Everyone needs water! Nearly all the body’s major systems depend on it to function and survive.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), maintaining the proper hydration helps
- remove waste from the body
- control body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure
- support a healthy metabolism
- protect the spinal cord and other sensitive tissues, and lubricate joints
Water does all that……YES!
However, research shows that most of us are not hydrating enough. An adequate daily fluid intake is about:
- 15.5 cups a day for men
- 11.5 cups a day for women
A recent CDC study found that U.S. adults only drank an average of 5.5 cups of water and children/adolescents 2.9 cups on a given day. “People tend to be underhydrated, meaning they aren’t getting adequate amounts of water to be in an optimal state of hydration and health,” says Starvos Kavours, Arizona State professor of the school's Hydration Science Lab.
Dangers of dehydration
Symptoms of dehydration include confusion, muscle fatigue, tiredness, dizziness, headaches, cramping, anxiousness, increased thirst, and decreased or darken urine output. “if you get too far behind on your fluids, your blood pressure can go too low, and in extreme cases, heatstroke can occur says Dr. Mitchell Rosner, Nephrologist at the University of Virginia.
Anyone can become dehydrated, but certain people are at greater risk:
- Infants and children
- Elderly
- Those with chronic illnesses
- People that work or exercise outside, particularly in hot environments
Drink up
Rosner says listening to your body is the safest way to know when to hydrate. The body has an intake thirst mechanism. We want people to keep a sense of how much fluid they are losing and drink to thirst.
Have you ever watched athletes train or compete….they ALWAYS have water or fluid handy! To them, hydration is the #1 concern!
Hydration Options
When you’re thirsty, “water should be your first choice,” Rosner says. Then people can have their own flavor choices that are palatable”. Alternatives to plain water include hydration powders, bottled sports drinks, infused water, sparkling water, coconut water, cucumber juice, herbal teas, and aloe water or aloe vera juice.
Fluids with electrolytes can be an effective way to rehydrate and refuel the body. This is my recommended method!
Energy and Sports Drinks
I don’t know about you but sometimes just drinking plain water doesn’t enthuse me. I LIKE FLAVOR! However, I DO NOT consume any Sports or Energy Drinks because of the toxic ingredients they contain and the harm they can cause.
For example:
- Frequently, energy drinks contain stimulants such as caffeine, which is not found in sports drinks. Caffeine raises blood pressure and heart rate. If you consume more than 400 mg of caffeine in a day you could experience side effects such as heart palpitations, nausea, headaches, sleeplessness, and jitters. NO THANKS!
- Energy drinks use artificial sweeteners such as Ace-k, Sucralose, Aspartame, and alcohol sugars to cover the bad taste of the other ingredients. These artificial sweeteners come say caused increased risk of cancer. NO THANKS!
- Other not so healthy ingredients are:
- Creatine – can cause kidney problems
- Ginseng – can cause headaches and diarrhea
- Synthetic Taurine – even though the body naturally produces Taurine, companies add synthetic taurine. Synthetic is always a “red flag” as the company does not have to disclose how they made it!
My Personal Favorite Hydration Tip
So, I don’t want to risk putting dangerous ingredients in my water, so I exclusively use Young Livings Vitality drops. BUT I WANT FLAVOR!
YL Vitality Drops feature Lavender and Lemon essential oils and natural electrolytes for an extra hydration boost.
YL Vitality Drops feature Grapefruit and Bergamot premium essential oils and natural electrolytes for an extra hydration boost when added to water.
The Bottom Line
Staying hydrated is important. Make life easier on yourself by carrying a water bottle and keep it filled. Adding flavor such as the YL Vitality drops can make it tastier and, in some instances, even more hydrating. Personally, I doubled my daily water intake because of the YL Vitality drops.
YOUR BODY WILL THANK YOU!
If you would like to know how to order Young Living’s Vitality Drops, visit my website: www.garyrathbun.com or send me a message and I will walk you through the process! I can also save you 24% of retail prices…..just ask how!
With the temperatures in the Phoenix, AZ (where I live) approaching above 110 degrees (Fahrenheit), sometimes it is just too DARN hot to be outside.....except at 3-4 am! However, not being outside robs us of the best source of Vitamin D....sunshine!
