What The Heck is an Essential Oil and What Makes it So "Essential"?

Are you one of those who think essential oils are some oily substance that hippies pull from flowers and pray over and do a happy dance and say "Go, flower..... make peace..." .... ? HAHA 

Lets look at what these this actually are... and why they are so "essential". 

Essential oils 101, ready?

What are essential oils? 

Essential oils are extracted from plants using distillation. An essential oil has the “essential” aromatic and chemical properties of that plant.

How do they work?

They are made up of tiny molecules that are very easily absorbed. Each oil has a special chemical composition of (science lesson ready?) terpenes, esters, oxides, alcohols, phenols, ketones, and aldehydes. Each of these interact with bodily systems and, depending on the essential oil, can stimulate the immune system, aid cell growth, help eliminate toxins, kill bacteria and viruses, and more…!!!

If your like me and didn’t pay attention in chemistry class…. Here is what all that means… ;)

•    Terpenes – inhibit toxin accumulation and discharge them from liver and kidneys

•    Esters – anti-fungal, calming, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral

•    Oxides – expectorant, antiseptic, anesthetic

•    Alcohols – antiseptic, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, stimulate immunes system

•    Phenols – fragrance, antiseptic, anti-acterial, possibly anti-cancerious

•    Ketones – stimulate cell regeneration, loosen mucous

•    Aldehydes – anti-infectious, sedative, topical irritants, calming when inhaled

For example: Lavender essential oil has 40% linalyl acetate which is an ester. Studies have shown linalyl acetate to be anti-inflammatory, sedative, anti-bacterial and anti-viral. Amazing right?!  So then it would make sense to take advantage of these properties by using lavender essential oils for sleep and first aid!

                                                                         

How do you use them?:

Smelling them (Aroma): When you smell an essential oil, cilia and receptor cells in the olfactory organ (as I push my glasses up my nose) receive the aroma and send signals to the limbic system of the brain, which is the center of memory and emotion! (right?! Im not just making this stuff up… so cool..)  It also is connected to areas of the brain that control blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, hormone balance, and more! BAM. (lol)

Absorption: When essential oils are absorbed through the skin or lungs, they enter fluids and are distributed throughout the body, where their chemical constituents can interact with other bodily systems.

So, wait… how do we actually use them, Tiff.....?

1. By applying them to the skin! (Some oils require a carrier oil like coconut or Olive oil) Essential oils are absorbed into the blood stream in 28 seconds, yo! The most effective areas are the bottom of your feet, under your arms, head and wrists or palms.

 

2.By breathing them in. When you inhale essential oils, little droplets of oil are absorbed by the lungs.

3. By ingesting them. There is debate about whether this is ok or not…and by debate I mean polar opposite opinions. Here is why we ingest Young Living oils when needed. In other words. QUALITY MATTERS!

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Ingesting Essential Oils... The Great Debate...

I was asked to write this by someone just getting started with essential oils who wanted to know about using them by mouth. Lots of people do use them this way. It can be confusing especially if you start reading books or articles that say never take oils by mouth. Others recommend they be used by mouth aggressively if that is most appropriate for a particular situation, assuming one is trained and knowledgeable about how to use them safely and effectively. Who is right?
Well, both of them may be right sometimes. There are valid uses for ingestion of oils. Many physicians who are trained in clinical aromatherapy in France and other countries regularly prescribe oils to be ingested for sometimes serious medical problems, when they know they are the safest and best option for that particular patient. They use aromatograms to test bacterial sensitivity to oils. There’s a lot of clinical experience using ingested oils. And there’s controversy for a number of reasons. Most important is to know the oils and how to use them and to use only quality oils that are safe, effective and do no harm.

Not all oils are the same high quality that is needed for therapeutic use. Oils on the market that are not intended for that don’t necessarily have to be purest or the highest grade. They may warn you on the label they are not for internal use. Even if the label says pure, natural, organic, it may not be. It may be adulterated with toxic chemicals like antifreeze, or other synthetic chemicals to make more profit. The clerk in the health food store most likely believes and will tell you it’s OK but how does he/she really know? There is no control over the quality of oils you can get OTC in the US. Far more oils are brokered, imported and sold than are grown.

