Sarah (00:15)
Hello everyone and thank you so much for joining us for this episode of Health Talk by Doctors Health Press. I’m Sarah Cownley and I am so excited for this episode today because we’re going to be talking about essential oils. At Doctors Health Press, we like to help you discover alternative remedies that can help keep you healthy, and I really personally think that essential oils should be part of your health arsenal. Now, you may have heard about essential oils, but maybe you’re not quite sure how they work or how they can help you with your health issues. Well, our guest today will be telling us all about the many health benefits of essential oils and specifically what ones you need to help get you through this summer. Jane Schweitzer is an essential oil advocate and educator, so after the show you’re definitely gonna want to visit her website, which is oilsbyjane.ca
Sarah (01:11)
Now, I first met Jane a few years back through a friend and it just so happened that the day that we met I had actually slept kind of funny and had a crick in my neck and it was just driving me crazy. You know that nagging pain when you wake up, which is really caused by kind of sleeping on your pillow at a strange angle. Anyways, as I was complaining about the pain, Jane told me that she had something that could help get rid of my neck pain instantly. Now I’m not gonna lie. I was very skeptical. She pulled out a bottle of oil and told me to just rub a little bit of it onto my neck, but of course I kind of thought, yeah, right. I know that when I’ve had this pain in my neck before even popping a painkiller doesn’t really get rid of it.
Sarah (01:57)
So I figured, you know, how is this little bottle of oil going to be any better, but I humored her and I rubbed the oil on my neck and to be honest to my complete amazement, the pain was gone within a couple of minutes. And this was truly the moment that I became hooked on essential oils ever since meeting Jane that day with my neck pain. She’s really taught me so much about essential oils and to be honest, I’ve actually now replaced many of my own pain relievers, sleep aids and so much more with the oils. But essential oils are so versatile that I now even used them in recipes for lip balms, shampoos, lotions, and a lot of other personal care items. Now, on a side note, if you haven’t listened to our podcast with Leanne Sheppard about the toxins found in our everyday products, you definitely need to go back and listen to episode 002 and after listening to that, you’re also gonna want to ditch the drugstore brands and create your own healthy versions. Now, we could really talk about essential oils for hours, but I felt that with everyone gearing up for the summer months, it would be nice to talk about the top essential oils that you and your family need for summer. So, Jane, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us and like I said, I’m so excited for today’s episode.
Jane Schweitzer (03:20)
Hi Sarah, and thank you so much for having me. It’s a real pleasure to be here.
Sarah (03:25)
You’re very welcome. Now Jane, can you give us a little bit of your background? How did you become involved with essential oils?
Jane Schweitzer (03:33)
Great question. I had never used essential oils prior to being first exposed to them by a friend. I hadn’t really known her that well, but I know that she had two very sick children and she had put her kids on a raw food diet and they attained great results, but there were still a few issues and because she got involved with essential oils, they were able to deal with some of these other health problems. So that really intrigued me. She invited me to a class, a, an educational workshop at a, at a friend’s house, and she, you know, did her little talk that night and I ended up signing up with a starter kit because I was moving into the direction of wanting to use natural products is set of pharmaceuticals. So for me it was a no brainer and I bought something called the family physicians kit, which it’s now called a different name. It’s called the essential collection, but it had the top 10 oils that this, the company I’m with offer it as a great start and it, and it just went from there.
Sarah (04:50)
Okay. So just like you did to me, someone else introduced you to the oils as well.
Jane Schweitzer (04:56)
Exactly, right. Yes
Sarah (04:57)
Now I guess before we go any further, can you kind of just explained what exactly are essential oils for those that aren’t quite sure?
Jane Schweitzer (05:06)
Absolutely. They are naturally occurring aromatic compounds found in the seeds, flowers, bark rind or leaves of the plants and they’re extracted and distilled for health benefits.
Sarah (05:21)
Okay. And can you elaborate a little bit more? How are the oils created? I know you just said they were extracted, right?
