Ep 36: Doc's Herbal Corner: Top 5 Essential Oils | Dr. Stephen Tates

Dr. Stephen Tates discusses the top five essential oils and their uses. He explains that essential oils are primarily used externally for their medicinal properties and are derived from flowering plants. Each oil has unique benefits, such as tea tree oil's antibacterial properties and lavender's ability to reduce stress and anxiety. Dr. Tates emphasizes the importance of using essential oils in moderation and following instructions to avoid side effects.

Takeaways
Essential oils are primarily used externally for their medicinal properties.
The top five essential oils are tea tree oil, chamomile, eucalyptus, peppermint, and lavender.
Each essential oil has unique benefits, such as tea tree oil's antibacterial properties and lavender's ability to reduce stress and anxiety.
It is important to use essential oils in moderation and follow instructions to avoid side effects.

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Transcript

Hello everyone, welcome to Adventures in Good Health. I'm your host, David Maloof, and you have entered Doc's Herbal Corner. Today, we're going to talk about essential oils, what they are, what they do, and the top five essential oils that you need to be aware of. To walk us through is my guest today, Dr. Stephen Tates.

Now, Doc is an herbalist, a natural path. He is an author, an ambassador of integrative medicine, and he has over half a century of herbal medicine experience. So, Doc, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. When you made that description, made me feel old. Especially when you said half a century, I'm like, and I like that terminology, but I'm like,

Am I that old? Yeah. Well, you're experienced. You're experienced, which is why we want you on this show, because we want people who are on this show who know what they're talking about. And I believe that's you. OK, I appreciate that. So, Doc, so today we're going to talk about essential oils. And I got a lot of questions just to get started. What are essential oils? Well, some.

herbs, especially flowering herbs like chamomile, lavender, and so on. They have a concentration of oil in the flowers themselves. Okay, so central oils tend to come in most cases from flowering plants, plants that have flowers, and the oils are carefully extracted from the flowers to be used for cosmetics, medicinal purposes.

You know, plants that don't have flowers, just got roots and box and stems, you can't really draw in the oil because there is no oil to draw. So, it's in the flowering plant in particular. So how do people, how do they use them? How do they consume essential oils? Well, some, most essential oils you don't consume.

Okay, most of the essential oils, there are a couple exceptions to the rule, but most of them are used externally for their medicinal properties, whether it's reducing inflammation or stimulating nerve response or reducing pain. They're good when you use them like in diffusers, when you're smelling the scent of the oil because the smell and scent is therapeutic.

as well as applying it mixed with other oils or carrier oils or with lotions of cream to use externally on the skin. So, most of the essential oils are highly medicinal externally on the body, not internally, because some of those herbs that are really good externally are not good internally. Okay, but that does vary from one...

essential oil to another, is that correct? Or is that just across the board? Pretty almost 99 % across the board. There are some exceptions to the rule, but essential oil, because they're very concentrated. Now some people may use some essential oil when they're gargling or washing their gums, but you still don't want to swallow it because these oils are very, very concentrated. They may smell good.

that may feel good, but extremely concentrated. And most of them, I'd say 99%, are not to be used internally. And now a quick word from our sponsor, Dr. Tate's Herbal Tinctures and Tonics. Dr. Tate's offers the herbal blood tonic, Doc's detox, herbal male tonic, herbal female tonic, and the herbal fat burner. If you would like to order your tonics.

or learn more information, you can go to drtates .online. And if you click the link in the description and enter the special promo code, Adventures in Good Health 2024, you will receive 10 % off your entire order. For more information, click the links below and now back to the show. All right. All right, so that's kind of our primer.

on essential oils. You ready to get started with your list? Yes. Now, which direction are we going to start? We're going to go one. We are starting with number five. We're starting with number five. We're going to do a countdown. Oh, OK. OK. Well, so are we ready? We are ready. Let's go. I'm doing your whole thing now. Are you ready? I am ready to go.

