Essential Mythbusters #2 - It's never safe to ingest essential oils
Now, before I began using essential oils in my homes, I didn't know much about them. I'll admit that. I wasn't opposed, just didn't think I needed them, and they were something for other people. I couldn't imagine ingesting them.
Then Covid hit, and the grocery store shelves went empty. I had a recipe that called for orange extract, and there was none. So, my chef friend suggested I go to the "oil aisle" and use orange essential oil. So I did. Today, because I know more, I would never recommend buying an essential oil from a grocery store, but then, I did it and learned essential oil can be used in baking and cooking.
Now, if I can bake and cook with it, why on earth couldn't I put it in my water for drinking?
Can we safely ingest some essential oils? We already do friends, we already do.
From doTerra’s ebook: "Internal Use of Essential Oils:"
“If you take a peppermint leaf and crush it between your fingers, you’ll instantly smell the minty aroma of peppermint. That’s because a small amount of essential oil was released. Or say you’re in the kitchen zesting a lemon. As you grate the lemon peel, microscopic particles of essential oil are released, and you smell the lovely scent of the lemon. And when you add that lemon zest or peppermint leaf to a recipe, you’re consuming those tiny amounts of essential oil.”
So now my family takes certain oils internally. Lemon oil is an example, as it invigorates, offers natural electrolytes (with way less sugar or sugar substitute than other electrolyte drinks), and among other helpful qualities, it tastes good. doTerra has a Certified Pure Tested Grade (CPTG), one they created because oils are not federally regulated. Their "pure" means "pure," and I trust that. They also put an ingredient label on the bottles of oils that can be ingested, with a note that says "can be taken internally."
Absolutely know what you're putting in your body (that includes preservatives in food, the particulars of medicine, and hopefully only PURE essential oils) because that's good practice in general.
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Traci Rhoades is a wellness advocate for doTERRA. Email me about how to get a wholesale account free of charge, good for 25% off our products.
doTERRA is a Latin derivative, meaning “gift of the earth.” From the beginning, the mission of doTERRA has been to share the highest-quality essential oils with the world. Having seen the incredible benefits of using these precious resources, a group of healthcare and business professionals set out to make that mission a reality in 2008. Today, they are a privately owned, debt-free 2+ billion dollar company.