Jane Schweitzer (05:28)
There’s two types of ways of getting them so you can do cold pressed, which is what they do with the citrus oils or steam distilled, which is how they get most of them. And I have been fortunate enough to see some of the distilleries that doTerra has in the different countries around the world. So, I was recently in Guatemala in November and we get our cardamom from Guatemala, so they have a drying facility where they dry the cardamom seeds. I was there first, then I went over to the distillery, which is where they steam distill. And of course the smell is just divine. And so that’s where everything is done right there. And then doTerra, the company has their corporate office in Utah and that is where everything is bottled. So, and they have an 11 tests that the oils have to go through before they can be properly certified. They have a process called CPT, certified pure therapeutic grade and there can absolutely not be any trace of any kind of pesticide or you know, and any type of thing that’s in that they have to be completely pure before they’re bottled.
Sarah (06:54)
I guess you do want to make sure that they’re pure because you’re putting it on your body.
Jane Schweitzer (07:01)
That’s exactly right.
Sarah (07:03)
Okay. My next question actually was, I was thinking, can they also be internally taken or is it just topically or how exactly do you use the oil?
Jane Schweitzer (07:15)
Okay. So, with doTerra, many of the oils can be used for internal use, but where you have to be careful is that so many companies are getting into oils now because it’s become very popular and health food stores have often carried essential oils. The problem when the market is unregulated, which it is right now, is that when you buy essential oil off, you know, just somewhere it can be cut with a filler. It can, how it can be mixed with a carrier oil, like an olive oil problem with that is all the oil goes rancid so you have to really pay attention to the ingredients and some people put synthetics into those oils so they’re cutting it so it’s not entirely pure, like maybe part of it like 10 percent of it that they put in is pure, but then they mixed it with other things to keep the costs down.
Sarah (08:12)
Okay. So if somebody’s starting out new and they want to purchase an essential oil, then that’s something they really need to kind of be looking for to make sure that it’s a reputable brand, I’m guessing.
Jane Schweitzer (08:24)
Thank you. And, and that’s so important. There is a gentleman, his name is Dr Pappas and he created essential oil university and his job is to test essential oils from all different companies. And he tested a company’s oil, I believe it was peppermint or lavender. There wasn’t even any peppermint essential oil in the bottle. Said flammable on it, which tells you. Yeah, I know I and I feel sorry for people if they don’t know anything because they will go, I heard lavender is good and then they go and pick up this bottle of $4.99 lavender, in which case they’re all for $4.99. It doesn’t matter what kind they are. Even Frankincense, which is an expensive oil and they can actually be doing more harm than good because they are using a product that’s got all kinds of extra chemicals in it.
Sarah (09:20)
Right. Okay. So people really need to do their research before just jumping in and buying the oil. Absolutely. Okay. Now let’s get to the fun part here. The big question I have for you is that if you had to choose, let’s say your top five oils to recommend to get our listeners through the summer months, if they’re just starting out, what would it be and why?
Jane Schweitzer (09:46)
Okay, so lavender I think is something everyone should have in their toolkit. Lavender is good for bee stings, bug bites, skin irritations, and it also can reduce anxious feelings or tension at the time. Okay. Like, let’s just say you’re a little bit nervous going on a flight, you know, you might just need a dab of lavender to help you get through it. It can help people with sleep. Now we’re all different. One of the things that I always tell people is that an oil that works for me may not work for you. So lavender though is generally speaking, a good oil for sleep. I know some people will put a couple of drops on their pillow before they go to bed. I’m putting a couple drops in your bathtub, you know, just to calm down before bed. That’s great too. You can even add lavender to your dryer balls, make your clothes smell nice.
Jane Schweitzer (10:41)
And the lavender is very versatile and lavender can be good on sunburns. I like to put that with Frankincense, but it really is an overall great oil for the skin. It’s not a hot oil either. You can put it directly on your skin. However, I do think it’s good, especially when you’re new to essential oils because less is more that you use a carrier oil like fractionated coconut oil, especially if you’re using a large surface on your body, you can put some oil on your skin and then put some fractionated coconut oil on top and rub it in. And baby’s always should have delusion, always. Anybody with sensitive skin should have dilution, but you’d also have to experiment a little bit with your body. Okay. So, I still think in the beginning always have a carrier oil.
