Elevate Your Wellness Routine with Essential Oils

When it comes to one’s well-being, the power of your sense of smell is often underrated. Scents can make you feel relaxed, calm, happy, or productive. 

This brings us to essential oils; been for millennia for both health and medicinal purposes—from aromatherapy and vanity to household cleaning products—their uses are virtually endless.

The majority of the health benefits you get from essential oils come from their antimicrobial properties, which are well-documented. Moreover, since essential oils are made from all-natural ingredients, they don’t have any side effects. 

Whether you’re looking for a natural sleep or skincare aid, essential oils have the ability to help you. Here are three ways you can integrate them into your daily healthcare routine. 

Aromatherapy

A holistic healing treatment that has been used for centuries, aromatherapy involves using aromatic essential oils to promote health and well-being. It typically involves putting the oil into a diffuser which then releases the oil molecules into the air, creating a mist for you to breathe. Depending on your health goals, you can use different essential oil blends. 

Aromatherapy can also be administered by adding a few drops of your preferred essential oils to your bath. For instance, if you’re looking to improve sleep, adding a few drops of lavender oil to your bath will help. Lavender oil is known to reduce the secretion of the stress hormone “cortisol”, thus helping you feel calm and relaxed. 

Topical Application

Although many essential oils cannot be directly applied to the skin, they can be used in soaps and lotions in a diluted form. You can use them to create custom skin products that are tailored to your specific health needs. 

For instance, many choose to add rosemary essential oil to their topical skin care products. Rosemary oil is known to promote hair growth, which is why many people add it to their shampoos and conditioners. 

In Baths

Another popular way of incorporating essential oils in your daily routine is by combining them Epsom salts or a carrier oil and creating an aromatherapy bath blend. However, avoid using lemongrass, wintergreen, oregano, cassia, or cinnamon in an essential oil bath blend as they can irritate sensitive skin.

Learn about the unrivalled health benefits of alternative, all-natural remedies such as essential oils, meditation and yoga through our energetic healing sessions. Get in touch with our team in Chicago for more information.

The One Ingredient You Need To Heal Your Gut & Your Skin

We are all racing against the clock here, whether you are battling wrinkles, acne or general aging of the body, we want to stay looking youthful and vibrant every day. We try all kinds of chemicals to treat our acne & smooth our wrinkles, but let me tell you that it all starts from the INSIDE, inside your gut to be exact. Our gut is where most of our immunity lives, so it's important to take care it. And there is one very powerful ingredient, in form of a protein that can take care of your gut, which in return will take care of the rest of your body, especially the skin. It’s called collagen.  

You might recognize it as an ingredient in anti-aging body lotions, but what collagen really is, it’s the most abundant protein in our bodies. It’s found in our muscles, bones, skin and tendons. It’s the “glue” that helps hold the body together. It gives our skin strength and elasticity, and helps replace dead skin cells. And because collagen production in our bodies begins to slow down as we age, you may start to notice sagging skin, wrinkles & weak cartilage in our joints. So it’s important to supplement our bodies with collagen BEFORE you start seeing wrinkles, experiencing acne or “creaky” joints.

There are a few different forms of collagen you can take, but the one that I have found the most useful and versatile is in a form of a bone broth. Bone are LOADED with collagen and as the broth cooks, it breaks down into gelatin. In other words, gelatin is full of the same good stuff as collagen, just in a different form. You can either make your own bone broth, which I often do, but with the demands of a fast-paced life, I cannot keep up with making bone broth every day, so I supplement with this amazing powdered version. It’s important you get your powder from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows (with no antibiotics or chemicals).  You just mix a scoop into water & drink. I have also found it useful to add it to soups, instead of chicken or vegetable stock to make the soup more flavorful and healthy.  After just a few weeks of consistent consumption of bone broth, I have noticed a difference in my skin, the acne has diminished significantly, my belly didn't ache as much after meals and interestingly enough my joints weren't as creaky as before.

Also, in order for collagen to be activated in the body, you always want to take your supplements with a source of vitamin C & two amino acids: lysine and proline, so make sure that your supplement includes these activating nutrients to ensure absorption and usefulness to your body. Because humans are one of only four animals that cannot manufacture large amounts of vitamin C on their own, it’s important we give our bodies a boost in this this vital supplement to help. A recommendation is that we ingest at least 75 to 90 mg of vitamin C daily, but up to 2,000 mg or 2 grams would be even better. Citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruits, limes, and lemons are excellent sources of vitamin C. Many non-citrus fruits are highly rated sources as well, such as papaya, strawberries, pineapple, kiwifruit, cantaloupe, and raspberries. Cranberries, blueberries, and watermelon are examples of very good sources, while apples, pears, and bananas are in the good category.

As for the lysine & proline, foods high in protein are naturally rich in lysine & proline, with meat and poultry topping the list, and milk & cheese also being good resources.

Through bone broths you’ll improve your body from the inside out. Give it a try and let me know the improvements you start to notice.

