Advice on use of essential oils, impact on Women’s health, gut flora, digestion etc...

[CosmicDancer444]

Advice on use of essential oils, impact on women’s health, gut flora, digestion?
i.e Rosemary, Fennel, Cardamom, Lemon, Lemongrass, Oregano etc...

Is it possible EOs may help with digestion or other things but after prolonged use cause cumulative hormonal impact & affect gut flora & women’s health?

Can anyone point me towards some unbiased research on EOs. Are they considered PUFAs or do they protect against PUFA damage?

Is it possible that the therapeutic health benefits they can offer can actually outweigh any other estrogenic properties of essential oils.

I’ve only been using homemade cosmetics past few mos as thought what’s the point me buying ‘natural’ products if I can make simply at home...Is it safe to use EOs in homemade products like deodorant on daily basis?
Does anyone have advice more generally for switching natural products to homemade & incorporating EOs into cosmetics, cleaning products, internal use, diffusing etc...

If better, how to incorporate Waters/ Herbal infusions instead of EOs?

Any other EO recommendations?
I.e. Advice For digestion, Bad breath, Women’s health, Candida...

 

[I'm.No.One]

Internal use of essential oils which includes even breathing them in (enters your blood steam) absolutely destroys gut health, taxes the endocrine system, the liver, has neurotoxin actions on the brain, & more.

"Essential oils" is a marketing term, what they're actually are is VOCs.

Here's some information: Why I'm Essential Oil Free — Wild Wood Apothecary

Nourishing herbal infusion are always a safer choice just remember they're not suitable for fragrant herbs & you'll extract too many of the VOCs.

 

[CosmicDancer444]

Internal use of essential oils which includes even breathing them in (enters your blood steam) absolutely destroys gut health, taxes the endocrine system, the liver, has neurotoxin actions on the brain, & more.

"Essential oils" is a marketing term, what they're actually are is VOCs.

Here's some information: Why I'm Essential Oil Free — Wild Wood Apothecary

Nourishing herbal infusion are always a safer choice just remember they're not suitable for fragrant herbs & you'll extract too many of the VOCs.

Thank you for your reply!

So how do you recommend using herbs in a safer way, both fragrant & less fragrant? & for purposes other than internally, what are the best/safest methods?

Does anyone have advice using EOs/VOCs ( Volatile Organic Compounds ) therapeutically?

Views on EOs are so polarised it’s hard to know for sure what’s right.

Quote from another forum article below:
“I think the biggest problem with essential oils is that people do not understand how to use them correctly. Aromatherapy is a branch of herbal medicine and as such should be used cautiously and judiciously. Read some books on the subject before introducing them into your healing protocol. There are some oils that are fairly benign and have mostly positive effects and there are some that are so potent, that when used inappropriately, will literally put you in the hospital.
My rule of thumb, first and foremost, is to never use an essential oil for more than a two week period. After that the risk of sensitization becomes a real possibility and you probably won’t be able to use that essential oil ever again. Because of this I never put essential oils in face creams or body products that I use daily.
Also, I always cringe when someone says X essential oil is estrogenic. It may have that quality to some extent... but along with it’s other actions, tends to be healing. Essential oils are not one dimensional. They impart many actions on the body, not just one. They are adaptogenic in nature and can be incredibly therapeutic. Don’t dismiss them out of hand just because you’re afraid of they may estrogenic. You should only be using them short term anyway.
Also, if an essential oil doesn’t smell good to you then don’t use it. I think just by scent alone our body can have a dialogue with a substance and know whether it would be beneficial.
My favorite essential oils are:
Myrrh ( neat) for healing bites or small wounds
Helicrysum for burns or irritation
Palmarosa for itching or fungal issues
Neroli for hormone and mood balancing
Eucalyptus for colds or respiratory issues”

- Nicole W Use & Avoidance Of Herbs, Essential Oils, Plant Extracts,

 

[I'm.No.One]

Here I've got hundreds of hours of videos to get your started:

www.youtube.com/coldcreekhomestead

I have free live classes that you can watch all about making nourishing herbal infusions & many individual video for specific herbs.