I recently came across an article published by THEEPOCHTIMES.on May 24, 2022, that highlighted that "Vitamin D" is a good source for "Gut Health" too and can be better than all of the probiotics you may be taking now! The doctor noted in the article originally started taking Vitamin D supplements to help with his sleep apnea, but it helped him in ways he did not expect!
I did not know that!
So read on and learn about how Vitamin D works in your gut and what supplements you can take to have a great "gut microbiome"! Read to the very end for my recommendation of a Vitamin D Supplement!
The Most Efficient Way to Boost Gut Health, Better Than Any Amount of Probiotics
You probably know that if you lack vitamin D, you are prone to osteoporosis. In fact, it’s much more than that. Vitamin D also has a large impact on your intestinal health.
Dr. Joel Gould, a Canadian dentist for more than three decades, has cured countless patients of dental problems. However, for most of his life, the doctor had suffered from a painful intestinal disease, Crohn’s disease.
Crohn’s disease is an autoimmune disease, in which the body’s immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract, causing it to become inflamed. The symptoms of Crohn’s disease include abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, and malnutrition. The inflammation may occur in different areas of the gastrointestinal tract and may spread deeper into the intestines. Sometimes Crohn’s disease can even lead to life-threatening complications.
One time, Dr. Gould started taking vitamin D supplements to improve his sleep apnea, and three months later, something amazing happened. When he woke up one morning, he suddenly felt very light. The Crohn’s disease that had plagued him for 34 years was cured. Since then, he has never had to take hormonal drugs or antibiotics again. His anxiety and depression, as well as his sleep apnea, had all disappeared, and he was back to full health.
Dr. Gould has been actively sharing his experience ever since. According to him, no matter how much probiotics you take, or even if you get a stool transplant, as long as you don’t have enough vitamin D in your body, you can’t maintain a healthy gut microbiome.
What is the amazing relationship between vitamin D and intestinal health?
Your Intestines Are an Amazing World
Did you know that when the human gastrointestinal tract is expanded, it has a surface area of about 250 to 400 square meters, which is equivalent to a tennis court? In an average person’s lifetime, about 60 tons of food pass through the digestive tract. Isn’t that amazing?
The collection of bacteria that reside in the gut is called the “gut microbiota” or “gut microbiome.” They have been living together with their hosts for thousands of years, forming an intricate and mutually beneficial relationship. There are about 200 to 1000 species of microorganisms in the human intestine. It is estimated that they weigh a total of nearly “four and a half pounds”.
Going deeper into the gastrointestinal tract, the total number of microorganisms gradually increases. In the stomach, the concentration of microorganisms is relatively low, and their number gradually increases in the small intestine, with the highest concentration in the colon.
Vitamin D, on the other hand, is mainly absorbed in the small intestine (especially in the duodenum).
The types and numbers of intestinal bacteria are constantly changing due to the influence of diet, medications, the environment, seasons, stress, and diseases.
The intestinal microbiota are considered an “extra organ” of the human body and are vital to the health of the body. The health of intestinal bacteria also means the health of the intestine. If the intestinal flora is imbalanced, it can lead to various local and systemic diseases in the body.
Vitamin D’s First Benefit: Increases Beneficial Intestinal Bacteria
Many studies have shown that there is a significant correlation between vitamin D intake and the gut microbiota.
In a study published in the journal Nature in 2020, 80 healthy but vitamin D-deficient women took vitamin D supplements, and their gut microbiota were then evaluated by researchers. The results showed that vitamin D supplementation significantly increased the diversity of these women’s gut flora, while promoting an increase of probiotic bacteria.
Researchers in Austria studied the effects of vitamin D3 supplements on the human body. After volunteers took vitamin D3 supplements for eight weeks, the researchers sampled and evaluated the microorganisms in their stomachs, small intestines, colons, and feces. The data showed that vitamin D3 supplementation had modulated the human intestinal microbiota and had a positive effect on the improvement of gastrointestinal disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease and bacterial infections.
Vitamin D’s Second Benefit: Protects the Intestinal Barrier and Boosts Immunity
In addition, vitamin D can also maintain the health and integrity of the intestinal mucosa.