Want to infuse Holistic Wellness into your EVERY DAY? 

Here is a full list of all the benefits this amazing protein can provide to your body (courtesy of Dr. Axe)

1. Skin and Hair

As we age, collagen production declines. You’ll see notice it physically: looser skin, more wrinkles and less elasticity. Increasing collagen levels can help your skin look firmer, increase smoothness, and help your skin cells keep renewing and repairing normally.

2. Joints

Have you ever felt like you’ve got skeleton legs? Yup, that’s a loss of collagen rearing its head. That’s because when we lose collagen, our tendons and ligaments start moving with less ease, leading to stiffness, swollen joints and more.

Think of ingesting more collagen like greasing a creaky door hinge: It’ll help your joints move more easily, reduce joint pain and even reduce the risk of joint deterioration. A recent study even found that collagen is an effective treatment for treating osteoarthritis and other joint disorders.

3. Leaky Gut

If you suffer from leaky gut syndrome, a condition where bad-for-you toxins are able to pass through your digestive tract, collagen can be super-helpful. It’ll help break down proteins and soothe your gut’s lining, healing damaged cell walls and infusing it with healing amino acids. It will also help absorb water, keeping things moving freely in the digestive tract.

4. Boosts Metabolism & Energy

A boost in collagen can increase your metabolism. Gylcine, found in collagen, helps pump sugar into your body’s tissue to increase energy levels. It also helps in muscle development — and muscles burn more calories than fat. Combine any supplementation with vitamin C to ensure your body can convert the collagen into a useable protein that can begin to restore the source or your energy and vitality.

5. Strengthens Nails & Teeth

Ever had peeling and splitting nails? Well, a lack of collagen could be to blame. Collagen protein is also the building block of your fingernails and teeth as well! Adding collagen into your diet regimen can help keep your nails strong and your teeth healthy!

6. Detox

If you’re looking to detox, collagen is extremely helpful. That’s because glycine helps minimize damage your liver experiences when it absorbs foreign substances that shouldn’t be passing through it.

One of the easiest ways to cleanse your liver is with a bone broth fast; I often recommend a three-day bone broth detox to rapidly repair leaky gut. It’ll help rid your body of chemicals and “reset” your gut.

7. Reduce Cellulite/Stress Marks

When skin loses its elasticity as a result of decreased collagen, there’s another side effect: more visible cellulite! Because your skin is now thinner, cellulite becomes more evident — no more hiding what’s happening below the surface. Improving your skin’s elasticity through collagen will help reduce that dimpling on your skin.

Coffee & Coconut Oil Scrub

I've ran into this beauty hack while researching holistic remedies to the women's biggest enemy: CELLULITE! And what I've found out is coffee does so much more than reduce years of collected cellulite.

Coffee is naturally a great antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. and caffeine draws out excess moisture from your skin, causing it to look and feel smoother and firmer. In this scrub, coffee acts as a mild exfoliant, removing dead skin cells and exposing fresh, soft skin.

While coconut oil is moisturizing and filled with vitamins and minerals

You can also add a dash of organic ceylon cinnamon to the mix which helps to clear your skin of any bacteria. It also brings blood to the surface of the skin, helping to smooth out any lines.

So the super simple recipe is:

• 2 parts ground coffee

• 1 part coconut oil (room temperature - you want it to be SOFT, not solid & not liquid)

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Mix everything well in a glass mason jar and keep it in your shower for a daily spa-like experience

Turmeric Face Mask

I'm a BIG fan of all kinds of spices and Turmeric is on top of my most favorites and healthiest. Turmeric comes from a plant native to South Asia and is used as a spice in curries and other South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines. Turmeric is rich in curcuminoids, which are known for their antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric is currently being investigated for possible benefits in Alzheimer's disease,  cancer, arthritis, and other clinical disorders. Cosmetically, turmeric is used to improve the skin and is touted as an anti-aging agent. Turmeric is known to slow down the aging process of your skin. It fights dry skin by stimulating your blood flow which helps your skin to keep healthy and fight the formation of wrinkles and creases. Turmeric's antiseptic, antibacterial and anti inflammatory properties could help in the fight against psoriasis, acne and blackheads. 

You can create a face mask with turmeric to:

• fight acne

• treat wrinkles

• alleviate dry or oily skin

• reduce pigmentation on your skin

You can play around with a lot of natural ingredients to make a customized Turmeric mask for yourself. Here a few face masks to try: (Each mask directions: blend together, apply to face, leave for 10-15 minutes, rinse off and apply moisturizer)

• Yogurt & Turmeric

• Coconut oil & Turmeric

• Buttermilk & Turmeric - great for under the eyes dark circles

• 1 egg white, 2 drops of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, rose water & turmeric - for dry skin

• Sandlewood powder, milk, lemon juice & turmeric - for oily skin

• Lemon juice & Turmeric - for pigmentation

I have tried a few of these myself and I love the afterwards sensation, where my face feel so warm, as the blood is rushing through my face.