For example, the US imports far more tons of lavender every year from France than is grown there. There’s a study that tested oils on the shelves in US stores around the country, and found that a significant percentage of them are not what they are represented to be. If you don’t know whether the oil you are using is safe for internal or even external use, even if it’s got the same name as the oil you want to use, and even if it is labeled as pure or organic or whatever, do not use it.  I know and trust Young Living oils. They are the only kind I have ingested. I can’t speak for the rest.
I can’t tell you to use or not to use oils by mouth. Nor can I give you medical advice here. It is your choice but you need to be informed. It may cause some anxiety if you have never ingested essential oils, and it is important if you decide to use them by mouth that you proceed cautiously and safely, starting with only 1 drop, only with pure oils that are recognized as safe to ingest. Always read the labels and read about the oil first, and follow the directions. Actually we all consume some oils every day if we eat mints, chew gum, or eat food that is flavored for instance with natural flavorings like lemon zest, spices, and herbs.

It would be sad if we could not take them orally when that is the best route for the problem. Ingesting oils is a perfectly valid way to use a number of oils sometimes. Many Young Living oils are designated by the FDA as GRAS, generally recognized as safe for ingestion. The label states “Essential Oil Supplement.” I have friends that use oils by mouth when they needed quick relief from an asthma attack. I have used them by mouth to stop a sore throat, cold or flu in its tracks before it takes hold. It’s best to start immediately when you‘ve got the first symptom. One advantage is that unlike antibiotics, using the antimicrobial oils don’t have the side effects, bacteria have not become resistant to them (a big problem with antibiotics), and they have not harmed the good bacteria in our gut that are an important part of our immune system.

Dr Kurt Schnaubelt in his book, Healing Intelligence of Essential Oils, has a chapter on ingesting oils. Page 135 is about starting by ingesting lemon oil. He says while it’s an entirely harmless exercise for many aromatherapy users, first- time users should start with just 1 drop and see how they feel. He reminds us that essential oils are powerful concentrated messengers from the plant world. He says ingesting lemon oil begins the detox of many xenobiotics (toxic chemicals).
Lemon is a good oil to start with. It has many potential functions. It is antiviral, antibacterial, limonene in it has been shown to regress breast cancer in lab animals, it is calming, antidepressant, can help get rid of gas, is antispasmotic, helps clear phlegm, and is alkalinizing to name a few. Essential oils are by nature multi-potential, can do many different things, and if needed, likely will. I ingest lemon, copaiba and frankincense oils every day in water or in capsules or in Ningxia Red. Lemon oil in water is often used in France for slimming and for detoxification (“spring cleaning”). Young Living makes many products that contain essential oils, including nutritional supplements, Longevity capsules, Sleep Essence and Inner Defense.

Whether you use them orally depends on what you need. If I waited an hour or two before I started using oils by mouth for a potent virus infection I might be too late. You want to stop a virus before it takes hold in the cells and starts multiplying. If that has already happened then using lots of antiviral topical oils might help slow it down, according to Dr Daniel Penoel.

If I want the oils to go to my intestine, swallowing it in a capsule would be best. As a matter of fact, peppermint oil in enteric coated capsules has been studied, approved, and is prescribed by doctors to treat irritable bowel symptoms even in young children effectively and safely without side effects. Oral frankincense has been studied and found as effective as drugs routinely used to treat colitis and Crohn’s disease. It may be used for this in some other countries.

Ingesting is not always the best. It depends. If you have a headache and take peppermint by mouth you are missing the most therapeutic effects from inhaling the aroma and applying it topically close to where the pain is. If you want to treat localized pain, rubbing the oils on the pain will get a larger concentration of pain relieving oils absorbed directly where it is needed. You will need a smaller amount.

If you take an oil by mouth, it’s going to quickly go to the liver where it will be metabolized and excreted. According to Dr Schnaubelt, “it is advantageous to ingest an essential oil only if the metabolic intermediates produced during elimination create a desired therapeutic effect and safety parameters are favorable.” I know that’s heavy duty, but if you don’t know, let someone help you who has the training and knowledge. And get the Essential Oils Desk Reference and read about each oil you use. You might even want to take some training too. It is fascinating to learn in depth about what the oils can do and how they work.