Also huge amounts of info here:

www.instagram.com/she_is_of_the_woods

Listen, it's not that I don't think *essential oils don't work, it's that they're extremely potent. I think that it's important to understand that the VOCs are isolated compounds & act nothing like the intact plant.

Also, to the statement above that if it smells good it's safe because our body has a discussion with it is a statement from an herbalist who has done zero deep dive scientific level research on the exact compounds (sometimes up to 20 different ones) that make up each plants *essential oils.

Lavender, which most people think smells good, is a HUGE hormonal disrupter. Like makes babies be born with genital abnormalities...

If I was working on healing my gut health I'd be looking at Mallow root infusions, soil based probiotics, collagen, bone broth, lowering stress, making sure if I eat veggies they are well cooked.

Just to say I'm in the middle of writing the first book on the market (will be my second book published) as to the dangers of *essential oils because everything is bias due to the fact that MLMs created the industry.

Tip:

If I has a strong fragrance, for internal use, it's best used as a quick brewed tea or a tincture made from fresh plant matter.

If it doesn't have a fragrance you can typically make it into a nourishing herbal infusion as you'll need the long/slow brew to break open the cellular structure & pull out the properties in the plant.

 

[LUH 3417]

Wh

Here I've got hundreds of hours of videos to get your started:

www.youtube.com/coldcreekhomestead

I have free live classes that you can watch all about making nourishing herbal infusions & many individual video for specific herbs.

Also huge amounts of info here:

www.instagram.com/she_is_of_the_woods

Listen, it's not that I don't think *essential oils don't work, it's that they're extremely potent. I think that it's important to understand that the VOCs are isolated compounds & act nothing like the intact plant.

Also, to the statement above that if it smells good it's safe because our body has a discussion with it is a statement from an herbalist who has done zero deep dive scientific level research on the exact compounds (sometimes up to 20 different ones) that make up each plants *essential oils.

Lavender, which most people think smells good, is a HUGE hormonal disrupter. Like makes babies be born with genital abnormalities...

If I was working on healing my gut health I'd be looking at Mallow root infusions, soil based probiotics, collagen, bone broth, lowering stress, making sure if I eat veggies they are well cooked.

Just to say I'm in the middle of writing the first book on the market (will be my second book published) as to the dangers of *essential oils because everything is bias due to the fact that MLMs created the industry.

Tip:

If I has a strong fragrance, for internal use, it's best used as a quick brewed tea or a tincture made from fresh plant matter.

If it doesn't have a fragrance you can typically make it into a nourishing herbal infusion as you'll need the long/slow brew to break open the cellular structure & pull out the properties in the plant.

what do you mean by soul based probiotics? Like just eating veggies w dirt on it?

 

[I'm.No.One]

Wh

what do you mean by soul based probiotics? Like just eating veggies w dirt on it?

Soil based probiotics means probiotic cultures that are derived from bacteria present in soil.

It's a HUGE factor missing in human gut health as most probiotics are made from dairy based bacteria.

A good example is Amy Myers brand primal earth probiotics.

We live in a hyper sanitary environment now, even our food is disinfected/scrubbed/bleached & we don't eat wild foods anymore.

I once did a post about eating unwashed veggies from a home garden as a way to stimulate gut/immune health to your local bioregion & thousands of people freaked out about "dying" if they didn't scrub their veggies or even wild berries because they think wild animals are somehow sh***ing all over them.

We live in a very disconnected state & our physical health suffers for it.

 

[LUH 3417]

Soil based probiotics means probiotic cultures that are derived from bacteria present in soil.

It's a HUGE factor missing in human gut health as most probiotics are made from dairy based bacteria.

A good example is Amy Myers brand primal earth probiotics.

We live in a hyper sanitary environment now, even our food is disinfected/scrubbed/bleached & we don't eat wild foods anymore.

I once did a post about eating unwashed veggies from a home garden as a way to stimulate gut/immune health to your local bioregion & thousands of people freaked out about "dying" if they didn't scrub their veggies or even wild berries because they think wild animals are somehow sh***ing all over them.

