The VH Podcast, Episode 5: Essential Oils Basics

Welcome back to another episode of The Vibrant Health Podcast!

This week, Lydia and I are excited to have a special guest on the show. Our friend Mary Lapp, a fellow NTP and essential oil guru, is joining us. Mary is the creator of the site, Simple and Merry and she is a wealth of information about essential oils and natural living.

So, let’s not waste and time! Tune in below!

Missed previous episodes? You can find them all here.

Links From This Week’s Episode:

As far as brands of essential oils that I recommend, there are several quality brands that I like, including:

• Plant Therapy
• Florihana
• Native American Nutritionals
• Rocky Mountain Oils
• Mountain Rose Herbs
• DIY skin care recipes that use essential oils

Listen to The Vibrant Health Podcast :: Episode 5

Read The Vibrant Health Podcast Transcript :: Episode 5

Jessica Espinoza: Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode number 5 of the Vibrant Health Podcast. I am Jessica Espinoza and I am here with my co-host, Lydia Shatney. And we actually have a special guest today. Mary Lapp is here. She is the owner and founder of the site, Simple and Merry. And she’s also a nutritional therapist.

So we’re excited to have her join us today. This episode is going to be all about essential oils. So we’re going to talk about essential oils and how each one of us use them. Essential oils are really plain. They’re a pretty integral part of my healing journey. And so I’m getting more and more into them and I know that a lot of other people have a lot of interest in essential oils.

So we’re going to talk about how we’re using them, why are they a great additional to your wellness toolkit and all of that good stuff. So Lydia, go ahead and say hello.

Lydia Shatney: Hey there, everyone. It’s Lydia. I’m so glad to be back today to share more awesome information with you. And I’m super excited about our guest we have today, Mary.

I met Mary virtually. She’s a fellow nutritional therapist practitioner and we run in a lot of the same circles and have a lot of the same passions. And so we’ve chatted quite a bit. And I felt like she would be an amazing resource to tap into because she has a really deep wealth of knowledge about essential oils.

And so we brought her on today to dig in our heels a bit more about this amazing resource, essential oils and how can it really benefit you. And so welcome, Mary. Thanks so much for joining us.

Mary Lapp: Thank you so much for having me. I’m happy to be here.

I’ll just say a little bit about myself. I’m originally from the Nantucket Island in Massachusetts, but I now live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with my husband. And I originally was a pastry chef. So I was all about the sugar and the baked goods and the flour. It led to some health problems for me. Through those health problems, I redirected into the nutrition and healthy lifestyle field, I’ve been learning ever since. I just keep on taking classes. I can’t stop.

Essential oils are my newest passion because I really find they work. And they’re a really pleasant way to find healing. I’m having so much fun with them.

Jessica Espinoza: That’s awesome. I think people are really starting to move in a direction of wanting to take their own health into their own hands rather than relying on our doctors and our western medical system to treat our conditions. So I think every person reaches that point where they have maybe a healing crisis so they have a realization of, “Uh-oh, I need to change some things in my life,” diet and all of that stuff. Maybe they were hit with some disease diagnosis or something like that.

I think essential oils really can play a pretty pronounced role in just helping everybody [inaudible 00:03:14] from just aroma therapy for stress relief to more serious conditions.
So I’m excited to have you on the show as well to talk about it. I guess I can give a little overview of how I’m using essential oils. I still am relatively new to the essential oil world as far as using essential oils for the health benefits of it.

I’ve used essential oils for do-it-yourself skin care. I made my own deodorant, lotion and facial scrubs and all of that stuff for years. I’ve always used essential oil for that kind of thing. But I’ve never really looked into the health benefits of aroma therapy. I’m using essential oils until about I guess maybe two years ago when I started to get into it. But it’s really been in the last year that I have made it a forefront of my own healing journey.
I’m still a total newbie and still learning new stuff every single day. I take a very cautious, safe approach with how I use my oils. But I still am just amazed at the power that they have. And I think it’s a great thing for people to add in to their wellness toolkit and just take advantage of this amazing gift that we have.