Sometimes using oils by applying them to the skin or by inhaling them is better than oral, and can be very effective. The oils are readily absorbed through the skin, in minutes they get into our bloodstream just by applying them to the skin. After they do what is needed, they go to the liver and are metabolized and excreted. If we breathe the aroma of oils through the nose, their effect goes directly to the brain and affects our emotions, our hormones, and our physical bodies. Breathing them into the lungs gets them directly into our bloodstream too.

It is wonderful that the plant oils work for us, and that we have the enzymes to metabolize them. I believe they were made for us. Scripture tells us God gave us plants for medicine, and that He instructed Moses how to blend specific essential oils to make the Holy anointing oil as well as the Holy incense that Aaron used to save Israelites from the plague.

Cool stories, Gods role, and One More Step Closer!

Hi guys!

We wanted to update you all on some progress we (God) has made towards bringing home our baby. Can I just tell you about our Garage Sale?? God brought us SOOOO many buyers! It was really unbelievable. We had a ton of big items! A ton! And we sold maybe a handful of them. Most of what we sold was clothes (50c each) and knick knacks (25c-maybe $1). We made.... are you ready for this? We made $5,360 from clothes and knick knacks. :) I am not kidding you, it was literally like fishes and loaves. On the first day I thought, "At the rate these people are buying clothes, we will run out in a few hours!".... the piles never moved... they were always massive and the people kept coming...buying 5-10 trader joes bags worth. Im not even kidding. It was AMAZING. I just kept thinking of this verse, "I am God and there is no other, I am God and there is none like me, no. My Counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose." Isaiah 46:9-10 We are so confident that this is where the Lord is leading us, we could not be more thrilled. God is bringing this baby home, not us :)


God is so good and we have been able to plow through several things on our "paper chase" list. (Its such a crazy list, it really is). God has provided us a Notary that has a million connections to us! She loves Jesus just like we do, so she is praying through the process with us! What a sweet blessing from the Lord knowing that he is taking care of this even in small ways like placing God fearing, traveling Notaries in our laps. 

Proof that Gods got this:

All last week and these last few days, I have been trying to get an appointment with a Psychologist because China wants to make sure we aren't crazy. I should first mention that this Psychological evaluation was going to be very expensive. I literally went down the ENTIRE list (Probably about 25 offices) on our insurance and I am not kidding you, NONE of them answered the phone, all week. What in the world? Thats so weird right?? I finally reached someone yesterday and they said they would call me back....but they never did. Today I received a phone call from our social worker. At the last second before we hung up I decided to ask him about the Psych Eval since I was having so much trouble getting an appointment booked. He told me that the Psych Eval is only needed if... in a nut shell, we are crazy or have every been crazy :) SO, again, God is so good even in unanswered phone calls! We could have already had our evaluations done and paid a ton of money for them, plus notarization ($$)... all for nothing! But God knew we didn't need it, so now the week long of uninsured phone calls makes a whole lot of sense. I really need to trust Him more :) 

The last cool thing going on over in this neck of the woods (not really, because we live in the dessert) is that as we have been praying about our next financial step in getting baby boy home from China. In doing so, 500 lightbulbs went off in my head. I LOVE learning about holistic, nutrient dense ways to fuel our bodies, I love sharing it and I love seeing my family and friends thrive from what Ive learned! I do NOT do it perfectly because sometimes I have absolutely NO self control, but I will tell you this, it works 100%. Call me crazy, call me a tree hugger, call me intense, call it impossible.... all I know is that my allergy infested kids are thriving and we are not perfect! "How?", you ask? By eating nutrient dense foods as much as possible, avoiding processed foods as much as I can, and ESSENTIAL OILS! I know, I know, not ANOTHER oily freak... I got you. But I can tell you from my experience, and you all have watched our journey over the last couple of years, that they absolutely work and every single person that gets their hands on them wants more. 

SO with all that, I believe the Lord has graciously guided me (and I fought this idea hard! Just ask Meg Henning ;) to start selling what I am so passionate about and what I have already been selling for the last year without making a penny, only because I wanted to share what I had discovered! Except this time, I get to give people the oils that have changed our lives and bring my baby home at the same time! Im so excited! 

