Life Down a Back Road with Anna

Have you used the vitality oils?  I love putting them in my water. Especially the lemon.  Here are a few and how they may help you. 

Lemon Vitality 

Peppermint Vitality

Give these two a try, you might be pleasantly surprised. Just beware never use plastic when adding your oils to water. Always drink your beverage with added oils in glass or stainless steel. The oils can break down the plastic. 

Happy Oiling,

Anna

Let’s talk about our brain and how we can support a healthy brain. Our brain is responsible for everything that happens in our body. It controls all of our mental and physical functions. It is a supercomputer!  Keeping our brain healthy is so important. Some of the things that are bad for brain health are:  stress of course, there’s that troublesome word again!  Using toxic chemicals, do whatever you can to lower your exposure to toxic chemicals. Lack of sleep is also not good for your brain, sleep reenergizes our cells. Artificial sweeteners are very detrimental to your brain, here is a great article on aspartame https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx   I love reading the articles on this site!  
Now on to the healthy things for your brain!  What you eat of course can either help or hinder a healthy brain. Good whole fruits and veggies, quality fats such as those from avocados, nuts and seeds and fish. And getting plenty of water every day.
Young Living has some great supplements that are good for your brain.
1.Omegagize which is your omega 3’s.2. Mindwise is full of healthy ingredients for brain health. https://www.youngliving.com/en_US/products/mindwise3.Super B’s. B vitamins are important for brain health. B12 is involved in the function and development of the brain, nerve cells, the myelin sheaths that protect nerves, and blood cells. It is sometimes taken to treat memory loss, poor concentration, and Alzheimer’s disease and to boost your mood or energy levels. 4.Ningxia Red is a power house of superfoods!  
The top four essential oils for brain health are
1.Frankincense 2.Brain Power3.Cedarwood4.SandalwoodApply these to the base of your skull, on your temples and on the top of your head. Also place a drop in your hand, rub together and inhale. Try this for a few weeks and see if you notice a difference in memory!  A few others to consider are all the Citrus oils, Vetiver, Clarity, and Northern Lights Black Spruce. Geneyus is a blend like brain power formulated especially for kids to help them focus!

Happy Oiling,
Anna

I know for most all of us Spring really has not arrived but I am hopeful! And for this coming season I wanted to share a few recipes that I love to have for Springtime. Spring means all those pesky critters come out of the woodwork.

To be able to enjoy the great outdoors without those pesky critters eating you alive you can make this great outdoor spray!

And if you are too busy and would rather pick something up that works just as great, Young Living carries Deet free insect repellent! Yay, I was so happy when they announced this at convention last year!

Another great product that you can pick up from Young Living is their sun screen. Another product I was so so excited about when they announced it last year! I had been waiting for this one! I hate buying sunscreen at the store because I think it is so toxic for us. Now I can feel good about my sunscreen! How great is that? Of course you can always make your own, here is a recipe to DIY it! Love me some DIY’s.

How about for those of us that forget to put the sunscreen on? I have just the thing for you! After sun spray is great stuff. And again if you don’t want to make it Young Living has a great After Sun Spray! This stuff is great for so many things, I highly recommend giving it a try!

What about those annoying spring time issues some of us get when the grasses start growing? Try this great Seasonal roll on blend. Rub it on your ears (never in your ears), on the bottom of your feet, and anywhere else you feel the need!

Seasonal Roll on:

10 ml roller bottle(you can get these from Amazon)

5 drops each of lemon, lavender and peppermint

carrier oil to fill(you can use V6 by YL, fractionated coconut oil, or grapeseed oil)

Hope you enjoy these recipes!

Happy Oiling,

Anna

Sorry I have been absent for the last few weeks. Busy around here and then took a week vacation to California. I wanted to share some info on the gut because it is so important to have a healthy gut. Our gut is sometimes referred to as our second brain because it produces neurotransmitters.
Have you ever heard that if your gut isn’t healthy you aren’t healthy?  It is so true!

 Our health begins in our gut, if your gut isn’t working your body has a hard time getting daily toxins out,  and absorbing necessary nutrients. Our gut also produces neurotransmitters like serotonin which regulates appetite, mood, sleep, and relaxation. In fact 90% of serotonin is in your digestive tract. Also 30% of the nervous system is found in the gut and 70-80% of the immune system is found in the gut. The gut is often the first entry point for exposure to pathogens and your gut immune system needs to be thriving and healthy in order to avoid illness.Have you ever eaten a heavy meal and then experienced brain fog?  If your gut isn’t working properly your brain will not work properly. It is so important to have a healthy digestive system!  There is also a strong relationship between emotions in the brain and emotions in our “second  brain”. Think of nervousness and how it can make you feel like butterflies in your tummy or how about when you have a “gut feeling”.

So what are the organs in your digestive system?  The mouth, the stomach, the liver/gallbladder, the pancreas, the small and large intestines and the colon. Each of these organs plays an important part in nutrient absorption. The mouth has specific enzymes that break down carbohydrates, the stomach has hydrochloric acid which breaks down protein, fats are emulsified by the bile secreted by the gallbladder. There are also tons of good bacteria in the gut. These bacteria are often destroyed by the things we do like eating a bad diet, some prescription drugs like antibiotics which kill not only the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria that is in our gut to help keep us healthy. Stress is also not good on our digestive system, I know there’s that word again!  Stress is not good for any system in our bodies so if nothing else try your best to lower stress or work on changing how you react to it. I gave suggestions on dealing with stress in previous posts if you would like more info on it.