So that’s a little overview about how I’ve been using them. Every day I use them more and more. I find new ways that they help me. So I loaded myself up with Away, the stress relief blend this morning. I had a rough morning so I felt like I needed to dump the whole bottle on my head, but one or two drops works really well and I’ve got some stuff diffusing too to help keep my stress levels down.

So yes, I definitely use them every day. And I just am amazed at their power.

Lydia Shatney: Totally! I’m still amazed and awed as well. I really probably dipped my toes in way long ago with oils. But maybe just in the last year or two, even more for just my health versus skin care products or the common thing like tea tree or somebody will use lavender, it seems like those would be maybe more well-known oils and maybe more people would understand their purpose. But now I’m diving in more and using them every day like Jessica said. I think I might have my diffuser running every day.

And one of the beauties of working at home is you get to start up your diffuser depending on whatever mood you’re in. If you’re in a bad mood, you can put something in there to cheer you up. If you’re tired, you can put something in there to perk you up. If you’re stressed – so I really love my diffuser and diffusing oils for that alone.

I mean, there’s so much more we can do and so much more I do do, but just diffusing is great. So I hope that we can answer some more questions to people who don’t have much information yet about how to use essential oils and get addicted to them like we are.
I’m not a typical woman who has a hundred pair of shoes. I have a hundred bottles of essential oils instead.

Mary Lapp: Me too! I’m definitely more into essential oils than shoes.

How I use oils, I think the small children need to be a little bit more careful with dilution and things like that. But as an adult, depending on what I need, I look in books and see whether it’s emotional support or digestive support or anything like that.

I just take a drop or two of oil and rub it wherever it’s more appropriate, whether it’s my belly, which then I can just [inaudible 00:07:23] or the bottom of my feet where there’s a lot of different reflex points, or your spine where there’s a lot of nerve endings, or just depending on where it makes sense. If there’s a particular spot, if you have a sore joint somewhere, putting it on that spot.

But I just go with the flow and use the oil that makes the most sense and do a squirt and a drop, a squirt of carrier oil and a drop of essential oil and rub away. It really is so helpful. I find it to be something that’s enjoyable and helpful.

Jessica Espinoza: I agree. I think just the aroma therapy benefits, the essential oils alone, like what Lydia was saying about diffusing, I think that really is more powerful than people give them credit for. I mean, the power of smell and scent, it just really can have pretty profound effects on your brain functions and things like that.

If you’re completely new to essential oils and you don’t know where to start, you don’t have to do anything crazy. If you’re out there online and you’re looking around, you’re going to see a lot of really crazy stuff about essential oils. The three of us all take a very safe approach to how you use them.

We’re not going to be giving you wild health claims. We’re not going to be telling you to consume internally a bunch of oils every single day. That’s just not how we approach them. I feel like for those who are just getting started, just using oils for their aroma therapy benefits and diffusing them or maybe putting a little bit on a cotton ball and keeping it on your desk, those kinds of things can be really powerful more than you really would think.

So you don’t have to go crazy, you don’t have to know about reflex points and where all your nerve endings and how to apply it to the body. You could really just get started using it in a diffuser.

And then as your confidence grows, you can start exploring other options. That’s how I started too. I just started getting a couple of bottles here and there. I just started smelling them right out of the bottle. And then I eventually got a diffuser and then I got another diffuser.

And then I started learning a little bit more about how to apply them to different areas of the body. I’m still learning proper application techniques and where the best areas are to apply. So I’m definitely not an expert in any way.

But unlike Mary, I have some reference guides and if I’m thinking, “Oh, I wonder if there’s an oil that could help this,” or, “I don’t know how to use this oil,” I just flip open my reference guides and I read about it, and then I make a decision on how I think is best for me, for my own personal healing journey.

I’m sure you guys are probably similar in the way you think about things like that.
Lydia Shatney: Absolutely! And I think for a lot of people, getting healthy seems overwhelming and sometimes, just starting with essential oil is actually a good place for many people because you can use them to support your health in so many ways.

Right now, a couple of people I’ve been working with, I work with clients so sometimes I can recommend some things to them. But even for people who are not my clients who like to learn from me, they may learn some things about essential oils and get started with them. And usually, the diffuser is the safest place to start because they don’t really know what else to do quite yet. They don’t really know how to use them.