We live in a very disconnected state & our physical health suffers for it.

Yea, all domesticated humans are sick. Everyone I know living in a city around me gets sick every 2-4 months, they just seem to think it’s normal. Pretty crazy. Thanks for the rec.

 

[CosmicDancer444]

Here I've got hundreds of hours of videos to get your started:

www.youtube.com/coldcreekhomestead

I have free live classes that you can watch all about making nourishing herbal infusions & many individual video for specific herbs.

Also huge amounts of info here:

www.instagram.com/she_is_of_the_woods

Listen, it's not that I don't think *essential oils don't work, it's that they're extremely potent. I think that it's important to understand that the VOCs are isolated compounds & act nothing like the intact plant.

Also, to the statement above that if it smells good it's safe because our body has a discussion with it is a statement from an herbalist who has done zero deep dive scientific level research on the exact compounds (sometimes up to 20 different ones) that make up each plants *essential oils.

Lavender, which most people think smells good, is a HUGE hormonal disrupter. Like makes babies be born with genital abnormalities...

If I was working on healing my gut health I'd be looking at Mallow root infusions, soil based probiotics, collagen, bone broth, lowering stress, making sure if I eat veggies they are well cooked.

Just to say I'm in the middle of writing the first book on the market (will be my second book published) as to the dangers of *essential oils because everything is bias due to the fact that MLMs created the industry.

Tip:

If I has a strong fragrance, for internal use, it's best used as a quick brewed tea or a tincture made from fresh plant matter.

If it doesn't have a fragrance you can typically make it into a nourishing herbal infusion as you'll need the long/slow brew to break open the cellular structure & pull out the properties in the plant.

Thank you so much for this! I will be sure to check out!

I try to have bone broth weekly & I don’t often eat raw veg, only the Ray Peat raw carrot salad daily to limit endotoxins & excess estrogen. For me I know I don’t respond well to stress, so limiting that, even if it’s just from too little sleep or perhaps lactic acid overload from fermented milk (kefir) etc...

Last thing; any advice on fermented foods? I think last week I was having too much kefir (1-2 cups daily)...

Only thing I’ve changed in the last 2 months or so - more probiotics in form of fermented foods, mainly dairy - kefir .... Generally increased dairy intake, milk, cheese & Essential oils (EOs).

I Have noticed have had some headaches & felt more stressed for no apparent reason, or when I’m trying to sleep & wake up with feeling of emptiness in my stomach, mediated by eating at-least spoon of honey first thing & bad breath or at some point during the day after long period of no eating.

How can I address this?

 

[CosmicDancer444]

Yea, all domesticated humans are sick. Everyone I know living in a city around me gets sick every 2-4 months, they just seem to think it’s normal. Pretty crazy. Thanks for the rec.

Just made me realise how much I don’t like living in the city, in concrete jungle walls.
It makes me wonder why people love it so much in the first place to move there...& just reminds me how much I want to move & live out on a homestead in the country/abroad.
Cities, city life & work is kinda like factory farming on Humans

 

[I'm.No.One]

Thank you so much for this! I will be sure to check out!

I try to have bone broth weekly & I don’t often eat raw veg, only the Ray Peat raw carrot salad daily to limit endotoxins & excess estrogen. For me I know I don’t respond well to stress, so limiting that, even if it’s just from too little sleep or perhaps lactic acid overload from fermented milk (kefir) etc...

Last thing; any advice on fermented foods? I think last week I was having too much kefir (1-2 cups daily)...

Only thing I’ve changed in the last 2 months or so - more probiotics in form of fermented foods, mainly dairy - kefir .... Generally increased dairy intake, milk, cheese & Essential oils (EOs).

I Have noticed have had some headaches & felt more stressed for no apparent reason, or when I’m trying to sleep & wake up with feeling of emptiness in my stomach, mediated by eating at-least spoon of honey first thing & bad breath or at some point during the day after long period of no eating.

How can I address this?

So the main thing to realize about any type of *essential oils is that they're extremely anti bacterial.

