Hormonal Balance with Essential Oils

Essential Oils and Hormonal Balance

When discussing hormones, it is critical to remember that each individual is unique.  There is no "one-size-fits-all" approach. When looking at lab results, be cautious of the result of    "normal".  The real issue is, "How do you feel?"

Menopause mindset?

Contrary to the medical mindset, menopause is not a hormone deficiency disease.

The current problems associated with hormone havoc ad menopause are the result of industrialization and the chemicals (xeno-estrogens) in our environment, as well as an unhealthy lifestyle, including changes in our diet associated with modern life.

Most of the symptoms associated with the result of estrogen dominance.  This imbalance of estrogen to progesterone can cause problems like:

• decreased sex drive
• irregular or abnormal periods
• mood swings or depression
• weight gain (since estrogen turns energy into fat)
• osteoporosis (because progesterone is needed for osteoclast formation)

Common phenomena today, and the result of xeno-estrogens in our environment. There are cases of women as young as their mid-30s entering menopause.  Internally, this is a primary toxicity-induced issue.  This same toxicity is progressing young girls   into womanhood as young of the age of 8.

Xeno-estrogens are synthetic estrogens or estrogen-like compounds

Caution to: Dairy products, chickens and meats, soy-based products and personal care products.  They leach from plastics we store our foods in, the Teflon we cook in and even the cans processed foods come in.  They are also plentiful in the chemicals we put on our lawns, those used in farming, which have contaminated our air, water and soil.

Avoiding these xeno-estrogens to balance hormones:

* Reduce stress

* Reduce chemical-laden personal care products

* Reduce toxicity from synthetic estrogens

* Increase progesterone levels

* Treat symptoms

* Lymphatic massage

Reduce Toxicity

There are two vital phases of this detoxification:

* Phase 1: Fat-soluble toxins are converted to water-soluble substances.  If this is process is not adequately accomplished, it leads to free radical production in the body.

* Phase 2: Conjugation is the combining of water-soluble substances with another compound to be released through the kidneys (as with chelation).  This must be accomplished quickly, and requires adequate fuel: antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

Cleansing and Hormonal Support Nutritional Supplements

For a correct approach and program to detoxification, Medical Foods by Metagenics will give the body what it needs in a balanced source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that will allow the body to ease through these two phases.

Break it down! Proper supplementation can be an enormous help.  For this, Meta I 3 C is a naturally occurring compound found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cabbage. Through its ability to promote the breakdown of estrogen to its beneficial, protective metabolite—2-hydroxyestrone—indole-3-carbinol may be safe and effective way to help achieve beneficial balance in estrogen metabolism.

Indole-3 Carbinol

(I3C) over Diindolylmethane (DIM)?

Both I3C and DIM do the exact same thing, converting estrogen into beneficial metabolites, with clinical evidence to support them. DIM, however, is poorly absorbed, making it necessary to use special forms available on the market that enhance its bioavailability.

Assistance with Protandim Raises Glutathione 300% which  is most powerful and a very simple molecule that is produced naturally all the time in your body.  It is a combination of three simple building blocks of protein

Normally glutathione is recycled in the body -- except when the toxic load becomes too great.  And that explains why we are in such trouble.

Glutathione is also the most critical and integral part of your detoxification system. All the toxins stick onto glutathione, which then carries them into the bile and the stool -- and out of your body.

Essential oils that help with detoxification:

Limonene is a compound found in particularly high levels in citrus oils; and limonene increases glutathione levels in the body, making citrus oils great detoxifiers, especially for petrochemicals (which are loaded with xeno-estrogens).

It has also been found that the aroma of citrus oils will balance hormones.  Their fragrance has a direct effect on the endocrine system, especially the hypothalamus (which has a role in governing hormone balance).

- EVB PURIFYING BLEND -

Therapeutic Benefits: A great detoxifying blend.

• Balances emotional and physical excesses such as resentment, jealousy, overeating, and alcohol and drug addictions.
• Cleanses the blood, lymph, and emotions of toxins.

Ingredients: Juniper, Grapefruit, Angelica Root, Lemongrass, Lemon, Rosemary, Cypress, and Fennel in a Jojoba oil base.

Essentials Oils to promote Progesterone

Thyme, as well as oregano oil will also support progesterone production.

Directions:   place 1-2 drops of the oil on the bottom of the feet.  Do not over-use oregano. Use 10 days, and then give your system a rest.

Managing Menopause Symptoms:

For hot flashes, peppermint oil can be massaged into the bottom of the feet or the back of the neck.  You can also mix it with water and spritz with it.

