloth and the inside is filled with recycled cherry pits!

Using citrus candles or incense can also lighten that dark mood that some women feel while going through their monthly period. Lifting your mood can actually make you feel better not just emotionally but physically as well.

Mild Exercise

While the last thing you want to do when feeling achy and moody is exercise, you really should force yourself into doing some mild exercise during this time. Walking or swimming may actually reduce your back and headaches and give you more energy as well. Exercising in the days before your period is thought by many experts to actually reduce menstrual symptoms and duration. I find it to be true in my experience. After I started exercising 4-5 days a week my periods decreased in duration by more than a whole day.

By combining some or all of these suggestions you can reduce much of that menstrual pain and discomfort if not all of it. This will allow you to continue with your normal activities and leave you feeling more comfortable than you thought possible.

Related: Alternative and Natural Menstrual Products

I have been researching the winter blues quite a bit lately. The official name is Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD. I have become convinced that I have become a victim of this disorder ever since I moved to Ohio from Arizona five years ago. There are many signs. When the days get shorter and darker many people get anxious, depressed, become socially withdrawn, have a hard time functioning at work, lose momentum and motivation, oversleep, can’t concentrate, gain weight, and develop a craving for carbs and sugary foods. These symptoms could be just mildly irritating in some and very drastic for others. I noticed a problem a couple years ago when it seemed like half the year I had absolutely no ambition or drive. I was prone to overeating, getting sick, and being generally moody and depressed. The past two winters in particular were BAD. My marriage almost imploded two years in a row and I knew come spring that I had to do something the following year. To address this I kicked off a new exercise regime that spring and that has done wonders for me (still going strong!) but with the disappearance of the light this fall and the return of my lack of motivation I knew I had to do something more. I suspect that I might be one of the 9-10% of the population that doesn’t do well with shorter days and less sunlight. I get the winter blues.

Now that I know what it is and have taken steps to remedy it, I am amazed that I didn’t catch onto this earlier. Instead of spending an entire day wasting time away on the computer bemoaning my lack of motivation I am much better served by taking a seat in front of a sunny window and reading for a few hours in the direct sunlight. Spending an afternoon in that seemingly lazy pursuit energizes me and gives me motivation to get busy the rest of the day and into the night. Taking a walk in the sun for 30 minutes each day… its like an energy infusion.

After reading the Winter Blues: Everything You Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder (which is excellent BTW), I decided to outline a plan and hopefully beat this thing. I have had plenty of days that have started out bad but when I follow the advice in the book I can turn it around. I am pretty confident that if I stay on top of it, I can sail through it this year.

Here are some of the ways we can keep the winter blues at bay:

• On sunny days spend at least 30 minutes outside.
• If you can’t go outside, spend as much time as you can next to a sunny window.
• If you can’t go outside or hang next to a window, use a light therapy box.
• Exercise for at least 30 minutes each day.
• Rather than letting the cold weather keep you indoors, bundle up for winter and get outside as often as you can, even if it is cloudy.
• Vacation in the winter, ideally in a sunny place.
• Increase your protein and reduce carbs, which are more likely to make you tired and lethargic.
• Consider nutrient density in your diet and food choices. Avoid empty calories.
• Stay away from added sugar.
• Use St. John’s Wort as a natural and herbal antidepressant and give it several weeks to work.
• Limit alcohol (yes, even that Egg Nog).
• Reduce stress.
• Do not let yourself oversleep.
• Fill the air with negative ions (see below).
• Accept that you have a handicap in the winter and be kind to yourself!

All of the above things can be done with minimal planning and work. It usually just requires you to be mindful of how your needs increase in the winter. You have to accept that you need a little more TLC in the winter and concentrate on nourishing your mind and body. A vacation might be prohibitive due to cost but things like St. John’s Wort and nourishing foods shouldn’t be to hard to get. I plan to buy a light therapy box before winter kicks into high gear and I have already been using a Permatech Ionizing Air Cleaner by Bionaire at home, both downstairs and upstairs. It cleans and purifies the air so we are less likely to get sick AND it releases negative ions. There have been some studies done at Columbia that showed how patients with SAD who sat in front of a negative ion generator for 30 minutes each morning had as much positive effect on depression as sitting in front of a light box, also a proven therapy.

For the science behind SAD, light therapy, and negative ions read Winter Blues. It is by far the best source of info on all of this that I have read thus far, though it does tend to get quite technical and scientific in explaining all of it.

Do you suffer from the winter blues? How are you going to tackle it this year?

A company called The Conscious Box recently contacted me and asked if they could send me one of their “boxes”. I had never heard of the company before but I was familiar with what they were offering. I have seen it in one other place and fell in love with the concept. For whatever reason I never ordered though. Instead I would just see a link or a mention somewhere and think to myself that “gee I need to order of one of those” and then promptly forget. Thanks to this inventive company I finally got my goodie box! It is just as fun and exiting as I suspected it would be.

The idea is that you buy a monthly subscription and get a box filled with mystery goodies delivered to your door each month. You have no idea what will be in the box only that it will be a mish mesh of green and ethical goodies. Each month you get pure and natural products from organic food to vegan beauty supplies. The companies behind the products are all ethical and purpose driven businesses and the hope is that you will discover and fall in love with some wonderful new products and companies. You get to support companies that are working to make a happier, healthier planet, and a healthier you with natural and safe products. There is a card in the box with tips for ways to reuse the cardboard box your goodies came in. LOVED the idea to use it as a window box and plant flowers in it or use it as a picture frame! Attached to the box is a card with the monthly theme. For November it was gratitude, which is an easy sell when you open such a yummy box. The little quotes about gratitude were awesome at any rate.