The intestinal tract is constantly exposed to external bacteria, viruses, and toxins. The superficial barrier of the intestines is like a wall that prevents external enemies from entering. The intestinal barrier is divided into the mucus layer and the epithelial cells, and vitamin D maintains the protective function of these two parts and helps the epithelial cells hold together more closely.
With sufficient vitamin D, the immune system of the intestines can easily perform its anti-disease and anti-inflammatory functions. Whereas if vitamin D is deficient, the intestines are highly susceptible to invasion by pathogens and inflammation.
Furthermore, vitamin D can control the innate and acquired immunities of the intestines and is an excellent preventative for autoimmune diseases.
How to Efficiently Supplement Vitamin D
The most important of the vitamin D family are vitamins D2 and D3.
Vitamins D2 and D3 are originally inactive. However, when they enter the body, the liver converts them into calcifediol, which is the form of vitamin D stored in the body; then the kidneys further convert it into calcitriol, which is the active form of vitamin D.
So, how exactly do we supplement vitamin D?
1. Efficient Basking in the Sunshine
Plants can synthesize water and carbon dioxide into nutrients through photosynthesis. Our human body can also produce vitamin D through a process similar to photosynthesis. Most of our body’s natural vitamin D comes from sunlight.
When the sun’s medium-wavelength ultraviolet B (UVB) rays hit our skin, they will convert a type of cholesterol in the skin into vitamin D3, which then enters the bloodstream.
The most straightforward and inexpensive way to get vitamin D is by basking in the sunlight.
However, if you apply a sufficient amount of sunscreen, the skin’s absorption of vitamin D will be reduced by more than 90 percent. For the most efficient sun exposure, it is recommended that you do not wear sunscreen and expose about one third of your skin to the sunlight for 10 to 20 minutes at noon, three times a week.
Noon is not only the time when the sun’s UVB rays are the strongest, but studies have also shown that the body’s most efficient production of vitamin D is between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
2. Consumption of High-fat Fish, Egg Yolks, and Sun-exposed Mushrooms
Foods rich in vitamin D include cod liver oil, salmon, tuna, sardines, swordfish, beef livers, and egg yolks.
Another food that is also rich in vitamin D is fresh mushrooms that have been exposed to ultraviolet light. In fact, animal-based foods provide vitamin D3, and plant-based foods, such as mushrooms that have been exposed to sunlight, provide vitamin D2.
The vitamin D level of sun-dried mushrooms is about 10 µg/100 g. So next time, before you eat mushrooms, let them get some sunlight!
3. Vitamin D Supplements
If you don’t get enough sunlight and can’t eat a lot of vitamin D-rich foods, then vitamin D supplements are a relatively easy option for you.
Vitamin D3 can be supplemented in the winter, when there is less sunshine.
Since vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, it’s recommended to take the supplements with a meal to ensure absorption.
My recommendation for Vitamin D Supplements is……..
Young Livings Pure Vitamin D Supplement
Super Vitamin D supports the immune and respiratory systems with 250 percent of the daily value of vitamin D. Vitamin D plays a key function in respiratory health through innate and adaptive defense mechanisms. Super Vitamin D also supports bone growth and healthy muscles. This highly absorbable, vegan-friendly tablet is made with lemon balm extract and Lime and Melissa premium essential oils, which support mood and hormone regulation.FEATURES & BENEFITS
· Plays a key function in respiratory health*
· Supports the body’s respiratory immune system through its innate, adaptive defense mechanisms*
· Helps boost healthy immune systems*
· Supports mood and hormone regulation with vitamin D and lemon balm *
· Helps support bone growth and healthy muscle*
· Supports calcium balance and bone growth*
Summer is here and we have longed to get outdoors for several months. We know the importance of protecting your skin with appropriate sunscreen, but an article by Dr. Joesph Mercola, published on May 25, 2022, warns us of some hidden dangers of both "using and choosing" sunscreen.
This is a long article, but well worth the read!
One of the Worst Things You Could Slather on for ‘Protection’
Sunscreen is widely overused – and loaded with a brew of toxic ingredients that pummel human fertility, impair your neurons and threaten coral reefs.
First off, let me make it very clear that sunscreen is widely overused. There are some circumstances where it is wise and appropriate to use but those cases are few and far between. For the most part, you just need to avoid sunscreen and rely on sensible sun exposure. Get out of the sun or wear clothing the moment your skin starts to turn light pink.