Sarah (11:43)
Okay. And Jane for our listeners, I know you mentioned just using a couple of drops when you’re using the oils and I know that when I first started getting into the essential oils, I thought how on earth is this little bottle going to last me anytime at all, but it really truly is just a very small amount that you need to use. Is that correct?
Jane Schweitzer (12:05)
That is correct, yes. One drop at a time, one drop can go a long way. So one drop of our peppermint oil is the equivalent of drinking 28 cups of peppermint tea. Peppermint is actually on the top five. So I’ll talk about that oil right now briefly. It can boost energy. It’s invigorating. I like to have peppermint in the car with me because if I’m getting a little bit sleepy, I’ll just give my, you know, give myself a little dab of peppermint. Now what I do is this little trick, I put a drop of peppermint in the palm of my hand and then I take my thumb and I dabbled in and I press it on the roof of my mouth and it totally refreshes my mouth. It’s as if I just chewed gum and it, it’s invigorating. It boosts me up. A little bit of peppermint on the back of your neck and cool you down. You know, sometimes people that are struggling with hot flashes, peppermint is handy to have just to cool you down. You can also make a cooling spray with it. I have one at home where I used distilled water and a few drops of peppermint and I can just spray my face and it repels bugs naturally as well. It reduces bloating and, and it, it can even just be good for like a stomach upset or something.
Sarah (13:27)
I have to tell our listeners as well. You taught me the trick about putting my thumb in the peppermint oil and pressing into my mouth and I haven’t bought a package of gum since.
Jane Schweitzer (13:38)
Oh, that’s great news
Sarah (13:40)
It works so great. And you’re not getting a lot of the added sugars and things that you would when you’re chewing gum.
Jane Schweitzer (13:48)
Yes, yes, yes. Thank you. I totally agree with you.
Sarah (13:53)
So let’s carry on. So number three, we’re on.
Jane Schweitzer (13:56)
That’s right. So lemon I think is a must have. It’s a great antioxidant. It’s a citrus oil, so it’s uplifting. All of the citrus oils are uplifting. Why? Because citrus oils come from trees and trees are, they are towards the Sun. Again, everything I love with nature makes sense. So, wild orange is great too for just lifting that mood. It’s really good for cleaning the air and surfaces. Diffusing with lemon oil will kill the germs, kill the smell. You can use a spray and clean your kitchen surfaces, and also can aid in digestion.
Sarah (14:39)
Okay. Quickly, Jane, sorry. For listeners who weren’t sure, you mentioned diffusing, what exactly is diffusing in oil?
Jane Schweitzer (14:46)
All right, so you can buy diffusers at a lot of different places and what it is, most of the diffusers, you add water to them and then you put a few drops of the essential oil into the water and you turn on the machine and it’s a cold smoke that comes out and it just makes the place smell great.
Sarah (15:07)
Okay. And so number four,
Jane Schweitzer (15:10)
Number four, frankincense. So this is the baby Jesus oil. The king of all oils. And even though it’s more expensive oil, they say if you don’t know what oil to use, if in doubt, get the frankincense out. It rejuvenates the skin. Again with lavender, whenever the sunburn, the two together are phenomenal. It can relieve trauma, it is an anti inflammatory and it’s extremely good for the brain because it passes the blood brain barrier. So brain health is very good. And frankincense, you can take internally, you can use it topically and you can use it in the diffuser.
Sarah (15:51)
Okay. Now this higher priced oil. But it, it’s so worth it. I’ve heard so many amazing stories of people that have used it for anything. The answer to all different health issues. So that’s right. That’s right. Yes. Worth the investment on that one. Yes. Agreed. Okay. We’re down to the last one.
Jane Schweitzer (16:16)
Last one is tea tree oil, also known as Melaleuca and it’s a great first aid oil. So this is why I think we should have it in our toolkit because if you cut yourself, you can put it on the area and disinfect knowing you are cleaning the area. It can be good for mild acne. It’s very good actually on athlete’s foot, believe it or not. My husband, I don’t like to say the word cured because we’re not supposed to. It was gone, like, you know, just used it for about a week and it was gone. Yeah. So it’s, it’s an antifungal. And really quickly, I know I was only supposed to give five, but because it’s summer we have a blend called terra shield, which is good at repelling ticks in bugs and it’s, a blend of a few different oils and I have it always in the summer actually.