Okay. Number five will be one that people hear a lot of and that's called tea tree oil. Tea tree oil? Tea tree oil. T -E -A like a T or herbal tea. Tea tree oil. Now, this is different from the others. Tea tree oil is a strong medicinal essential oil. It is not...

to smell good, it's not for the diffuser, it's not for healing qualities and a sense of smell. It is designed to be used on the skin for medicinal purposes. Tea Tree oil is an antibacterial. So, applying to the skin for like fungus and bacteria and bumps and...

parasites and for pain, that's what Tea Tree is about. It helps with things like lice. I know we've heard that terminology in a while. Nail fungus, insect bites, yeah. Acne, it's because of this very, very strong antibacterial. So, Tea Tree oiil would be really good for a lot of us that have that, you know.

toenail or nail fungus. You you use teeth tree or straight. Sometimes you use it with a carrier, carrier like maybe shea butter or coconut butter. Okay, so you're kind of mixing it, you're mixing it in with something else then? You can, probably better because it's so strong and some people's skin is so sensitive that we want to make sure that they don't have that irritation.

that would come with that, okay? So again - fungus earlier, you mentioned like toe fungus. Is it beneficial in any way for something like athletes for it? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Anything that deals with fungus or bacteria that shows on the outside of the skin. In previous podcasts, we've talked about herbs that help internally, like our bitters and stuff to help with cleansing.

But see now when you use something like tea tree oil as an antibacterial, now you're doing an inside outside thing. So like say for example, toenail fungus and you're using some bitter herbs to clean the blood. Now you've got the tea tree oil to apply on the outside of the skin. And I say mix with something like maybe some, like I said shea butter or sweet almond oil.

or which hazel, you know, because the tea. Which hazel should it be? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got me there. The hazel from TV from years ago. That's OK. OK. Come on now. But not that hazel. All right. Not that hazel. Not that hazel. No. But and so and I always say. Mix the tea tree or with something else because you only need a few drops.

and then mix it with something else because some people's skin is sensitive to anything external. And if it's sensitive, what will happen is when you apply it, there may be more bumps and rashes because now you've told the body with a Tea Tree, let's cleanse in any direction that we can. Through the skin, through the blood. So, it's better to stop.

with a mixture of a lotion and then gradually go without it, you know, but you want to start off being safe. It helps with cuts. It's poisonous when you take it internally. Okay, so, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I've seen some recipes where they say, well, use a little bit of tea tree oil.

with um, essential oil or mouthwash or something to really clean the gums, you know, of plaque and fungus and stuff. No, no, because the T -trio is so strong that you accidentally swallow some of this. Now you've got a crisis. So sometimes it's better to use something else. So it's, it's a, it's a powerful medicinal essential oil. Uh huh.

But as such, there are things people need to know about it. So I'm going to, I'm going to go ahead and make the assumption that someone before someone takes this, that they need to research preferably work, you know, work with a master herbalist or natural man, you know, let me perhaps let their doctor know because it's, it's medicine. Yeah. And you make a good, you make a good point with that, David, because.

I hear a lot of people that say, I've read about tea tree oil, I heard about tea tree oil, and they just start using it. And this is one of those, well, a lot of the essential oils, you want to know what you're doing. But tea tree is kind of like at the top when it comes to having somebody guide you, especially when you're first trying to use it, because it's a powerful...

oil when used right, but that's a true word almost any of the herbs that can be very good if you know what you're doing or if you get some guidance from somebody that knows what they're doing like me That way that way they can be like, you know on the on the safe side when it comes to that All right. So, doc, are we ready to move on to number four?

Yes, number four, we're going to do a countdown. Three, two, one. Countdown to number four, all right. What are we talking about? Chamomile. Oh, chamomile. I love chamomile tea. Yeah, chamomile is one of those herbs that you can use as a tea and you can use as an oil.

A lot of the oils you can't use as a tea, which makes chamomile unique because chamomile helps with, as a tea, is very relaxing. It will help you sleep. It will help reduce stress. It will help mildly get the body to cleanse and stuff. So chamomile tea is good as a tea, especially when you mix it with peppermint. You got a real good taste. But we're talking about.

Yeah, very good tea and calming and helping people go to sleep. But we're talking about it in an essential oil. But that's one of those ones you can use both ways and you're using the flowering part of the plant. Okay? Okay. Now, Chamomile helps induce sleep. It's so relaxing and calming when you use it as an energy fuser.

or you have it in an oil that you massage in certain points on the body to help calm the body and help to induce that deep physical and mental sleep. Because see, a lot of time we can be asleep, but the mind's still working. So the tea, but also the essential oil, breathing it, the aroma, because see, with essential oil,

It's not just applying it, which is good, but it's also the smell and scent itself when it goes up into the nasal passages and stuff. It's really good. So is it something that if somebody had a diffuser and they had it say at work, is this the chamomile probably would not necessarily be a good idea because if it really relaxes them and maybe makes them sleepy, that might not be a good work.

