headaches – Healthy and Hopeful

10 Ways I Use Peppermint Essential Oil

Published on May 31, 2015June 8, 2015 by Christine6 Comments

Don’t you just love the smell of peppermint? So refreshing and invigorating. Peppermint oil is would probably rank in my top 5 for most-used essential oils. Here are a few ways that I use peppermint oil and see great results:

Nausea – If I’m ever feeling queasy or nauseous, I either rub some peppermint oil on my stomach or breathe it in. I’m always amazed at how fast it works and keep applying every 20 minutes or smelling it until I feel better. This, along with activated charcoal, seriously saved me when I got food poisoning 3 times (why, oh why!?!) last year.
Headaches – Whenever I get a headache, rather than popping not-so-safe aspirin or ibuprofen, I put some peppermint oil on the roof of my mouth, back of my neck and top of my forehead and within minutes, I’m back to normal. *Warning: be careful to not get it in or close to your eyes or it will sting. If you do, wash out with olive or coconut oil rather than water.
Anti-Itch – Last summer, when I got hives as a result of stress, peppermint oil was the only thing that would relieve the itching. It’s also a great option for bug bites and sunburn as the oil is very calming for skin inflammation. You may need to dilute peppermint oil with coconut oil before applying directly to your skin as it can irritate sensitive skin in its concentrated form.
Allergies – Peppermint oil is great at helping clear out my nasal passages and reducing sinus inflammation caused by allergies. I use this in my essential oil allergy blend LLP (Lavender + Lemon + Peppermint) and diffuse all the time during allergy season. Read more about how I fight allergies naturally here.
Energizer – Afternoon slump or just need to focus at work… I diffuse peppermint at my desk at work and it does wonders for getting me through the rest of the day.
Fever Reducer – The couple of times I’ve had a fever in the past few months, I’ve used peppermint oil on the back of my neck and forehead with a cool compress and brought my temperature down to normal without medication.
Decongestant – When I have a cold, I mix peppermint with eucalyptus oil and coconut oil and applied to my neck and chest. It acts as an expectorant and helps open up airways and clear out sinuses. This was especially helpful to me when I was coughing a lot.
Muscle Pain Relief – Anytime I have sore muscles, I use peppermint oil to help relax them and relieve the pain. It’s also a main ingredient in one of my favorite blends of essential oils for pain relief – the Deep Relief Roll On. This was amazing to rub on my feet and legs each night after walking miles a day at Universal Studios & Disney World.
Oral Care – Of course, peppermint is a well-known breath freshener. I mix it with a bit of water and use as a mouthwash. It’s also in my beloved brushing blend OraWellness – read more here about why I will never go back to using regular toothpaste!
Bug Repellent – Ticks & mosquitoes apparently hate peppermint, so I use this in a pest-repellent spray for my dog every day. For some reason, bugs don’t like me, so I don’t have to use anything personally, but you can use it for people too. For my pup, I mix up distilled water with a few drops each of peppermint + eucalyptus + Thieves + citronella + tea tree in a spray bottle; besides protecting her from fleas & other bugs, it makes her smell great. Here is an actual recipe for homemade bug spray that’s very similar.

I’m so grateful to have added a variety of essential oils to my “medicine cabinet” and to now have a safe, effective way to address symptoms immediately when they arise. I have chosen to buy the Young Living brand of essential oils because I’ve done my research and I trust the source and the purity of the oils they grow & produce. If you are interested in trying out essential oils, visit this page on my blog for more details or leave a comment and we can chat more.

Have you been looking for a natural way to address any of the symptoms above? Do you use peppermint oil in other ways that help? I’d love to hear about it!

Magnesium Maybe?

Published on April 22, 2015April 21, 2015 by Christine9 Comments

Low energy, fatigue, headaches, stress, muscle tension and spasms, trouble sleeping, PMS, hormonal imbalances, nervousness, anxiety, irritability – any of these symptoms ring a bell? Or maybe a few?

