The healing properties of essential oils are long sung for ages; you must have heard raving thoughts and opinions on essential oils and its uses for anxiety, sleep, skin, and hair.
But essential oils for weight loss?
Is that even possible and how does one go forward with that?
Well, there no worries cause that precisely what we will tell you in this article, essential oils that are best suited for you to trim down your body and its ways to use it for weight loss.
All these years’ people have just looked forwards to indulging into activities such as gymming, exercise and dieting for their weight loss regime but who would have thought that essential oils for weight loss are also beneficial and the most crucial part being it’s all-natural.
Having said so it is necessary to understand that even though there are new options to explore for us to lose some extra pounds these drops of heaven aren’t any magical portion that can help you lose weight tremendously in just a few days.
Essential oil for weight loss is mainly meant to aid the entire process of your weight loss journey that to help you lose weight solely, thus relying entirely on essential oils would be a bad idea. So if you are really looking forward to losing some extra pounds then keep on reading.
The main topics that we will be covering in this article are listed below for your convince:
- Why is maintain weight important?
- Essential oils for weight loss
- How to use essential oils for weight loss
- Edible essential oils
- Concluding statement
So before getting into the part of essential oils, it’s important to understand the root causes and the reason behind why should you lose weight.
Why is weight loss important?
One of the most common health-related problems that most of the people in this world face is obesity and overweight.
In fact, studies say that over that last few years the rate at which the obesity is increasing in this world is really abnormal and obesity is the leading cause of other chronic diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure, etc.
According to a study by Global Burden of Diseases about 4.7 million people had died in 2017 as a result of obesity and globally it has affected 8% of our population to die as a result of obesity [1].
Being overweight or obese can cause many health issues that affect the normal functioning of our life, and thus it becomes very important for us to understand its essential and take a note of it.
There are measuring tools that one can use in order to know if you are obese or overweight or not; this will help you get an idea where you stand, and how much you need to push yourself for it, Body Mass Index is the most defined way to get an individual’s weight status.
Although there are many challenging and different ways to gain weight, the best part of the weight is that if you work hard enough, you can lose it.
So let know how and what can help you with this
Essential oils for weight loss
There are more than 100 essential oils that are commercially available for you to use, but it’s impossible to go around try all of the essential oils to figure out what might suit you.
Thus we have listed down here the top 5 essential oils that have been used and proven to be useful for the purpose of weight loss.
Therefore essential oils for weight loss varies and can also be affected differently from one person to another. Still, most of the people get use to the conventional essential oils that are best known for weight loss.
Ginger essential oil for weight loss
Ginger is a compound that has always been known for its ability to promote weight loss; people for ages have been using ginger for better digestion and constipation problems.
Ginger essential oils have nutrients and mineral in it that enhances the effect of proper digestion and helps in better absorption of food and vitamins in our body.
The most important compound in ginger called gingerol is the main ingredient that helps in inflammation and also acts as an agent to reduce weight and burn fat in our body.
Scientific studies:
- A study in 2014 has stated how gingerol as a substance has high effectiveness in lowering lipid profile and acts as an anti-obesity agent.
Lemon essential oil for weight loss
You must have heard the very famous lemon and water recipe to reduce weight, right? Well, lemon essential oils also work similarly. Still, in a stringer way, since essential oils are primarily concentrated form of that particular ingredient, its effects on our body also improve accordingly.
Lemon, in general, is also used for other soothing effects in our body, such as refreshments, helps in anxiety control and also helps to boost our immune system.
Scientific work:
- A systemic review in 2015 stated how lemon essential oils helps to reduce weight, it says that the aromatic scents of the oils help to activate our nervous system and thus helps in promoting the breakdown of the excess of fat in our body[2].
- Limonene is a compound that is mainly found in lemon and is extracted as essential oils, a study in fishes showed that this active compound helped to reduce a significant amount of triglyceride and cholesterol in the fishes that were fed with limonene diet[3].
Grapefruit essential oil for weight loss
Grapefruit essential oils help in breaking down fat very effectively. Grapefruit as fruit has always been used for the sole purpose of losing weight and in fact, was also popularly known as Hollywood Diet back in the ’90s.