Other oils to consider are geranium, citrus oils, like wild orange, grapefruit and lemon, as well as clary sage.

Recipe:

Hot Flashes

Avoid coffee and alcohol

11 drops Geranium

7 drops Lemon

To Warm Bath Water

To 1oz Jojoba Oil to massage onto body

Night Sweats

Add 10 drops Grapefruit

10 drops Geranium

For fatigue, apply peppermint oil over the liver and adrenals

To improve libido, try ylang ylang, ginger, peppermint, clary sage.

Essential Oils associated with Menopause:

Geranium Rose

Chamomile   Grapefruit Rosewood    Orange

Clary Sage      Thyme       Lavender

Fennel         Peppermint

Massage therapy! Massage is not only relaxing and restorative; it allows your body to excrete toxins up to 200 times faster than on its own.

Receive $20 OFF A FIRST TIME MASSAGE AT KASIA ORGANIC SALON!

STOP INTO KASIA ORGANIC SALON AND

'SCENT AND SAMPLE' YOUR ESSENTIAL OIL THERAPEUTIC BLEND!

Kassie Kuehl is a respected leader and educator in natural health and beauty care. The founder of Kasia Organic Salon and many result orientated "beautiful health" products, and experts in ammonia free hair color.  Kasia remains on the cutting edge of all-natural, chemical free, and organic professional hair, skin, and body products and services.

To become an Informed Beauty, contact Kassie at 612 824 7611.

Saddled with Cellulite?

Why you don't necessarily have to live with orange peel skin.....

Cellulite is something that affects a huge proportion of women - 85% of us, in fact. Many of us assume the reason that we are 'lumped' with it is that we are carrying a couple of extra pounds that we really should do something about. The reality is that cellulite can be completely unrelated to weight. Nine out of ten women with a healthy amount of muscle who fall within the healthy Body Mass Index range will have cellulite on their body … and if you are a Caucasian woman, this number creeps ever closer to 10 out of 10! Cellulite can actually be treated, with natural methods that don’t involve thousands of dollars. So what is cellulite, how do your hormones effect cellulite, why has it chosen to live on your legs, and what can you do starting today to start helping your skin look smoother?

What's in a name?

Cellulite has plenty of medical names, including adiposis edematosa, gynoid lipodystrophy, dermopanniculosis deformans and status protusus cutis. However, health professionals widely recognize that it isn't necessarily a dysfunction of any body part, but a natural consequence of several factors. These include:

• The effect of estrogen on the body
• Having poor circulation
• A natural breakdown of connective tissue
• The effect of other hormones on the body, including insulin, thyroid hormones, prolactin, the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline

The physical process of developing cellulite - don't try this at home! Some of the clues to combating cellulite can be found when you look at how it forms, physically. Cellulite develops when:

• Microcirculation is impaired to the subcutaneous layer of fat, one of the deeper layers. This means that blood is more susceptible to pooling and more fluid is retained.
• Capillaries and veins become weaker with reduced circulation and may leak blood into surrounding tissue, which compounds the circulation problem
• The lymphatic fluid builds up in the subcutaneous layer, pushing the fat cells outwards against the top layer of skin. The orange peel look appears.
• The septae, cell walls, start to congeal with the stagnant lymphatic fluid. They then become thicker, and can trap and squeeze the fat cells even more. This makes the protrusion even more prominent.

The fact that nearly 90% of women in the world have cellulite, while it is extremely rare in men (even very overweight ones) is a flashing neon sign pointing to estrogen as a culprit for creating cellulite. Estrogen creates septae structures that are mesh-like, rather than smooth, and therefore the structures trap fat deposits more easily. However much you hate your cellulite, though, you really should love your estrogen! When you mess with estrogen, though, you are messing with something much bigger than leg dimples. Proper estrogen balance in the body is required to:

• Maintain your memory and mental function in good working order
• Stop you from becoming a permanent pre-menstrual monster … a drop in estrogen during the week prior to your period is what makes the fangs come out!
• Preserve bone density and prevent osteoporosis
• Lower your risk of heart disease, by regulating the liver's production of cholesterol
• Help maintain vaginal lining and prevent dryness and itching
• Keep your blood vessels dilated (and therefore improve your circulation - which actually helps improve the appearance of cellulite)

Be wary of any cellulite treatment that aims to reduce your estrogen levels artificially in order to reduce the appearance of cellulite. The formation of cellulite is a complex process that needs a multi-pronged approach to solving it. You may not only be getting rid of cellulite by reducing estrogen levels, but getting rid of your bone density, your protection against heart attacks, your natural feel-good hormones, your protection against heart disease and your good circulation! So, what are those safe, natural methods for getting rid of cellulite?

