Transcript of Episode 162: Essential Oils, Worth the Hype?
With Dr. Daniel Pompa, Meredith Dykstra and Dr. Eric Zielinski
Meredith:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Cellular Healing TV. I’m your host, Meredith Dykstra, and this is episode number 162. We have our resident cellular healing specialist, Dr. Dan Pompa on the line, of course, and today we welcome special guest, Dr. Eric Zielinski. We have a really exciting topic for you today. We have not bridged this yet on Cellular Healing TV. We’re going to be talking about all of the benefits and the therapeutic use of essential oils. Dr. Eric is an expert on this topic, so we’re going to delve into oils, and their different benefits, and a lot of different connections they have to other aspects of our health.
Before we jump in, let me tell you a little bit more about Dr. Eric. Founder of the Essential Oils Revolution Summits that have reached more than 265,000 people across the globe, Dr. Eric Zielinski is a formally trained public health researcher and aromatherapist that has created the most extensive biblical health database on the internet. His website, DrEricZ.com is visited by hundreds of thousands of natural health-seekers every month, and he has rapidly become the go-to resource for essential oils education and spiritual inspiration through social media. Welcome, Dr. Eric, to Cellular Healing TV.
Dr. Eric:
Thank you much for having me. It really is an honor. I’ve been following your work for quite a while, and I’m just excited. I’m excited to share the message with you all.
Dr. Pompa:
Something we have in common is our faith. I love your message, no doubt about it, so I was really excited to interview you today. I got to hear a little bit – the bio doesn’t do it justice. How did you even get into healthcare? Kind of tell us your journey there, and then, of course, how did you get into essential oils? Just kind of start here and give us a little bit.
Dr. Eric:
You know, Dr. Pompa, it’s a transformation, and it’s just been a beautiful journey. I’m 37 years old. When I look back, I’m like, “Wow, God! You did all that,” and I could see how it played out, but at the time, I didn’t know it was happening. The crux of the story is I was sick. I was a sick child. When I say that, I wasn’t at the Ronald McDonald House. I didn’t have lupus. I didn’t have cancer. I was just chronically not well, had aches and pains. I had cystic acne, chronic GI issues, bloating gas. We’re talking things that would plague a teenager. Not only that, but when I was younger, chronic ear infections and sore throats. My parents elected to have my adenoids and my tonsils taken out, vital parts of your lymphatic system.
It all started just living on the standard American diet. I was not breastfed. My mother elected not to for various reasons, and I think that’s a very critical part. I just had poor gut health. Also, I didn’t have a very strong spiritual background, as well, emotionally and mentally drained. As a late teen, early adult, I fell hard in alcoholism, narcotic drugs, depression. I even was suicidal and suicide ideation.
Here I was, 22, 23 years old. On the outside, I looked pretty good. I had the MTB six-pack body, but on the inside, I was rotting, drinking a pot of coffee a day just to get through the day to pass my classes. When I graduated school, I had no real purpose. I had no vision. I had no real guidance on what to do, and I was ripe. I was at that rock bottom moment, and that’s when I met Christ. It was one of those spiritual transformations. I kid you not, immediately freed from my nicotine addiction. I was smoking a pack a day. I stopped drugs. I stopped drinking. I stopped my pot of coffee. I stopped cussing. I used to swear like a sailor. My whole life changed. I had a dramatic transformation.
Here’s the key, Dr. Pompa: My mentor at the time was 60 years old and the healthiest person I knew, and still is. He said, “Eric, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. You have to take care of it.” Being a Christian doesn’t mean you just read your Bible and go to church; it’s a whole lifestyle. He started praying with me, and that right there, as a 23-year-old man, imparted something on my spirit that took me here now 14 years later. My journey took me through Life University Chiropractic College, took me to Emery University to study public health, and here I am today. Essential oils, I got to say, it’s a part of the puzzle.
I noticed that when I hosted my online summit a couple years ago that there was so much misinformation out there, especially regarding the biblical health piece. I’m like, “You know what? I got to learn more about this,” so I’m studying aromatherapy. I really dove into it, and that’s what people want. It’s unbelievable. Hundreds of thousands of people online, on my website, they just want me to teach them about oils.
Dr. Pompa:
Wow. That’s quite a story. Honestly, I didn’t know. I had no idea that you went through that. I talk about my from pain to purpose. Man, you’ve got your pain to purpose. That’s for darn sure. With that said, obviously today’s topic is pulling in essential oils, and with a biblical background that you have, essential oils fits that. Essential oils go back into biblical times all the way from frankincense to myrrh. We talk about it all the time. These are some of God’s healing tools. Is that kind of what struck you into the thing of essential oils? Were you reading some of this biblically and applied it? How did that transition occur?
Dr. Eric:
It’s a good question. During school, as I’m sure you remember many moons ago, I was supporting the family during chiropractic college, and the -inaudible- so I really got myself in a position where I was writing. I was a medical writer just to pay the bills. One of my clients asked me –during school, asked me to write a series of public health reports on essential oils. That was the first time I was introduced to that side of essential oils.
Pre-date back to that, my wife’s been using essential oils since we’ve been married. She has her routine. I don’t know what she does. I kind of do now, but she puts them here, there, everywhere. We delivered four babies at home, and the first homebirth, it really blew my mind how prepared she was with aromatherapy through all the stages of labor. Her story’s profound. Her skin was miraculously healed through essential oils. If we have a moment, I could tell you about that. At the end of the day, I didn’t think anything of them because several years ago I had tried to use essential oils, and it didn’t work for me.
