Change Your Health
Essential Oils… What are they?
To put it simply, they’re the plant’s immune system.
To get technical, they’re the volatile aromatic compounds found on various parts of a plant { bark, stems, leaves, roots, petals, etc. } that keep it healthy. They ward off predators, fight disease, and even assist in the pollination process. Since plants are carbon based, and so are we, we are able to use the essential oils in the same ways, to assist our body systems to function optimally. And since molecularly they’re tiny, they are able to penetrate our cells and work with our body from the inside out.
Pretty cool huh?!
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How To Use Them?
Take a deep breath! The easiest way to use your oils is aromatically. By either diffusing them, or even just taking a big sniff straight from the bottle. Using your oils aromatically can help in many ways. It can change your mood, improve your breathing, cleanse the air, improve concentration, create a calming atmosphere, and more!
Put it right on! Using your oils topically can help support a targeted area, or benefit your entire body. If you have a stomach ache, put them on your stomach. If you have a headache, put them across your forehead. If you have sore, stiff muscles or joints, put them there. It’s that easy! But if you’re looking for whole body wellness like cellular support, healthy inflammatory support, or immune support, you may want to apply them to an area where they can quickly make their way through your entire body. The bottoms of the feet and down the spine are a perfect place for this. Did you know it only takes seconds for the essential oils to reach your blood stream, and minutes for them to travel through your entire system? It’s true! You know what else is true? This is the same for other products we apply to our skin. Lotions, creams, soaps, skin care, perfumes, the list goes on, and many of these are full of chemicals and toxins that cause havok to our bodies. Let that sink in for a second (no pun intended).
Rule of thumb: when applying essential oils topically you want to dilute them with a high-quality carrier oil. This doesn’t mean you’re diminishing the effects. It’s actually the opposite! The carrier does just what it says, it carries the oil through your skin. It creates a reservoir in your skin allowing it to be absorbed at an even rate, and allowing your body to use it for a longer period of time. Super cool!
Another thing to keep in mind: some oils are warming, think cinnamon, oregano, clove. These types of oils can naturally cause a warming sensation, or even redness to the area applied, so it’s extra important to apply with a carrier.
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Down The Hatch!
Disclaimer…I am only speaking to dōTERRA essential oils here. (More on why I chose dōTERRA later) Not all essential oils are created equal, and I only trust and recommend the internal use of dōTERRA essential oils.
Taking your oils internally has numerous health benefits, from targeted issues like calming an upset stomach, to more generalized issues like immune support, cellular support, and even detoxification. Internal use is super simple, and can actually be really fun!
Drink it down. By adding a drop of Lemon (or your favorite citrus) to your water you not only add delicious flavor, but you also get the cleansing and detoxifying benefits of the oil. Plus, you’ll probably find that your drink more water this way, which is never a bad thing!
Make a veggie cap and swallow it down like a pill! Quick, convenient, and a wonderful way to take the oils that don’t taste wonderful, but have wonderful benefits internally! This is also an easy way to take multiple oils at a time, like our FLOOM { Frankincense, Lemon, Oregano, OnGuard, Melaleuca (Tea Tree) } which is perfect for those times you’re under the weather and need an immune system supercharge.
Get cooking! There are tons of oils that you already use in your kitchen that will spice up your cooking (pun totally intended!) and take it to the next level. Think- oregano, basil, cumin, black pepper, coriander, celery seed, cilantro, cinnamon, peppermint, and more!
Rule of thumb: Less is more! Only a drop (or less) is needed, trust me! Too much oregano can kill a stock pot of spaghetti sauce.
However, when baking you can be a little heavier handed. You can never have too much peppermint in Peppermint Bark as far as I’m concerned.
Take your pick, or mix and match! You can’t go wrong which ever way you choose to use them. But most importantly, just use them!
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Why doTerra?
Because they’re the best! But seriously, they are, and for a good reason.
They are the most tested and most trusted essential oil company in the WORLD, and it shows.
dōTERRA’s sourcing and sustainability practices are unmatched. Working directly with farmers around the world, dōTERRA takes out the middle man and sources their oils from where they are indigenously grown to ensure each oil has the perfect environment to grow in, and yield the perfect chemical profile for it’s distinct therapeutic benefits. To date, 96% of dōTERRA’s essential oils are proprietary to them…meaning there is no one else who has access to their oils.
Once the oils are distilled, every batch undergoes a vigorous quality control process to ensure there are no chemicals, fillers, adulterations, pesticides, or anything else that can taint the integrity of the oil. Part of this quality control process is third party, meaning full transparency, and an extra set of eyes to catch any flaws in a batch. If a batch doesn’t meet their CPTG (Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade) standard, and anything except 100% pure essential oil is found, the whole batch is thrown out and they start over. This is a big deal when you are using these oils on your family! Remember what I said about how fast our skin absorbs what’s on it? Wouldn’t you only want the best?
So, why aren’t they labeled “organic”? Great question!
Since the oils are sourced, grown, harvested, and/or distilled, from around the world, and not all countries have the same organic standards, or any organic standards in some cases, dōTERRA needed to create a new benchmark for their purity in order to ensure every batch has the same quality, even above that of our organic standards in the United States. So when you see CPTG, you can be comfortable knowing that what’s in that bottle is 100% pure essential oil, without anything else taking up space.