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About Our Guest- Dr. Eric Zielinski – The essential oils apothecary
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Dr. Eric Zielinski is the co-author behind the national bestseller The Healing Power of Essential Oils and The Essential Oils Diet. Dr. Z has pioneered natural living and biblical health education since 2003. Trained as an aromatherapist, public health researcher, and chiropractor. In 2014 the Zielinskis started NaturalLivingFamily.com to help people learn how to use natural remedies like essential oils safely and effectively. Now visited by more than three million natural health seekers every year, it has rapidly become the number one online source for biblical health and non-branded essential oils education.
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Full Podcast Transcription
Dr. Eric Zielinski 00:53
When you\’re walking through a forest and you smell the aroma, it\’s the trees, the evergreen trees, are emitting this fragrance and those are the essential oils. So when you extract them through Steam distillation and put them in a bottle, you have something today, our ancestors never had, because our ancestors never had the ability to get such highly concentrated volatile organic compounds and steam distill and so I just preface that to say it is plant medicine at its best. It really is.
Diva Nagula 02:07
Hello, this is Dr. Diva Nagula. Welcome to From Doctor to Patient. Today I am with Dr. Eric Zielinski. He is the author of the national bestseller, The Healing Power of Essential Oils and The Essential Oils Apothecary. Dr. Z has pioneered natural living and biblical health education since 2003. Trained as an aromatherapist, public health researcher and chiropractor, Dr. Z started NaturalLivingFamily.com in 2014 with his wife to help people learn how to use natural remedies like essential oil safety and effectively now visited by more than 3 million natural health seekers every year. NaturalLivingFamily.com has rapidly become the number one online source for biblical health and non-branded essential oils education. Dr. Z, thank you so much for joining me today. How are you?
Dr. Eric Zielinski 03:16
I am awesome. Thanks so much for having me. It\’s always a pleasure to talk about what is something very important to me and my family. And I hope it becomes important to the families and all the listeners here.
Diva Nagula 03:29
So I can guarantee that it will affect me positively because essential oils are something that has affected my life in a positive way for the last one year. Funny thing is, is that I had a guest in my early podcast days that wrote books about essential oils and was a staunch advocate for them. And this was right about March of last year right when COVID was was really starting to take effect. And I immediately asked her what are the best oil combinations for boosting your immune system. And ever since then, every single day I am diffusing these oils in my home. So I\’m sure talking to you will probably have some sort of effect where I\’ll be using oils for specific other ailments. So I can\’t wait. Tell us exactly like how you got into essential oils? Is that something that you were using that you found it to be so beneficial for something that you were suffering from? Or was it just something you just fell into?
Dr. Eric Zielinski 04:29
Yeah, I really fell into it. And I fell into it quite frankly because of supply and demand. Interesting story, really the long and the short of it is my wife has been using essential oils for years and she had a chemical burn on her face by using just an I\’m not gonna name the company but a generic facial cleaner when she was a teenager and she was washing her face in Minnesota where her grandparents lived that had well water. And there was a chemical reaction that burned the first couple layers of her skin from the bottom of her nose to the middle of her neck. And I mean, she just looked horrible, and nothing helped. Creams went to the doctor, she tried over the counter stuff. She tried prescription stuff. But her mother\’s friend who practiced Ojibwa medicine, Cherokee Indian said, Hey, you really need to look at essential oils. And she bought my wife her first kit and her first kit and include lavender and a couple other oils. And it was that first mixture that helped my wife heal her skin. And that started her on a journey that\’s now been over 26 years. So when I met her, no joke, no joke, I just marginalized it as the smelly stuff my wife used to look good and smell good. I was very hesitant to putting on essential oils because I had my manly musk cologne and things that I would do. Like I wasn\’t going to go play basketball or beach volleyball with my friend smelling like ylang ylang, they\’d take my guy card away from me so I was very hesitant about that, until quite frankly, I hit my wall. And my wall in my own healing journey was I had nothing in my medicine cabinet. It literally was empty. And I was for my own healing story nutrition, prayer, meditation, exercise really helped change my life. And it wasn\’t until I developed like a fungal infection, and a pimple or two that I was looking at, okay, I need like medicine that I could use. But at the time, I was very hesitant to go to the over the counter because I had such a negative experience with medication throughout my whole life like I was on Accutane, known as the suicide drug. And I believe that was one of the reasons why I developed significant depression and suicide ideation when I was a teenager. So I was on the other end of the medical spectrum and medicine hurt me. And so I was very hesitant to just dive in, oh, I have an allergy, I wasn\’t going to go to Claritin, I would literally grin and bear it. And I got tired of grinning and baring it. And that\’s really where essential oils came from me. I kind of stumbled upon it like, and here\’s where Doc, I think you\’d appreciate this, I went to Dr. Google, I\’ll never forget the first time with Dr. Google and my fingers do the typing. And I found out natural remedies for pimples because I developed a pimple and the first hit because it has to be the best one, right the way that Google ranks things, it had to be the most accurate. I\’ll never forget the first hit and the first couple. We talked about oregano, and how you literally get a drop of oregano oil, put it on your your pimple because it\’s antimicrobial, it\’ll kill the bacteria related to the acne, it\’ll help you. You never do that. I did it. And it burned my skin because oregano was caustic I\’ll never forget I ended up with a quarter size round, red mark on my cheek it burnt the junk out of me. I\’m like, Ah, this is horrible. And I\’m getting more eruptions because it aggravated my skin. And I was like there\’s something to this stuff. And that\’s where I started doing research like this is that powerful. And coincidentally, just how things work, right how God works. I was a medical writer for hire at the time. And one of my clients commissioned me to write a series of public health reports on essential oils. So now it was my job to read hundreds of clinical trials to talk about the therapeutic efficacy for blood pressure, blood sugar, weight loss, potential cancer fighting ability and all that. And that\’s when I had my aha moment. I\’m like, this stuff is real. Why hasn\’t it been on my radar? Well, fast forward now. Boy, now, eight years plus… nine years, here we are today. And it\’s been a wonderful journey.