I got to say, I was disenchanted because here I am, all about natural health. I saw online, “Hey, natural solutions” for certain health conditions I was trying to battle. It didn’t do anything for me. I’m like, “You know, this stuff’s just smelly stuff. I’ll leave it to Sabrina. I’ll leave it to the ladies.” I was that guy that marginalized it. Who wants to go play basketball smelling like ylang ylang? The dudes are going take away my man card. You know what I mean? I put it away.
When I hit that research – and then that’s what really brought me to Christ. I didn’t have one of those, like, “Oh, I went to church, had a altar call.” No. I’d studied biblical study. I studied archeology. For months, I studied. I read books. I’m just that kind of guy. God knows that’s how you reach me. It has to go through my head first; it goes to my heart -inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
Me, too, man! Me, too. I’m the same way. Believe me, I was the same way. I was like, “Okay.” I had to disprove the whole evolutionary process, or prove it to myself, or whatever process God had to take me through. Yeah, He’ll reach us where we are. In that, though, you started finding out more about essential oils.
Dr. Eric:
Yeah. This is the key: I started researching. I started looking at the literature and then the question, just like how it was when I became a Christian. The question when I became a Christian was, “Okay, it was about the Bible. Either the Bible really is the Word of God, or it’s just a really cool book.” That’s what proved to me – and I looked at all the prophecies that were fulfilled.
When it came to essential oils, very similar. I’m like, “Okay. This stuff is either hocus pocus, or I didn’t do it right when I tried.” What was going on? I found out I wasn’t really using essential oils. Flashlight, everyone. Light bulb. Dr. Robert Pappas, foremost chemist in this area, I had the privilege of interviewing him twice for my summits.
According to Dr. Pappas, who has tested virtually every essential oil on the market, 75% of the oils on the market are adulterated, which means one of two things, really. They’re either fake/synthetic, or they’re highly diluted to the point where you don’t even know what you’re getting. I bought junk knock-off stuff at the health food store that wasn’t even real therapeutic-grade essential oils.
Then when I started looking into the brands, I was like, “Whoa! This is what frankincense really should smell like. This is how lemon should taste. This is how I use tea tree to battle, let’s say, whatever, toe fungus or whatever it might be.” That is when my world changed because I got the real deal. Most people out there, they don’t get the real deal. They don’t know where to find it, and they don’t know how. I’m transforming that, and now it’s part of my – if you look at my medicine cabinet, most of it’s essential oils now. To me, it was the missing piece of the pie. Up until the last few years, they just weren’t part of my protocol.
Dr. Pompa:
Why do they work? Let’s say you’re getting the good oils, and we can talk a little bit about that, some of your favorite brands, perhaps, but what do they do? Why do they work? Why are they so effective?
Dr. Eric:
Revelation, Chapter 22, the leaves of the trees of the healing of the nations. Why? How? The essential oil. The essential oil is what God gave the plant to protect the plant from vectors, from flies, from microorganisms that attack it, from fungal infections, you name it. It heals the plant, protects the plant, nourishes, so many different aspects. When we extract those healing properties of the plant, its essential – we all know herbs are good. We all know roots. Look at native medicine around the world. If you extract them, if you get them in a concentrated form, you just made medicine.
A lot of medicines are based off the chemical compounds in plants, like aspirin, perfect example, birch. You could use lavender. You could get a pound of lavender, make an incense of it or do whatever you want with a tea, but if you use the lavender oil, you basically just 10X, 20X the power. We need to remember one thing: The essential oils that we have today are really nothing what people used to use centuries and millennium ago. They didn’t have distillation like we do. They didn’t have cold pressing extraction. They couldn’t get what we have. What we have today is unbelievably strong, and the ancients never experienced it.
Dr. Pompa:
Wow.
Dr. Eric:
Yeah. When you look at Jesus, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, Jesus didn’t have essential oils.
Dr. Pompa:
Can I make a – I have a question for you. Now I’m playing Devil’s Advocate here. Would being a part of building out a lot of products and supplements – it’s oftentimes hard for us to find, let’s say, ginseng. We look at the -inaudible- the chromography, and we look at the power of the plant, and it’s very difficult because even the organic ones that come in, they’re grown in such terrible soils, or they’re grown in soils that, really, ginseng wasn’t meant to be grown in.
Finding where ginseng originally grew, the mineral substrates in the ground, etcetera, makes that plant thrive and be strong. I get it. You’re right, man. The extraction processes, no doubt, would be better than it was back then, but what about finding frankincense from a good soil and where the plant comes from that we extract it from? Is that a factor?
Dr. Eric:
One hundred percent. We have found indigenous sourcing is the key. My father-in-law is a retired agri-scientist from Dow Chemical. I haven’t shared this on another podcast yet, but it’s time for me to come out. He actually helped develop GMOs. He worked with Monsanto. I married the enemy. I seriously should have had my wife checked by a private investigator. We laugh about it.
Dr. Pompa:
-inaudible- better, man.
Dr. Eric:
I know. It’s awesome. We’re still trying to convert him. Here he was. He told me, “You cannot compare naturally indigenous plant” – I mean he said, “The chemical compounds in the indigenous plants, you can’t compare to non-indigenous. It just doesn’t even work.” I live in Georgia. I live in Atlanta. I could grow a fig tree in my back yard and have pretty tasty fruit, but the vitamins and minerals in that fig won’t compare to one in Jerusalem. We need to remember that.
Also – I hate to say it for folks out there – but getting around the organic thing is getting virtually impossible. I don’t say that because I don’t want to be defeatist, but it’s becoming almost impossible to get pure anything anymore, pure food, pure water. Essential oils have been tested, and there was a major conference in Italy a couple years ago. They found that organic essential oils had pesticides residue in them. How? There’s runoff water and because Monsanto – again, thanks, father-in-law. Monsanto is spraying five miles down the road, and drift wind, and vectors, and flies, and bees.
