Essential oils. What's all the fuss??

What would my blog be without a post about essential oils?! For those of you who know me, you know that over the past few years I've become somewhat of an essential oils 'nut'. When I was introduced to essential oils, I didn't really know much other than I wanted to learn more. I already had a solid understanding and belief that plants had medicinal properties and I was looking for ways to live a more holistic and healthy life.

Essential oils have become increasingly popular over the past 10-20 years and much of that is to do with many large essential oils companies having emerged making these products now more widely available to all. For instance, I don't have to live in Somalia to experience great quality frankincense or Australia to get my hands on pure and potent tea tree, or Italy for vibrant Citrusy Bergamot... you get my drift. These companies have made these amazing tools of nature available at our fingertips- and it's such a huge blessing of the 21st century.

However, because of this boom in essential oil demand a lot of lesser quality companies have seen a surge in demand and started to emerge selling 'essential oil' kits in supermarkets, pharmacies and yes, even budget stores like the pound/dollar store. I've said it before and i'll say it again, It's not necessarily what you use, but the quality of what you use, that makes ALL the difference.

The essential oil industry- like most industries are there to make money and because of this there is unfortunately a lot of adulteration. People creating low quality 'oils' and passing them off as therapeutic grade. The essential oils industry is not regulated meaning there is no governing body in charge of quality control. Therefore the quality of oil you are getting really depends on whether the company has bothered to have their products meet a certain standard and whether they have them third party tested. Quality and where they are sourced makes ALL the difference. Fortunately, I found Doterra and they are incredibly transparent with their harvesting and testing methods. If you want to learn more about Doterra's quality or testing methods go here.

Now, why would you even want to use essential oils? I'm so glad you asked. Because when you don't have something you don't know what you are missing. Before I started using essential oils I never thought to myself 'ah I wish I had my peppermint oil' each time I had a tummy ache or 'where is my Wintergreen?' when I had achy muscles. I didn't know these things were out there and could help me. Essential oils have become a tool that have helped me to manage whatever ailment I am faced with and to keep me healthy and happy from day to day. They truly have blessed my life and I could never go back to not using them. Their safety and efficacy means I don't have to worry about side effects, dangers or my body getting 'used to them' so they don't work as efficiently None of this is a concern with good quality oils, and because plant chemistry is similar to human chemistry theses oils are recognized and utilized effectively by the body. Furthermore the molecules in essential oils are so tiny that they can penetrate our cells walls within seconds, enterign our bloods stream within minutes and have an extremely quick effect.

So next time you have an ailment you may find yourself thinking, I wonder if some essential oils could help me with this....

#essentialoils #HealthyLiving #Holisticliving #plants #herbs