Diva Nagula 08:48
That\’s fantastic. I appreciate you sharing that with us. Let\’s go into a bit more detail. And you know, for people who don\’t know, essential oils, or have heard of it, but think it\’s woowoo Can we go into a little bit of a discussion as to what they are, where they come from, and why they\’re becoming like mainstream now.
Dr. Eric Zielinski 09:07
And I\’m glad to use that word. Whoo, whoo. It\’s word that I like to use as well. Um, woowoo, isn\’t bad, by the way. So for the woowoo, who\’s out there, we\’re not criticizing you. But there\’s science behind this. And I think the word woowoo – this new age mentality, this energy medicine mindset, like you can\’t feel it, you can\’t touch it. It\’s ethereal. Here\’s a question. For everyone listening. Do you know or what do you think combat medicine was in World War One in World War Two before the advent of antifungal antibiotic and other antimicrobial solutions? Well, if you didn\’t know this combat medics used essential oils on the frontlines of the world war to fight against gangrene and other infection, tea tree, lavender, clove, oregano, thyme, depending on where they lived. And it wasn\’t until the advent of the antibiotic in the mid 40s, that people started looking at medicine as a solution to infection. Before that, essential oils were the medicine that people were using. So I want to paint that picture like essential oils are literal medicine. Now what essential oils aren\’t, are essential oils aren\’t herbal extracts, they aren\’t SAVs. That\’s what our ancestors used. And the ninth century AD era of Alchemist invented steam distillation. So that\’s when you can take a lot of plant matter, like for example, three pounds of lavender flowers to steam distill through a process that extracts roughly 250 drops of essential oil. So what we\’re looking at is highly concentrated volatile organic compounds – volatile meaning they readily evaporate. And that\’s why they go through the steam distillation process. Organic meaning carbon based and compound meaning they\’re a mixture of a lot of molecules. So when you\’re looking at a little bottle that you might have at your home, you\’re looking at roughly 100 to 200 different chemicals, like piny, linalyl, like, you know, acetyl acetate, chemicals that are in the plant. So when you put your nose into a rose, you\’re smelling a physical particle that\’s being emitted from the plant is an aromatic particle. When you\’re walking in a forest, and hopefully we talk a little about forest bathing, because when you\’re walking through a forest and you smell the aroma, it\’s the conifers, it\’s the it\’s the trees, the evergreen trees are emitting this fragrance. And those are the essential oils. So when you extract them through Steam distillation and put them in a bottle, you have something today, our ancestors never had, because our ancestors never had the ability to get such highly concentrated, volatile organic compounds steam distilled. And so I just preface that to say it is plant medicine at its best. It really is. Herbs are wonderful. We love herbs, we\’d love supplements. But the problem with dried herbs and supplements are through the drying dehydration process, the essential oils are dried out. And so that\’s where a lot of the healing comes into play. And the essential oils were given by God to the plant to ward off vectors to heal from infection. They\’re technically known as secondary metabolites, they\’re technically known as bioactive compounds. They\’re, they\’re not primary metabolites. Meaning this fancy way of saying you don\’t need them to live is this kind of funny, essential oils are neither essential, nor are they oils, meaning they represent the very essence of food and flavor, but they\’re not essential to life. Carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, these are the primary metabolites that are necessary for life. But the secondary metabolites like fiber, polyphenols, antioxidants, essential oils, you don\’t need them to live, but you need them to have robust health. And so essential oils are rich in antioxidants. They\’re extremely anti microbial, anti viral, anti fungal, anti bacterial, and because of that they\’re, they have a wonderful ability to soothe inflamation and help your body heal. And I\’ll end with this because they\’re wonderful to produce what\’s known as harmonization. And we talked about homeostasis. You know, we talked about balance, we talked about the ying and the yang, but what\’s known in the medical literature as bringing the body to a state of harmony, it\’s called harmonization. So essential oils help give your body what your body needs to heal itself. And how does it do it? Well, again, through the antioxidant quality through the anti inflammatory property, and if we get a minute to talk about it, the power of the olfactory system, because no other sensory pathway on/in the body has a direct impact to the brain, like sense of smell, every other sensory impact, like when you for example, when you hurt yourself, heaven forbid, right? You might touch something that\’s hot, or you might cut yourself with a knife or accidentally, you know, if you\’re selling you pick your finger with a pin, it takes a split second or two for your brain to register the pain. You\’re like, ooh, ouch. Because the sensation has to be interpreted through the thalamus is called the thalamic relay. And then basically, the thalamus says, Hey, here\’s what happened to you and the body\’s like, okay, pain, knee jerk reaction. There is no interpretation of the brain when it comes to anything through the olfactory system. It\’s a direct one way communication to your brain. That\’s why sense of smell is part of our primal brain, where our mood, our memory, our emotions, our autonomic function, heart rate, breathing rate, respiratory, all this stuff. And so, before we evolved to who we are and where we are at today, humans greatly relied on the sense of smell like we see with primates. And we see with other animals through the years because of industrialization and just how we\’ve evolved as people, we haven\’t had to rely on smell like we used to, but but we should not quite frankly, have to need a smoke detector in the home. The fact that we have smoke detectors in our home to protect us is the sign that we have sensitized and we had essentially dampend our sense of smell where it no longer is a protective mechanism for us anymore. But sense of smell is primal. And if you start tapping into that sense of smell, and that\’s where we could really see healing at the neurological level. And in my upcoming book, the Essential Oils Apothecary one, one study that really threw me through a loop was that scientists or doctors and scientists, they\’re using, how a coma patients, people in comas are responding to olfactory stimulation to determine how quickly they will get out of a coma. Pain doesn\’t work, you can\’t pinprick a coma patients heal and say, Okay, how do they respond, if you want to determine with somewhat of accuracy of how likely someone is going to come out of a coma, you see how they respond to their sense of smell, it\’s again a primal reaction of how we react to our environment. And so the sky\’s the limit when it comes to healing truly, and our neurological level when you utilize aromatherapy.