So getting started with a diffuser is amazing and will make you fall in love right there especially they can help support germs and maybe the people are having a lot of seasonal allergies right now. It can be really supportive for these kinds of things. Pretty much anyone can benefit from just diffusing.

So I would love to hear more from you for, Mary, maybe an introduction on how to use oils and some of the benefits and uses.

Mary Lapp: Okay, let’s see. So essentially, essential oils are [inaudible 00:11:44] to stress, whether that’s too hot or too cold or too dry or too wet or anything that the client’s dealing with, pests or things like that. And because we have shared chemistry (everything has some shared chemistry, but we have shared chemistry with plants), those oils can help us reduce the stress also.

And because the oil is fat soluble and our skin and our cellular membranes fatty, when we rub it on our skin, it can get into our bloodstream that way.

And because it’s the scent part of the plant, it evaporates very easily. It evaporates in three large molecules, so when you breathe it in, it gets into your bloodstream along with the oxygen that you’re breathing. So that’s where the inhaled oils can get into your bloodstream really well that way.

But the cool part that I just love is how our olfactory system is connected to the limbic part of our brain. I’m sure all of us know that if we smell something from our childhood, we’re right back to where we were.

I told you, I was a pastry chef. I used to work at a bagel shop. I smell a garlic bagel, I see the sun rising and I was 15 years old and I’m riding my bike into the bagel shop.
So we have this connection between memory and emotions and sense. So the oils can be extremely healing in a way that a lot of other things can’t because it can stabilize your mood and it can uplift your spirit.

And on the other side of that, if you have a negative memory, either it’s an oil that might not be beneficial for you emotionally as another oil, this is where you need to just smell things and see how they go and see what you’re attracted to and go with that.
But I love diffusing for productivity. I find I’m so much more productive and just generally happy when I have my favorite oil diffusing.

Maybe we should all talk about our favorite oils to diffuse and which ones those are.

Lydia Shatney: Yes, I was thinking that.

Jessica Espinoza: Yes, that’s good. I like that you brought up the point of experimenting and see what you’re drawn to. I think I told both of you this, but I absolutely detest anything rose-scented. I can’t stand rose. If it’s in any kind of skin care product or even if it’s in a blend and it has rose in it, even if it’s just very, very faint, I just cannot stand the smell of it. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if that’s a health thing or a mental thing or whatever.

So I know after smelling one bottle of rose essential oil many years ago, and I tried over the last few years to – you know, open up a bottle and smell it to see if things have changed, and it hasn’t.

So you have to experiment because some scents are going to be more attractive to you than others. And everybody is going to be different.

And there’s no right or wrong. So I don’t like rose, I’m not really all that upset about it because there’s lots of other options out there for me. I don’t have to like rose oil.
So yes, you really just experiment with different scents and see what resonates with you. The power of scent is huge. That’s why I think the diffusing is definitely a great place to get started.

We won’t go into a ton of it in this episode, but you really can do a lot of pretty powerful emotional healing with essential oils because of that power of scent and stuff like that. So it really is pretty fascinating. We’re just barely scratching the surface of the basis of essential oil, but if you really start researching it and getting into it, you’ll be absolutely fascinated by everything that – I mean, just the power of them is pretty incredible.
So I guess I can talk a little bit about my favorite oils. So I am really drawn to citrus oils. I love everything citrus. I don’t know necessarily why that is. I actually was talking to a different NTP and what’s funny is that whenever I get a headache, I will smell lemon essential oil. And that really soothes that headache for me.

I was talking to our friend – we all know Jennifer from 20 Something Allergies. I was talking to her about it one time and she thought that was really interesting that lemon oil helps get rid of my headaches when I have them. We wondered if there was some correlation between liver function. Citrus is very supporting to the liver and the headaches being maybe liver congestion-caused.

So that was really interesting and I haven’t done a ton of research into it, but I feel very drawn to those citrus scents. I like to diffuse the citrus oils. That bright and just fresh scent just always makes me feel really good.