Having laid that foundation, in February 2019 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed new regulations[1] to “make sure sunscreens are safe and effective.” If enacted, this could have a transformative effect on the sunscreen industry as a whole.
Importantly, as I’ve noted on a number of occasions, of all the active sunscreen ingredients used in products on the U.S. market, only two — non-nano-sized zinc oxide and titanium dioxide — have been deemed safe for human use by the FDA.
Note: Young Livings Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 Broad-spectrum Lotion only contains non-nano-sized “Zinc Oxide”. Young Living's Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 is reef safe and free from harsh chemicals, making it the best healthy sun-exposure solution for the whole family.
Yeah, I know what you’re likely thinking. You can trust the FDA about as far as you can throw them. It’s a captured agency and essentially controlled by the very industry it is seeking to regulate. However, there appear to be no vested interests here and I believe they got it right this time.
In its proposal, the FDA admits it does not have enough scientific data to draw any conclusions about the safety of 12 of the 16 active sunscreen ingredients on its list and asks the industry to help in providing more data to perform a “rigorous assessment” of all active ingredients on the market.
Two of the 16 ingredients, PABA and trolamine salicylate, have been deemed unsafe, or not generally recognized as safe (GRAS), and are not currently in use according to the FDA. FDA wants sunscreens with an SPF of 15 or higher to provide broad-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays, not just UVB as is currently the case.
Evidence of Toxicity Exists for Several Sunscreen Ingredients
One of the 12 active sunscreen ingredients the FDA claims to be unsure about is oxybenzone, found in an estimated 70% of sunscreens. This, despite studies showing this chemical, acts as an endocrine disruptor and has been linked to reduced sperm count in men and endometriosis in women.
Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 96% of the U.S. population has oxybenzone in their bodies, which is a testament to just how much sunscreen people are using.
Indeed, the daily use of sunscreen is one of the reasons cited by the FDA for the need to update safety regulations. People are using far more sunscreen these days, so exposure to potentially hazardous ingredients is of far greater concern than in decades past.
Oxybenzone is also lethal to certain sea creatures, including horseshoe crab eggs, and researchers warn the widespread use of oxybenzone-containing sunscreens poses a serious threat to coral reefs and sea life. This effect is what prompted Hawaiian lawmakers to ban the sale of sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, both of which have been linked to severe coral damage.
Note: Young Livings Mineral Sunscreen Lotion is reef safe and free from harsh chemicals!
Many Sunscreen Ingredients Have Endocrine Disrupting Effects
Oxybenzone isn’t the only endocrine disruptor though. At least eight other active sunscreen ingredients are suspected of having endocrine-disrupting effects.
According to a recent Danish study, 13 of 29 sunscreen chemicals (45%) allowed in the U.S. and/or European Union have the ability to reduce male fertility by affecting calcium signaling in sperm, in part by exerting a progesterone-like effect.
Of those 13 chemicals, eight are approved for use in the U.S. These include:
- Avobenzone
- Homosalate
- Meradimate
- Octisalate (also known as octyl salicylate)
- Octinoxate (octyl methoxycinnamate)
- Octocrylene
- Oxybenzone (also called benzophenone-3)
- Padimate O
These chemicals can also be found in makeup, moisturizers, and lip balms with sunscreen protection. “These results are of concern and might explain in part why unexplained infertility is so prevalent,” senior investigator, Niels Skakkebaek, professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and a researcher at the Copenhagen University Hospital, said.
Many sunscreens also contain vitamin A and/or its derivatives, retinol and retinyl palmitate, which have been linked to an increased risk of skin cancer by increasing the speed at which malignant cells develop and spread.
OK, my commentary here: Sunscreen is supposed to reduce your risk of getting skin cancer, yet the ingredients of some sunscreens can increase the risk of skin cancer! WHAT IS UP WITH THAT!
Some Sunscreen Ingredients Are Also Neurotoxic
Researchers have also warned that some sunscreen ingredients are neurotoxic, posing a hazard to brain health. The authors of this study noted that since sunscreens need to be applied in significant amounts all over the body, calculations suggest the total amount of a given compound being absorbed from a single application could be as high as 200 milligrams.
