I
have a friend who uses essential oils to promote health. I have
another who eschews medical use and will only use essential oils for
cleaning. I have a family member who believes in bleach, chemicals,
and antibiotics. If you do an internet search on essential oils,
there's an insane amount of information, and it's frequently
conflicting.
Enter
The Healing Power of Essential Oils
by Eric Zielinski, D.C. In this book, Dr. Zielinski, who is a health
researcher and aromatherapist, begins to disentangle the truth,
half-truth, propaganda, and nonsense that can surround the use of
essential oils. In my opinion, he's more evidence-based than what is
normally found in the blogsphere or essential oil Facebook groups.
He's also quick to state that in some oils, there just hasn't been a
lot of research or there is still more research needed.
This
book covers numerous topics: fundamentals of aromatherapy, using
essential oils safely, how to start off, house cleaning with
essential oils, basic essential oil recipes for wellness, more
advanced recipes for specific physical issues with an emphasis on
women's health, and more! It took me a few weeks to read through this
book and I was bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information,
including a few parts that were very scientific. That being said,
Dr. Z's approach is to start with what you can. No, you can't
completely change everything all at once. Integrate what you can and
add more as you learn.
And
I did learn a lot in the book! Overall, it's very understandable and
Dr. Z lays down the safety issues and basic procedures at the very
beginning. He also repeats that you should listen to you body,
discontinue use if something seems off, and that we all have
biological differences stemming from gender, race, family history,
etc... therefore, what works great for one person may only give
moderate relief to someone else.
So,
did this book convert me to essential oils? Maybe. It's definitely
opened my mind up to them and exposed some harmful substances I
wasn't aware of. (example: toxicity of hand sanitizer) I do plan to
start small and give some of this a try. I will keep The
Healing Power of Essential Oils
by Eric Zielinski, D.C. on my bookshelf for future reference.
One
last note: Dr. Z. is a proponent of Biblical health and mentions
prayer and Biblical health guidelines throughout the book. If you are
uncomfortable with that, this book may not be for you.
I encourage you to visit Dr. Zielinski's website or read an excerpt from The Healing Power of Essential Oils on the publisher's website.
Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to
write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I
am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s
16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and
Testimonials in Advertising."
