WHAT ARE ESSENTIAL OILS, AND WHY DO WE CARE?
If you’ve peeped around at all on the website, you’ll notice that essential oils are a big part of Water and the Well, and that’s for a big reason! If you read our first blog post, you probably noticed how important holistic health is to us, because we know the relationship between the mind, body, and spirit are strong — meaning one cannot function without the other. Each part overlaps, and can positively or negatively affect the other parts. There are so many complex parts of understanding essential oils and how they impact your health — but let’s start with learning about what they are!
An essential oil is a volatile substance derived from plants that contains the natural smell and characteristics from the plant.
V o l a t i l e: Not explosive; they rise quickly into the air and change the smell of the area; all essential oils possess this quality, but not all essential oils are of the same quality.
We actually “use” essential oils a lot in everyday life. They are used to flavor foods and can be found in things like toothpaste and mouth wash to give it that minty kick. Oils are also in perfumes and skin care products. They are many places that you wouldn’t guess but not all oils are created equally. Oils found in foods and cosmetics are typically synthetic unless stated otherwise. When you are ingesting or applying something that is synthetic, your body processes it as a toxin, therefore it becomes harder to break down or can be stored in fat cells. These types of synthetic oils work against your body. THIS is where Water and the Well comes into play. Storing toxins in the body increases inflammation. As we discussed in the first post, inflammation brings the body out of a state of homeostasis, and it is therefore working around the clock to bring it back to neutral. When we are focusing on reaching a health goal, but we are ignoring these signs and symptoms we have because of underlying inflammation, we go on a downward spiral and make it even harder for the body to find it’s center. If you are experiencing any sort of hormonal imbalances or skin issues, these are often traced back to the chemicals surrounding you.
At Water and the Well, we start with getting history of you, your body, and your symptoms. Part of the process we go through looks at not only your nutrition and exercise habits, but the chemicals that you are exposed to on a daily basis in your everyday life, as these can make just as much of a difference in reaching your goals. In order for you to know what essential oils are and how they can impact your health, in the next couple of posts, we will continue to build upon this, discussing how essential oils are made (and what is the best way of extraction and distillation), how to know which ones are the right ones for you, and how they can play a large part in supporting you on your health journey!
At Water and the Well, we offer several different packages to choose from based on what your previous knowledge and/or comfort level is with holistic nutrition and exercise. Sign up for a free 20 minute consultation with me to get a better understanding of the memberships and if this seems like the right path for you, or check out our “Memberships” tab to see for yourself!
I’m looking forward to taking this journey with you ✨
In wellness,
Allie, RD, LDN, CPT-NASM