They might lose their job because the boss might come around and find them snoring. So there may be better solutions than chamomile, but when you're at home, maybe it's towards the end of the day or you're just ready to relax. It has some therapeutic benefits, perhaps at that time of the day or will be the appropriate time for you. Yeah, when you're home mostly. You're at home. We're at home. Whether you're...

David Maloof (14:46.862)
having a diffuser and you're smelling it or it's in an essential oil that you're applying to the skin, like to the bottom of the feet, which, you know, massages in there to help relax the nerve endings in the bottom of your feet. And those nerve endings are associated with different areas of the body. So it helps kind of calm and relax the whole body. You know, so that works really well with that. But...

Now, Chamomile is number four. Out of the top five. Number four? We're already hitting some good ones here. Yeah, so there's more to Chamomile Okay. I'm going to list some. I wrote them down so that people who are listening to the podcast can write their little notes. I'm going to take my time. Chamomile have everything in the transcript. There is a transcript. There we go. There you go. Chamomile is good for hay fever. Okay.

as good as it helps reduce inflammation. Real good for muscle spasm. When you're applying chamomile oil or mixing chamomile oil with some lotion and stuff, and you got those spasms going on and the nerves are shaking, and you massage it in that area. If you're massaging it in that area, like if you're having some muscle spasms in your leg, you want to make sure you're...

Yeah, I'm massaging my leg right here as demonstrated. Do you have some chamomile with you? I don't, no, so it's not going to help much. But you would massage that area of the body with the chamomile mixed in with another oil. Yeah, but also, if you have a muscle spasm and you massage the chamomile oil in the bottom of your feet,

it will absorb through the nerves in your bottom of your feet to that area where you've got the inflammation or the muscle spasms. On the bottom of your feet? Yeah, because there's nerve endings at the bottom of the feet that's associated with every area in the body, like the acupuncture lines, you know, the nerve line. So massaging the whole foot will help in muscle spasm, inflammation, and calming.

the whole body, living on that particular area of the body. It helps with menstrual disorders. A lot of women going back centuries would massage it around their below the navel kind of area externally before or during their menstrual cycle because it has that strong calming effect which also

When it's calm and there's no inflammation, then the blood flow is better and the menstrual cycles are better. Then it helps with its insomnia. It helps with GI distress; gastrointestinal distress like with reflux and stuff. Massaging it again on the outside of the body. It helps because of the inflammation. It helps with...

rheumatoid or arthritic kinds of pain in the joints. So see, you think a chamomile is just a gentle little tea that just helps me relax for you, but who knew that chamomile oil deserves number four in our list? Like I said before, it's an anti -sprahmatic, I want to make sure we got that. It has a sedative effect, okay, and it helps with

allergies, hay fever, pollen allergies and stuff because it reduces the inflammation, calms the system, things can start to drain better. Okay. Now, are there any considerations that somebody may have that they may not want to take chamomile essential oils? Side effects mostly is nausea or dizziness and that tends to come when people use too much.

There's very few people that might have an allergic reaction. Biggest problem with essential oils is people that are not experienced tend to use more with the essential oils than they have to because most of the recipes call for like two or three drops, and most four or five drops in a diffuser or mixed in with something.

and people tend to think more means better. More does not mean better with essential oils. I'm I'm guilty because years ago I had a diffuser and I actually like eucalyptus and the direction said put three drops in this diffuser. I would put my three little drops. I was like, oh, come on. And I was like, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop. I wanted to smell it. And so basically that was not, that's.

That's a common mistake people make and not a good thing. So you want to follow the direction. Yeah, yeah. And one problem is you're using it up too quick, so you have to go out back and buy some more so you're you know, you're spending too much money. But more doesn't mean better. In the herbal kingdom, in the herbal science, that's people, if they don't learn anything else from all the various podcasts.