So how can you support your digestive system? Diet can play a big role fresh fruits and veggies, decrease sugar and processed gunk. Drink plenty of water to help our digestive system digest our food. Exercise is good in many ways, it helps to decrease stress which increases digestion.
Now let’s talk about Young Living products that can help our digestion. Omegagize is a supplement that is great for your cardiovascular system because it has essential fatty acids, omega 3s, but these are also essential for digestion. Life 9 which is a probiotic which helps replace all the good bacteria in our gut. Ningxia Red which helps control our blood sugar, Ningxia Red is a super food drink that I recommend everyone start with because it provides such overall support for our entire body. Our digestive system also needs enzymes to break down our food. There are four supplements that contain enzymes to help with this. Essentialzymes are slow acting, provide overall support and help to rebuild the necessary components of our digestive system. Essentialzyme 4 are fast acting and would be the one to use after a heavy meal. Detoxyzyme is also fast acting. We also have Mightyzymes made specifically for kids.
Multigreens help support normal Ph levels and increase oxygen.  Sulfurzyme supports your liver and stomach. Comfortone increases movement in the intestines. ICP is a product similar to Metamucil but without all the additives.

Oils that support a healthy digestive system are Peppermint vitality, Digize Vitality, and any of the Citrus vitality oils. Before Young Living when my kids were little I kept candy canes around for upset tummies.  There is something about peppermint that soothes the tummy!

If you want a great book on cleansing the body I highly recommend Inner Transformations Using Essential Oils. You can find it here https://www.discoverlsp.com/inner-transformations-using-essential-oils-2nd-edition.html  Three of my daughters, my husband and I have used this book and let me tell you the benefits from following her advice are amazing!

 
I also found a great article that talks about gut health and although not as thorough as the above book it is a great article. Here is the link http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/04/28/ultrawellness-lesson-4-gut-digestive-health/

Happy oiling,
Anna McElligott

Onto the thyroid gland, the thyroid gland is a small, butterfly shaped gland located in the base of the neck just below the Adam’s apple. Although relatively small, the thyroid gland plays a huge role in our body, influencing the function of many of the body’s most important organs, including the heart, brain, liver, kidneys and skin. Ensuring that the thyroid gland is healthy and functioning properly is vitally important to the body’s overall well-being.

The thyroid is responsible for regulating body temp, calcium absorption, hormone balance, neurological development, and growth.

The thyroid uses iodine, a mineral found in some foods and in iodized salt to make its hormones. The two most important thyroid hormones are thyroxine(T4) and triiodothyronine(T3). Thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH), which is produced by the pituitary gland, acts to stimulate hormone production by the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland also makes the hormone calcitonin, which is involved in calcium metabolism and stimulating bone cells to add calcium to bone.

A simple way to check if you are low in iodine is to paint a square of iodine on your forearm, if it goes away in less than 24 hours you may be low on iodine.

Thyroid problems can be defined by either low, hypothyroid, or high, hyperthyroid.
Symptoms of hypothyroidism are
1.Low energy
2.Weight gain, difficulty losing weight
3.Dry skin
4.Hair loss, thinning hair
5.Cold hands and feet, cold intolerance
6.Constipation
7.Joint problems
8.Muscle aches
9.Infertility and other hormone imbalances

Symptoms of hyperthyroidism include
1.Fast heartbeat
2.Sudden weight loss
3.Increased sensitivity to heat
4.Difficulty in sleeping
5.Sweating and skin changes
6.Mood swings
7.Lighter and less frequent menstrual cycles
8.Bowel dysfunction
The symptoms listed are not a complete list and if you think you have a thyroid issue it is of course always a good idea to visit your doctor who can get a blood test to determine whether you in fact have hyper or hypothyroidism.

There are natural ways to support your thyroid. Vitamin D is important for thyroid health, your doctor can check your vitamin D level and recommend how much your body needs.

There are lifestyle and diet changes you can make to support thyroid health, they are eating a health diet consisting of fresh food, healthy proteins, less of the unhealthy foods like sugar and processed foods. Foods high in iodine are the dark greens like kale and spinach.

Reducing stress of course is a great way to help your health not just thyroid but overall, stress wreaks havoc on our health. As we’ve talked about before there are many ways to decrease and handle stress, exercise, meditation, yoga, and deep breathing.

Now let’s talk about Young Living products that support thyroid health. Thyromin, a supplement made by Young Living to support healthy thyroid function. Omegagize is full of omega 3’s. There is some evidence that Omega 3’s can increase thyroid hormone uptake. Omega 3’s also reduce inflammation which is a cause of hyperthyroidism.  Ningxia Red is a powerful whole body supplement and is packed with superfoods to support overall wellness. It’s benefits include support for energy levels, normal cellular function, and whole body and normal eye health. Master formula is a full spectrum multi nutrient complex providing premium vitamins and food based nutriment to support general health. Vitamins and nutrients may help fight the underlying causes of thyroid disorders.

Essential oils which support a healthy thyroid are  Endoflex Vitality , Copaiba Vitality , and Lemon Vitality. I use all three daily, you can put them in a capsule or add them to your water. I also use Endoflex as a perfume because I Love the smell.

I hope you have enjoyed my series of posts on the Endocrine System. And as always I am not here to diagnose, treat or cure any disease. I love reading and researching about health and wellness, everything I share is what I have learned from using my oils in my personal journey to live a healthier more balanced life. My experience may not be yours, every body is different and therefore responds differently to different things. But I think we can all agree that by taking steps to eating right, exercising more and supporting our bodies with essential nutrients we can get closer to the life we are meant to live!

Happy oiling,
Anna