Other studies also show these chemicals are found in blood, urine, and breast milk following application, in some cases within as little as two hours.
Sunscreen ingredients found to have neurotoxic effects in this study included:
- Octyl methoxycinnamate — Found to decrease motor activity in female rats and alter the release of a number of different neurotransmitters
- Benzophenone-3 (oxybenzone) — Decreases cell viability of neurons, and upregulates estrogenic-related genes in male animals
- Benzophenone-4
- 4-methylbenzylidene camphor — Decreased cell viability and impaired neuronal development in lab animals
- 3-benzylidene camphor
- Octocrylene — Impaired expression of genes related to brain development and brain metabolism
The authors also stress that simultaneous application of insect repellents such as DEET enhances the penetration of the compounds, thereby multiplying their potential toxicity.
Note: Young Livings Insect Repellent does not contain DEET!
Reduce Your Risk of Sunburn With ‘Internal Sunscreens’
While sun avoidance recommendations make it sound as though all sun exposure is dangerous, the primary risk factor of skin cancer is sunburn, which is an inflammatory process that damages your skin. Sensible sun exposure is actually a crucially important component of good health, as your body produces vitamin D in response to UVB light striking your skin.
It’s important therefore to maintain a balance — you want to expose large portions of skin (without sunscreen on) to sunlight on a regular basis (ideally daily), yet be very careful to avoid getting burned.
Aside from covering up before you get burned, you can reduce your risk of sunburn by eating plenty of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, and/or taking an astaxanthin supplement.
How to Choose a Safer Sunscreen
With all the sunscreens on the market, how do you identify a safe one? The key to remember is that there really are only two known safe sunscreen ingredients — zinc oxide and titanium dioxide — and they must not be nano-sized.
Your safest choice is a lotion or cream with zinc oxide, as it is stable in sunlight and provides the best protection from UVA rays. Your next best option is titanium dioxide. Just make sure the product does not contain nano-sized particles and protects against both UVA and UVB rays.
Keep in mind that SPF protects only from UVB rays (although if the FDA’s proposed rules are implemented, any SPF at or above 15 must protect against both UVA and UVB), which are the rays within the ultraviolet spectrum that allow your skin to produce vitamin D.
The most dangerous rays, in terms of causing skin damage and cancer, are the UVA rays. Avoid sunscreens with an SPF above 50. While not intrinsically harmful, the higher SPF tends to provide a false sense of security, encouraging you to stay in the sun longer than you should.
Other Sensible Sunning Tips
Dr. Mercola recommends spending time in the sun regularly — ideally daily. Sunshine offers substantial health benefits, provided you take a few simple precautions to protect yourself from overexposure. Here are my top five sensible sunning tips:
- Give your body a chance to produce vitamin D before you apply sunscreen. Expose large amounts of your skin (at least 40% of your body) to sunlight for short periods daily. Optimizing your vitamin D levels may reduce your risk of many internal cancers, and actually reduces your risk of melanoma as well.
Note: Young Living has a Vitamin D Supplement that can help if you cannot get sun exposure for the recommended time.
- Stay out just long enough for your skin to turn the very lightest shade of pink. Shield your face from the sun using a safe sunscreen or hat, as your facial skin is thin and more prone to sun damage, such as premature wrinkling.
- When you’ll be in the sun for longer periods, cover up with clothing, a hat, or shade (either natural or shade you create using an umbrella). A safe sunscreen can be applied after you’ve optimized your skin’s daily vitamin D production, although clothing is your safest option to prevent burning and skin damage.
Keep in mind that in order for sunscreen to be effective, you must apply large amounts over all exposed areas of your skin. This means the product should not trigger skin allergies and must provide good protection against UVA and UVB radiation. It also should not be absorbed into your skin, as the most effective sunscreen acts as a topical barrier.
- Consider the use of an “internal sunscreen” like consuming a healthy diet full of natural antioxidants is another highly useful strategy to help avoid sun damage. Fresh, raw, unprocessed foods deliver the nutrients that your body needs to maintain a healthy balance of omega-6 and animal-based DHA omega-3 oils in your skin, which are your first lines of defense against sunburn. Vegetables also provide your body with an abundance of powerful antioxidants that will help you fight the free radicals caused by sun damage that can lead to burns and cancer.