Dan, I know you know this, but people need to realize there’s no guarantee of safety out there anymore, so we have to minimize the best that we can. Here’s the key, and here’s why I mentioned it: You get indigenous-sourced plants because the way that God planted them, they don’t need the pesticides if they’re truly an indigenous plant. They don’t need it. They shouldn’t.
Dr. Pompa:
Absolutely.
Dr. Eric:
That’s the key. I’d rather choose an indigenous plant over an organic plant that’s in some farm in Idaho.
Dr. Pompa:
Me, too.
Dr. Eric:
When it comes to essential oils, same thing.
Dr. Pompa:
That was a great answer. I appreciate that answer. Looking for an essential oil, we want one that’s extracted properly using cold pressing, not denaturing it, using heat, etcetera, you might want to add to that. We also want to find where it coming from indigenous plants as their source versus just organic plants grown in Idaho.
Dr. Eric:
One thing, too, when it comes to heat, it’s a little bit different because they’re not dealing with proteins being denatured. The chemical compounds in these essential oils are stuff that you probably forgot, Dan. It’s in biochemistry class, ketones, esters, alcohols, terpenes. What’s that? There’s no vitamins, or minerals, or proteins in oils. They actually have to be steam-distilled, so they need to evaporate.
What an essential oils is, folks, it’s the volatile organic compound, volatile meaning it evaporates. If there is a chemical compound in the plant that can’t evaporate, then it won’t get into the essential oil. It will be too heavy. It will be too dense. It will be part of the hydrosol. It will be part of the leftover water that’s very healthy, very good. See, the essential oils really – the crème de la crème of highly volatile, very light – we’re talking very low Daltons if you guys are chemistry nerds out there on the Daltons –
Dr. Pompa:
Daltons are molecular weight.
Dr. Eric:
Yep. We’re talking very low on the Dalton scale compared to something else. We could geek out on this a little bit for some of the chemistry folks, but the reality is they’re very special and essentially what we smell. That’s what we got to remember. When you’re walking through that rose garden, you’re not going to find a pool of rose oil. It doesn’t exist. It needs to be extracted. If you’re walking and brush up against a plant, you’ll smell the vapor. You’ll smell the essence. That’s the volatile organic compound. If you’ve smelled -inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
Tell them a little bit about the Dalton, which is the molecular weight. I know this from my own biochemistry in product development that for something to go into a cell, it has to be a certain molecular weight, something from 200 to 300, maybe even up to 600. Is that another reason why essential oils work is because they’re able to get into the cell and then affect the DNA?
Dr. Eric:
They’re lipid-soluble. That’s the key. Every one of them are lipid-soluble. When you think about that, how many things can’t cross that cellular membrane because of the phospholipid protection? So many drugs are virtually useless because of that.
There have been studies, Dan. I don’t condone pharmaceutical use unless absolutely necessary, but there have been studies that show essential oil therapy with drugs help the drugs be more effective, mainly chemo. Some chemotherapies just can’t cross the blood-brain barrier, for example, to get glioblastoma and other astrocytoma type of cancers, but if you applied those drugs with essential oils, it essentially opens up the gates so the drugs can do their job.
Dr. Pompa:
It’s awesome. Now we know a lot more than we did in the beginning, so our viewers are already excited. Now, here’s what our viewers are asking, and our listeners. “Okay, great. What type of oils can I use for these type of symptoms and conditions?” I know that we’re not saying that this oil is a cure for this condition. I don’t want to get you in trouble here.
Meredith, this is probably in your questions. Meredith, by the way, she loves essential oils. She’s very good at essential oils. She always hooks me up with essential oils, so thank you, Meredith, for that. Let’s talk about that because honestly, that’s what our viewers want. Meredith, you can fire away with that, naming different conditions. Doc, what are some of your favorites and for what conditions?
Dr. Eric:
It all depends on what you need, and -inaudible- what you want, and I need to remember, people, when it comes to essential oil therapy, there is nothing like prevention. In the guise of this – if we don’t have an hour to talk – I wish we had an hour just about this topic. Folks, we got to stay away from the antibacterial products, the hand sanitizers, and all those that cause toxic overload in the body, and that’s where essential oils are worth their weight in gold. They replace those products. That’s where I could get people to start.
Dr. Pompa:
That’s a great thing. What do you use every day? That sounds like things you’re using every day. Meredith, what do you use every day? Go ahead. Let’s hear it.
Meredith:
I use the blend, too. I never use hand soaps. Especially if I’m not at home where I have more natural soaps, I use essential oil blends. I carry the oils in my purse, and I just rub them on my hands as natural antibacterial. I have a blend, and it has clove in it and wild orange. Sometimes I use rosemary or cypress on my hands. Lavender, of course, is a nice antibacterial, as well. This is just simple oil blends you can keep with you instead of using those toxic soaps.
Dr. Pompa:
Doc, what do you use?
Dr. Eric:
Dan, I just wanted to – I just got out of the gym. I wanted to freshen up. Took a nice shower before the interview. I’m staying away from lavender. I don’t want vetiver, lavender, things to calm me down, so we created a joyful blend, with some jojoba, some almond oil with orange, lemon, vanilla. It just perks me up. Those are citrus oils that have been proven, literally, to work in the limbic system to boost mood, lower depression, and get you in a better state of consciousness. That’s what I want to do right now. I want to be kind of – I’m not one of those who’s laid back. I’m just high energy, especially when I do an interview, so that’s what -inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
Where do you put it? Do you put it here? Do you sniff it?
