Essential Summertime Oils
What are the things that we need to have on hand, as we're going into Summer? The following are must haves.
Lavender oil has been used for centuries, to help the skin recover quickly from burns, whether it be from heat, from fire, from an oven or stove, or from the sun. It's very calming and cooling to the skin and very powerful. Not only is it useful for all skin issues, but also its primary compound in lavender is Linalool. Just a few benefits from linalool; it helps treat conditions such as anxiety and depression and can help to combat insomnia. Its medicinal properties could also help treat several types of cancers.
Monster Spray
Great for when the little ones are either being "monsters" themselves before bedtime or afraid of the monsters under the bed this will help them relax to fall a sleep at night as a room spray or spray on their bed sheets. Apply to pillow or bottoms of feet.
Can use a spray bottle or roll-on bottle
10-15 drops of Lavender
Fill the rest with water for a spray bottle or fill the rest with Fractionated Coconut oil for a roll-on bottle
Shake before each use
A simple solution of dealing with the heat of the summer is combining peppermint with lavender, is a great solution for taking the heat out. Of course, Peppermint itself is very cooling topically or internally because of its menthol content, great for digestive health, respiratory function, to also instant boost in energy levels. You can also use this as a targeted wellness basis for fatigue or bloating, gas indigestion, feelings of tension or anxiety.
Next time when feeling heart burn coming on just pop 3-4 of the peppermint beadlets in your mouth, and drink them down without popping them like a pill and see what happens, puts out the fire.
Citrus Oils
Citrus oils are a must all year round, but particularly in the summertime. I think it's a must in addition to your drinking water. And it really is your flavor of choice. Whether it's Wild Orange, Lime, Grapefruit, Lemon, Tangerine, Green Mandarin. Doctor Hill, one of the owners of doterra, teaches us that we must use citrus oils daily, and a lot of it is for their purifying properties, cleansing properties. Let's dive in a little more as to why they are so important to have on a daily bases.
D-limonene is a compound found in most all citrus oils. This is a research study, published on PubMed, where it talks about d-limonene being a solvent of cholesterol. Also notice the bottom line there where it says d-limonene has well established chemopreventative activity. Also, very, very powerful. And the list goes on. The following oils from this study is as follows from the highest percentage of d-limonene to lowest:
Wild Orange - 85-96%
Grapefruit 88-95%
Tangerine - 85-93%
Green Mandarin - 65-75%
Lemon - 59-73%
Lime - 50-60%
D-Limonene is one of the most studied and researched compounds in all of the genre of essential oils. It has been shown to help with digestive discomfort, gastric reflux, bowel motility, may need help in maintaining regular bowel movements, which is a struggle for some. Especially helpful for sluggish bowels that are being slowed down by candida or yeast infection. Helps to dissolve the cholesterol, making it beneficial for managing gallstones, healthy blood cholesterol profile's, weight management. Citrus oils in general, kinda kick on the fat burner a little bit, and help with appetite. Particularly helpful, with the blood sugar levels, and the list goes on, and on. The levels of d-limonene varies based on each citrus oil but you will get the benefits of d-limonene with each one.
We have another oil that is pretty well known and similar to peppermint. It is a great summertime oil in particular, most of us think of Spearmint in the form of chewing gum. It is great for digestion, fabulous for mood, for cleansing the mouth and promoting fresh breath and more.
It is sourced from India, Takes about 3.5 pounds of spearmint plant to produce one 15 ML bottle of spearmint essential oil. There's a lot of studies on spearmint, if you look at the chemistry box there, on the right, you can see that the main chemical compound is carvone which is very soothing, and then limonene which we've talked about already, as being one of the main components of citrus oils. Well, it also presents in spearmint with its uplifting and cleansing properties.
Diffuser Blends with Spearmint
Aches & Pains
Now it's Summer, we're outside more, enjoying the outdoors, the heat, being more active, and with that comes the aches and pains of being outdoors.
For our sore muscles, we want to introduce and bring up one of our most popular product lines, the Deep Blue product line. It has a combination of Wintergreen, Camphor, Peppermint, Blue Tansy, Blue Chamomile, Helicrysum, Osmanthus, and Ylang Ylang. All of these combined make this beautiful blue oil and it's blue because of the blue tansy and the blue chamomile. There's no food coloring. There's no additives. All of these are perfect to help the body manage the normal inflammatory response. The oil is used topically and is more intense and deeper penetrating. As for the lotion is a little bit more mild and lasts longer. Depends on what you're going for a lot of people do both. As for what I do, I put the oil on first and then put the lotion on afterwards. And that's for topical, immediate relief.
Then a longer term solution is the Deep Blue Polyphenol Complex. This is a lovely product, because it has frankincense resin. Research has shown that frankincense resin actually acts as a really strong cox-two inhibitor. Other cox-two inhibitors that you've heard of are Advil, Tylenol, or Aleve. With the frankincense resin, gives your body the right tools to be able to focus on inflammation.