So citrus and lavender is probably one of my main go-to. I mean, it’s so versatile. You can use lavender for everything – skin care, aroma therapy and all of that stuff. I use lavender quite a bit.

I use peppermint essential oil quite a bit as well. The brightness, that really helps with just brain. I can just sniff some peppermint oil and it stimulates my brain and I feel more alert.

I’d really say that citrus oils, lavender and peppermint are probably the ones that I use the most. But I do use things like tea tree oil and the fix blend and cedar wood and stuff for other things, but maybe not as much as I use the citrus and peppermint and lavenders. So that’s a little overview.

I just recently purchased a whole bunch of oils. Like Lydia said, I really would rather purchase essential oil or real food than buy shoes. I have a big box of oils that I got not too long ago and I’m just working my way through them. I’m opening up the bottle and I’m looking through my reference guide. I’m reading about the oil as I open it. And I smell it and I’m spending a little bit of time with each oils to see how I feel about it.

So it’s a fun experience once you get into it to really just see what resonates with you and what’s going to be beneficial for you as you heal.

Lydia Shatney: It’s addicting. Yes, you just said all my favorites. So I will say most people feel great with the citrus oils. Maybe they are prone to one more than the other. But I actually love grapefruit a lot. I don’t know what it is about the grapefruit, but I really enjoy that one a lot. Of course, I love lemon. I love any citrus, but grapefruit seems to be one of my favorites.

I like to do lime and clove sometimes for [inaudible 00:19:06] support. So I’ll try not to use the ones Jessica did because those are the common ones I think everyone likes
It’s funny because when I first got my oils, I was trying them out and some of the blends I’m just like, “Argh, I hate this. This is horrible.” And I just was totally not into them.
But once I read about them and what they could benefit, I thought, “I’ll try it again.” I wrapped my mind around, “Okay, maybe I should give this another shot” and I didn’t mind it so much.

So some of the oils I’ve learned to like. I didn’t like them at first sniff. And now, I’m like, “Okay, let me give it a second shot.”

So give your oils a fair chance. If you’re hearing about them and you’ve never smelled them. And everyone is telling you how great they are, get a small bottle or ask someone for a sample and give it a shot.

I also really now like cedar wood. I’ve become a little addicted to it. Cedar wood is a cool oil. I never would have thought of it. But I’m using it as a relaxation and sleep support.
And another one I just started is Vetiver, which is very woodsy and earthy and interesting. So it’s always fun to try these new things and see how you feel about them for sure.
And I remember Mary, I think you posted one time a picture and you were using valor and tangerine maybe was it, and you said, “I diffused this today and it made me happy.” And I was like, “Happy is good. I’m going to try it.” And it was. It was a great blend.

Mary Lapp: Good. Yes, I like to have fun with my diffusing. But I’m with you, Jessica, I’m not crazy about the really strong floral scents like rose either. I don’t mind them if they’re extremely diluted. But I can’t even diffuse them because it’s just too strong. I love citrus also. So we all three are on the same page there.

But I do like bergamot and lime. It’s my favorite combination. It’s very gentle. And it’s just very emotionally balancing. It’s good if you need to be picked up. Both of those oils are really good for emotional balancing.

And I would say probably, one on one, I prefer the lime over the bergamot because there’s something about the bergamot that really helps. And bergamot is an Early Grey tea. In case, anyone isn’t sure what bergamot is, it’s a citrus.

But I also love lemon lavender. I feel like citrus belongs in every combination.

Jessica Espinoza: I agree. It’s so nice.

Mary Lapp: And orange and cardamom can be really good. That’s nice. I love grapefruit. Like you say, Lydia, grapefruit is awesome.

I’ve got a whole jarful of oils and I look at them and I say, “Ooh, what looks good today?” It’s kind of a way of spoiling yourself while helping yourself feel better. At the same time, you’re being reproductive so it’s a win-win all around.

I just love diffusing something. On the day that I’m too lazy, I get to it, I just don’t feel as good and I think, “Why didn’t I just do it?” But I do most days for sure.

Lydia Shatney: That’s awesome. You actually just started down the bergamot and lime and the orange and cardamom. I’m going to have to try that next time I do an order of oils. So yes, I jotted down some of those. And I actually have a bottle of the vetiver that I have not experimented with. So I’ll be looking at that one in the near future. It’s funny how – oh, go ahead.