Dr. Eric:
Yeah. For me, when it comes to the lotion – I actually use this as a body lotion throughout my body, but there are many ways that you could use them. You can probably see it, maybe, in the background. I have a diffuser with a few oils that, again, are very uplifting, very -inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
I have one -inaudible-.
Dr. Eric:
Do you? I have a couple –
Meredith:
I have mine going, too. They’re great.
Dr. Eric:
I have some that maybe people aren’t familiar with because a lot of folks that follow me, they’re part of a network marketing company, and that’s how they get their oils. I’ve found that I like to go outside of that world a little bit to get some really cool esoteric oils like yuzu, like opoponax, like elemi. Love those oils. That’s what I’m smelling right now. It’s very uplifting, very energetic. You could use oils virtually for whatever you want.
That’s the thing. When people ask me, I always say, “What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to accomplish a sedative, calming – you want to be uplifted? Are we trying to balance blood sugar?” We kind of go with that, and then we really target an approach for people.
Dr. Pompa:
Let’s mention a few things and some things we can target for that, but let’s hit the 800-pound gorilla here right here up front. So many of these oils are network marketing. Gosh, Young Living, that was the original one. I’m assuming they’re still around, and then new one’s doTERRA. I bet you there’s another one I probably don’t even know about. I think that these oils are the perfect thing for network marketing because people love to try them; it’s basic; they can use this; they turn their friends onto them. I think that’s why those companies explode.
I’m always a little cautious. I have nothing against network marketing. I don’t. If the product’s good, I think it’s a great thing. However, typically, it’s overpriced, but again, there’s some products that we love like ASEA that’s the only way to get it. It’s a very unique product. There’s some other products that I have no problem. If that’s the only way to get it, we’ll get it. For doctors, it’s hard because they don’t want to look like they’re just putting people in a network marketing thing. There’s that. Some of the oils you’re using, the ones in the network marketing, let’s discuss it. I know we have some on our website. What do you do? What’s your comment to that? I don’t even know what I’m asking.
Dr. Eric:
I actually use several. Here is my “I will never compromise on this” stance because it’s who I am. I will not tell people the brands I use, nor will I recommend them for a variety of reasons, but I will say there are several good brands out there, and we do use oils from network marketing companies. I use oils from direct suppliers. I use from a variety of different things.
You mentioned a couple good points, and I had gotten this question so many times because -inaudible- reason why, Dan, as a public health researcher, I am convinced that bias is very important to avoid. I don’t know anyone – literally, I don’t know anyone – I challenge you out there watching, listening, find an essential oil educator on the internet who doesn’t sell oils. You’re not going to -inaudible- period. I’m the only one.
Here’s the thing: Once I started telling people, “You know what? I’m not going to sell these oils,” hundreds of thousands of people started flocking to me because they realize I’m a safe place to land. With that, that’s the reason -inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
By the way, that’s why you’re on the show. What was the first thing I said to Meredith? It’s like, “Oh, Meredith, I would love to bring the topic, but I don’t want someone just [hawcking] what they think is good.” I try to bring the products, I try to carry multiple products, and I try to bring the products that I use myself, that I believe in, that I have researched, and that I’m a part of somehow. Our viewers are still going to say, “I know you’re not selling the product, Eric, but give us the top three or five that you know that are indigenous sources, that are processing it correctly.” People are going to ask, right, Meredith?
Meredith:
-inaudible-.
Dr. Eric:
Here’s my solution to that: Go to my website, DrEricZ.com, look up the word brand, and you’re going to find the article, How to Choose a Brand. Here’s the thing about it, and this is really important. I’ve seen people that they, in a sense, ignore the organoleptic aspect of this. For people who don’t know what organoleptic is, how does a substance, how does an essential oil, how does a new food respond to your body? You break out in hives. You get a headache. How does it taste and feel? You need to be emotionally sound, and you need to be – we need to respond well to something.
Here’s what I’ve seen: I’ve seen “the purest oil on the market” give someone a headache. Why? Maybe that species, that source, just didn’t respond well. What you want to do, there are very – again, I use several. You want to find one that works for you. To me, that’s the beauty of functional nutrition, functional whatever you want to call it because there’s so many different ways of looking at this, is finding what works for you. Again, I’m a 37-year-old white guy from Sicily and Poland. What is going to work for me isn’t going to work for, let’s say, a 74-year-old African-American from Kenya.
I think we forget that. If you’re a network marketer out there, bless your heart. Make a couple bucks, but remember, your oil isn’t the only oil on the market. There’s a lot of others out there. Folks, you want to try, and here’s what you do: You’re going to go first to some family and friends and get a referral. I’m a referral junkie. Whether it’s my dentist, my chiropractor, whoever it is, I want someone that’s proven and tested by a loved one. Go ask your loved ones, “Hey, what oils do you use?” I guarantee you you’re going to find someone who uses oils. They’re that popular.
Then you get a couple. Go online. See what you can see about some ratings. Then here’s the thing: You got to invest some time and money. This is your health. I know people, literally, that use essential oils to treat their cancer. That’s what they’re doing. Chemo failed them. Radiation failed them. They’re using oils, and they’re doing well. It’s that important. You go; you try these oils. Ask the company, “Hey, can I have a test, an analysis of your oil?”
I’m interested in lemon, for example. I will get a starter kit. They’re usually 40, 50 bucks. Get a starter kit with lemon, peppermint, whatever they have, clove, and try them out. Put them on your skin. Dilute them. Do a skin patch. That’s very important. You know how when you get a carpet cleaner, they say, “Go into that corner. Clean the carpet in an inconspicuous spot before you stain the whole thing.”