Reduce hormone overload

In Western society, we actually consume a great deal of hormones, more than we realize. Chicken and other meat products are almost unfailingly fed hormone products to help stimulate fast growth and make them more cost effective. Women on any sort of hormonal contraceptive (whether daily, quarterly or slow-release) are exposed not only to artificial levels of estrogen, but to extra stress hormones (adrenaline and noradrenaline).

Improving Circulation

There are quite a few ways to improve circulation, including with exercise, hot and cold treatments, various positions and with herbal supplements. Try the following methods for improving your circulation:

• Yoga: Yoga helps with flexibility, stress, posture and general fitness. These are all great end goals in themselves, but more importantly for the cellulite-afflicted, they also help improve your circulation!
• Hydrotherapy: Hot and cold water treatment is a great way to improve your circulation, even if it is un-comfy at first! Have your shower water a little hotter than you usually would, staying there for around 15 seconds. Then turn the hot off completely and change it to full cold. Hop away from the water a little so you don't accidentally burn yourself, and change it back to just a little too warm. Repeat the process 5 or 6 times.
• When your shower water is a little too warm, your blood vessels expand and move to the surface of your skin. When it immediately becomes cold, they rush to your internal organs to preserve your heat, flooding them with a rush of blood.
• Stand on your head, or lie with your feet against the wall: This position uses gravity to help force blood into capillaries that your heart alone may not be able to force it into.
• Stop smoking! This is one of the single biggest things that women can do to improve circulation and help stop the appearance of cellulite.
• Take Gingko Biloba and eat plenty of cayenne pepper: These herbs are recognized for their circulation-stimulating properties.

Improving Lymphatic Drainage

Detoxifying your body can help improve lymphatic drainage, as can massage and the roller therapy that has become popular as a cellulite 'treatment' in some circles. Make sure you eat natural foods, use natural bath and beauty products, and regularly detoxify your body in order to support your body's lymphatic drainage system.

Get regular massages - these don't necessarily need to be the more expensive 'cellulite reduction' kind. However it is usually best to have trained professional do them, to avoid actually doing damage to your body.

The roller and ultrasound treatments which aim to improve lymphatic drainage and help reduce the appearance of cellulite often do work. However, be aware that their effects are temporary. Your cellulite will look just as it ever did within a few weeks.

Losing Weight

Cellulite affects women of all sizes - even thin women get cellulite. However, the process of losing weight can not only shrink the size of your fat cells, but improve the underlying causes of cellulite (poor circulation and lymphatic drainage). Try some of these creative ways to start losing weight: • Check out the 'Sit and be Fit' program, which is meant for elderly people, but is also great for couch potatoes! • Walk to the shops to get a treat - even if they're more than five minutes away. Take a partner. • Sit on a stationary bike to watch television instead of a couch • Do the 5 minute clean - set your oven or cell phone timer for 5 minutes, and see how much of the house you can get tidied and cleaned. Race around if you have to!

Diet and a Toxic Lifestyle

Diet plays a myriad of roles in the formation of cellulite. Your diet can: • Make you gain weight, increasing the size of fat cells and making them protrude more from the body • Reduce your circulation, if you eat a lot of processed foods, foods high in saturated fats and sugar • Impair your lymphatic drainage • Increase your natural hormone levels, when you eat hormone-supplemented meat, or when you eat foods that raise the production of stress hormones

Kassie Kuehl is a respected leader in, and advocate for, natural health and beauty care. The founder of Kasia natural line of skin care and stylist for Kasia Organic Salon, Kassie combines her experience as a nutrition coach with her ongoing Functional Medicine research to apply a whole of body “Beautiful Health’ approach to hair care and styling. She can be found at www.kasiaorganicsalon.com.

References: Avram MM (December 2004). "Cellulite: a review of its physiology and treatment".

Johnleemd.com / Hormones Etc., Inc.

Bouchez, C. 07.26.05. Can you beat cellulite? Three experts take a look at the latest treatments. WebMD.com.

Wikipedia.org. 01.27.07. Cellulite. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulite (accessed 02/06.09).

Rudman, D., et al. 1990. Effects of human growth hormone in men over 60 years old. NEJMed, 323(1), 1–6.