Diva Nagula 16:49
And essentially, when we\’re using these oils, I mean, my understanding is they have a variety of use for applications. So one is through utilization of the olfactory nerve through smell, but then are you able to use this topically for perceived benefit?
Dr. Eric Zielinski 17:06
Oh, please. Yeah. And it\’s not just perceived benefit. It\’s actually physiological benefit. And that\’s the key. So there are three ways of utilizing essential oils for therapeutic purposes. One is we just talked a lot about olfactory inhalation. That\’s traditional what you think our ancestors burning incense, that\’s aromatherapy. The next is topical application. And we always recommend diluting with a carrier oil because again, essential oils are highly concentrated. They\’re natural in that they are extracted from plants, but you\’re not going to walk into a lavender field and see a pool of lavender, right? So I want people to realize that they\’re extremely concentrated, potentially caustic. And they could cause dermatological sensitization, which is essentially like an allergic reaction. So you just don\’t slather them on your skin. The third way of using oils and using them for a variety of ways, whether through culinary purposes, like a drop of lime or a drop of cilantro has a nice culinary medicinal benefit, but a flavor burst. By the way, side note. What do you think flavors your favorite soda? What do you think flavors your whatever it has any kind of flavor. 50% of all essential oils manufactured in the world are utilized by the food and flavor industry. Right? That\’s your proprietary blend and Coca Cola. It\’s just micro doses of essential oils or synthetic version of it. Now when you want a true medicinal effect, that\’s when you ingest them. And we always recommend the capsule form. Going back to topical, in my opinion, topical application is the overall best way is because when you apply essential oils topically, you also get the inhalation benefit because you start to smell the vapors, you start to smell the essentially, you know, you start to smell the volatile organic compounds. But within minutes clinical studies have shown that within five minutes, the plant chemicals that make up essential oils can be detected in your bloodstream. And we see because they are transdermal essential oils are lipophilic hydrophobic, they\’re fat loving, water hating volatile organic compounds, they\’re not fat, they\’re not water. They\’re very unique compounds that mix very well with the skin so they penetrate into the skin, they get into the cellular level. And once they\’re in your bloodstream, they get systemic. And also when you\’re breathing in, not only does it affect your brain, but those volatile organic compounds go through your respiratory system, and now your lungs can help make a complete systemic benefit. That\’s why so many people benefit from chronic conditions. And that\’s why my whole book is about chronic conditions because we talk about fibromyalgia, we talk about chronic fatigue, stress, anxiety, depression addiction. You because these oils will end up permeating through your entire body. And here\’s the kicker, Doc, I think you\’d appreciate this, the half life is so short. In the same studies that evaluated how quickly the essential oils permeate into the bloodstream, they find that within an hour and a half or so, they cannot be detected anymore, which which alludes to the fact that they are metabolized within about an hour and a half to two hours. So that also means you need frequent doses. And you need frequent applications, unlike 24 hour deet, right where long lasting bugs spray, that doesn\’t work with essential oils. So you need to apply them for topical purposes, especially every couple hours if you want the benefit. And again, I\’m talking in context of bug repellent and that sort of thing. And we give all those recommendations of the various types of things that you can use them for in the book. But the reality is, again, we\’re looking at how our body reacts to nature in its purest form.
Diva Nagula 21:21
And that\’s the important thing. So now as we move forward and with our with healing discussions, and with my podcasts that I\’ve been doing for over a year and a half now, it\’s all about utilizing different modalities that are natural. And going away from some of these synthetic versions of healing, or pharmaceuticals. There\’s so much untapped resources that\’s out there, including the essential oils, including different types of foods and herbs. And those to me are the mainstay. And it\’s so really refreshing to have someone like yourself, you know, along with your wife, who is put together this book that you\’ve recently released, and also on top of a book that it\’s out there with the has a best seller label on it. And it\’s been very informative. So really thank you for putting this information out there for us to ingest. And, specifically, you know, I\’m more interested about different applications of combinations of essential oils in treating disease. And I\’d love to be able to, you know, get some type of menus. Obviously, we can purchase your book, but we can discuss a few things here. But right now, there\’s a lot of anxiety and depression that people are facing and experiencing. Now I believe that there\’s a 30% increase in depression anxiety since COVID. Has has taken us. And you know, there\’s a lot of essential oils that are out there, but love to hear your suggestions on combinations and pairings to combat you know, mental health disorders like anxiety and depression.
