Losing weight can be a difficult journey for many individuals. While maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise are crucial, some seek additional support to boost their weight-loss efforts. Essential oils have gained popularity in recent years due to their many health benefits, including their ability to help with weight loss. Here are seven essential oils that can promote weight loss and support a healthy lifestyle:
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Lemon essential oil is highly regarded for its cleansing properties, both internally and externally. When it comes to weight loss, this essential oil can help with detoxification, helping the body get rid of waste more efficiently.
By promoting a healthy digestive system, lemon oil can support weight loss efforts by improving nutrient absorption and preventing the buildup of toxins that may hinder metabolism.
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When we're stressed, we turn to our favorite convenience foods – like chips, cookies, candy and cakes – and we're less likely to go to the gym or get enough sleep. If this is a problem for you, using lavender oil can be of great help, as lavender promotes relaxation, relieves stress, supports restful sleep, and may also reduce unhealthy cravings.
When we inhale the delicious scents, we instantly drool and we want to satisfy those cravings – so inhaling essential oils like lavender will relax you and soothe those cravings. Other ways to reap the benefits of lavender essential oil for weight loss include applying two to three drops on your temples, wrists, and back of your neck before bed. There are other soothing essential oils that help us get relaxed and not worry.
The grapefruit diet was a huge success at the time, and there may be some science behind this primitive eating plan. Grapefruit and grapefruit oil have fat-burning properties. Grapefruit oil supports the breakdown of body fat by activating enzymes in the body. It contains powerful compounds that support your metabolism and cleanse your lymph nodes, allowing them to carry nutrients to your tissues.
For weight loss, massaging grapefruit oil on your stomach may reduce dangerous belly fat and waist circumference, according to researchers from the Wonkwang School of Health Sciences in Korea. Furthermore, the study found that people who massaged their stomachs with grapefruit oil during the study felt better about their bodies. But not all essential oils are safe for the skin. You can also use grapefruit oil to reduce hunger cravings by adding a drop or two to a glass of water or applying two drops to your wrists or chest.
Some research suggests that holy basil oil may help regulate stress and anxiety. When you produce too much of the stress hormone cortisol, you can experience weight gain and a number of other health effects. Using holy basil oil will help relieve emotional stress and anxiety, two factors that can contribute to weight gain and require difficulty in losing weight.
When it comes to choosing the best essential oil for weight loss, it's about knowing what's holding back your efforts and removing that obstacle. Try it by adding a drop or two of oil to a glass of warm water and drink.
Ginger oil tops the list of essential oils for weight loss, supporting digestion, reducing inflammation, and relieving sugar cravings. (This is one of the reasons why some restaurants offer ginger dessert to guests, and why ginger is a popular remedy for nausea.) Ginger oil also acts as a thermogenic agent, which means it can help burn fat and boost your metabolism. Try adding two drops of ginger oil to a cup of warm water and drink it as you would tea, or add two to three drops to a warm water bath and soak in it, or inhale it directly from the bottle.
Cinnamon helps regulate blood sugar (glucose) and insulin levels. By balancing blood sugar, cinnamon oil can reduce sugar cravings and overeating. It also prevents fatigue and mood swings that hinder healthy habits and sabotage weight loss efforts.
Sprinkle five drops of cinnamon oil in a home aroma dispenser or combine five drops of cinnamon with one or two teaspoons of coconut oil and place them on your wrists, chest or abdomen.
When it comes to weight loss, some essential oils work best when mixed with an oily base. One of the best ways to make the body look stylish, slimming, reduce water puffiness and tighten the skin, is to use essential oils within an oily body base (such as sweet almonds and vitamin E).
The smell of peppermint oil may help curb appetite by affecting the area of the brain that makes you feel full. In one study, people who inhaled peppermint oil every two hours felt less hungry and consumed an average of 2,800 fewer calories over a week (or about 300 a day) than their counterparts who didn't smell peppermint. This is very important!
And that's not the only research showing that inhaling peppermint alone or with other essential oils can eliminate food cravings, especially those very strong from chocolate. People who inhaled a combination of essential oils of grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peppermint and okotia reported appetite control. By contrast, inhaling vanilla essential oil triggered the appetite for chocolate. The study's authors conclude that "they can be applied in several areas such as weight loss programs, treatment, and recovery programs.
