Natural oils are the way nature has to show us that it loves us and it gives us everything we need to be nurtured and healthy. Like Dr. Josh Axe said: “Essential oils are the most powerful form of plant-based medicine.”
Before we look further into the benefits of the oils, it is important to be aware what we talk about when we mention natural oils. Oils can be essential or vegetable.
Essential oils are extremely thick, so a few drops are more than enough. They are usually diluted in water or in a vegetable oil. Essential oils are extracted from leaves, roots, flowers, stems and fruits. Essential oils are highly concentrated, for example it may take 10 to 15kg of flowers to produce 10mL of an oil. Essential oils evaporate and not all essential oils can be ingested directly. Some essential oils may cause allergies or irritations, so the quality of the oil is quite important. The scent is very strong and they are therefore used in aromatherapy.
Vegetable oils are more liquid and they can be used as the base of the oils combinations. Vegetable oils are made of fat extracted from seeds and fruits. Vegetable oils do not evaporate and they can be ingested. They rarely cause any type of allergy and they may penetrate fast in the skin. The scent is usually light. Vegetable oils are used as the carrier oil, which means they are the base of the recipe when we use essential oils. It is in the vegetable oils that the essential oils are diluted in recipes for the skin.
The oils can interact with the human body in three ways:
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Aromatically: the scent of essential oils can be quite powerful and helpful in several situations, such as mood regulator or breathing issues.
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Topically: we can apply a combination of vegetable oils and essential oils in our skin, both in specific skin areas to relieve symptoms (burns, swelling) or as a everyday moisturizer.
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Internally: we can take few drops of some essential oils and we can use vegetable oils to cook and get their benefits directly in our blood stream.
Amongst the great benefits of the oils we find:
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Relieve Chronic Illnesses Symptoms: essential oils are high in therapeutic compounds. They can be used to destroy viruses and pathogenic bacteria.
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Balance Energy Levels: essential oils can improve mood and can energize or relax the whole body. They can also balance the hormones, either by breathing them or applying them directly on the skin.
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Beauty: a combination of essential oils and vegetable oils can be used as a powerful moisturizer both for the face and for the body.
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Contributing for Weight Loss: a few drops of the right essential oil in water may be what one needs to control appetite, to stop food cravings or to digest food better.
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Household Cleaning: some drops of essential oils such as tea tree oil or lemon oil can be added to water and used for housecleaning instead of chemicals that may be harmful to breath.
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Emotional Therapies: cases such as insomnia or sadness can be handled by oil technique applications by applying the essential oils directly in the skin (it is very effective when applied in the feet soles) or by breathing their scent through house diffusers.
It is possible to see that there is a wide range of usages that the oils may have and their benefits are very varied. We’ll look further into some of these usages in the upcoming posts.
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