So let's switch gears a little bit and talk about having a chemical free summer. This has kind of been the theme of doTERRA for this last month. The summer months is detoxifying your home, getting the toxins out, and one of the biggest challenges that we have in the summertime is mosquitoes. Those little pests are actually intelligent and they ruin summertime. And of course, what we hear from all of the mainstream sources are, use your insect repellent such as DEET. Well DEET repels insects for a very specific reason.
It's a neurotoxin. This is straight from the poison control center volumes, in the state of Utah. Some of the things that it says includes, if someone were to ingest DEET, associated with nausea, vomiting, hypotension, seizure, coma and ataxia. If you are like me thinking who would even think about ingesting this?!? Well for it to be listed in the warning section means it has happened. They had even death listed on there. For instance ingestion of 25 ML of 50% solution by a one year old child resulted in coma and seizures. Little ones find a way to get into things and are so fast. Anything that we put on our skin, is equivalent as putting it in our system especially for children. Excessive dermal application. So putting on your skin to large areas of the body over a period of days or weeks, especially on children, has led to seizures and all these other list of nastiness that you see their just for DEET. Pretty scary!!!
DEET can melt plastic, it can cause nerve damage, skin irritation, blistering, and burning. A 2013 study at the London School of Hygiene found that DEET works the first time for mosquitoes and begins to wear off just after a few hours. After the first use it was found to be less effective and the Mosquito's began to ignore it. Mosquitos are quickly evolving to becoming resistant to DEET! DEET sprays can melt plastic bags and fishing lines. Does that make you wonder what it can do to you? Duke University Medical Center, Pharmacologists, Mohamed Abou-Donia spent 30 years researching the effects of pesticides. He discovered that prolonged exposure to DEET can impair cell function in the parts of your brain…demonstrated in the lab by death and behavioral changes in rats with frequent or prolonged use. Exposure causes neurons to die in several parts of your brain, including areas that control muscle movement, memory concentration, and learning. Rats given small doses of DEET for 60 days had a harder time accomplishing even the easiest tasks, things as simple as walking.
DEET repellent is out there everywhere. It's in everything, along with most other popular brands such as OFF. doTERRA was working on its version of a natural mosquito repellent, or bug repellent. They formulated this beautiful product that works incredibly well.
The spray version that you see here, TerraShield, comes in a 15 ML spray bottle. Each oil in this beautiful blend make up this beautiful aroma, Cedarwood, Citronella, Lemon Eucalyptus and more, have all been shown to be effective at managing those little pests, and protecting us against the insects.
A side note is it is not waterproof, if going into the water or heavy sweating may need another application.
It's summer, and we tend to become more conscious about our body image. So what do we want to do?
We got to attack metabolic compromises here, premature aging, lack of energy, increased toxic load, and weight imbalances. So all of these are symptoms of metabolic compromise.
And we know that when the body is struggling to detoxify, it will stick toxins in our fat cells if it can not eliminate it. So, then we get this stubborn fat, but we can never get rid of it even if we go through dieting and exercise and all of that stuff.
Slim & Sassy is the metabolic blend. It is to help manage and balance your metabolism, calm your stomach, lift your mood. It's a natural diuretic. It helps with hunger cravings, all things digestive. Grapefruit is for turning on the fat burning engine, revving up the metabolism. Cinnamon is fabulous for helping with blood sugar, craving sugar and whatnot. Peppermint is all things digestive, also very cooling to the body. Lemon of course to help break up toxins and petrochemicals that have been stored in the fat cells. Slim & Sassy product line has a selection to choose from, there is the essential oil to add to your drinking water.
By adding 3-5 drops per 8oz of water, 3 to 5 times per day seems to be the sweet spot if you're looking to help with metabolism. If you're looking to help with appetite, that is going to do it. Now, if you're doing the Soft gels, each soft gel has three drops of oil in it. If you don't want to do the oil in the water, or the oil directly in your mouth, one to two soft gels can be taken a day.
Another great option is the Slim & Sassy chewing gum, this is zero calories and sugar free product, sweetened with Xylitol and has a drop of Slim and Sassy with each piece. Perfect to have on hand when you're hungry or have some sugar cravings. Then this is a great place to go.
Energy & Stamina
As it's summer and we're outdoors using more energy. Mito2Max is an amazing product for energy on a natural level no stimulants, no caffeine, it increases the production of mitochondria in the cells and improves stamina naturally. The only thing I would really point out here is you need to use it about an hour before you want it to hit. Because it takes some time to get into your system. It's not a quick thing that you fill it in 5 or 10 minutes. Suggest planning ahead a little bit, to enjoy the benefit of that.
Another essential product to have for the summer is Correct-X. As we are out and about and we're getting more ouches, more scrapes and cuts and different abrasions of the skin, Correct-X comes to the rescue. It is a natural ointment for the skin. This is a combination of these oils: Sandalwood, cedarwood, lavendar, tea tree, frankincense, helichrysum, and ginger. Unlike the average products like neo sporran, that are in a petroleum base extract, Correct-X is actually in a base of barley extract. A must have in your backpack, in your first aid kit and your camping kit, in your car, in your purse for all things skin.
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