More does not always mean better. There's a certain proportion in your herbs, your teas, your bitters, your essential oil. So people should follow the instructions and not assume, just like you said, oh, that's not enough. I made that mistake one time. I had my lavender, my eucalyptus, and a bunch of stuff, and I'm putting it all in there. It kept me up all night. I was just.

Way too much. All right. So follow the direction. Okay. All right. That was four. That was number four. So now we're heading to three. Ooh. Number three. Do you have a guess what three might be? I don't. Okay. Eucalyptus I know I have a couple. Wait, what? Which one? Eucalyptus oil. I like eucalyptus. I like the way it smells. Oh yeah.

Oh yeah. Yeah, I love eucalyptus and yeah. So tell us about eucalyptus. I love how it smells. I did not know it was going to be number three. Yeah, well it deserves that because in diffusers and stuff when you're smelling it, eucalyptus opens up the lungs and sinuses. You have sinus congestion and you're massaging some of the oil with like some lotion or something and your sinuses.

It helps drain those sinuses, but just in a diffuser, it's really good. But now, remember when, in the old days, this was before diffusers, that, you know, our parents used to boil some water in a pot, and then they'd put a towel over your head, and it would drop the fff. Yeah, and they'd put a few drops. You just had to put it over your head.

and you're just kind of breathing in. Breathing in the fume. Well, eucalyptus is one of those herbs that you would use, you know, in the old-fashioned way, you know, with a few drops in some hot water, where you're breathing that in and it opens this all up and then helps everything start to drain so, so, so much better. Oh, wow. Okay. So, so it helps. But in doing that and draining,

People who suffer with sinus congestion, coughing, the nasal drips, all those types of things, it opens us up, and as it opens it up, it causes it to drain. So sometimes - Is that the same, is that eucalyptus, is that what's like in that Vicks Vapor Rub, is that what it is? Yeah, yeah, yeah, eucalyptus is one of those herbs that we'll find.

and a lot of the cough syrups and stuff like that. A lot of different products, yeah. It's been around, I mean, I take it it's been known for a very long time. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Now, here's something people don't know. Eucalyptus oil added to a spray mist, like with water or witch hazel or something, it chased away mosquitoes, roaches. Oh.

and rodents. Yeah, because that smell. Mosquitoes, roaches and rodents. Yeah, I mean, you could put your eucalyptus oil, now if you really want it, you can use number three and number five together, you know? Teastree oil and eucalyptus, spray it on those corners and they would run away like, oh no, no, no, no, we can't take this. They don't like that, so it's a type of natural.

Insect repellent. Insect repellent, you know? And safe. Yeah, and safe, you know? So you're not using some kind of toxic stuff, you know? Right, safe as long as you're not drinking it. Oh, absolutely. You still don't want to drink it. Yeah, okay. No, no, no, no. You always want to make sure you're not drinking any of the essential oil. Or gargling with them, okay? It helps with...

wounds and bites on the skin. It's an antimicrobial. So, you know, it deals with, you know, harmful microbe. It helps with bacteria and viruses. It's an antiseptic, so it cleans. It helps reduce inflammation and reduce swelling, which causes pain. So when you reduce the swelling, which causes pain,

you know, because of the anti -inflammatory property, then things start to move, things start to drain. But I want to mention a couple other things here and there. To help to make people understand that it deserves that number three status. It's an antioxidant. It helps with flus and fever. It builds the body's immune system. So it makes you stronger. It helps the body heal. And that's just from breathing it.

or applying it at the bottom of the feet or some of the area in the body. So it helps build the immune system as it's helping with the joint pain and reducing the inflammation. And here's another thing. 10 to 20 drops in an ounce of water is that spray portion for the roaches and rodents. But you can lift this helps with mental fog or brain fog.

and improves mental clarity. So it helps because it opens up the brain. So it's going to help it kind of cleanse really well, but open up the brain, stimulate the brain. So if you're one of those people that are always in front of a computer, and you start to get that brain fog, why does a computer screen look upside down?

You know, my upside down. You know, because you get that brain fog because you're in the computer. You know how you get on the computer, you're on there for hours. I got on here at eight o 'clock in the morning. How's it nine o 'clock at night? If I've been on it all day and your brain is tired, you can inhale some eucalyptus oil and diffuse it. It's just smelling it.

