7 Essential Oils For Weight Loss

How many of us are focused on weight loss? From shedding some extra pounds to seriously shaking off weight, getting fit and getting healthy top most resolution lists. While you gather your tools and start your new natural health habits, don't miss using essential oils for weight loss as part of your journey!

​In this article, you'll learn about:

1. Getting Serious about Weight Loss
2. 7 Essential Oils for Weight Loss
3. Diffusing Blend for Weight Loss Support

Before we go any further, it's important to call out the elephant in the room here: there is no magic easy button. There's very little research on essential oils and weight loss, and when it comes down to it, nothing beats good old fashioned food choices and body movement for effective weight loss. With that out of the way, we can more clearly see the role essential oils have to play when weight loss is the goal. You already know that there's no shortcut.

​If you think there is, you're bound to be disappointed with anything. Instead of looking for a magic oil to melt away the pounds, let's look at what we know about a handful of essential oils and their parent plants to see how essential oils can support our efforts. With all of the tools God left at our disposal, we are without excuse for a healthy and Abundant Life!

7 Essential Oils for Weight Loss
Essential oils play a supportive role in so many ways. From relieving side effects of treatments to ameliorating effects of illnesses, it's often the indirect benefits that are felt the strongest. For weight loss, this list is just a starting point – get creative with your oil “stash” to see what might help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Maintaining a natural, holistic lifestyle is absolutely crucial to being healthy and the key to preventing weight gain. One of my favorite ways is to drink matcha green tea and make my favorite fat-burning matcha green tea latte! 

To try matcha green tea out for yourself, you can visit  my favorite supplier, HERE. You will get up to $10 off your first purchase when you use this link.

​Like I always say, “Eating McDonald’s and using essential oils is like taking one step forward and two steps back!” so be sure to focus on abundant life giving eating and exercise habits when incorporating essential oil therapy into your life!

1. Lime
​The familiar scent of lime holds nostalgic memories for many of times spent enjoying warm weather. In aromatherapy, lime essential oil’s cool, fresh scent is used to help:

• Invigorate and balance the body and mind.
• Promote focus during times of uncertainty.
• Cleanse the spiritual aura and restore confidence.

Of the well-researched citrus oils, lime in particular has had very promising results regarding weight loss. One study, published in 2010, observed lime essential oil both assisting weight loss and preventing weight gain. The study concluded: The data obtained in this study suggested that lime essential oil plays an important role in weight loss and could be useful in the treatment of drug-induced obesity and related diseases. (1) For anyone who has packed on weight after a procedure or prescription, this comes as welcome news!

Application: Include lime in culinary recipes, topical formulas, and diffusion blends to maximize a wide range of actions.

2. Grapefruit
​​Grapefruit is a popular citrus variety. Commonly served fresh and as a juice, the aromatic and flavorful fruit is also available as essential oils and nutritional supplements. Its wellness benefits include:

• Supporting healthy digestion.**
• Promoting circulatory wellness.**
• Assisting with weight management.**

​
​Another much-loved citrus oil, grapefruit shatters our expectations of what a weight loss tool should be. Instead of yet another thing to drink, eat, or take, grapefruit seems to be just as effective in other ways. In evaluating the effects that grapefruit and lavender oils have after simply being smelled, researchers found that nerve impulses were affected extensively, leading to fat-burning and appetite-reducing benefits. (2)

Topically, grapefruit is a cosmetic boost during weight loss efforts. As part of a topical blend massaged onto the abdomen, grapefruit contributed to reduced waist-circumferences and composition changes, boosting self-image for the women who participated. (3)

Application: Include grapefruit in lotion and massage oil blends; diffuse before and during meals.

3. Cinnamon
​Available as Cinnamon Bark or the milder Cinnamon Leaf oil, this spicy aroma offers several wellness benefits in aromatherapy, including:

• Supporting sharp focus and memory.
• Elevating moods and promoting an energized mind.
• Promoting emotional warmth and comfort.

​The primary evaluation for cinnamon in various forms centers around diabetes itself, and cinnamon oil has been able to modify glycemic control in those cases. Additionally, in one recent study, researchers were able to observe some pancreatic protection – the pancreas being our center for insulin regulation. (4)

For diabetics, reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is paramount, and glycemic control is part of the process. For everyone else, protecting the pancreas and helping the body better deal with glucose can be beneficial for weight loss, as well.

Application:​ Enjoy a drop or two diffused in stimulating weight loss blends or diluted into culinary or internal preparations.

