It’s a cool thing is that many essential oils are edible, most come from plants, flowers or fruits you would eat. If you are not familiar with Aromatherapy or Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils, you might be questioning whether essential oils are foods or not. The key is how they are processed. Just check your product label, if it has a food supplement label on it you can ingest it. Otherwise, I absolutely would not take it internally. A food supplement label is the only assurance you have of a product that has been tested for purity to ingest.
Essential oils have been around for thousands of years and been highly valued (think of Frankincense and Myrrh given as gifts to royalty, the Christ child and spices being valuable trade goods) These simple facts have made these precious commodities vulnerable to being copied, diluted and cheapened with chemicals to the unknown consumer. The essential oil industry is not regulated and as a result, many companies have “improved” their methods of processing essential oils. Essential oils have been synthetically replicated, but none has ever been created to completely match their natural counterpart. Missing molecules can be the difference between true therapeutic effect and food grade. That’s why I only use Therapeutic Food -Grade essential oils that have been tested for purity. They only a few oil companies that I’ve found that has taken the steps needed to get get their oils certified as food grade. One company I get my oils from grows many of the plants they distill into oils and they actually distill their plants on location at their farms. It’s complete quality control that is super important to me.
While many things have fallen through the cracks especially when it comes to approving drugs and pesticides, food grade labeling is an important factor in determining quality in an essential oil. Aside from that, consumers have no gauge to discern one essential oil product from another.
- How can you decide what is quality in an essential oil?
- How do you decide? Label? Advertising? Article reviews from paid publications?
Making choices in any store is overwhelming and the health food industry is no easier. So, for consistency, any information I’m sharing here only refers to Therapeutic, Food-Grade essential oils. This is what I use for my family, and I’d trust nothing else on my kids (3-16 year olds) simply because there is no doubt these oils are PURE.
OK, now that I have that explained, let’s get down to business. What I love about essential oils is it puts a bit of SPA in my everyday routine. I realize most guys don’t really care about this, they just want something that works. Food grade Essential oils have a definite place in your home for cooling the body. I won’t get into deep chemistry. But if you know a few facts about it, you will find it useful in remember which oils are COOL and which are HOT. (If you want to do some more research, read through and Essential Oil Desk Reference and note Aldehydes & Sesquiterpene Hydrocarbons are Cooling, Terpene alcohols, Phenols & Monoterpene Hydrocarbons are HOT).
Here’s the Simple Everyday version of Cool essential oils and what they are helpful for:
Peppermint Essential Oil: Make a cool MOJITO on a hot summer day, or use it for Bumps & Bruises, Indigestion, Headache, Nausea, Fatigue, and Insect stings. Peppermint essential oil is cooling, but also potent and should not be used on children under 6 unless diluted properly and only applied to the soles of the feet. Adults can drink peppermint water to cool you from the inside out. 1 drop of peppermint essential oil can flavor a full gallon of water! Try this instead of a soda to perk up in the afternoon (without the rum, of course!):
Mojito
- Pour 1-2 tsp agave nectar into each glass.
- Add 1 drop peppermint essential oil to each glass.
- Squeeze the juice of 1/2 of a lime into glass and mix with agave.
- Optional: add 1/2 oz. of rum.
- Add ice and fill glass with sparkling water.
- Garnish with mint leaves and a slice of lime.
Lavender Essential Oil is my first choice for burns (apply ASAP on location and you might not even get blisters if the skin can be cooled quick enough), sunburn (soothing on location when combined with aloe vera), chapped dry skin, and it may even cool a fever (apply to the soles of feet, this is a great option for babies and children). Believe it or not, food grade lavender essential oil can be ingested! It’s the best thing I’ve used during seasonal changes that might give me a tickle in my throat or nose. I’ve put a drop of it on the roof of my mouth or just drank a drop in water to cool my throat if I’ve eaten some wheat or gluten. For itchy eyes, apply a drop under the eyes making sure not to get it too close to the eye. Apply a wet, cool cloth on top and in a few minutes your eyes will be cool and calm.
German Chamomile Essential Oil is helpful for calming healthy skin. Often used in skin treatments to reduce redness and swelling from skin irritations including eczema, hives and bee stings. It’s a soothing oil for children and babies. The easiest way to use it for skin irritation is to put a drop or two in bath water and let your child splash around for a bit.
Helichrysum italicum is a rare and expensive oil. If you’re not ready to invest in a single bottle of helichrysum essential oil, you can get many of the anti-inflammatory benefits from a blend that has it like a Pain Blend. In addition to being a deep cleanser, for the liver, Helichrysum essential oil may chelate chemicals and toxins, and supports healthy skin cells. It is very gentle and good for calming skin conditions like eczema, rosacea, acne, psoriasis, stretch marks and aging skin.
Essential oils don’t just smell great, they are good for you too. These 4 essential oils are some of the best calming essential oils. They are another pure way you can cool your body, help support healing in the body and nourish skin and cells.
Here’s a quick look at some more cooling essential oils and the body systems they support:
Healthy tissue & strong capillaries: cistus, myrrh, vetiver & helichrysum.
Healthy Immune System : hyssop, myrrh, Ravensara, thyme.
Muscle aches and pains from everyday life: clove, peppermint, wintergreen (even though clove & wintergreen have a “warming” feeling at first, they can lessen heat in the body)
Overall healthy body oils: dorado azul, melaleuca alternifolia & palo santo.
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