Same thing with essential oils. Dilute some with some coconut oil, put them on the back of your hand, and see what happens. If you break out in a hive, that’s not a good sign that your body’s responding to that or if you get redness, or itching, or burning. You want to see how your body responds. You’ll find, interestingly enough, that the oils that work for you might not work for someone else just because it’s your body’s chemistry.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Our microbiome is different. The microbiome in our digestive system and on our skin really determines even how your body uses something like an essential oil, how it breaks it down. The chemical components that come out of it is all determined by our bacteria, which is different for everybody.
Dr. Eric:
Yup. I got myself in trouble. I got to say, I’ll confess, early on, I recommended for people to use a certain brand, and they’re like, “Hey, this thing works horribly.” I’m like, “You know what? I learned my lesson quick.” Again, you make a good point. The skin microbiome is one of the most largely misunderstood and ignored things on our body. I really have done a lot of research on that and how to really maximize that. That’s one reason why I’ve come up with so many DIY recipes, Dan, because it’s so important that we feed and nourish the healthy bacteria in the right way.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, absolutely. What’s your website?
Dr. Eric:
DrEricZ.com.
Dr. Pompa:
All right. That’s easy, man. All right, DrEricZ. That’s beautiful, man. That was a great answer, honestly. I think that was a really honest answer, a great answer. I agree with that answer. Do what he says because I think that was beautiful advice. All right, so let’s look. What about blood sugar? I’ll throw some things out, and Meredith, I’ll let you throw some things out. Blood sugar. So many people, hormone resistance, whether it’s to insulin, leptin, estrogen, some essential oils that would help.
Dr. Eric:
First thing that comes to mind, we all know about cinnamon. Cinnamon, everyone uses, and that’s a great solution. My friend, the diabetes coach, Dr. Brian Mowll has actually looked into this a little bit more, and he’s found that -inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
I did summit for Dr. Brian.
Dr. Eric:
Oh, yeah. Awesome. Brain’s a great guy. He and I have done really a lot of work. We actually wrote a book on this together. We have found that just a couple drops of cinnamon oil in a capsule, like a gel capsule, can have the same effect as a tablespoon of cinnamon powder. Cinnamon oil is very effective.
Folks, this isn’t just internal. You can inhale and also topical. We mustn’t forget these oils are transdermal. Once you apply them with a carrier oil on your body – and so for someone with diabetes or battling a blood sugar issue, you might want actually apply it over the pancreas. You might want to apply it over the abdomen. We have seen studies show that when you apply massage oil over the abdomen, within minutes, those chemicals in the oil are in your bloodstream.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, absolutely.
Dr. Eric:
Twenty minutes only, and your whole body has the effect of the essential oil. Here’s the key, Dan: Within four hours, it’s out of your body. They become completely metabolized unlike drugs that have biochemical make-up. That’s the cool thing about oils. Also, don’t forget ylang ylang. The fun thing – and I say fun because I’m still gripping my brain around this. The fun thing about ylang ylang, it actually harmonizes the body. We have seen that for people that might be hyper- or hypoglycemic. It helps create balance.
We’re finding more research actually using the term harmonization. Sandalwood and ylang ylang are two oils that we have seen, clinically speaking, create homeostasis in the body. I try to get people out of this whole medical mindset, like, “I’m hyperglycemic. What do I do to fix it?” No. Why are you hyperglycemic? More importantly, let’s get homeostasis in the body.” That’s what we’re finding essential oils can do. It’s mind-blowing.
Dr. Pompa:
Couldn’t agree more, man. I love that response, too. I tell you what. You’re hitting it with me really well. I don’t like pushing the body in one direction or another unless you absolutely have to. Innate intelligence wants to bring homeostasis in herbs. No doubt, essential oils being part of an herb, can bring that homeostasis and that balance. Meredith, I know you’ve got all kinds of questions. I know that look. She radiates -inaudible-.
Meredith:
You know me well, Dr. Pompa. Yeah, I do have questions, too. I think it’s an interesting topic, talking about the skin biome and back to that because oftentimes, when you think of just applying the oils typically on our skin, even though we like to diffuse them, and we can even ingest them, as well, which is another topic. You kind of mentioned briefly before that your wife had a really interesting healing story with her skin and using essential oils for that. I was wondering if you could share that.
Dr. Pompa:
Oh, perfect.
Dr. Eric:
About 20 years ago, she – actually 24 years ago, she was 14 years old. Beautiful, young, teenage girl went on vacation to Minnesota. Her grandparents at the time that she was staying with had well water. I don’t remember what it was, but it was some knock-off facial cleanser that she got at Kmart. She washed her hands. She washed her face with this, and there was a chemical reaction with the chemicals in the well water, and it literally burned from here down, burned the first three layers of her skin. Burned it all, like open sores.
She applied every ointment. She tried everything. She went to the doctor. Nothing could help. Her mother’s best friend, Mrs. B we call her, Cheryl [Buck], is a Cherokee Indian, and she practices Ojibwa medicine. She goes, “You have to use lavender.” She gave her a little starter kit, her first essential oil kit, now 24 years ago, and she gave her an ointment to make with some oil with some aloe and some lavender. Within weeks, her skin was healed. You look at her now, my wife, she’s gorgeous. She’s a pageant queen. She does her anti-aging whatever she does. She’s got it down pat. It was lavender then that helped heal her skin.