Mary Lapp: I was going to say I have a recommendation for vetiver. And it’s very, very grounding. It’s great for sleep.

One time, I was just having a really, really stressful day. I was like, “Okay, I’m going to hurt myself if I don’t stop and just cool off for a little bit.” I decided to take care of myself and have a bath with vetivor and lavender and Epsom salt. So that helps it just disperse. And I know we don’t always have time for that, but I happened to.

So I just stopped and [inaudible 00:23:49] and I’ll tell you what, it’s changed my day. It was so relaxing and so grounding. And then I got up and I got myself done. And it was great.

So that’s something you can do. [Inaudible 00:24:00] bed along with the cedar wood.

Lydia Shatney: Yeah. That’s how I’ve been using it. Vetiver, cedar wood and lavender combo has been awesome. Sometimes I’ll diffuse it, but usually I just mix it in a blend I have and actually just put it on my feet before bed.

Jessica Espinoza: Yeah, that’s good.

Lydia Shatney: It’s like I get a little foot pampering and then I get that relaxation too.

Jessica Espinoza: So this information has all been fantastic so far. It’s really exciting to see what you guys are using and I have jotted down some different combinations that I’m going to try out. I’ve got the vetiver lavender and cedar wood. Actually, I’ve got all of that here. So I may give myself an Epsom salt bath tonight and try that combo and see if I can sleep better tonight than I did last night.

I know that the three of us, we all have a lot of mothers as readers and as listeners on this podcast, so let’s talk a little bit about how to use essential oils with kids. I know Mary, you briefly touched on that. And you really do have to be more cautious with using essential oils on kids. I think that that would be a great thing for us to talk about so that moms can feel a little bit more empowered about using essential oils in their house with their whole family.

So let’s delve into that a little bit.

Lydia Shatney: I think I’m the only mother here. I mean, I can speak to it from a mom perspective and honestly, I really am so thankful for essential oils for kids because one of the things with children, as you know, you’re always going to run into something, whether they’re getting sick or they have a tummy ache or a leg cramp or there are germs going around in school or somebody’s got a boo-boo or whatever it may be, someone can’t fall asleep and there’s not always a lot you can do for kids. I would just take a bunch of supplements maybe or do something that my child probably wouldn’t.

And so having essential oil is great because you can apply it topically or diffuse it or use in some way that’s just really simple. And that your child will benefit from without all the hassle of like, “Here, take this vitamin” or, “Here, take this concoction.” Sometimes that becomes a battle, whereas oils are just very easy. And my kids will actually come to me and ask for something.

I got started with my – he’s now nine, but he fell in love with herbs a couple of years ago visiting an herb garden. And he clung to lemon balm. He just fell in love with lemon balm. Of course, he liked a whole bunch of others. And he’s having trouble sleeping at the time and I got him a sleep pillow and we put the essential oil on the pillow for him. I even let him hold the sprigs of lemon balm. For some reason, that’s all he needed.

I think it was partly placebo effect in a way. Just the thought of it, he has his little – not magic potion, but you know what I’m saying. And it was just very useful and simple. All I had to do was give him a little something.

And ever since then, I realized, “Wow, okay. There are so many ways I can use this.” And so whenever I get a new oil, I’ll introduce it to the kids and see what their response is. I just let them sniff it right off the bottle. And it’s so fun to watch how they each respond.
And one child who I’m struggling to get him to take his supplements and do much that’s healthy, he’s a pre-teen and it’s like, “Oh, my word,” it’s a struggle, but loves the oils. I feel like, “Okay, this is one in I have with this child to help support his health. Let him use these.”

So I feel like, as a mom – and my kids are a little older. So I don’t have to be quite as cautious as maybe someone with a baby as far as how to apply it. So it’s a little different for me versus moms of babies or young children, toddlers, whatever. I know that most people have no clue how to use these for their kids.
So I would love to hear more from you, Mary. I know we all have some resources too for people as well. But it would be great if we could just talk about getting moms started with oils for their kids and how to use them for the kids.

