Most chemicals are absorbed through your skin and circulate into your bloodstream, almost as if you ate it.  Drug companies know this, and now you can find more drugs “delivered” through the skin via patches with nicotine, pain medications and hormone treatments.   What you put on your skin matters!  When you make choices in body care, it’s important to keep in mind the long term results.  Your body will absorb chemicals  not identified by the body as a natural substance.  They circulate them through your body systems like the endocrine system and store those chemicals in your major organs and fatty tissue.  If you are trying to lose weight, you need to get the toxins out of the cellulite before you can really lose weight for the long term.    Antiperspirants contain aluminum, so every time you apply that underarm protection, your lymphatic system is drawing in the aluminum.  Doctors already know this, before a mammography you’ll be instructed to avoid using anti-antiperspirants or deodorants a couple of days before an exam since the metal particles will show up as “landmarks” on scans.  Short term, you probably won’t see any difference, but fast forward 20 or 30 years of daily application and you might see a profound affect.  The bottom line is many of these long term effects are still unknown, so an ounce of prevention where you know it might matter can help.

Multiple applications equal more exposure Let’s look at hand sanitizer for example.  My focus in health is very much on my children’s exposure to chemicals.  Kid’s bodies are more vulnerable to toxin overload simply because of their size and developing bodies.  Hand sanitizer is one product I have chosen to convert to a healthier option.  Most hand sanitizers have alcohol as their main ingredient.  Hand sanitizer dispensers are everywhere: bathrooms, stores, libraries, churches.  Everywhere you turn, your child can fill her hands with foaming hand sanitizer.  It looks like fun until you think about the dose of alcohol absorbed into her skin every use.  Alcohol baths had once been used in hospitals to lower fevers.  This practice has since been discontinued because the medical community realized patients were absorbing the alcohol through their skin and getting very ill.   There are plenty of safer options in hand sanitation including a few that rely on naturally anti-bacterial essential oils like Young Living’s Thieves Hand Sanitizer that utilizes cinnamon, rosemary, clove and lemon essential oils to clean hands.

Look at your daily routine   Body lotions,  shampoos and shower gels are also other potential points of chemical absorption.  Most products contain artificial fragrance (a.k.a “parfum”), just a combination of secret chemicals, many linked with endocrine disruption.  Your endocrine system regulates your hormones, thyroid, metabolism, pituitary gland and more.  Avoid any products with the ingredient “fragrance” as the manufacturer can use a combination of unknown chemicals under this term.   Parabens have most recently been found to disrupt hormones,  and the FDA has banned the use of them in children’s bath and body products.  Paraben ingredients are allowed in other products, though.   As adults, we still rely on properly functioning hormones don’t we?  How many of you know someone in their 50′s, 40′s, even 30′s on thyroid medication?

Name That Product   I was surprised when I read on the product samples in my husbands “goodie bag” that one product contained Parabens!  This sample was a gift to athletes, training for months on end to get their bodies into top shape for an event.  I’m pretty conservative when it comes to what I use in my family, I realize this is new information to some of you, but would you use this product knowing that it contains ingredients banned for use with children?  Here are the ingredients:

menthol, carbomer, FD&C blue #1, FD&C yellow #5, glycerine, herbal extract (flex paraguariensis), isopropyl alcohol USP, methylparaben, natural camphor USP, propylene glycol, silicon dioxide, triethanolamine, purified water.

I’m going to have a little fun with this, and see if anyone can guess this product. Whoever can comment back first with the correct answer will get a 3-pack of  Young Living Thieve’s Hand Sanitizer, an $18 value!

I’d love to get your input on this, would you use products with these ingredients?  Treat your body products like food for your skin, read your labels and know what you are putting into and on your body!

Congratulations to Cindy G. for guessing this product, BIOFREEZE, used by massage therapists, chiropractors and bodyworkers to release muscle tension, aches and pains from aging and active lifestyles.  If you want truly natural muscle and pain relief,  Therapeutic Grade essential oils are the best choice.  You’ve got many options including:

• Peppermint  (anti-inflammatory & cooling)
• Idaho Balsam Fir (anti-inflammatory  and muscle relaxant)
• Basil (anti-spasmodic and muscle relaxant)
• PanAway is a Young Living blend that eases joint & muscle aches and pains
• Raindrop Technique oils (helpful for back pain, using many anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic oils like peppermint, basil, marjoram and cypress)

Give yourself the best and reduce the chemicals you are exposed to.  Chemical laden products work for the short term, with effects on your future health unknown.  For most issues, there are essential oil options that work to bring your body into balance and support your health.  Check an Essential Oil Desk Reference for more issue specific uses of essential oils.