That means they're killing all bacteria in your gut, good & bad. So I'm not surprised you feel even worse, the headaches & bad breath are for sure correlated to this. It's the die off, the bacteria dies & off gasses (endotoxins).

This can even happen with fermented foods but in this case if we eat too much too fast the good bacteria in our gut kills off the bad rapidly & we feel horrendous. It can actually become dangerous as it greatly stresses our waste removal systems beyond their capabilities.

Get *essential oils out of your life, make sure you have a water filter that removes chlorine from your water, really get to know mallow root, check out my slippery elm ball video (mallow & slippery elm will help heal your gut lining which is so overlooked in gut health).

Might also consider if you can afford it ordering an at home SIBO test kit to see how much bad bacteria you're contending with.

 

[CosmicDancer444]

So the main thing to realize about any type of *essential oils is that they're extremely anti bacterial.

That means they're killing all bacteria in your gut, good & bad. So I'm not surprised you feel even worse, the headaches & bad breath are for sure correlated to this. It's the die off, the bacteria dies & off gasses (endotoxins).

This can even happen with fermented foods but in this case if we eat too much too fast the good bacteria in our gut kills off the bad rapidly & we feel horrendous. It can actually become dangerous as it greatly stresses our waste removal systems beyond their capabilities.

Get *essential oils out of your life, make sure you have a water filter that removes chlorine from your water, really get to know mallow root, check out my slippery elm ball video (mallow & slippery elm will help heal your gut lining which is so overlooked in gut health).

Might also consider if you can afford it ordering an at home SIBO test kit to see how much bad bacteria you're contending with.

I appreciate your help, Thank you :)

So it’s definitely possible even though I’ve had a break for about 1-2 weeks now, I could be experiencing the after effect of EOs now & combined with too much of fermented foods?...

I will look at the slippery elm & mallow I started taking slippery elm powder again in the morning as I’ve noticed my stomach does get sensitive to acidity, even though that’s often the thing I’m surely lacking when I feel bloated , not digesting food properly. I make sure to dilute acv before taking it...

That’s initially why I started taking EOs for digestion & hormonal imbalance, especially fennel & Rosemary.

Does anyone know why you might initially feel very good & notice benefits whilst taking them? I.e better digestion, less bloating...

Do you recommend any good (& hopefully affordable) water filters? Here In the UK I’m sure there’s a lot of chemicals/toxins in water as it is already & they’re set to add Flouride too this January.

 

[LUH 3417]

Just made me realise how much I don’t like living in the city, in concrete jungle walls.
It makes me wonder why people love it so much in the first place to move there...& just reminds me how much I want to move & live out on a homestead in the country/abroad.
Cities, city life & work is kinda like factory farming on Humans

I think a lot of people just don’t have other options. Most of my family and friends are in the city, even if I tried to move to the middle of nowhere by myself, besides it being not very viable, I mean what am I gonna do? My guess is most people stay because they don’t know what else to do, like me.

 

[I'm.No.One]

I appreciate your help, Thank you :)

So it’s definitely possible even though I’ve had a break for about 1-2 weeks now, I could be experiencing the after effect of EOs now & combined with too much of fermented foods?...

I will look at the slippery elm & mallow I started taking slippery elm powder again in the morning as I’ve noticed my stomach does get sensitive to acidity, even though that’s often the thing I’m surely lacking when I feel bloated , not digesting food properly. I make sure to dilute acv before taking it...

That’s initially why I started taking EOs for digestion & hormonal imbalance, especially fennel & Rosemary.

Does anyone know why you might initially feel very good & notice benefits whilst taking them? I.e better digestion, less bloating...

Do you recommend any good (& hopefully affordable) water filters? Here In the UK I’m sure there’s a lot of chemicals/toxins in water as it is already & they’re set to add Flouride too this January.

Well with Fennel & Rosemary they both have carmative actions, meaning they dispel gas. So as EOs they'll help at first until the damage begins outweighing the benefits.

You can still use fennel & rosemary, just make a tea instead of using EOs.

Berkey filters are my top choice but really anything that can remove chlorine, can probably even just get the pitcher style ones like Brittas for chlorine removal. Chlorine kills gut bacteria too.