Scientific studies:
- Studies had shown that when grapefruit was given to mice as a drink along with fatty foods the mice evaluated to show fewer amounts of accumulated weight and fat in their body, thus concluding that around 18% less weight was gained than that of the control[4].
- The grapefruit oil contains a high amount of nootkatone, which is responsible for stimulating the use of sugar in our body, thereby reducing the accumulation of fat in our body[5].
Cinnamon essential oil for weight loss
Cinnamon essential oils are used for various purposes such as lowering of stress, as an anti-microbial agent, anti-oxidant etc.
Cinnamon oils is said to reduce weight gain by reducing the craving for food in our body; thus, unnecessary eating of food is prevented.
The presence of linalool in the cinnamon essential oils plays the significant role in burning our fat.
Scientific studies:
- A study in 2018 showed how linalool the primary substance found in cinnamon essential oil helped in inhibiting the accumulation of lipids in the adipose cells, thus helping to control the weight in mice[6].
- Another study in 2017 showed how cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon essential oil helps to protect mice from gaining weight and also concluded by saying that it helps in boosting up the metabolism and thus helps in burning calories to produce more heat and thus leading in weight loss.[7]
Peppermint essential oil for weight loss
Peppermint has a strong aroma that helps in refreshment and also has other beneficial roles incorporated in it.
Peppermint essential oils are good for digestion, and it is known to help reducing craving as well. That is it helps in suppressing our appetite and avoids us from overeating.
Our mind and body become much aware of our surrounding as it causes a burst of refreshment in our nervous system.
Although there are no direct relation of peppermint with weight loss, it enhances our bodies system in a way to induce weight loss, such as.
Scientific studies:
- Researchers have seen that the use of peppermint essential oils helps a person to increase their breathing rate and thus increases their physiological parameter, thereby enhancing their capability to exercise more.[8]
- A study in 2008 evaluated the effect of peppermint essential oils on one’s appetite control and calorie intake, and the study showed that people who inhaled peppermint for 2 hours felt less hungry as compared to the power, thus concluding that the oil helps to reduce the craving of food.[9]
Other potential essential oils for weight loss:
- Bergamot essential oil
- Lavender essential oil
- Garlic essential oil
- Turmeric essential oil
- Fenugreek seed essential oil
How to use essential oils for weight loss
Essential oils can be used in various ways, but depending on the purpose of use, specific techniques are more efficient than the other for that particular use.
The three main ways of using essential oils: inhaling, topical application and ingesting it.
The best way to use essential oil for weight loss:
- Drink it: Drinking essential oils is one of the best ways to incorporate it into our life. Essential oils are very concentrated in nature; thus, the use should be carefully done with all precautions.
- – Use it in your morning tea- add 4-5 drops of essential oil in your hot tea and drink it.
- – You can add essential oils like turmeric and basil in milk and drink it as well.
- – Add 1-3 drops of edible essential oil in warm water and ingest it.
- Inhale it: Inhaling essential oils for weight loss is another most popular ways of losing weight.
- – Use it in the diffuser-add 6-7 drops of essential oils in the diffuser
- – Inhale by steam
- – Apple on palm and inhale it
- – Use directly from the bottle.
Edible essential oils
Not all essential oils are consumable, and thus it’s suggested to kindly check the list of essential oils that the FDA has approved for safe consumption[10].
There is a list of essential oils that have been approved by the FDA as safe consumption, having said so it should be consumed in the form of pills, capsules or diluted with water.
There can be side effects of consuming essential oils that are not supposed to be consumed, such as irritable bowel syndrome.
Essential oils to be avoided for consumption:
Here are some of the essential oils that you should avoid consuming
- Cedarwood essential oil
- Eucalyptus essential oil
- Cypress essential oil
- White fir essential oil
- Birch essential oil
Concluding statement
Even though essential oil provides us with a wide range of properties and objectives to work with, there has to be additional work that has to be made from your side in order to maintain a healthful lifestyle. Thus even though essential oils can enhance the process of weight loss; it alone does not have the capacity to do so. Therefore exercise and properly maintained diet is also suggested to be followed.
This article just gives you a brief idea about the essential oils that are proven to show positive results for weight loss, but before incorporating it in your routine; you can always consult your doctor to get a professional suggestion.