For the full medical article, click Here
This is a reprint from the Offical Blog of Young Living Australia in its entirety! I thought the topic is also so relevant in the US, so I am sharing it in my blog as well! I was reminded of a saying I heard several years ago that says "It is expensive to be healthy, but it is even more expensive to be sick"! So when choosing an essential oil, remember that quality counts!
Here is the article
The Story Behind Essential Oil Prices: Why are Essential Oils Expensive?
Why are essential oils so expensive? It’s the question that probably pops into everyone’s mind, and you aren’t the first person to wonder why! Like most people, when you are looking into purchasing something for yourself or your home, you do the usual: you do a bit of research, you compare prices, look at the quality, find reviews or ask your friends.
You may have even seen much lower-priced essential oils in local shops and wonder how they compare to Young Living’s premium essential oils. Is the price difference really worth it when it comes to the quality of oils?
The answer is a definite YES. Let’s talk about why this is the case and what factors contribute to the cost of essential oils.
So why are some essential oils costly?
To understand why some essential oils are expensive, it’s important to know how essential oils are made. Essential oils are essentially (for lack of a better word!) plant extracts. They’re made by steaming distilling, resin tapping, or pressing various parts of a plant (flowers, bark, leaves, or fruit) to capture the compounds that produce fragrance or essence. It can take several kilos of a plant to produce a single bottle of essential oil.
The price of essential oils ranges widely. Many factors contribute to why some are more expensive than others. This can include the ease of harvesting the plant, the botanical amount needed to produce the oil, plant time sensitivity, purity of the oil, the rarity of the plant, shipping costs, and more.
How much of a plant does it take to produce an essential oil?
Some plants produce less oil than others when distilled, meaning larger amounts of the plant are needed to produce the same amount of oil. For example, our lovely Rose essential oil is very valuable due to the great effort it takes to cultivate the flowers and all the raw botanical material it takes to produce the final product. Fun fact! It takes 9.98 kilos of rose petals to make ONE 5ml bottle of Rose essential oil! For one 15ml Lemon essential oil, 75 lemons are required.
Harvesting the plant
All plants are unique in several ways, which means they need different amounts of care and attention. Certain botanicals can be extremely sensitive requiring them to be harvested at a specific time of day, month, season, or time of year to ensure we are yielding the best quality of the oil. Melissa essential oil is a great example of this. The distillation of Mellissa is a time-sensitive process that must take place at the right time of the day and a precise moment of blossoming to harness its full potential.
Did you know that the difference between an early morning harvest and an afternoon harvest can be critical enough to decrease oil production by up to 90%! This leaves a tiny window of opportunity to get a proper harvest. Due to the sensitivity of the plant, immediate action after harvest must be taken to ensure viability as any drying of the plant material can severely limit or even destroy the amount of oil obtained from the process.
Rarity of the plant
Plants such as lavender and lemon are extremely common, while others are much scarcer. Blue Tansy is a rare, exotic plant that originates on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. Perhaps Blue Tansy’s most unique feature, chamazulene is the naturally occurring constituent that provides the oil’s characteristically rich, deep-blue color, which appears only after steam distilling the tiny yellow flowers.
Shipping costs
The plants used to produce essential oils originate from different places due to having farms across the world. Shipping them from different countries such as Africa, France and Israel add transportation costs to the price of oil production. Helichrysum is native to coastal France, Italy, and Croatia. Its delicate flowers bloom in rocky soils before a painstakingly careful harvest. When you buy oils, it’s important to research where the botanicals were grown. Farming the plants in their natural environments or in habitats that replicate their native environments is crucial to producing the best-quality oil.
Why are other essential oils so cheap?
If you’ve browsed through different essential oil options offered online or in various other shops at your local shopping center, you’ve likely seen a wide range of prices. And prices that look way more appealing to the eye. Have you taken a look at the ingredients? Researched the company background? Know how they make their oils? Companies with lower-end pricing often use poor-quality oils and dilute them to achieve those cheaper price points.
When shopping for essential oils, double-check they don’t contain any synthetic fillers. Oils singles should only contain one ingredient – the oil itself. For oil blends, ensure that those ingredients are pure botanical oils. Of course, some high-quality blends may be diluted with a neutral carrier oil like jojoba or grapeseed, depending on the product’s intended application. For example, some of our blends, like those in our KidScents® and Animal Scents™ lines, are prediluted with natural oils and/or glycerin to make them safe for use around children and pets. However, as a rule of thumb, you’ll want to avoid additives and dilutions – especially the synthetic ones.
