People are waking up and ditching their toxic candles, room sprays, and products containing fragrances and replacing them with essential oils. While there is some debate as to whether fragrances and other chemical ingredients found in these products are bad for our health, I know plenty of people that have reactions to them like sore throats, headache, fatigue, and respiratory distress to name a few. I don’t know about you, but I’m not waiting around for the science community to tell me what I already know to be true. Our family has simply used the power of observation in ourselves and others to realize that these aren’t good for us. To me it just makes sense to use a natural product made from God’s amazing, healing plants rather than a lab made product from groups that hide ingredients under the word fragrance so we don’t even know what it’s made from.

Essential oils are compounds made from extracting plants. These oils are basically the smell or aroma of the plant very concentrated. For example, it takes about 75 lemons to make a 15 ml bottle of lemon essential oil. Essential oils are made from the leaves, bark, roots, rind, or seeds. My husband and I looked into making our own essential oils, and realized just how much plant material you need to make the oils and how complicated the process was. I think we will wait a few years before considering it again!

I love to use essential oils in my dish water while I’m washing dishes, adding it to my laundry, freshening up my refrigerator, diffusing them in the air to make our home smell nice, making natural body sprays, in the vehicle, and while doing all of my cleaning. I will admit that it’s more work, because the smell only lasts a short time, but we are convinced that our health is worth the work. I have tried using them medicinally, but always tend to go back to the whole plant, because I get all the benefits from them, instead of just a piece of it. The one exception I have found is a wonderful homemade lotion stick for pressure in the forehead. I simply melt a lotion bar (you can find them on our website), add peppermint essential oil at just the right temperature, and then pour it into an old deodorant or lotion stick container. We simply rub this on our head when we feel pressure, and it has worked every time to provide relief. I’m sure I will experiment more in the future with essential oils, but for now I use mostly herbs in their complete form for our health.

I don’t have a certain brand of essential oil I recommend. I have found a brand that is very reasonably priced (especially in bulk) that I love. It works well for me, because it doesn’t cause me any discomfort. I am very sensitive to fragrances and chemicals, and since I have no reaction to these, I trust that it’s probably the real thing. I also love that I can save a lot of money by buying it in large 16-ounce containers (I buy the smaller sizes too). Most people have a brand of oil that they love, but if you want to save some money or want to try our brand that we now sell, you can check out our selection here. I only have a few at this time, but I can get more varieties and sizes if you would like.

What is your favorite way to essential oils? Do you have a favorite oil? We love to hear from you!

 Our family has learned to slow down, make careful observations of what heals/damages, get rid of the distractions, take a little more time preparing our food, and most importantly to seek the Lord’s wisdom. It’s a daily struggle and it never goes perfectly, but we just keep trying to do the best we can. If you are working toward a more traditional, clean, whole foods diet, and would like to take small steps to get there, then you are at the right place. Week one was get your salt right, week 2 was get your sleep right, weeks 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were get your fats right, we had several weeks about seasonings and herbs, some important discussion about natural sweeteners, talked about Forgiveness, hopefully we got our eggs right, learned about the benefits of pastured, clean meats, considered getting mercury removed, we got the toxins out of our mouth, skin, and hair, made some changes in our cleaning routines, we talked about raw milk, learned about vegetables and fruits, fermentation, clean water and the benefits of water, the benefits of getting outside, the importance of properly preparing nuts, and this week we are talking about beans. Join us next Tuesday for Get Your . . . Right.