Dr. Eric Zielinski 23:48
I want to preface this with a wonderful study that I stumbled upon. And you know, and I want to preface this by saying one thing unique that I tried to do is, as a public health researcher, I I\’ve been trained, I\’ve been trained to look at read and disseminate and summarize the literature that we find that scientists come up with. And so essentially, what I do is I write miniature literature reviews. And I have a stress and anxiety chapter in my book a depression and substance abuse chapter in my book. And so they basically our lit review is where I look at all the different research. And one thing I want to impress upon people is it\’s pretty exciting for me, at least me because I\’m a research geek, but it\’s pretty exciting to see researchers look at specific blends that they see traditionally have been used by healers on traditional mechanisms that other cultures have to have adapted. And when you\’re looking at the research talks about this concept of mental health is ubiquitous, right? But what\’s interesting that I find is most of the research being done is being done overseas. And for obvious reasons on there\’s not as much big pharma political influence, lobbying influence over there as there is here. There\’s more research dollars. And more importantly, in countries like India, where there\’s a lot of research done on essential oils and Iran, there\’s much more of a universal acceptance and a tradition. So I want to stress that, because there\’s several blends that work. And when you say recipe, I want to leave folks with this. There are many, and I\’ll list a bunch. I always, always get this question is like, okay, what if I don\’t have this oil? Or what if I don\’t have that? I, this isn\’t like Betty Crocker, where if you don\’t have a cup of flour, the recipe is not going to work. And this also isn\’t like Betty Crocker, where if you want to go gluten free, you get the gluten free version of flour instead of the gluten version of flour for those people who make recipes. You know what I\’m talking about here? So what we\’re proposing is yes, there are synergistic effects that the research has shown that we know, for example, frankincense and myrrh. I mean, that goes back to the Christmas story. There\’s a reason there\’s a reason why those those those Magi gave the Christ Child frankincense and myrrh. It was traditionally rooted, I mean, ancient resin that our ancestors have used, but there\’s also a medicinal therapeutic effect. Frankincense is great by itself. And so as Myrrh when used together, they compound one another in a good way. So it\’s called synergy. It\’s actually a known term in the research. So when you mentioned what you just did, the list of essential oils are profound. And lavender always comes up as a wonderful stress relieving property. But ylang ylang is a wonderful oil a used all across the world, especially in in Asian countries, and it\’s part of their culture, it has a wonderful, anxiety relieving ability to citrus oils, bergamont, one of them been shown to help with anxiety and when you\’re looking at people, whether or not they take a drug, or whether or not they look at the benefits of aromatherapy, believe it or not, research suggest that other citrus oils like Neroli and Bergamont, I mentioned have a similar effect as like benzodiazepines to help people. Why is because the olfactory system specifically in the direct impact on your brain, and how it it helps trigger dopamine, serotonin helps calm what essential oils can do is literally puts you in that parasympathetic state. They\’re known parasympathetic influencers. And that\’s key. And we talk a lot about it. Sympathetic/parasympathetic, fight or flight, rest and digest. And I\’m sure I know your guests, cuz I\’ve looked at your guest list. I know your guests have talked about this. But it\’s real. And I want to stress the importance of stress, right, we need to get out of this constant stress mode. And so when you inhale lavender, it has a chemical known as linalool, which also rosewood and other essential oils have it I\’ll give you guys a list actually pull it from my books, you have a list. But the what we need to look at is like all these oils, can have an effect on people clinically proven. But here\’s the key. It has to work for you. And when we\’re talking into helping mental illness, and doc, I think you\’d appreciate this is this goes beyond biochemical individuality. This goes back to the imprint that smell has on the brain. And so how many of you listening right now, when you smell a certain aroma, it could be Thanksgiving dinner, reminds you of being a little kid at enjoying wonderful family time with friends and family. Or maybe you smell a certain perfume like I do. And it reminds you of your first girlfriend 25 years ago, like, but here\’s the thing. It\’s not just the memory. It\’s the actual physiological experience that goes with the memory. That\’s how powerful memories are, you will feel those experiences again, like the hormonal and the neurological output will be associated with that actual memory that can be triggered by smell. This is proven, this is science. And so when you\’re smelling an essential oil, you want to make sure especially when it comes to mental health, that it gives you a positive reaction, that you do feel more at ease that you do feel calm and collected. Because on the flip side, smell can trigger anxiety, smell can trigger stress, smell can trigger post traumatic stress. And that\’s why this discussion is so important and that\’s why I talk about COVID in my book because who has not been traumatized, to some level in the last year? I mean, right now, by virtue of people not having the freedom to do what they might want to do. The fact that maybe you lost a loved one to the disease, God forbid, the fact that you might have gotten sick, the fact that you had to force you\’re forced to homeschool your children when you weren\’t wanting to or you lost your job, or the social unrest and all the craziness caused anxiety or stress or hopelessness, right? We just went through arguably the most globally traumatic experience, as far as I could see in your humanity. And everyone was affected in one way or another. And so why this is important is when you work with like emotional recall therapists and other people who are specially trained in how to help people retrace BRAC to go heal from and move forward in the future. They\’re always cognizant of certain smells that might trigger those experiences. So maybe there is a certain aroma in the air, and you experienced an abusive reaction. And we see that a lot a lot with women and roses, for example, your boyfriend gives you some roses right before a date. And that night was that horrible night that you got abused? Well, you will associate at the neurological level, the aroma of roses, to the sexual assault, and that will be with you the rest of your life, until you go through a healing experience to really retrigger that. So I want to stress that because when it comes to anxiety, some people will literally smell an essential oil, and they\’ll automatically get