So if you have been wanting to try essential oils, don't go to amazon (for these reasons), don't go to your health store (for these reasons) come to US! Yep thats right, Donnie is pumped about oils too! Help us bring our son One Step Closer to Home!

Essential Oils and Health Food Stores

Why you should choose Young Living over Health Food Store oils? "They're cheaper and it says they're organic."

The oils from Young Living are 100% pure. Nothing added. Nothing taken away. They are not laced with synthetics that are harmful and dangerous, and they are not lab replicated. They're not cut with a carrier oil (unless you purchase a roll-on which has a carrier specifically so you don't have to carry it with you). It's taken directly from the plant. This gives peace of mind that even a 100% organic label from another company can't give me. Additionally, Young Living is the ONLY essential oil company in the world that owns their own farms to grow their crop. Every other company buys their product at some point. Young Living tests and maintains pure, organic, therapeutic grade from the time the seed is put into the ground to the time it's sealed into the bottle.Therapeutic grade oils are almost never sold in retails stores. They might be organic, but they distill it in a way that is cheaper and faster (hence the cheaper price tag) which kills the compounds that make up the molecules; meaning that the healing properties are gone.  So, don’t expect healing properties from them.

When oils are distilled at low temp, low pressure the healing properties are preserved, but it takes a lot of time and a lot more money to do it that way. Over 90% of the oils that are sold as “essential” in America are food or fragrance grades and are NOT suitable for healing applications. Young Living oils are safe to apply, diffuse AND ingest... because they are 100% organic. If you see "do not ingest" on the bottle, run in the other direction because you're basically buying it for the smell only. Just like the food industry, "legally" there only has to be 10% of the actual oil in there to be considered 100% peppermint (or whatever oil it is)... which is part of the reason Young Living oils are so great- there are no fillers, additives, etc etc. Truly, you get what you pay for with essential oils.

Essential Oils and Amazon

Why you should not buy Young Living Essential oils online, and that used to be me! Until I learned this:

There are many reasons not to buy oils on Amazon. Many are pretty scary and concern your health and your family's health. We know that you can get YL oils for cheaper on Amazon and that's tempting (we all want to save money), but you have to think about how/why they're cheaper. Here are a few things to consider.

1. You can't guarantee that the oil that is in that bottle is pure. What if they filled it with carrier oil or a cheaper oil to make a buck? It's so easy to reseal bottles, it's crazy.
You simply buy the lid with the seal attached and push it on. You can get them in bulk for next to nothing in price. When you buy YL oils, you're PAYING for quality of product. There isn't product on the market that is better than YL when it comes to quality. NONE. So why give that up for a couple of bucks?

2. We KNOW that Young Living's lowest price given is the distributor price (which we get), so why would anyone ever buy an oil and then sell it for cheaper? That makes no sense unless the oil that they're selling isn't a sealed, new bottle of YL oil.

3. You have no way to verify how old the oil is that's being sold or how it's been stored. Storage is important in oils (just like in wine). Even if it's 100% pure it can go bad if you store it wrong. Stored properly, it can last forever.

4. This article just came out and it confirms everything we were worried about Amazon YL oils: http://www.naturalnews.com/043057_Amazoncom_counterfeit_products_misrepresentation_and_fraud.html#5. When you buy from YL you have a guarantee that your oils is going to be 100% pure and of the highest quality. If you don't like it or if something is wrong, you can return it. We know you'll love it just as all of the Lemon Droppers do, but if there is ever anything wrong with your order, call customer service or hop on live chat and they will fix it for you!

Garage Sale is in 2 days!!!

We are 2 days away and we are blown away at Gods provision! :) "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." John 14:18 God is paving the way for us. 

We are coming for you sweet baby! 

Some items include:

TVs 

dressers

desks

beds

furniture 

kids furniture

kids toys

clothes

gym equipment

gaming systems

quad

tires/rims

bar stools

kitchen items

pots and pans

sports equipment 

record player

and so much more

Raffle includes:

6 foot slab of granite and installation from Solis Marble and Granite

professional hair services

handmade blanket/quilt

handmade peruvian jewelry from Silver Roots

photography sessions

house cleaning

Event planning service

and more

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