From then on, essential oils has been part of everything that she’s done, again, with the birthing process, every time she competes. Everything that she does, she utilizes the mindfulness aspect of essential oils, and not only that, but the therapeutic that goes on your skin. It’s unbelievable. Again, I just knew that. I had heard the story, and because I never experienced it myself, I just kind of dismissed it until I started learning about these things. I’m like, “Oh, that’s why that works.”
Meredith:
I think it’s so perfect, too, to jump into the emotional component and the aromatherapy component of the oils, too, and how they can so just affect our brain chemistry. Can you share on that and how that can kind of support our mental health?
Dr. Eric:
That’s a good question. I’ve been really deep recently into looking into emotional detoxing. Dan, have you ever had anyone on your show talk about that one, yet?
Dr. Pompa:
Oh, yeah. No. Emotional component is something – look, physical, chemical, and emotional, removing these things is very critical to turn off bad genes. The emotional component is something that we really focused on in the last year, so bring it. Let’s talk about it. How can the essential oils help with that?
Dr. Eric:
Because we have seen – the science of smell is becoming so profound in the research world. We’re really starting to tap into what it can trigger, how it can trigger back that emotional response when you were abused as a child. How can it trigger back – it brings you back to 30 years ago when you were just married, and you smell your wife’s perfume, and it brings you back to your honeymoon.
It imprints something in our mind, and so we need to be careful, especially when we’re dealing with grief and trauma, that we don’t trigger those emotions back with certain smells. While we heal using smells that bring us through, that smell can take you through the rest of your life. The research is profound. We always go back to the citrus oils because those have been shown clinically and traditionally to help boost mood, help with work/life balance. There’s really a lot of studies out there.
It all goes back to what works for you. Really, what I’ve been looking at more is about this emotional detox experience. We have to get ourselves where our mind can just calm, where our brain just stops with the wayward thoughts for just a few minutes. Traditional scents, traditional incense, like frankincense, like ylang ylang, like sandalwood – there’s so many other things. When you go to the Bible, look at the ancient anointing oil that God told Aaron to make or Moses and Aaron. We have cassia, cinnamon, and myrrh with calamus, and those are all stuff you can get today.
You got to think there was more than just a spiritual ritual behind that. These oils actually help meditate. They help us get in a higher state of consciousness. That’s really what it boils down to. I really do believe as a Christian it can help us walk through the mind of Christ much more because this toxic overload with the smells that we have all around us, these fragrances, the synthetic aerosols, that’s attacking our ability to really tap into who we are.
Dr. Pompa:
I’ll tell you what, just – matter of fact, let’s just review those, the emotional detox. I heard frankincense, myrrh. What were some of the original – write those down, Meredith. I’m writing them down, too.
Dr. Eric:
You can go into Exodus, Chapter 33, they’d bejust the anointing oil, myrrh, calamus, cinnamon, cassia. That’s a great recipe. Frankincense – there’s a reason why frankincense was given to the Christ child. That was very important. We have actually records that Egyptians used to put frankincense under the bottoms of their eye. You remember the Egyptian eyeliner? In some parts of Egypt, that was burnt frankincense resin. Why? It produces a spiritual experience that helps you meditate. There’s also anti-aging – I mean healing mechanisms, as well. Those are great.
Also, I find ylang ylang is very, very harmonizing, very balancing, but more importantly, what works for you. If you actually smell lavender – there are many people that actually get excited over lavender. It’s not calming for everyone. I want to be careful because we can’t put anything in a box. I’ve found a lot of people do. Again, you have to find what works for you.
Dr. Pompa:
Great. Awesome. Good advice.
Meredith:
Such a good point. Someone told me – I don’t know if maybe you know the study to back it up – but people were actually rubbing frankincense oil on cancer tumors, and they were helping them to decrease. Is there evidence behind that?
Dr. Eric:
Yeah. Unfortunately, when it comes to the research, most of what we have is in vitro. We have cells in a petri dish studies, or we have animal studies. I will tell you, I know a lot of people – the cytotoxic effects of not only frankincense, but you know what’s even more effective according to research? Myrrh, sandalwood, and anything with a chemical called D-limonene, which is in a lot of the citrus oils.
Hey, you know what the best-kept secret is? Orange. Orange is probably one of the cheapest, most cost effective oils you can get on the market, and it’s unbelievably effective at fighting cancer. It produces that apoptotic effect, which is essentially cancer suicide, and it boosts the mood. It is very, very effective at a lot of things. The more I look into certain oils that are cost effective, I’d find, “Wow!”
Now, it’s really important to get that indigenously-sourced and as free of pesticides as possible because that peel is what the oil is made out of, not the juice. If you’re getting it from a Florida grove that’s spraying the junk out of it, you’re getting that into your skin, folks. You got to be careful. I like getting my oils overseas where they don’t use the unbelievable practices that America allows.
Meredith:
Speaking of orange oil, I was just thinking I love – I have a wild orange oil, and I sometimes mix it with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and make a salad dressing out of it, and I ingest it. What do you think about ingesting some of these essential oils and possibly, Dr. Pompa, the effect on the microbiome?
Dr. Pompa:
Great question, Meredith.
Dr. Eric:
Yeah. Good question. When it comes to the microbiome – well, first of all, it’s safe if it’s used wisely.
Meredith:
Not all oils can be ingested, right?
Dr. Eric:
Yeah. Not all of them can be ingested. You’re right. There are certain that are known as toxic. Wintergreen is one that’s really problematic for a lot of folks because it can be – but then again, it’s what flavors root beer. How do you balance that out? Folks, we got to remember one thing. If you have a smell – I’m going back to smell, anything with a fragrance like your Bath & Body Works stuff – anything with a flavor like your lemon bars, your peppermint patties, if it has a natural flavor to it, that’s an essential oil-based product. It’s all over the place. It’s just a matter of dosage.
