Equipped With Essential Oils

So I am sure you've heard about essential oils and blah blah blah. Right?! Right. Well, I want to talk to you about Young Living and why I have been using their products for the past three years.

This is the longest post ever but it's probably the most important!

WHAT ABOUT THOSE OTHER BRANDS?
I have had friends ask me what was so different between the Young Living oils and the ones she could buy on Amazon or a health food store. I know for a fact many of the Amazon and eBay oils are NOT genuine even in YL bottles… there are places to buy the bottles and the intact white caps…eek. Be careful. Some other distributors have bought them to check and they’re NOT filled with the right stuff, who knows what it is… Yuck.

But as for the stuff in stores, I wasn’t so sure. Sometimes Whole Foods and other natural stores offer oils MUCH cheaper than Young Living. Since there is a small part of me that will be open minded, I decided to go check it out. Over time I’ve purchased a few of these oils just to see what’s in them… and YIKES. Many brands will state “do not use topically” or a close look at the ingredients will show they’re highly diluted in the bottle (definitely accounts for the cheaper pricing). OR they’re not non-GMO, let alone organically farmed (yay for pesticides in our oils…NO).

There are a few things to understand.

First, true therapeutic grade oils MUST be derived from organically grown or wildcrafted plants. These oils MUST be steam distilled at certain pressures or pressed and stored in the correct manner. There are many commonplace activities that will add or take-away from this process.
If plants are grown commercially with pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals to cut down on the agricultural cost, they may be “purely plant material” but YUCK… who wants that stuff distilled into their oils? Some companies will distill at high pressures/temps – which can speed up processing time but deplete the constituent properties in the oil. Another common practice is oil extraction with chemical solvents to squeeze out more product. C’mon… ain’t nobody got time for a compromised oil.

Let’s get real. The majority of retail stores want something for bottom dollar. They will find ways to cut costs, speed up production time, and when they do, that keeps the price lower. Basically, you get what you pay for folks.

The reason why you CAN NOT ingest many essential oils put out by other companies is that they have “ADDED” synthetic compounds to enhance the aroma of the oils…why was the aroma LOST? Good question, because when they used a HIGH pressure distillation, they lost some of the aroma, and with that loss, they lost some, if not all, of the therapeutic qualities. So basically, if the oil is lavender, they add a compound to make it “smell” more like lavender, but now it’s not safe to ingest. Personally I wouldn’t be comfortable applying these oils topically, much less inhaling. Look, if I’m trying to go TOWARDS being more natural, I’m going to do this thing right. No sense in doing something half way. Why waste your money for a chemically derived smell?

Finally, don’t let a label fool you. You can find oils that labels will say 100% pure, organic, and natural, and wait for it…some may even say therapeutic grade…OH, but they are far from it. Tricky little things. Most of the time them putting all that on a label would just be a straight lie, however, no government agency has defined the term “therapeutic”, and no agency regulates the content of labels on essential oils in a way that would remedy these deceptions.

Listen, I could write about twenty more paragraphs of research I’ve done on this fact, but let’s get to the point. Therapeutic oils are almost NEVER sold in retail stores. Over 90% of the oils that are sold as “essential” in America are food or fragrance grades and are NOT suitable for wellness applications. It’s just not going to come from them. You just need to educate yourself on what oils are therapeutic.

For me, when I was researching, I felt VERY confident that Young Living had the bases covered. I’m not saying there are no other companies out there…but I had a HUGE peace that this was the company I wanted my family using. They pride themselves in producing the highest grade of essential oils you can find. They follow strict guidelines and they call it their “seed to seal” process, meaning, their guidelines start from the quality of the seeds they use, all they way until the final oil is sealed in the bottle.

Here are the five steps they follow in this process.

Seed To Seal Process

Seed – Potent essential oils come from plant species that have been authenticated by Young Living and other industry experts.

Cultivate – Soil preparation, balance of sun and water, and responsible weed and pest control ensure stringent standards are met.

Distill – Young Living’s proprietary low-temperature, low-pressure steam distillation process assures that the beneficial plant compounds in every batch are not compromised during the extraction process.

Test – Each essential oil must pass Young Living’s stringent testing to ensure the optimal bio-active natural compounds are present.

Seal – Young Living completes the Seed to Seal process by carefully sealing each bottle of essential oils and shipping to members worldwide.

After I read all of the research and time that goes into a bottle of Young Living oil, I am TOTALLY okay with spending a few more dollars to know that I’m getting something that is legit. I also have used the oils and been CRAZY blown away. I’m just 100% confident they are of the highest quality. If I ever doubt it for one second, you will be the first to know. I would never stand behind a product I didn’t believe in, OR allow my family to use a product I didn’t believe in.

I hope all this helps you understand the importance of high quality oils. Again, PLEASE, never ingest or use other oils the way we suggest the use of Young Living oils.

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