I think the reason I love this concept so much is because I love surprises. Getting a surprise box every month is so much fun and I get to try stuff I might not otherwise have tried. Almost every single thing in the box was new to me. Woot! This is what came inside my November box:

A Mary’s Gone Crackers Double Chocolate Cookie – Yum! Dark, rich chocolate and by a company that makes several crackers that I love. I had no idea they made cookies though. Guess I haven’t been to Whole Foods in awhile. The only issue I had is that it has soy in it. As you may know… soy and I are not on good terms.

Funky Monkey Dried Pink Pineapple – Another yum. Major yum. They are vegan, raw, and gluten free. My kids descended on these like vultures and begged that we keep buying. These would be perfect for school lunches IMO.

Living Nutz Bodacious Banana Bread Walnuts – We are not newbies to Living Nutz. They are fracking awesome in our estimation. We had never had the Banana Bread Walnuts though. Yummo! They do in fact taste just like banana bread. You can buy them at Raw Food World.

KIND Almond and Coconut Bar – I have seen these around but never tried one before. Whoa baby they are good!

Honest Kids Tropical Tango Punch – What can you say about juice boxes really? My 5 year old drank it up and claimed to liked it, LOL. They are organic, contain half the calories and sugar of most children’s drinks, and have no high fructose corn syrup.

CocoaWell Pills- These I had never seen before. Apparently they give you a dose of cocoa without the calories and fat you would get from eating chocolate. The cocoa is infused with green tea and acacia catechu – nature’s richest sources of pure plant flavanols. Fair trade!

Glee Gum – We got mint and lemon-lime. Glee Gum is a natural gum alternative, with no preservatives, artificial flavorings, or colorings. It is also the only gum on the market which contains chicle in its gum base. It is not 100% plastic free gum but it comes much closer than other gum products. My 11 year old son liked the mint flavor and my 7 year old daughter HATED the lemon-lime for the record.

Pharmacopia Organic Verbena Body Lotion and Body Wash – These two smell divine, that’s for sure. Since we don’t buy products like these they seemed like a super luxurious shower treat. Formulated with certified organic ingredients and an aromatherapy blend of essential oils.

100% Pure Nourishing Cream – We got Vanilla Bean and Green Apple. – Haven’t tried them personally since I am not big on lotion and I don’t have a need for it really but I suspect I will enjoy them sometime this winter.

Loved the experience of getting this box and I will definitely have to become a subscriber!

The Green Moms Weekly question for this week is “What are some simple tips to go green with your household cleaning?”

LOVE to talk about green cleaning. No really, could talk about it all day long. I do not understand why so many folks rely on mainstream cleaners with their noxious and toxic chemicals. The green stuff works just as well and it is safe for humans and safe for our planet. There is just no reason to buy up most of the stuff you will see in the cleaning isle of your conventional grocery store. NO REASON. And before anyone brings up price I will concede that bottle of mainstream all purpose cleaner “may” cost less than a bottle by Seventh Generation. But you don’t have to buy pricey bottled cleaners at all. Ever heard of vinegar, baking soda, lemons, borax and the like? Yeah, I thought so. Cheap and effective green cleaning for pennies.

Here is what I use in my house:

Vinegar - Words cannot describe how much I love to clean with vinegar. I keep it in a spray bottle under the kitchen sink and I use it all the time. I use it as an all purpose cleaner, floor cleaner, laminate floor cleaner, window and glass cleaner, and I use it as a follow up to baking soda in tubs, sinks, toilets, and showers. AND I also use it as a hair rinse for our No Poo routine. Just recently one of my kids got head lice (the offender shall remain nameless) but we used vinegar daily to dissolve the glue from the nits. We got the lice under quick control and no one else in the house got lice either. How much more amazing could this stuff be?

Baking Soda – A scrubbing powder for grime. I use it in tubs, toilets, showers, sinks, etc. It can also be mixed with essential oils to make a scented scrub. Just put it in a Ball jar, drop in some essential oils such as Tea Tree or Lavender, slap a sprouting lid on top of it for a homemade shaker! This can be used to deodorize carpets as well. Sprinkle and let sit for 20 minutes and then vacuum up.

Essential Oils – Many essential oils have antibacterial properties that make them perfect for cleaning. Plus they make the house smell great. My homemade kitchen floor cleaner is vinegar, water, and tea tree oil. My homemade shampoo is pure castile soap, water, and peppermint oil.

Pure Castile Soap – Safe, natural, and effective. We would be LOST without our big bottles of Dr. Bronners. In addition to adding it to homemade cleaners and shampoo I also use it in my washing machine and to clean my carpets with my SteamVac.

Borax – I use this in my dishwasher coupled with baking soda.

Natural and Green Cleaners to Purchase

I will on rare occasions buy a cleaner. Some of my faves are the Seventh Generation Cleaner with Lemongrass and Thyme that I linked to in the first paragraph and the Cedarwood and Sage Cleaner from Trader Joe’s. I really like both of those and will buy them when the mood strikes me.  I also have some Bio+Green Crystals that you add to water. Those are pretty nifty too. You add the packet to a water bottle and they dissolve (packet and all) and you have a pretty good cleaner at your disposal.

If you need further help I have a FREE green cleaning ebook you can read with homemade cleaner recipes! I made it in 2009 but it is still relevant of course. Pass that link on to anyone you know who may benefit! I also like the book Creating Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule. It is not green per say but it has a great tips about getting it all done in less time.

So what do you use to clean your house? How do you keep it green?

** Read what some of the other Green Moms Weekly do here and here.