Mary Lapp: Sure! So essential oils, what’s so wonderful about them is that they’re very powerful and they can be such a wonderful [inaudible 00:33:50], whatever you’re looking for. But also, emotional support at the same time. So it really [inaudible 00:33:55] healing.

For very small children, I just recommend you really are more careful. For children under three months, I don’t recommend applying on the child, but just applying on the mommy. And whether she’s breastfeeding or not, the baby will smell it on the mom. So that’s what you can do for the really, really little babies.

For over three months, maybe between three months and two years, we can do a 0.25% dilution, which means you would take four teaspoons of a carrier oil, whether it’s olive oil, coconut oil or jojoba oil, and you’ll just add one drop of oil to that – a little goes a long way. And then I would just apply it up and down their spine or the bottom of their feet or on their belly, or anything like that. So that’s for the children under two.
Children between two and six, I would just do a 1% dilution, which is like picking a teaspoon of the olive oil or the carrier oil and one drop of the essential oil. And you can do the same thing. You can just apply it to those places or wherever you want to.
And then for kids over six, I feel pretty open as far as how sensitive your child is, like sensitivity [inaudible 00:35:19] here. But for the average, healthy child, I would still dilute it, so it’s not – for me, personally, I don’t feel like it’s something that I get super stressed about.

There are certain oils that are better for kids and certain oils that aren’t like peppermint. I don’t know if anyone’s ever smelled a really good, strong peppermint, but it’s strong. It will make your eyes water if it’s anywhere close to your eyes and that kind of thing. And that intense for little babies and it’s something that you shouldn’t just use around little kids.

So there are certain oils that are better for small children like [inaudible 00:35:58], the lavender. Some of those are super great. They’re gentle. They’re perfect for small children.

The other thing you have to be careful with adults or kids is that citric oil because they come from their vines of the plant or the fruits. They attract sunlight. And so if you put citrus oil on your skin, it can – it’s not a sunburn exactly, but it will just make a dark mark on your skin. And that’s not something you want to have happen to your baby.
So just be careful with citrus oil on children especially in the summertime and they take off their shirt or something like that and you don’t want them to get a little sunburn or anything.

So it’s fine [inaudible 00:36:43] clothes – or diffuse it. If you diffuse it, it can have a really good effect. But just not on the skin. Any other questions about that?

Jessica Espinoza: That’s a really good tip too. I’m glad that you brought up the thing about the citrus oil as well because that was something that I learned the hard way.

Mary Lapp: Oh, no!

Jessica Espinoza: I had made some lotion and I think I had put some orange and tangerine oils in it. I put it on my arms and everything and my face, I went out for a walk and I got – it wasn’t a horrible, horrible sunburn, but I definitely burned way worse than I would if I hadn’t used them. And then, I figured out after that that the phototoxic reaction that people can have with the citrus oil.

So yes, don’t make the same mistakes that I did. Be cautious with the citrus oils and sun exposure. So I’m glad you brought that up.

Lydia Shatney: Yes, I’m glad you mentioned the peppermint too because even though I diluted it, my nine-year-old recently had a headache and I said, “Okay, here. Let’s do a little lavender, a teeny bit of peppermint,” and I diluted it and I applied it to the nape of his neck just to keep it away from his face. And he was complaining that it stung. He did not like it.

Peppermint is very intense. So it’s cool that you mentioned that because I was thinking, “Yes, I had experience with that.”

So it may be one to just kind of avoid even topically even if it’s diluted. Sometimes it’s hard to know until you try these things, but I’ll just share that little story that maybe lavender oil is just enough. Lavender could have been fine. Maybe just letting him sniff the bottle of peppermint or something would have been a better choice, but now I know.

Mary Lapp: Technically, peppermint should be okay for kids when they’re sick. [Inaudible 00:38:47] maybe you should dilute it more, so it’s not stingy because it’s a really strong one. But I know the back of the neck is much more appropriate than up by the temples because if you put it by your temple, it’s going to [inaudible 00:39:01] your eyes even no matter how much you dilute it.