Therapeutic Grade essential oils have been researched for decades on their antimicrobial effects against many bacteria including E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. Oregano,   Clove, cinnamon and Thyme have shown the most powerful effects against these bacteria, with research proving their effectiveness against at least 23 different bacteria including Streptococcous and Staphylococcus.  Even Pharmaceutical manufacturers are seeing the potential of essential oils and are combining them with traditional antibiotics to improve the effectiveness of their products.  Natural essential oils are not patentable, but a pharmaceutical antibiotic combined with a natural essential oil is. One company is experimenting with an edible, apple-based produce cover that  includes cinnamon, allspice and clove essential oils.

Here are ways you can incorporate essential oil use into your food preparation routines:

1. Always wash hands thoroughly with friction and warm water, making sure to completely rinse hands.  For more effectiveness, soaps with essential oils of clove, cinnamon and rosemary are naturally antibacterial.   Avoid hand soap with hormone disrupting Triclosan.
2. Wash produce thoroughly with castille soap and 2-3 drops of essential oils of clove or thyme, or add the essential oils to your produce wash.
3. Wash produce with Thieves Household cleaner or Thieves handsoap.  Work up a lather onto the outside of the produce, allow to sit a few minutes then rinse thoroughly.
4. Only put clean produce on your cutting boards and counters.  Keep unwashed produce in grocery bags until you can wash it thoroughly and avoid contaminating counters.

Thieves essential oil is a Young Living blend of essential oils of clove, cinnamon, rosemary and lemon.  This powerful combination of essential oils has been researched to kill many bacteria including airborne mold spores (Aspergillus) within 12 minutes of diffusing.  Bacteria can mutate easily against man-made antibiotics and chemical antibacterial products, they are less hardy against essential oils that vary slightly from season to season.  When you choose products for your hand sanitizing and food purity, select food-grade essential oils that are safe for skin contact and potent enough to kill harmful bacteria.

There are natural ways to help bring back balance without resorting to synthetic hormone therapies.  Several essential oils have estrogen-like properties and can be helpful with balancing hormones.  The qualities in these oils are not an artificial estrogen, rather it occurs naturally in the plant material.  Nothing has been added to these oils and nothing is taken out.  Pharmaceutical companies have synthesized estrogen, but many synthetic hormones have been found harmful – even causing cancers. It is imperative that you have your hormone levels tested and consult with a doctor before using any hormone related products.

Some essential oils that may support hormone balance include anise, fennel, sage and clary sage.  Therapeutic grade essential oils  have hundreds of constituents in them that balance each other out for the benefit of the plant.  When you use 1 drop of an essential oil, you are getting all these balanced constituents of the plant material in each drop.

Progessence Plus is Young Living’s newest topical serum made from wild yams and an essential oil blend.  Wild yams offer a natural source of progesterone.  The essential oils in this serum enhance the progesterone absorption through the skin.   There are many thoughts on balancing hormones, and Dr. Dan Pursor has found in his practice that in order to balance out  estrogen dominance, increasing the progesterone from a natural source will alleviate symptoms 98% of the time.  You can read more about his studies in “Real Solutions For The Top 7 Female Health Concerns”.  You can also access a document he has put together with FAQ’s on Progessence Plus Serum.  Increased progesterone has shown to have many positive effects on women of all ages, but particularly those over 40 with combating osteoperosis, depression, bloating, headaches, hot flashes, weight gain and several forms of cancer.

Some other essential oil blends that can be helpful in balancing female issues are Dragon Time, SclarEssence,  Lady Sclareol and Transformation.   Dragon Time is also offered in a bath & shower gel.  These blends include oils that support hormone health like sage, clary sage, yarrow and fennel.

Young Living offers other products that offer natural options for balancing hormones.  Prenelone + and Prenelone cream contain pregnenolone from soy beans and boosts low estrogen, progesterone and DHEA levels.  Progessence serum and Progessence cream are for estrogen dominance.  The serum has shown to have an even quicker absorption than the cream.  Regenolone cream is for women with muscle and joint pain and includes MSM to alleviate arthritis symptoms.

The information in this article is not meant to offer treatment for medical conditions, always consult with your medical professional before using hormone balancing products.   There are many holistic doctors who can work with you individually to see what your body needs.  There are many essential oil options to help bring relief to not only PMS symptoms for women of all ages, but for menopausal women as well.

It is also found in Young Living essential oil blends: JuvaFlex and Purification.