For supporting digestive functions versus getting rid of gas (kinda different although they're connected for sure) maybe consider drinking roasted dandelion root tea.

Or even chamomile tea which has the added benefit of helping us remove excessive estrogen out of our system & preventing over production. Plus she's amazing with a splash of cream & honey ?

 

[akgrrrl]

Somebody needs to do a bit more historical research on EOs before they take online "advice". There is a reason why aromatic botanicals were relegated to "perfume" status in recent history, a reason why method and art of distillations was lost. And conversely, a reason why historically, for thousands of years, entire nationstates (Egypt, India, SriLanka, etc) exchanged huge transfers of land, power, and resources for packtrains of mules, camels, bearing thousands of gallons of oils as the method of commerce. More to the present, even gas chromatography technology may not reveal blends of SYNTHETIC compounds (since the Industrial Age brought extraction methods of high heat and pressure to get every last drop which more often destroyed delicate plant compounds) unless the chemist is specifically skilled in distinguishing same. Thus, adulteration in the recent resurgence of EOs for health and beauty fall around 98%, as greed or ignorance bypass all laboratories which utilize AFNOR standards. Do your research.

 

[LUH 3417]

Somebody needs to do a bit more historical research on EOs before they take online "advice". There is a reason why aromatic botanicals were relegated to "perfume" status in recent history, a reason why method and art of distillations was lost. And conversely, a reason why historically, for thousands of years, entire nationstates (Egypt, India, SriLanka, etc) exchanged huge transfers of land, power, and resources for packtrains of mules, camels, bearing thousands of gallons of oils as the method of commerce. More to the present, even gas chromatography technology may not reveal blends of SYNTHETIC compounds (since the Industrial Age brought extraction methods of high heat and pressure to get every last drop which more often destroyed delicate plant compounds) unless the chemist is specifically skilled in distinguishing same. Thus, adulteration in the recent resurgence of EOs for health and beauty fall around 98%, as greed or ignorance bypass all laboratories which utilize AFNOR standards. Do your research.

This thread actually make me think of your young living recommendation from years ago. I don’t know it ever cured me, no supplement has, and I tend to better without supplements in general. I’m glad to see you chimed in.

 

[I'm.No.One]

Somebody needs to do a bit more historical research on EOs before they take online "advice". There is a reason why aromatic botanicals were relegated to "perfume" status in recent history, a reason why method and art of distillations was lost. And conversely, a reason why historically, for thousands of years, entire nationstates (Egypt, India, SriLanka, etc) exchanged huge transfers of land, power, and resources for packtrains of mules, camels, bearing thousands of gallons of oils as the method of commerce. More to the present, even gas chromatography technology may not reveal blends of SYNTHETIC compounds (since the Industrial Age brought extraction methods of high heat and pressure to get every last drop which more often destroyed delicate plant compounds) unless the chemist is specifically skilled in distinguishing same. Thus, adulteration in the recent resurgence of EOs for health and beauty fall around 98%, as greed or ignorance bypass all laboratories which utilize AFNOR standards. Do your research.

Just to chime in, for anyone reading, those barrels of oils certainly were not *essential oils because it takes 50+lbs on average of a highly aromatic plant to produce a single, tiny, 10ml dram of *essential oils. They didn't have the scaled up mega distillers to process the thousands & thousands of pounds of plant matter to fill a small barrel.

I don't think that's what you were saying but guessing some defensive MLM rep will take that to be your meaning & use it as proof of their historical safety to use ?

All in all I feel like the OP has been really responsive in learning about the dangers of *essential oils so there's probably no need to belittle the amount of knowledge they don't have about them.

I mean they're crammed down everyone's throat in the natural healing realms these days so people who know nothing about plants feel it's an easy way to enter said natural healing realms & their desperation for relief makes them believe the various health blogs versus deep diving on pub med.

People generally respond better to gentle guidance, using normal language (if they can't understand you they can't learn from you ), & encouragement to learn safer methods.