anxious, go automatically feel on edge, it\’ll get that knee jerk, and they don\’t even know why oftentimes is because of a repressed memory, or some traumatic experience associated with that aroma. So all I\’m trying to say is, you know, you, you believe you hear me when you smell something, it gives you that, oh, wow, that coconut lime, it reminds me of that great trip in the Caribbean. Well, the exact opposite can happen too. So that\’s why you need to let your nose and your intuition and your feelings guide you. Because this is where true healing is. And for those people who are catching when I\’m thrown at you and picking up when I\’m dropping, this is so important as you go through a healing experience and who does not have the openness, or maybe I should say some leeway in their life for a little healing. I think everyone could use a little healing right now on some emotional-mental level is that as you\’re working through this craziness, that we\’re figuring out over the next 1-10 years, however long this craziness is going to last us imagine having an anchor, a neurological anchor that you use through your smell. For me, a wonderful blend that I\’ve used as an anchor through this whole pandemic has been douglas fir and orange, I recommend that it\’s something that resonates with me, I love being out in nature. I love the the smell of the aroma of the trees, but also orange is a proven antidepressant it\’s been shown to boost mood, and they blend well together. It\’s a nice synergy blend. I\’ve been really focusing on this blend as a way, especially when I might be a little stressed or overwhelmed or frustrated or certain things about this whole experience it gets to me like it gets to everybody. And I\’ve used this smell as a nice, empowering, feel-good anchor. And I know what\’s going to happen because I\’ve done this in the past, that this is going to be a smell that\’s going to be with me for the rest of my life. Because this is an empowering season for me. I\’m not a victim. This is a healing season for me, this is an overcoming season for me. I\’m using this smell as I accomplish things professionally, spiritually, personally. And again, it\’s producing a neurological anchor in my brain, that\’s going to remind me always so when I smell this oil, it\’s like, I\’m going to remember the pandemic. But I\’m also going to remember that the pandemic didn\’t take me my family out emotionally, mentally, financially, spiritually. And so I want to leave people with that. So it\’s a very, it\’s a relative thing. So I\’ve given you a couple things, but here\’s the list. Okay, so what oils where do I start? Where do I start? I\’m gonna actually give you a list of oils. Lavender is one that always comes up for good reason. I mean, it comes up for good reason. And we\’d like a blend of lavender, Roman chamomile and ylang ylang with lemon. You could put one drop of each in your diffuser, you can make a body salve out of it a body oil, it\’s a wonderful but we also like adding one drop in a detox bath. So here\’s the thing for people that really need a little self love a little me time maybe a spa but you know, maybe where you live, the spa isn\’t open. Or maybe there are certain requirements that prohibit you from going to the spa or whatever it might be. You can get a little bit of oil and I would recommend jojoba oil. How about this anything but coconut because coconut can harden your pipes gonna be careful coconut oil and pipes in your house. That\’s a big, big issue. So you get a little bit of like, say olive oil, like a teaspoon. You put a drop of the oils I just mentioned ylang ylang, roman chamomile, lavender and lemon if you got it. If not, if you only have lavender, just do three drops of lavender. You mix that up with some oil, and you mix that up with some Epsom salt like a half a cup to a cup of epsom salt with a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar. And you mix it up together and you draw a hot bath with that. That\’s a wonderful, aromatic detoxifying, but also mood balancing and stress reducing experience for you to have have some nice quiet music, get some candles unscented or essential oil scented always and enjoy that as maybe a little me time for half an hour. Enjoy, see what that\’s like. And these are the kinds of things that we\’re trying to help people incorporate because it\’s very cost effective, anyone can do it. Now you literally transformed your bathroom into a spa. You literally just transform that into having some me time which who couldn\’t benefit from a little bit of me time right now. Geranium is another wonderful essential oil. And in my book I have what I call a floral powered stress roll on. So what you do is you get a roller bottle that\’s has essentially like a roller tarp you can get this for a couple bucks on Amazon or any health food store. And what you start off with you get five drops of geranium. Four drops at clary sage, go back to lavender and ylang ylang four drops of each and you fill this with a fractionated coconut oil which is basically MCT oil or jojoba oil and that is a wonderful floral anti anxiety anti stress because again Geranium and Clary Sage have been traditionally used for stress and anxiety. By the way, inhaling clary sage has been shown clinically to reduce the pain associated with the first stage of labor. I mean, who wouldn\’t want to benefit from not having so much pain in labor, inhaling that right? So the list goes on and on. But here\’s a list. Here\’s the list I want to give you guys from top to bottom. lynyol, lineal acetate are the two sedative calming anticonvulsant and zeolitic properties on these the chemicals that help you get in that parasympathetic state. So top to bottom, the concentration of lineal and lineal acetate are highly found in these oils first is howood 95% of howood contains linalool and then we have rosewood, coriander, magnolia again going top to bottom. Notice I haven\’t mentioned lavender yet. I mean these are interesting oils. Most people don\’t think it coriander to help with stress but it\’s wonderful magnolia, bergamont, mint, neroli which is orange blossom now we got lavender which is middle of the road, ylang ylang, petigrain, bergamont that we mentioned before clary sage and geranium oils that are rich and lineal acetate, which is again as a complementary chemical that could have the same therapeutic effect. Up to 74% of clary sage is lineal acetate, that\’s top and then petigrain, lavender, bergamont, bergamont, mint, sweet marjoram, neroli, and cardamom. And so this is the basis for all of our anti stress, anti anxiety oils. And that\’s why we start to blend them together. And we find because they contain a similar chemical constituency that they work well together, they compound the effects of one another. And that\’s where it\’s really the sky\’s the limit you use what you have. And people are like, well, I don\’t have an enrollee or it\’s too expensive, that\’s fine. Well hopefully have clary sage if not try to get it because it\’s cost effective. It\’s not as expensive as some of the other oils. And that\’s kind of how you work this thing.