Xenobiotics and Beautiful Health

Are you aware of what you are putting in your body or on your body? Do you know what most pesticides, herbicides and fungicides contain?

"NO?" Than you will be able to say yes by the end of this blog topic.

Let's spread some light about xenobiotics, what they are, what they are in, how they have an affect on the body and burden it over time, the many diseases and disorders linked to them and how to detoxify your body from them.

What Are Xenoiotics?

Xenobiotics are a foreign substance, derived from petroleum oil, that originate outside the human body, have hormone like and estrogen like activity in the body, and thus a profound impact on hormone balance. The molecular structure of a petrochemical contains the basic "key" to the hormone receptor "ignition " of the cell switching on the hormonal action, thus behaving as potent estrogens.

How does this concern you?

Estrogen in general tends to promote cell division, particularly in hormone-sensitive tissue such as breast and uterine lining, this is why they cause cancer. Now there are several reasons why women in particular suffer from estrogen dominance, some of them being birth control, menopause, pregnancy, increased stress levels, etc. but without getting into that what I would like to do is recognize that in line with the already high levels of estrogen to progesterone imbalances people are suffering from, we are swimming in a sea environmental xenoestrogens (xenobiotics)

The longer these foreign substances stay in the body the more opportunity they have to do damage. The bottom line is that the body has to detoxify these chemicals every day and over time this can become a burden.

How do they get into our bodies?

One source of oral intake of xenoestrogens is by way of animal fats , particularly red meat and dairy fats. Not only are these animals exposed to estrogenic substances as a means to fatten them up for market, they are further exposed to petrochemical pesticide, herbicides, and fungicides, potent xenobiotics, by way of the grains they eat. Billions of pounds of these substances are dumped on our fruits and vegetables every year.

Other common sources of xenobiotics are found in:

· Solvents and adhesive found in nail polish, paint removers and glue

· Emulsifiers and waxes found in soaps and cosmetics

· Nearly all plastics (ex. baby bottles, Tupperware, water bottles, food wrapped or packed in plastic, medicines

· Waste from sewage treatment plants

· Synthetic estrogens and progestins found in the urine of millions of women taking birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy that is flushed down the toilet and eventually works its way into the food chain

What are some things you can do to reduce your exposure to these harmful substances?

Now that you have a better understanding as to how these foreign substances may be getting into your body lets explore some things you can do to reduce your exposure.

1. First take a saliva lab (this test the active form of hormones vs blood which tests the inactive) to find out the cycle of all your hormones.

2. Eat organic fruits and vegetables, the more we, as consumers, demand organic produce the more likely it will be grown that way. Studies show that organic fruits and vegetables contain 50-80% more nutrients than conventionally raised produce

3. Eat hormone free, antibiotic free, free range meats and dairy products. Toxins are stored in fats and keep in mind that "you are what you eat"

4. Use alternative ways to garden in your homes. There are several simple, easy and cost effective methods of organic gardening and pest control.

5. Because it is so difficult to identify which plastics contain high levels of xenobiotics assume all do. Eliminate all plastic from your house. Use pyrex glassware, stainless steal water bottles, get drinking water delivered to your house or use a filtration system, eat organic and hormone free foods, switch to essential oils or organic hygiene, and household cleaning products.

6. GO GREEN!

7. If you are on a birth control or Rx medication, start to educate yourself on what this does to your gut, immune system, hormonal system...your entire body! The body is a system of systems and nothing is linear when you take it.

8. Start reading food labels so you know what you are putting in your body. You would be surprised how much of what you eat is 95% chemicals!

Some arguments:

1. It is in such a small amount, which will have no affect on us humans?

What we are not taking into account is the many ways we are being exposed to the EVERY day of EVERY year. So it is not the small amount, it is the sum of the small amounts and the overloading of the detoxification system of the body that makes them so harmful.

2. How are we supposed to eat, heat things up, drink water out of, etc?

a. Eat out of: use pyrex glassware b. Heating things up: use stove top, toaster oven or oven c. Bottles: You can use bottles from SIGG or from Canteen.com, which are stainless steel. d. Water: install a sink, fridge or entire house hold filtration system

Symptoms of Xenoestrogens:

Some symptoms include but are not limited to:

Allergies, decreased libido, depression, fatigue, water retention, infertility, miscarriage, osteoporosis, fat gain around the hips, waist and thighs, breast and cervical cancers, early menstruation cycles for young girls.... for more information visit www.drjohnleemd.com.

Reference: East/West Natural Health & Dr. John Lee