 

[akgrrrl]

Just to chime in, for anyone reading, those barrels of oils certainly were not *essential oils because it takes 50+lbs on average of a highly aromatic plant to produce a single, tiny, 10ml dram of *essential oils. They didn't have the scaled up mega distillers to process the thousands & thousands of pounds of plant matter to fill a small barrel.

I don't think that's what you were saying but guessing some defensive MLM rep will take that to be your meaning & use it as proof of their historical safety to use ?

All in all I feel like the OP has been really responsive in learning about the dangers of *essential oils so there's probably no need to belittle the amount of knowledge they don't have about them.

I mean they're crammed down everyone's throat in the natural healing realms these days so people who know nothing about plants feel it's an easy way to enter said natural healing realms & their desperation for relief makes them believe the various health blogs versus deep diving on pub med.

People generally respond better to gentle guidance, using normal language (if they can't understand you they can't learn from you ), & encouragement to learn safer methods.

The 25 stone cubicles, 7ft deep stone vats in archeological digs as Ein Gedi, surrounded by fortified complexes and intricate pipe systems and structures for raw materials handling stand to refute your statement. I could care less if some MLM person wants to also make assumptions: I have personally moved hundreds of pounds of such materials, stood over the distillation methods, reaped the results, and taken it to qualified lab for analysis. It is simply ludicrous to state that a certain poundage of raw botanical material is required to extract a dram of distilled product, as if all botanicals were equal in content.

 

[I'm.No.One]

The 25 stone cubicles, 7ft deep stone vats in archeological digs as Ein Gedi, surrounded by fortified complexes and intricate pipe systems and structures for raw materials handling stand to refute your statement. I could care less if some MLM person wants to also make assumptions: I have personally moved hundreds of pounds of such materials, stood over the distillation methods, reaped the results, and taken it to qualified lab for analysis. It is simply ludicrous to state that a certain poundage of raw botanical material is required to extract a dram of distilled product, as if all botanicals were equal in content.

It's not ludicrous, it's verifiable. So verifiable even places like doTERRA have a page dedicated to the plant volumes it takes to produce a single bottle ?.

Looking at you're bio you're super into using essential oils, for profit none the less, & are just here to argue & make yourself feel important by badgering a person who asked for advice.

 

[CosmicDancer444]

I think a lot of people just don’t have other options. Most of my family and friends are in the city, even if I tried to move to the middle of nowhere by myself, besides it being not very viable, I mean what am I gonna do? My guess is most people stay because they don’t know what else to do, like me.

That’s true

Well with Fennel & Rosemary they both have carmative actions, meaning they dispel gas. So as EOs they'll help at first until the damage begins outweighing the benefits.

You can still use fennel & rosemary, just make a tea instead of using EOs.

Berkey filters are my top choice but really anything that can remove chlorine, can probably even just get the pitcher style ones like Brittas for chlorine removal. Chlorine kills gut bacteria too.

For supporting digestive functions versus getting rid of gas (kinda different although they're connected for sure) maybe consider drinking roasted dandelion root tea.

Or even chamomile tea which has the added benefit of helping us remove excessive estrogen out of our system & preventing over production. Plus she's amazing with a splash of cream & honey ?

Thank you so much! ?
I will try from now on to incorporate more whole herb infusions & ease off the EOs .. Will check out the filters you mentioned too, I’m sure we have Britta, just don’t know if it filters well enough. With excessive chlorine, same goes for showering I guess.. Also, I never new this about chamomile, that’s great!

 

[I'm.No.One]

That’s true

Thank you so much! ?
I will try from now on to incorporate more whole herb infusions & ease off the EOs .. Will check out the filters you mentioned too, I’m sure we have Britta, just don’t know if it filters well enough. With excessive chlorine, same goes for showering I guess.. Also, I never new this about chamomile, that’s great!

I do know Berkey makes an affordable shower filter! Also, although it might be long shot there's this website: Find A Spring - Use Find A Spring to visit the best cold and hot springs

It's a spring locator! They typically only list one's that are publicly accessible, just as an idea for clean drinking water now & then if you can't find/get a filter ?