"The Oils" and Why I Use What I Use

I've had a lot of people ask me about "the oils", so I'm going to take a few minutes to explain how I got on the natural path. I apologize if you've read this on the other blog, but there is a bit more info here. Back in March, my little B was hospitalized for a week with bronchiolitis & RSV. Anyone who has been through this with a child (especially a one year old) knows it is not fun. This was actually our second round with it as he had it back in December just before their birthday. We were fortunate that neither D nor M got it. Anyway, back in December, he had been given an inhaler to use "as needed", which we gave him every 4 hours at a minimum. While he was in the hospital, he received treatments every 2 hours. For a week. Plus CPTs. And the results were minimal. After he was released, I was taking to a friend at church. She was telling me about these oils and how she was using them for her daughter's diabetes. She said there was one for respiratory issues if I wanted to try it. Although I was extremely skeptical, I said sure, go ahead & order it. We were literally at a point of desperation. Holding down a 1 year old for a breathing treatment isn't fun. We started using it as she recommended, and we started noticing that he was wheezing less. We were able to drop back on his inhalers and eventually come off of them completely (ok, so we've used it 3 times since April). I used it for myself and noticed a huge difference. So I ordered the elusive "kit" (at my husband's urging...still skeptical) and started learning about what all they could do. Researching, learning the science behind them, the history behind them...I don't want to admit to how many hours I researched, but 3 digits are involved. After getting "the kit", I realized how useful these things were. D's random allergic reactions...M's severe ant bite allergy (which made me extremely thankful for them...except for when she woke me up at 2:30 am for oils)...headaches, backaches, allergies, sciatic nerve issues - all things we've been able to treat with the oils. I honestly can't remember the last time I took a Tylenol. 

So what are they? I use Young Living Essential Oils. There are literally hundreds of companies out there produce EOs. So why them? Yes, that's who I was first introduced to, but I did a lot of research before buying that first bottle, and even more before the kit. I chose them first of all because of the quality. From my research, I learned about distillation. Long story short, there are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and complete distillations. First is the most pure, and that's what YL uses. They were the only company I found that used that. The $5 bottle of peppermint you buy at the local health food store? Not 1st distillation, and a lot of them use additives (which they can do since EOs aren't regulated by the FDA). You also probably don't need to be ingesting them, while many of YL's are safe to ingest. 

This thought popped into my head one night - how is it that unnatural things seem natural to us, yet natural things seem unnatural? And I realized how true that was for me. I wouldn't hesitate to pop a Tylenol for a headache, but to rub peppermint on my head? That's crazy! As my mindset started to change, I researched more natural things, which had led to the shampoo, face wash, etc. Don't get me wrong, I do not consider myself "granola" by any means (although I do like to eat it for breakfast). But now when I look at ingredients list, the fewer the better to me. I don't want anything I can't pronounce in or on my or my family's bodies. It's a process...and it takes time...but I'm getting there. One step at a time. And this was my first step -

I literally have a story for each of these oils, plus a few more. I won't bother you with them (unless you ask). But if you think you might be interested in taking this step into a journey like mine, let me know and I can help get ya hooked up. I think I may have fixed the comments issue from earlier. Sorry. So when you see "essential oils" listed on my recipes, this is what I'm using.