4. Peppermint
​Peppermint is a flowering herb with an extensive history of use as a digestive aid. It is known for its ability to:

• Refresh and stimulate the senses.**
• Promote clear respiration.**
• Support overall digestive health.**

​Considered a mild stimulant, peppermint has been studied for its ability to improve athletic performance and endurance. Chances are, reading this far into an article about weight loss, you aren't an athlete. Baby steps and good choices will get you to your goals, though, and that's where peppermint comes into play. As a digestive herb, the peppermint plant has been enjoyed with meals in many cultures and for countless generations. As an inhaled essential oil, it has another suggested digestive purpose: affecting appetite and caloric intake. (5)

Application: Diffuse with grapefruit for a bright scent that may also brighten up your daily calorie count!

5. Cardamom
​Growing wild in the forests of India’s Western Ghats, Elettaria caramomum is a member of the ginger family. Cardamom:

• Has been used in traditional wellness practices for centuries.
• Is distilled into an essential oil with a warm and green, yet balsamic and zesty aroma.
• Is incorporated into many culinary practices.

​Indicated in traditional and folk uses for weight control, one suspected reason behind this may be cardamom's gastroprotective effects. As a digestive oil, cardamom has been known to protect the stomach against ulcers and damage. (6) Weight loss and control begins and ends in the stomach, not only what you eat but the way your body uses it. Damage in the stomach and the gut can put a damper on even the best diet. Take care of your gut and it will take care of you!

Application: Culinary preparations, or dilution into a capsule. As with all oils indicated for internal use, one or two drops at a time is more than sufficient.

6. Cumin
​Black Seed Oil is extracted from the seeds of the flowering black cumin plant. It has been used for centuries to promote overall well-being as well as:**

• Support normal histamine responses.**
• Promote clear & comfortable breathing.**
• Support upper respiratory health.**

​We don't know a lot about cumin essential oil yet, but what we do know is promising. The whole herb, for example, is often used to combat inflammation and diabetes. It's this direction that researchers followed in 2005. In evaluating the chemical composition of cumin seeds, the study was able to pinpoint specific ways in which cumin – notably, some of the compounds found in the essential oil – affects the body's blood sugar response. (7) Cumin is considered a digestive herb and essential oil, certainly worth trying out in your weight loss blends.

Application: Try cumin in culinary preparations or simply diffused as part of a blend.

7. Black Pepper
​Black pepper is a common kitchen spice that many households are never without! Though it may have extensive culinary use, this peppercorn and its main alkaloid piperine are widely used in supplementation to:

• Help enhance absorption of certain vitamins and minerals.**
• Act as a thermogenic nutrient in the gastrointestinal tract.**
• Support bioavailability of nutrients.**

​To really demonstrate thinking outside of the box for weight loss support, let's turn to black pepper. In the 1990s, black pepper essential oil was used via inhalation to help reduce the symptoms of withdrawal for people as they quit smoking. (8) How might this benefit weight loss? The spiral of food addiction is often part of weight management problems, especially related to sugar. Taking care of your body as you make changes is important – going “cold turkey” on anything can create problems. Perhaps black pepper will help you take these steps as it did for smokers. You never know until you try!

Application: Diffusion and personal inhalers.

Diffusing Blend for Weight Loss Support
Try this stimulating, appetite-curbing combination for use around workout times, when cravings hit, or during mealtimes. Add 2 drops of the following oil blend in a gel cap for occasional support. Be sure to discontinue use immediately if acid reflux develops (can sometimes happen with peppermint).

Essential Oils for Weight Loss Blend – equal parts of:

1. Grapefruit
2. Cinnamon
3. Lime
4. Peppermint

For aromatherapy, add 5 drops of the blend into your diffuser and enjoy!

Safety & Contraindications
Are you sure you're using essential oils safely and effectively? Are you confused by dilutions and conversions?

 Let me help take out the guesswork and is the FREE guide below.

​When it comes to drug interactions and contraindications, there are literally textbooks devoted to the study of essential oil safety and, as a trained researcher and doctor, I think it’s important to note that there is virtually no research out there discussing how essential oils interact with drugs in human clinical trials. This means that essential oil safety is still a wild frontier in the science community and no one really knows (for certain) how essential oils will interact with drugs or your body.

Nonetheless, properly diluting your essential oils is fundamental to safety and effectiveness because they are highly concentrated plant compounds. To help you along your journey, I have a created an easy-to-use dilution guide that you can download for FREE to make sure that all of your topical applications are safe and effective for the entire family. 
​ 
As with as medicine and natural therapies, this is only a guide and be sure to discontinue use if any adverse reactions occur and consult your physician immediately.

​Find More Aromatherapy Textbooks Here.
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1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25002406
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17615482
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23627599
4. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666308003358
5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16298093
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15796577