Physical Wellbeing - Which essential oils are safe to eat?
Physical Wellbeing - Which essential oils are safe to eat?
This is a hotly debated subject, lots of aromatherapists don’t recommend the consumption of essential oils. However, I do encourage my customers to eat essential oils for physical wellbeing. But only in tiny regulated amounts. Read this blog to make up your own mind about ingesting essential oils.
Where do essential oils come from
To make sure we’re on the same page, let’s refresh on what I am referring to in terms of essential oils. Essential oils are harvested from various parts of plants and trees, they are aromatic and can come from the root, flower, leaves, stem or bark.
What is an essential oil
Essential oils are the immune system of the plant or tree and only available in around five percent of the world’s plants and trees. For human health, we use just one percent of that original five percent plant medicine.
How do essential oils work
Because we were once plants, we share many biological similarities to plants and so, what they can do for plants they can do for us. In short, they support our bodies to heal themselves. This range of therapeutic benefits isn’t purely physical, it extends to mental and spiritual wellbeing too.
Three ways to use essential oils
Essential oils have three different types of application, inhalation, on your skin or consumption. Each way will see the essential oil act upon us in a different way. For instance, if you inhale Peppermint essential oil you can expect to feel immediately oxygenated, lose any tension headaches, feel thoroughly focussed, grounded and completely energised.
If you apply Peppermint essential oil directly to your skin, which does require a carrier oil, you will experience cooling and soothing, pain relief, a reduction in inflammation and muscular spasms.
If you consume a drop of Peppermint essential oil, which would be between just a quarter to one drop, you can feel relief from any digestive disturbances like acid reflux, gas or constipation. It is also excellent for improving oral hygiene, you can read my blog on Physical Wellbeing - Using essential oils for excellent Oral Care for more on that.
Which essential oils are toxic to eat
To be frank there is no straightforward answer, they in themselves, in their purest form, are not toxic to eat. However, some essential oils would cause adverse reactions if they were consumed, to varying degrees, depending on pre-existing health conditions and medication.
Essential oils are potent, concentrated chemicals, so they will react with whatever they come into contact with. Given that pharmaceutical medication also contains potent chemicals and the average joe on the street is unlikely to understand what the impact of the combination of these chemical ingredients, it’s safer to leave it to the experts when it comes to eating essential oils.
Can I die from eating essential oils
Again, not directly but possibly indirectly from them compromising existing pharmaceutical medication and stopping it from doing its job properly or making it really strong.
Pure Essential Oils
I really have to stress the point that I would only ever recommend ingesting pure essential oils, which given the unregulated market, you need to go to well known brands guaranteeing this. The main reason for this is that the cheaper brands use all sorts of additives and harvesting tricks to make them more affordable and they don’t list the ingredients, so you have no idea what you’re dealing with. Never put your health at risk by using dodgy medicines!
Final Word
Sorry I can’t give you a lovely list so you can start practicing self care, I can however give you a free guide I wrote. I am not trying to scare the crap out of you, I just want you to appreciate the power of this plant medicine and the need for a qualified specialist like me to guide you safely. Eating essential oils can bring many impressive physical wellbeing benefits, they have a much greater chance of supporting the body to heal itself because you’re accessing the therapeutic benefits of the whole plant medicine.
Next Steps
If you’d like to get the physical wellbeing benefits from eating essential oils you can either book at 360 Bespoke Wellbeing Consultation with me or take one or more of my Essential Oil Workshops or enjoy my pre-recorded courses offer.