Sarah (17:14)
That’s a great one to mention because I know so many people worried about ticks, especially in the summer. Yes. Now are these oils only safe for humans? I was just thinking if you’re out walking your dog and you’re worried about ticks, could you spray a little bit of this may be diluted on your dog?
Jane Schweitzer (17:33)
Absolutely. And interestingly enough, I have a friend who’s on my doTerra team who is a veterinarian and she has been speaking specifically about pets and oils and she has had some testimonies of the oils working with dogs and other pets. And you’re right, you do have to dilute with animals for sure. Yes. Good question. Animals, babies definitely and it’s sometimes better to dilute too much than not enough. I will tell us a little bit of safety here. If you put too much oil on your body by accident, especially at hot oil, Oregano would be a hot oil, cinnamon, cassia would be hot oils. The good news is that you just get that carrier oil on right away and, and the sting will go down. Just, it will calm down soon as you put that on.
Sarah (18:38)
And don’t put water on it. A lot of people try to cool it off with water.
Jane Schweitzer (18:41)
Exactly right. That will actually exacerbate the situation. It was make it sting even more. Now, if you don’t have a coconut oil, you can use olive oil, grapeseed oil, whole jojoba oil, any of those carrier oils.
Sarah (18:57)
Is there anyone who maybe shouldn’t use essential oils? I know you had said they’re safe for children. You know, as long as you’re diluting. What about pregnant women or someone who is a chronic illness? Is there anyone who is not safe for?
Jane Schweitzer (19:13)
So there are a few safety stipulations for people. I know that there’s people on medications for example, so if someone is a medication for high blood pressure and they are using ylang-ylang or marjoram, which are intended to lower high blood pressure, they could experience a significant drop in their blood pressure. And the reason for this is because essential oils are designed to bring the body into a state of homeostasis or balance. So if the central oil brings the body into homeostasis and that body is also given a medication to lower their blood pressure, that could be a problem. Now, there are no real side effects of essential oils other than you know, sensitive skin issues like using oils that are too hot. Okay? But essential oils are intelligent and adaptogenic, which means they can adapt to the needs of the body if it needs to have more or less, faster or slower.
Jane Schweitzer (20:18)
They know were a balance in your body needs, however, do not know when and where to stop. They just keep cruising in one direction. So if someone is on a lot of medications, I do like to ask a few questions. Like, if someone is a diabetic, they have to worry about their blood sugars. So that’s where, you know, if you’re taking it and they’re on medication, their blood sugars can come down too quickly. Okay. Oh. And then for pregnant ladies, there only are a few oils that you cannot use. And it also depends on the trimester. So clary sage is an oil that you would not use for the bulk of your pregnancy. However, when that woman is ready to have her baby and she’s overdue, clary sage can induce labor. So that’s when you want to use it.
Sarah (21:17)
So people really need to maybe consult with someone like yourself that, that really knows and can educate them about the essential oils or if they have a naturopath, maybe if they’re on a lot of medications, it’s always the best route to check with them first to make sure there are no complications.
Jane Schweitzer (21:37)
I agree. Yeah. And there are some great books out there by the way, that talk about oils for babies, oil, for pregnant women, oils for dogs. Yeah. Even the Internet has a lot of great information.
Sarah (21:51)
Perfect. And let’s face it, I mean, essential oils have been around for so many years. This isn’t new. That’s correct. Yes. So yeah, so we need to take that into account that the medications that we seem to take or something, I can have so many side effects, but essential oils really are truly natural.
Jane Schweitzer (22:11)
Yes, that’s right. Back in the day they were aromatic compounds and, you know, the Ayurvedic Medicine and all that. They used herbs and, you know, the aromatic compounds from the plants and so on. And I mean, even in the Bible, Frankincense and myrrh were given from the three wise men, you know. So, and then even in the times of the Egyptians, they would have hieroglyphics written on the walls which were recipes using essential oils for ailments.