The problem is when someone gets a bottle and puts two, three drops in their mouth trying to prevent cancer. That could cause esophageal irritation, especially when you use peppermint because that’s been shown to relax the esophageal sphincter so you get reflux. It’s problematic, but it’s safe if you do it wisely. Really, the scheme of it all – I like to make my own homemade smoothies. I’ll put a straight up lemon, a whole lemon, in my smoothie. That’s about four drops of oil. I’m consuming it in its natural form. When you extract it, you’re getting it out of its natural form.
I don’t know what your thoughts about juicing are, Dr. Pompa, but for me, we should limit our juice intake because it’s not in its natural form, without the fiber. Same thing with oils. You’re not going to want to completely just overdose on juice or oils, but used therapeutically or, like you said, Meredith, culinarily, it’s awesome. A drop of cilantro in your guacamole, are you kidding me? That’s what we had at Super Bowl party over here, so we use them.
You know what? I also like to use them to enhance my experience. I love a little bit of liquid stevia with a drop of orange in my sparkling water. That’s my soda pop. Again, for 13, 14 years, I haven’t drank soda. I don’t do any of that junk anymore. I don’t want to – I don’t live on rice cakes and wafers all day. I eat a very flavorful diet, and we enhance that with essential oils. They’re very safe, very effective, but you just got to be careful.
Meredith:
Yeah. I just had some bone broth this morning, and I put some rosemary oil and lemon oil in it because I didn’t feel like slicing an orange and getting the fresh rosemary herbs. They’re so convenient, too, just when you want to kind of drop right in your food.
Dr. Eric:
Always dilute.
Dr. Pompa:
I just feel boring. I’m boring compared to you guys. I got to add these things. I don’t think of this. Meredith’s just always thinking of all these things.
Dr. Eric:
You’re missing out. You’re really missing out, but it’s fun. I need to take a moment and just – we have to remember safety. It’s super-important. You never want to put oils on your body or in your body undiluted. You’re just going to hurt yourself, and it’s a waste. It really is a waste of money.
Dr. Pompa:
How do you dilute them? I always just put them on straight. See?
Dr. Eric:
No.
Dr. Pompa:
-inaudible-.
Dr. Eric:
You know what? Dr. Pompa, you might actually – you might cause what’s known as a sensitization response. You might cause your body to become allergic because its high concentrated plant compounds our bodies aren’t made by God to absorb in our skin. Think about it. You’re not going to find lavender out in nature, a lavender oil out in nature. You have to extract it.
Dilution helps with a few different ways. You get a carrier oil, opens up the pores. It actually helps your body absorb it more. It protects the skin, and what’s really profound is that we find that it’s going to do more for effectiveness than we actually think than just putting a drop because it prevents evaporation. Remember, essential oils are the volatile organic compounds. It’s the compounds that evaporate. If you want your oils to go bad, keep your bottle open. Oxidation is going to kill your oils like nothing. Carrier oils will prevent the evaporation, and it helps you get the most concentration in the right way. -inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
How do you do it? Tell us how you do it. What does it look like when you do it? Tell me how you do it.
Dr. Eric:
If I’m going to actually – my family and I just had a little flu thing a couple weeks ago. What I did – my medicine – was I got some coconut oil, some good, unrefined, organic coconut oil. I put a couple drops of an immunity blend that I like. It’s very similar to one that, Meredith, you’re talking about. I like having one with cinnamon, and clove, lemon, orange, eucalyptus, and rosemary. You mix all those together, and you get – as a blend, you put one or two drops of that blend in, a little bit of honey, a little bit of Himalayan sea salt. That right there is an immune-boosting shot.
If you really want an immune-boosting shot, add some lypo-spheric vitamin C. I think that’s great, a liquid version of that. Something like that, that’s my kids’ medicine. That’s how we internalize it, but I don’t do that every day. I did that for just a couple days to get through the flu. When you’re talking about topical, we want to keep things under a 3% dilution.
In the aromatherapy world, it’s all about percentages. Easiest way to remember it is this: One tablespoon of oil, like a carrier oil whether it’s jojoba, almond, coconut, fractionated coconut, you have 600 drops. If you have a 3% dilution, 3% of 600 is 18, which means you can use up to 18 drops of an essential oil per tablespoon of a carrier oil, which is good, standard, safe dilution.
When you’re dealing with children and your face, because your face is sensitive, or your genitalia – some people like to use these for issues down – like vaginal infections or prostate issues – 1%, which is six drops per tablespoon. That is considered very safe. For oils that are a little more hot, we call them, like the cloves and the oregano, be very careful, always dilute. You don’t want to do a 1 to 1 ratio. That’s a 50% dilution. That can burn. That’s what happened to me early on, too. I didn’t know what I was doing. You just want to be careful. More does not mean better, especially with essential oils.
Meredith:
That’s so true. I put oregano oil directly on my skin one time, and oh, my gosh! Would never do that again, Major burn. Do not put oregano oil directly on your skin, anybody. The fractionated coconut oil is what I tend to use, as well, and it goes on really smoothly. I haven’t always been as good about diluting it. It’s a really good reminder, too, to the importance of absorption and protection of our bodies, too.
Dr. Pompa:
People are going to ask the question – you said fractionated coconut oil versus not. What’s the difference, and where do they buy it?