Diva Nagula 39:18
With the roller bottle that you were mentioning, and obviously that\’s that\’s a different application. If you were to use this specific blend for stress, anxiety, depression, water is the best spot on the body to apply this roller bottle of the variety of essential oils that you were talking about.
Dr. Eric Zielinski 39:35
Yeah. So in terms of permeability, and I want to remind us of dermal patches, and the typical one most people think of is the nicotine patch, right? It goes on the arm. There\’s a reason why people why doctors recommend is on the arm because of the location the ease but also the permeability of the skin. So in the ranking of most permeable to lease permeable parts of the skin, the least permeable area of your skin or your feet, which makes sense because your feet are calloused, and your feet are thick, because you\’re walking unless you\’re a child. And that\’s why a lot of people like to apply oils on children\’s feet. Because it\’s a nice balance between the two. So, again, for therapeutic purposes, the last place I would put it, quite frankly, would be on your feet or your legs, and in the realm of permeability. Next up the chain, are your arms, your hands, middle of permeability is your trunk, your abdomen, your back, your chest. And then when you go up, we\’re talking the more sensitive areas of your body, your face, your underarms. So to answer your question, we want to enjoy the oils internally. So we want them to penetrate our skin. And that\’s why the chest in my opinion is one of the best places the back of the neck. And also we want to inhale them. So I recommend other areas like for gut issues for stomach issues, obviously, that\’s the stomach of the abdomen. That\’s why rubbing peppermint and lemon, ginger, wonderful oils, rubbing them diluted to get a roller bottle recipe over the abdomen is wonderful, because that\’s where, you know, the problem is for a lot of people, but you also to get a minor inhalation benefit as well. So we talk about that in the book about certain places for certain conditions, brain conditions, I mean, well think occiput think the bottom back of your neck, like research has shown that frankincense can help with cerebral edema. Well, that\’s not going to work if you\’re putting frankincense on your feet. So again, this this can help because frankincense is rich with sesqui-terpenes, which have been shown to cross the blood brain barrier. Well, that\’s wonderful. What do I do there? Well, you want to get as close to the brain as possible, right? And that\’s where, you know, we go all into that kind of stuff. And that\’s why we cover the different chronic conditions that people are dealing with. Because you can\’t treat Alzheimer\’s, like you treat addiction. I mean, it\’s a completely different animal. There is some overlap. But I\’m glad you asked that question because it\’s about targeted use. And it\’s very similar to essentially what we see in medicine, very similar to our approach.
Diva Nagula 42:23
Wonderful. I would like to get your opinion on some essential oil combinations to enhance sleep, sleep is a big issue, in this society is we\’re often faced with folks that are constantly in sympathetic fight or flight. So obviously, I would imagine some of these concoctions and synergies of the various oils that you just mentioned for anxiety and depression will probably be helpful for sleep.