So the back of your neck really can feel good. And for the adults, I’m not into ingesting oil, but if you take your thumb and just barely brush it on the top of the bottle, and you just get a tiny little bit, you rub that on the roof of your mouth, it just warms your brain. It’s so amazing! It just feels so good for your headache, I mean, for headaches.
And it’s not like you’re ingesting a huge amount. You’re just rubbing it topically at the inside of your mouth. That will just feel so good. But doesn’t sting because it’s not evaporating up into your eyes. That’s something you can do for headaches too.

Lydia Shatney: Yes, that’s good. I’ve done it on – one drop on my toothbrush if I woke up stuffy or something. I’ll just brush my teeth and it’ll really open up the sinuses that way. And then you’re just going to spit it out. I feel that that’s a safer way to use it if you’re going to put it in your mouth and pretty effective.

Jessica Espinoza: Yes, I do that as well. I love the peppermint. Just one drop on my toothbrush with my toothpaste, then it’s just yahoo. It’ll open you right up. So that’s a great way.

But yes, I’m with you. I’m not a big fan of ingesting oils unless you – there are some very specific conditions where you probably should, but you should never do it unless you’re working with a trained practitioner who understands about using essential oils in that manner.

You see a lot of people putting lime and orange and lemon oil in their water and just drinking it, drinking it, drinking it. That really bothers me because I personally know in some of my aroma therapy groups that I’m on in Facebook, I have seen people who have talked about the health problems that they’ve had, the damage that they’ve done to their esophagus from consuming too many essential oils and being unsafe with it. So you can really do some permanent damage and it’s scary.

So from seeing people’s experiences in some of those groups, I take a very safe, cautious approach. I think that people don’t understand how powerful essential oils can be. You think, “Oh, it comes from a plant, so therefore it’s safe,” well, yes, they’re safe, but you have to still be cautious and you still have to know what you’re doing. So definitely don’t go crazy with it.

It bothers me to see how much misinformation is out there and how many people could essentially be harmed by unsafe usage. So I take a very cautious approach and I encourage everybody else to be very cautious with it as well.

Lydia Shatney: Yes, this week, I actually had two clients that were using the lemon in their morning water every day. And I said, “Yes, please don’t do that. There are actually studies now finding it can damage the esophagus.” And both of them actually were like, “You know, I’m so glad you told me this” because, of course, everyone and their mother is recommending this. “Oh, yes. Put a lemon in your water.”

And I get why it would seemingly make sense because lemon in water in the morning and the whole flushing the liver, blah-blah-blah, but both of these women were having some side effects from it and they made that connection when we talked.

And so we do all want to advocate safe usage of oils and make sure we’re understanding how they work inside the body. We also have to process some through our livers as well. So we just want to make sure it’s not ‘more is better’. Some people think that same way about supplements. “Oh, I need vitamin D. I’ll just take a lot.” It’s really not a good way to think about it.

I hesitate to say use it like medicine, but when it comes to herbs, they have a very powerful effect in the body and you don’t need to go hog wild.

So we all have newsletters and Jessica has one. I have one. Mary, you have one, correct? So we want to be able to give you a place to go if you have questions and you just aren’t sure. So we all are going to make sure you got our information at the end of this in the post.

But Mary, do you have anything else to add about the safety with oils? Do you happen to know the study I’m talking about with [cross-talking 00:44:05]?

Mary Lapp: The esophagus, I don’t. I do have something to add. But as far as the congestion, sometimes it’s got nice flavors. So if I ingest oils, I’m putting a drop in a recipe or something that’s got fat in it.

I love putting a drop or two of lemon oil in a salad dressing. It gives it a really nice citrus flavor, but I’m adding it to a cup of olive oil. So it’s super diluted and you’re getting a tiny little bit of it. And it can be really, really delicious for flavor.

And there are obviously certain oils that you shouldn’t ingest like – I don’t even know, vetiver maybe. I’m not even sure. But the way you can tell is if it’s an oil that is safe for ingestion, it will have a nutrition label on it. And when you take that oil and you super, super dilute it, that’s when it becomes more okay. But still, you never want to have too much of it because it is so strong.

Does that sound right to you, guys? Does that sound good?