Sarah (22:46)
Wow. So, like we said, this is definitely getting back to how we used to treat health issues. So yes, yes, that’s right. Okay. And Jane, do you have any last tips for people who are maybe just starting out with essential oils? Maybe if someone’s completely new, what ones would you recommend that they get started with?
Jane Schweitzer (23:10)
So, the company I’m with, doTerra offers starter packs and they come with an information kit on how to use these oils. Anybody certainly that is interested in purchasing oils, I most definitely can help you because I do this full time. I teach many, many classes. I am an educator and there are perks going on every month. And because I was invited to this program that Sarah put on, anybody that would like to purchase oils through me, I will receive a special gift through me too. So, I can certainly help you with any packages, and any questions. My oilsbyJane.ca website is informational, but I am connected to doTerra and I do have mydoterra.com/janeschweitzer as well.
Sarah (23:59)
Well that’s wonderful Jane. Now I know how much I use my essential oils and I really hope for listeners today, if they’ve ever thought about giving them a try, that this podcast maybe just gave them the information they needed to get started because trust me once you try them, but you will be hooked everyday whether it’s for cleaning, adding a couple of drops of lemon oil into my water or diffusing Geranium in my family room to make it smell like flowers. I use them all the time. So Jane, I just want to thank you so much for joining us today and helping to spread the word about the essential oils.
Jane Schweitzer (24:38)
Thank you so much, Sarah. This was a real pleasure
Sarah (24:41)
And I, like I said, I can’t recommend essential oils enough. They also make a great hostess gift, so say you are going to a summer barbecue and you don’t know what to bring. Why not give a couple of the oils that Jane had mentioned? Be Sure to head over to her website at oilsbyJane.ca to find out more about essential oils and how to purchase some of your own.
Sarah (25:04)
Essential oils are a perfect example of an alternative remedy for health issues and here at Doctors Health Press, we really like to explore and spread the word about all different types of modalities and remedies that could help keep you and your family healthy for many years to come. So, if you’ve enjoyed this podcast and you want to find out more about subjects that could help you prevent illness, you should sign up for our daily bulletin you see at Doctors Health Press. We pride ourselves on digging deep to find the best alternative and natural health news, advice and breakthroughs. We report on the latest health news that can affect your life and you can depend on the Doctors Health Press for unbiased information based on strict research credentials, and we send out this information for free every day. You can sign up for the letter for free on our website at doctorshealthpress.com.
Sarah (25:59)
We do also have one of our Doctors Health Press publications available right now at a discounted rate. You see our publications, our monthly newsletters that will keep you informed about the latest in natural healthcare, and although the daily bulletins are great for quick health updates, our newsletters are actually really the place to go. If you want the detailed research and health studies that could help transform your life. So if you’re sick of feeling sick or you just really want to try some alternative treatments, then this is the place to start. So just visit doctorshealthpress.com/podcastdeal to see the special offer that’s doctorshealthpress.com/podcastdeal All one word to learn more about the offer and if you’ve enjoyed this episode and you want to hear more, be sure to give us a star rating so this will ensure that we’re keeping on track with the health topics that you want to know about. Until next time, I’m Sarah Cownley reminding you that it’s never too early or too late to work towards being the healthiest version of yourself.
Sarah (27:12)
The information contained herein is for information purposes only and is not to be construed as a diagnosis, treatment, preventive, or cure for any disease disorder or abnormal physical state, nor should it be considered a substitute for medical care from your doctor on any matter relating to your health or wellbeing and prior to undertaking any health related activity consultant appropriate health professional. The opinions here in are exactly that. They are the opinions of our guests. Doctors Health Press and its employees are not responsible for medically unsupervised activities that could be harmful to your health. Results are not guaranteed and may vary from person to person.
Essential oils have been used for thousands of years throughout history and in many cultures for their medicinal and therapeutic benefits. They are currently gaining popularity partially due to the the high cost of healthcare and the side effects of conventional medications.