Dr. Eric Zielinski 42:50
Yeah, yeah. And it\’s one of those things where you have to do a little playing around. And you know, as a doctor, you are trained to practice medicine. aromatherapist are trained to practice aromatherapy, chiropractors are trained to practice chiropractic. So I want to encourage people to practice it to play with it. I would always start with lavender first and foremost, but some people they get excited by lavender, we see that with children with learning disabilities ADD, ADHD, Autism, that could help that could cause a stimulatory effect. So I have a blend I\’m
going to give it to y\’all. And this is what we call our deep sleep blend. And it\’s something that we use, my family and I respond very well to it. And it has an immediate impact on us. And I have a lot, I\’ve good reaction to these oils I have historically my kids no no nothing else I\’m this is what they were raised with. But we start with it\’s a three to one ratio, right. So whether you go three drops or 30 drops or 300 drops, three to one ratio of three lavender, Roman chamomile, and vetiver. So if you\’re worried to start with a five milliliter bottle that\’s empty, you could put 30 drops of lavender in it. 20 drops of Roman chamomile, and 10 drops of vetiver that\’s your master blend. And so what we encourage people do is you get empty bottles, and you get a label maker and put deep sleep blend or happy sleep, whatever you want to call it, you\’re sleepy time blend. That\’s your basis for all the different DIY preparations that are in my book. So you could create spritzers out of them roll ons, diffuser blends, it\’s actually safe to ingest. If someone\’s really looking for you know three to four drops of that in a gel capsule fill the gel capsule with olive oil injest that before bed. That can help as well. A number of different applications for it but that\’s that\’s a blend that we have found and by By and large, the response from our community online has been wonderful to this. Other harmony blends, I\’ll give you one blend that works really well together. And it\’s a nice aroma again, you have to like the aroma and it reminded me to talk about the overwhelm hopeless study, alright, because there\’s important takeaway from a recent study that was done on a hopeless situation. But if you enjoy the smell, it\’s going to determine to a great effect how you are going to respond physiologically. Okay, so there is a level of preference to there is a level of preference. Personally ylang ylang isn\’t my favorite smell, but I really respond well to it so it\’s one of those things where I\’ll use it, and I might not enjoy it as much as I would, let\’s say going back to my douglas fir and orange, but I know it\’s gonna make me feel good. And I\’ll do it. But it doesn\’t create ooh, I hate the smell so bad. I can\’t allow myself to benefit from it. Like that\’s the problem that people have is like who I really just don\’t like this. If you have that kind of adverse reaction to it completely stay away. But a nice harmony blend is orange, frankincense, sandalwood and ylang ylang. They blend wonderfully well. It\’s a beautiful aroma. And with the orange you get the uplifting of the mood sandalwood and frankincense really helped calm and clear away distractions ylang ylang… And so it\’s a wonderful blend to put again, roller bottle, spritzer and diffuser. So we talked a little bit about CBD in the book. And I want to point out that when it comes to sleep, I encourage people to investigate a broad spectrum high quality CBD and how well CBD works with certain essential oils. They\’re very much of the same property. They\’re very much of the same chemical constituency. I like to use CBD even as a carrier oil as well to help dilute the essential oil itself. And so you\’ll see essential oils like copaiba and black pepper, which are rich in beta caryophyllene, often they trigger the CB two receptors, just like CBD does. And we\’re looking at the endocannabinoid system, which is the system that monitors virtually every aspect of your physiology. And if something were to be said, of people that want to use CBD, and they don\’t know where to start, well, I\’ll get them starting with essential oils first, again, Copaiba and black pepper, but they can have a wonderful sedative calming effect, but when you add CBD to it, you can put that in tea, we love it, we have a honey, wonderful Roman chamomile CBD tea mixture that we recommend in the book, just something that gets you into a nice routine and, and this nut doesn\’t even count the EMFs the blue light, the whole thing, like the one thing I encourage people to do is, is everyone always talks about a routine. That\’s key with anyone not having restful, wonderful sleep. Essential oils are a big part of that routine is a half an hour or maybe I would recommend 15 minutes. 15 minutes before you go to bed you press on your diffuser and you let the essential oils permeate into your room. So when you walk into your room and you\’re getting ready for nighttime, you already smell that aroma into the air. And something where again a roller bottle you give yourself a foot rub or neck rub or you do your bath, whatever it might be have a cup of tea you know whenever it is, non caffeinated of course, but I\’m finding essential oils they\’re very much routine friendly. And the same opposite effect is people in my opinion don\’t talk enough about the morning. How do you wake up? What do you do? Do you rely on a pot of coffee to get through the day because how you begin your day is going to affect directly how you end your day. So we have remedies in the book, especially in the chronic fatigue chapter on fibromyalgia, talking about using oils like peppermint and spearmint and wintergreen to give you an energizing effect because they\’ve been shown to open up the airways and help with respiratory function and give you that boost of oxygen that perky up. And so we try to look at sleep very holistically because a lot of folks segment sleep just at night. No sleep is an all day occurrence. It\’s an all day event and you want to make sure you\’re preparing yourself for good sleep from the get go.
Diva Nagula 49:42
Exactly. Are there a couple of topics I would just like to hit on is that your book goes into detail about some of the things we just talked about depression anxiety and sleep. But oils also address chronic disorders such as, you know things like autoimmune issues, you know, obesity cancer, heart disease, diabetes. And so I don\’t want to go without mentioning those types of ailments that can be uplifted or assisted with the use of essential oils.