Dr. Eric:
Yeah, good, good, good question. Fractionated is probably the carrier oil of choice if you’re doing therapeutic things because it prevents oxidization, and it helps – it penetrates the skin relatively immediately. Here’s the problem with using regular coconut oil if you’re trying to treat an illness: It creates an essential barrier to your skin because it’s so greasy.
When you put fractionated oil on your skin, it goes right in. It’s just like the oil. If you actually put a drop of essential oil on your skin, you’re not going to see it in five, ten seconds. It absorbs that quick. Coconut oil doesn’t. Fractionated coconut oil basically takes out the long-chain fatty acids, so it allows just the medium-chain fatty acids to absorb immediately. It’s a little more expensive, but I’m not using that for my lotions, and my potions, or my internal things.
I’m using that for – okay. I’m trying to help with a specific issue like blood pressure, like cancer, like even a wound. Great for wound care. You use coconut oil, regular, jojoba, almond, even evening primrose for a nice lotion, for your basic body care. They work great. Fractionated is the go-to in my opinion and very, very helpful.
Meredith:
It’s essentially the same as MCT oil, right, the fractionated coconut oil?
Dr. Eric:
I guess I don’t know enough about the manufacturer that’s going to be selling the MCT oil, but yeah, in theory, it is, but again, I know Bulletproof and all these other folks – they have Brain Octanes. I don’t know what else is in that stuff, but essentially, it is, but there might be even short-chain fatty acids. Essentially, it’s taking out the long one. Yeah. Just readily absorbable, and it won’t freeze up, or it won’t harden -inaudible-. Yeah, essentially, you can use MCT oil, but that could get pricey.
Dr. Pompa:
You can buy fractionated coconut oil in most health food stores.
Dr. Eric:
Yeah, and on Amazon. All this stuff’s available on Amazon, really. I try not to get my essential oils from Amazon unless it’s from the direct source because you just don’t know who Joe Schmoe is selling. Again folks, this is medicine. This is how my family and I take care of ourselves. I can count on one hand how many times my family and I have been on antibiotics the last 10 years. When it comes to it, I want to get it from a good source. When it comes to your carrier oils and things, you can find all those relatively inexpensive on Amazon from good suppliers.
Dr. Pompa:
When you live your life from inside out, knowing that the body heals itself – I have five kids. None of my kids have ever taken an antibiotic in their entire lives. The cool thing is that the two there, right here, we adopted at age seven, and they were on antibiotics all the time. They were a family member that parents tragically died. Then we got them, and they were never on an antibiotic again.
Point being is what changed? The philosophy changed. That’s it. Their health and the DNA was the same. What changed? They miraculously needed all these antibiotics, and then miraculously after we adopted them, they never needed another one, and they’re amazing, healthy kids. Yeah, I appreciate hearing that. This is great information. I know people are going to love this show, right, Meredith?
Meredith:
Yeah, it is.
Dr. Pompa:
Thank you, man. Thank you for just – there’s a lot of myths. Matter of fact, let’s finish with one more big myth about essential oils that you have to battle and deal with, Dr. Eric.
Dr. Eric:
Essential oils are not safe, I’ve heard, for babies and pregnant women. I’m currently writing a book. I just signed a book deal with Harmony, an imprint of Penguin Random House. It wasn’t part of the book proposal, but I can’t get away from this topic of women’s health, specifically pregnancy, labor, and delivery. I just have to tell folks, they are safe. We’ve used essential oils since birth on all of our children, wisely, safely.
My wife has used essential oils all through her pregnancies and have been a major factor in how well she produces milk. We exclusively breastfeed our babies for at least one year before introducing anything else. They are super, super safe for infants, for children, but you have to use them wisely. Highly dilute them, be very careful, and use them the right way.
That’s the other myth. I get lambasted by people, “Show me in the research.” I got lots of research studies that I just came up with that I’ve seen that show how to use them, labor, delivery, nursing, all that, even prenatal. That’s another big myth.
Dr. Pompa:
What’s the dilution you usually do for babies or children? Is it the 1% or even less?
Dr. Eric:
Yeah, even less. Less than up to 1% is what you want to do. I have four children. You have five. You know what it’s like. A baby’s skin is like a sponge, and so they -inaudible-.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah.
Dr. Eric:
It’s just so little. We got to think, too, dosage. That’s my big issue when it comes to most drugs and the whole vaccine thing is this little, unbelievable amount of dosage to this little, tiny human being. You got to remember that with essential oils, as well, plus aromatic use. Here, folks, remember this. This is really important. How many of you walk into Michael’s or Joann’s Arts and – you know – and you get hit in the head with those smells? I’ve seen babies from birth go in to stop with mama. Hey, bless her heart. That’s fine. Why would you think that aromatherapy through a diffuser would be harmful to your infant?
You’re putting your infant everywhere else. It doesn’t even make sense logically speaking, and that’s the myth. That’s the myth. Oh, and you can’t have peppermint or eucalyptus because it could cause respiratory arrest. Prove it. I know. I see kids going around Bath & Body Works with a cornucopia of smells, and they’re fine. Folks, we need to use common sense, and that’s so important. God’s given us that measure of wisdom that we could use to really use things. Here’s why I do what I do is to empower us so we don’t have to go to the doctor all the time, so we know how to take care of ourselves, and we know we’re not afraid to use things.
Dr. Pompa:
Dr. Eric, thanks for your expertise in this area. Meredith has been wanting to bring this show and couldn’t have brought a better guy to bring this information to our listeners and viewers. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Dr. Eric:
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Meredith:
Awesome. Thanks, Dr. Eric. Thanks, Dr. Pompa, as always, and thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll catch you next time, and have a great weekend. Bye-bye.