Lydia Shatney: I know some people that use peppermint. They’ll use one drop of peppermint oil when they’re making brownies or a coconut oil candy or something. I think, yeah in those cases, it’s definitely fine. I don’t do that myself just because I’m not there, I guess. Who knows if I ever will be?

But you brought up a really good point. You’re adding one single drop to a massive amount of fat, whereas you see a lot of people recommending the lemon oil in your water. Well, you have to remember, oil and water do not mix. So they may be adding two or three or four drops in an eight-ounce cup of water, that’s where you start to get into some serious problem. So yes, I’m glad that you brought up that little preface.

And it really comes down to what you’re comfortable with. If you’re not comfortable ingesting oils – and I’m not now. Really, the only ingestion I do is the peppermint oil on my toothbrush, so I’m not to that point. Don’t feel obligated that you have to ingest them just because you see other people doing it. Go with what you’re comfortable with. And if you do make the choice of ingest them, be very safe. Like Mary was saying, it needs to be very, very, highly diluted with a fat.

Mary Lapp: And there’s actually one other thing that I wanted to say if that’s okay. I was talking about safety with kids. It doesn’t mean that when your kid turns six, you can just go hog wild. You still need to dilute it more than for an adult.

So the best win, I just don’t worry as much. You know your child, if they’re on the large size or the small size as far as body weight. But I would go 2% for your six-year-old and up it until they start becoming more adult-sized.

I just wanted to add that in. I kind of stopped at six and I should have kept them going a little bit longer.

Lydia Shatney: Yes, and I think it’s good to introduce people the oil slowly. I’ve done that with my kids. I didn’t just get a whole bunch and start using a whole bunch every day. I wanted them to just get used to them and see how they respond to them.

It’s the same thing I tell my clients with their supplements. “Go really slow. Give your body a chance to show you how it’s tolerating this new addition.” So it’s good to think in those ways because slower is always safer and better. So that’s another little thought there.

So yes, Mary, this has been really helpful. Thanks so much for joining us today. I think we probably have some information, Jessica, to share about how to get more insights into our oil world.

Mary Lapp: Yes, thank you for having me.

Jessica Espinoza: Yes, we’ve enjoyed having you. This has been great. Some basic information that are going to help people feel a little bit more empowered, if you’re ready to learn more about essential oils, you can contact any one of us. This podcast is going to be on all three of our sites so you can contact us. We all have essential oil specific newsletters where we’re sharing helpful information about how you can implement these oils into your daily life, easy tips and tricks and recipes and safety information and stuff like that.

So I would encourage you, if you’re looking to expand your knowledge on essential oil and implement them into your life, then sign up for our newsletters and get some great information in there.

And then we’ll also have information in our blog post about the brands of essential oils that we personally like. It really comes down to finding the brands of essential oils that resonate with you. There’s a lot of really great brands and there’s a lot of really not so great brands out there. So you really have to do your research.

All three of us are happy to talk about the brands that we like and the ones that really have resonated with us. It’s really a personal decision. But if you have questions about brands, applications, safety, any of that, feel free to leave a comment on the blogpost or you guys can all e-mail us through our sites, join our newsletters, ask questions on social media. We are happy to discuss oils and help you feel more empowered when it comes to using them as part of your healing journey and as your overall health.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. We’re all happy to help you.

I think we’re going to go ahead and wrap up. This is a good point to wrap up. But because we all love essential oil so much, we will probably be talking about essential oils more in future podcasts. So this is definitely not the end of that. You guys want to add anything in before we sign off for the day?

Mary Lapp: No, but thank you so much for having me and it was wonderful.

Lydia Shatney: Yes, thank you for being here.

Jessica Espinoza: Yes, I could happily keep talking about this all day. It’s so much fun. Yes, we definitely will talk about oils more in the future. Please take us up on our – you know, following through and checking out our newsletters. I have a lot of fun writing my newsletters and sharing about oils. So I would love for you to read them and learn from them too. And I’m sure Mary feels the same way.

Mary Lapp: Yes. Awesome!

Lydia Shatney: Okay, well, we are going to sign off. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Vibrant Health Podcast and we will talk to you guys again next week. Have a great day everyone.