Dr. Eric Zielinski 50:11
So let\’s touch base on diabetes, because there\’s been a lot of research on that. Diet, essential oils have been shown to increase insulin sensitivity. So when you\’re talking to someone in realm, again, this is mostly in the realm of type two diabetes, you mentioned autoimmunity. There\’s a limited effect that we see when it comes to essential oils and type one. Now, depending on your train of thought, or your school of thought, so to speak. Most people I talk to most autoimmune experts I had this discussion with agree that inflammation at the core is a root mechanism for most inflammatory disorders. So with that said, I want to point out that essential oils are extremely anti inflammatory. And so it\’s a matter of finding those oils rich in one eight cineole is a chemical that you see a lot in high concentrations like eucalyptus, and other oils that are like limonene is a chemical that\’s extremely anti inflammatory. That\’s all the citrus oils, orange, lemon, neroli, petitgrain, grapefruit lime. These oils are anti inflammatory. So ingesting these oils in a targeted way can actually help with systemic inflammation, which can therefore help with auto immune conditions. So I want to point that out. But when it comes to blood sugar, specifically, research has shown that people know, by and large, a medicinal benefit of cinnamon, is blood sugar balancing cinnamon powder. But because cinnamon powder has been extracted from the bark, and has been dehydrated, there\’s very little essential oil in that and it still has a blood sugar balancing effect. So I don\’t have the one to one ratio, it hasn\’t been done the research. But from what I could tell, roughly one drop of cinnamon bark essential oil can have the same effect as consuming like a quarter or half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder. And I want to point out, that\’s the concentration levels that we\’re discussing here. Other oils that can help that have been clinically shown to help with blood sugar balancing, or oregano and cumin, and fenugreek. These oils, again, clinically shown to increase insulin sensitivity, reduce blood sugar levels and help the body maintain homeostasis. And that\’s at the basis for a lot of the discussion that we have, even with obesity, because why is someone in the situation that they\’re in? And when it comes? It\’s very easy to say, well, you know, exercise more eat differently, get on this diet. Well, there might even be more of a cellular concern, more of like a physiological reason why someone cannot burn off fat. And why is their blood sugar so high. And we see that so much with folks that are overweight. And the likelihood of them being diabetic is profoundly high. And so we approach overweight, diabesity, by the way, is a turn where people are clinically overweight, obese and diabetic, we approach that really at the blood sugar level first, and also with the food craving level. And you know, black pepper I mentioned before rich and beta caryophyllene has been shown to help reduce the withdrawal symptoms associated with nicotine cessation. I mean, what does that mean? Well, if it can help people not have withdrawals and detox from quitting smoking, the the likelihood is, and it has been we\’ve shown through our weight loss challenges and stuff that we\’ve done with our own community, that black pepper is a wonderful remedy to have to help people curb sugar addiction. And so wow that\’s pretty cool, you\’re saying I can actually use essential oils. So I don\’t feel like I need to have this high sugar treat all the time. Like yeah, and so we have what in our book known as a quit-stick recipe. It\’s a wooden toothpick remedy, because a lot of folks myself included when I used to smoke, I had an oral fixation. And a lot of people that struggle with food in overeating, they have an oral fixation, they always have to have something in their mouth. And so imagine putting a toothpick in your mouth instead, that has peppermint and cinnamon and black pepper essential oil that has been soaked through a cool little recipe that we use with olive oil. It\’s all safe, it\’s all effective. But we\’ve helped people quit smoking we\’ve helped people quit the sugar habit by that. And it\’s really neurologically sound. Common sense that it\’s wonderful when you have tradition and science come together and like hey, let\’s let\’s satisfy the oil fixation with satisfy the addiction cascade, let\’s give you something that feels helps you feel satiated. And that\’s what peppermint does specifically helps you feel satiated. So those are wonderful oils with blood sugar balancing and obesity. But one thing specifically that really struck me when I wrote the obesity and diabetes chapter, certain essential oils trigger lipolysis inhaling lime and grapefruit, for example, trigger the brain to burn fat. And a lot of this makes sense. Because most people find themselves comfort eating most people do not find themselves in a state where they\’re truly happy and joyful, they\’ll gorge themselves I mean, you\’ll see a correlation with mood and overeating. And so if you could use an essential oil that has been shown clinically to boost mood and reduce anxiety going back we just talked about it makes a lot of logical sense that you\’re not going to comfort eat and it does trigger the brain because now you\’re in the parasympathetic state Hey, you can rest and digest your body starts to regulate, it helps metabolic function. And I\’m not promising that you\’re going to lose 50 pounds by smelling essential oils. But they can help giving you that little competitive edge they can help take you to that next level. And my wife used essential oils when she was training for the Mrs. Georgia Pageant. And you know here my wife is at 40 years old, competing with girls half her age in this beauty pageant. She not only won the pageant two years ago, but she won the swimsuit competition of the pageant after four kids five pregnancies four children. And one thing she did was she wrapped her body with a muslin wrap and using essential oils like Cypress and peppermint and grapefruit and others that have been shown to oxygenate the blood help burn fat like she actually wrapped herself in a really cool kind of fun way again, the recipes in the book to help her you know with some trouble cellulite areas that she had. And so that was pretty cool to see my wife\’s body literally transform in front of me, of course, she was working out and she was eating great, but it was again that little competitive edge using the supplements she did and using essential oils, it\’s like wow, how to turn your body and sculpt it in the way that she wanted to achieve her goal.
Diva Nagula 57:19
That\’s awesome. This has been great as it\’s been some really useful, easy to use solutions to a lot of these ailments that people are suffering from and are going to the doctor\’s office and trying to get prescriptions for. So I really appreciate this conversation and if people want to purchase your book and your other books that you have out, where can they get them and where can they find more information about you?
Dr. Eric Zielinski 57:49
Yeah, so again, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. It\’s been a wonderful conversation. I really appreciate the questions too. So my book is The Essential Oils Apothecary, it\’s available everywhere books are sold. And if you go to EOApothecary.com my wife and I put together a wonderful little book, thank you book bonus package where we recorded a series of do it yourself demo of our CBD honey chamomile tea and we talk more about sleep and we have a wonderful chat in my kitchen. So you get the book go to E o apothecary.com. Get the book bonuses. And let\’s let\’s learn together because there\’s a lot, a lot to do here.
Diva Nagula 58:33
Awesome. Thank you so much for being a guest on the show.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]