You just might have a magnesium deficiency… and, you certainly wouldn’t be alone – 70% of women and 80% of men don’t get the daily intake they need, which means that most of us are quite lacking in this essential mineral. Dr. Mark Hyman sums it up perfectly on his website:

Think of magnesium as the relaxation mineral. Anything that is tight, irritable, crampy, and stiff — whether it is a body part or an even a mood — is a sign of magnesium deficiency.

This critical mineral is actually responsible for over 300 enzyme reactions and is found in all of your tissues — but mainly in your bones, muscles, and brain. You must have it for your cells to make energy, for many different chemical pumps to work, to stabilize membranes, and to help muscles relax.

Doctors are constantly touting that we all need to drink more milk to get more calcium for strong bones. But, getting too much calcium without enough magnesium creates a dangerous imbalance that can cause numerous health problems. Plus, if your diet consists of a lot of salt, coffee, sodas, alcohol and sugar, you are draining your body of it even further. Another problem is that only about 30-40% of the amount we eat is absorbed by our bodies (source). Why? Our bodies require enough vitamin B6 (eat your veggies), vitamin D (hello, sunshine!) and selenium (meat, poultry, fish & eggs) in order to be able to absorb magnesium.

Luckily, increasing your magnesium intake is a super easy fix. Here’s what I do to get at least 400 mg per day (up to 1,000 mg can be helpful depending on the severity of your symptoms):

Diet – Eat a lot of leafy green vegetables like spinach & collard greens, avocado, nuts – almonds, cashews and peanuts top the list, legumes and seaweed.
Supplement – Find a whole food supplement with magnesium citrate or glycinate taurate (easiest to absorb). Avoid the cheap supplements with magnesium carbonate, sulfate, gluconate, and oxide. Since I take so many vitamins and minerals each morning, I like to mix it up by taking this one during the day – Natural Vitality Natural Calm Magnesium Supplement. It’s pure magnesium citrate and comes in lots of flavors; you add it to water and it makes a fizzy Emergen-C type beverage. This is the perfect afternoon pick-me-up; since magnesium helps the body relax, it diffuses any of the stress I am feeling at work.
Epsom Salt Bath – Epsom Salts are pure magnesium and are recommended for relieving sore muscles. I mix up some lavender essential oil with my epsom salts in a glass jar and keep by the tub to add to my baths. It’s super relaxing and helps your body absorb magnesium before bed, which leads to falling asleep faster and better rest.

Personally, since realizing that I was deficient in magnesium and increasing my intake, I have seen great results. My afternoon headaches are gone, my energy has increased, I sleep better and my stress levels are down (though that last one may have a little something to do with this too!).

Are you suffering from any of the symptoms of magnesium deficiency? Think you’ll give any of the tips above a try? I’d love to hear how it helps you!

“You’re Not Sick; You’re Thirsty”

Published on July 3, 2014April 21, 2015 by Christine4 Comments

Is it possible that the majority of illness originate from something as simple as dehydration? Could we be treating ourselves with medicine when we should just be drinking more water? I recently read Your Body’s Many Cries for Water by F. Batmanghelidj, MD, which explores this possibility.

Our body is made up of 75% water, and in particular, our brain tissue is 85% water. Adequate hydration is essential to our bodies and brains functioning properly to stay healthy. But many of us are suffering from chronic dehydration because we live in a society where coffee, tea, alcohol and manufactured beverages like soda have become acceptable thirst-quenchers. While many of these contain water, they also contain dehydrating agents that only make our body’s more thirsty. And, sodas, in particular, are addictive (both the caffeine and sugar), taking away our natural thirst for water, even when it’s plentiful and available.

We tend to think that we are “thirsty” when our mouths become dry and we crave a drink. But this is actually the last outward sign of dehydration – if you are feeling this, your body is screaming for water. And as you age, your body begins to ignore “dry mouth” more and more, making dehydration easier. Our vital organs receive the water, nutrients and hormones they need to work only by enough water existing in the body to deliver those elements, so it’s obviously essential to our basic functioning. Just in case you need a few more reasons to drink more water, here are some that really stood out to me:

Morning sickness during pregnancy is the main indicator of a baby and mother’s dehydration. Water is essential to cell expansion during a baby’s first stage of life.
Chronic pain is a huge indicator of thirst. For a while, painkillers may work for pain monitored by the central nervous system, but eventually the brain will become so dehydrated that it will register all pain until it gets enough water. And, until it does, the pain will increase and the body will limit the mobility of those areas in order to “prevent the production of additional toxic waste” that water, if available, would wash out. If you are experiencing consistent back pain, leg pain or headaches, take note.
Dyspeptic (gastritis, heartburn, constipation) pain is an emergency thirst signal. “Digestion of solid foods depends on the presence of copious amounts of water” and “water provides the only natural protection against the acid in the stomach.” Antacids contain a lot of aluminum (so does your deodorant, by the way), which combined with brain cell dehydration are proven causes of Alzheimer’s disease. Stop popping those antacids and drink a couple glasses of water instead.
“Fully 75 percent of the weight of the upper part of the body is supported by the water volume that is stored in the disc core.” While proper posture is helpful, adequate water is essential if you are experiencing back pain. Exercises that stretch the back and help “vacuum” water back into the disc space will help both neck and back pain. I personally find that laying on the bed with my head off the edge for a minute or so helps a great deal. Of course, my chiropractor adjustments help tremendously as well.
Dehydration affects the regulation of body temperature. Many migraines and headaches are caused by “heat stress” because of dehydration that may occur due to lack of drinking water, drinking alcohol, or an allergic reaction that releases histamines (blocking hydration).
Dehydration leads to stress in the body and causes hormones to go into crisis mode. As a result, dehydration contributes to chronic fatigue syndrome and depression.
Using caffeine to override your body’s available energy will lower levels of stored energy, meaning that your hormones will not be able to react appropriately later and the brain has less energy to work from, leading to less focus and attention span. This dehydration effect is exacerbated when elderly people with memory problems or children with learning disorders drink anything other than water, especially soda.
Adequate water and salt intake are essential to maintaining blood volume that prevents hypertension. The body will do all it can to retain water and sodium (helps balance water in and out of cells), yet the current “treatments” for hypertension prescribe diuretics. Water is the best diuretic – if you are drinking enough water, your body will respond and eventually flush out the toxic edema fluid rather than the water your body desperately needs.
Cholesterol is essential to the function of our cells because it helps our cells retain water. In the state of dehydration, you will develop high cholesterol as its working in overdrive to prevent cell dehydration.
“The sensation of thirst and hunger are generated simultaneously to indicate the brain’s needs.” We cannot tell the difference, and thus often overeat when our body’s are really just crying out for water. Then, dehydration causes our brain to crave more energy, thus causing us to crave sugar. So, we overeat, eat unhealthy foods and gain weight simply by being dehydrated.
“Asthma and allergies are indicators that the body has resorted to an increase in production of the neurotransmitter histamine, the sensor regulator of water metabolism and its distribution in the body.”
In some cases of chronic dehydration, our brain begins to inhibit insulin so the pancreas can provide water for food digestion – a crucial function to provide energy to the body. Ultimately, this can cause insulin-independent diabetes, and instead of drinking more water & eating a balanced diet to get the body to behave normally again, people take chemical override medications to force the body to produce more insulin.
Salt is crucial to ensuring we have an “ocean” of water outside our cells, but the table salt we eat in most foods is a chemical and not mineral-rich. Remove sodium preservatives and table salt from your diet and replace with unrefined sea salt to keep your body’s hydration in balance.

The simple way to prevent the damage from chronic dehydration is to drink enough water. Your body needs a minimum of 8 glasses of water per day, more, especially, if you are drinking alcohol or caffeine. If your urine is not colorless, you are not hydrated enough. Drink water slowly, throughout the day. I typically drink a glass of water before and after each meal, and then at least one in-between each meal as a rule of thumb. If I am feeling sick, my allergies are flaring or my back pain returns, I immediately drink lots of water, and only water, until the symptoms pass. I have truly noticed a difference.

Are you drinking enough water? If any of the above dehydration-related illnesses stuck out to you personally, you must read this book. It has very detailed chapters on each of the effects of dehydration and testimonials for how water has healed people. Go read it (or borrow from me!) – it’s fascinating!

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