What makes Young Living different from other oil companies?
It can be summed up in one word. Quality. Companies – particularly those that have lower price points – often compromise on their sourcing, formulation, process, and other elements of production. Young Living focuses intensely on getting every element right, and you never have to second guess whether you are getting a high-quality product. We are proud to set the industry standard for quality with our strict Seed to Seal quality commitment. This commitment to naturally derived, plant-based products mean we oversee the making of our oils from start to finish. From the growing of the seeds to harvesting the plants, to obtaining their oils, to rigorously testing the final product. Any time you hold a bottle of Young Living’s powerful essential oils, you hold nature’s pure essence.
To see us in our Seed to Seal action, watch this video and view a day in the life at the Simiane la Rotonde Lavender Farm and Distillery.
Our Seed to Seal promise ensure that our essential oils are made with the highest quality in mind. This takes out all the guesswork, allowing you to live naturally without a second thought giving you and your family a peace of mind.
While we absolutely love our dearer oils, we understand that especially when building your collection, dropping a lot of your budget on a handful of essential oils may be a bit much. That’s why we’re suggesting some of our favorite, most versatile oils that you can add to your collection for under $30 each!
Check out our farms where our essential oils are grown. Learn more about how and why to focus on the quality of essential oils here. Are you curious about how to use essential oils? A good place to start is our beginner’s guide to essential oils.
Most of us already know that High Blood Pressure (HBP) is the root of many health issues, such as heart disease, stroke, or kidney failure. More evidence is now showing that high blood pressure in middle age people can increase the risk of dementia or poor brain health in later life.
So what Blood Pressure is considered high. The table below shows the ranges of Blood Pressure and their significance to hypertension.
So what can you do to lower your blood pressure? According to Suja Natarajan, people can follow some lifestyle changes such as:
- Maintain a healthy weight. An overweight person makes the heart work harder to pump blood and this can increase your blood pressure.
- Exercise ( you knew this was going to be in here!). Reduce your sitting time and increase your physical activity. Aerobic exercises like walking, jogging, bicycling, and swimming all can strengthen your heart and lower your blood pressure.
- Improve your diet. reduce your sodium (salt) intake and eat nitrate-rich foods such as beets, spinach, yogurt, and fatty fish.
- the last Lifestyle change is to support your body with Supplements. Not just any supplement, but those designed to help lower your blood pressure!
Recommended supplements
There is clinical evidence that supplements with magnesium, potassium, and Vitamins B, C, and E help the body produce nitric oxide that naturally lowers blood pressure and protects blood vessels which are key to brain and heart health.
Young Living provides several supplements that support lowing your blood pressure ...naturally. Given the Seed to Seal guarantee, I personally do not buy any other supplement! According to Jen O'Sullivan, the author of Supplement Desk Reference (4th edition page44), the following 10 supplements should be at the top of your consideration! In order of importance.....
1. Mineral Essence - potassium, magnesium. and chloride
2. Super Cal Plus - calcium, magnesium, K2, D3
3. Super C - chewable or tablets antioxidants
4. OmegaGize3 - DHA, EPA, and COQ10
5. Essentialzymes4 - papain and bromelain
6. Super Vitamin D - blood pressure protector
7. Super B - methylated B complex for vital energy
8. NingXia Red - high antioxidants with immune-supporting Quercetin
9. MultiGreens - phytonutrients, amino acids, and choline
10. Life 9 or KidScents Mighty Pro - gut health probiotics
There are also several Young Living essential oils you can use to help maintain a healthy blood pressure:
* Ylang Ylang
* Majoram
* Helichrysum
* Neroli
* Lavender
* Bergamot
Now you are armed with information on what High Blood Pressure is, what lifestyle changes you can make, and what Young Living Supplements can help lower and maintain healthy blood pressure. If you are experiencing a blood pressure problem, please consider the above supplements. You can shop directly from my website (www.garyrathbun.com) as well!
Please visit my website (www.garyrathbun.com) for other blog articles concerning health and wellness