And it kind of relaxes the brain and starts to ease that brain fog. Especially if you're on deadlines and stuff like you know about deadlines. You know, for some time, you know, you've got, you know, day, day and a half of trying to get something done and your brain starts spilling out of your ears. You say, well, here's my eucalyptus. I know I had it around here somewhere. Let me just sniff a little bit. Let me get the aroma in the house. That's eucalyptus. All right.

Wow. So now we did some time ago, an entire podcast on nothing but eucalyptus. And if I recall, there are some things that people need to be aware of before that they would consider using eucalyptus. Is that correct? Yes. But that's really more for using eucalyptus internally. Okay. And in a sense, like all essential oil is

moderation, small amount goes a long way. Okay, so, as long as you're not swallowing the oil, which is very concentrated, and you do eucalyptus tea, it has some issues with side effects of your breastfeeding, not you and I, but if your breastfeeding is something, then you want to be cautious of that, or follow naturalist or herbalist instructions.

Understood. So that was number three. I'm ready for number two. Oh, celebration of number two. Okay. Oh, it is number two. So here's what I noticed about this software that I'm using for a podcast. And it's, I'm discovering this by accident. It's like, watch this.

David Maloof (29:09.653)
Uh -huh. Yeah. And see, I can see on your face, you just love that. I'm really looking. So now this is a new one. All right. Yeah. So anyone who's listening on the podcast, this software just adds these inane graphics. If I do a hand gesture. Oh, no. I don't even want to know what it would do. So we'll just, let's just move on to number two with no.

Our fellow podcasters, it's like a child with it in a toy store. You know, he can see his face. You know, he's like, oh, I found his button. Okay, who he had to live with now, you know? Oh my goodness. All right, now. Number two. Peppermint oil. Ooh. I like peppermint. Yeah, see? I peppermint candy, anyway.

Oh no, but the oil is even better. Okay. All right. So let's forget the candy. Let's talk the oil. All right. Now, just like we said with eucalyptus, peppermint oil is good for mental clarity and brain fog, you know, because it opens up the sinuses. And when it opens up the sinuses, then there's more oxygen flow. Things are common. Brain starts to function better.

But eucalyptus oil, I mean, excuse me, I'm still on number three. The peppermint oil. The peppermint. Oil is good for muscle aches and joint pains. It's good for headaches and itching. Especially people who have migraine headaches, that really pounding type. The peppermint oil and the diffuse of something or...

or in a spray where the smell opens up and starts to drain the mucous and blockages in that sinus and in the head, which helps ease those headaches and ease that pain. Okay. And then - to be tremendously beneficial to some people. Yeah. Because some people, they get those headaches, those migraine headaches, and it's like, they just want to be like,

David Maloof (31:36.653)
because any noise, any light. It's horrible. I've got patience not to interrupt you, but I've got patience that migraines are so bad that all the lights have to be out. There has to be complete silence. Any noise or any light causes more pain and disruption. Well, this oil...

helps with that. Eucalyptus does that too. Sometimes people will blend number three and number two together, which is a real interesting mixture when you do peppermint and eucalyptus together. We stand with number two, you know, because it's a standalone all by itself, but you'll find some similarities, because anything that reduces inflammation and reduces pain safely.

is a very powerful medicinal, whether it's in bitters or in teas or any form, but especially in the central oils that we're talking about. That's why the best ones are anti -inflammatory. They reduce pain, they reduce spasm. Different ones have a different intensity, but that's what helps with that. The peppermint has a function of reducing stress. It proves...

the mental capacity, but it reduces stress. But not just smelling it, but you know, sometimes some people would take a little bit and they'll put it under their nose, so they're inhaling it. All right, a little rub under their nose so they can just kind of breathe that in. Breathe it in for me. The massage in the feet with the oil, with like a carrier like witch hazel or something like that, it calms the nerves in the bottom of the feet, which then ends up calming.

calming the nerve system anywhere else in the body. That's why a lot of them describe using them on the feet because it absorbs up through the system and helps the whole body. But then you can apply it in the areas where you're having those spasms of pain. Peppermint oil, you typically, two to three drops of the oil,

directly into that area you need or in your diffuser, or your air purifier or something like that. Okay. Plus it'll make your room smell really good too. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it'll make your whole house smell better. Yeah. I know people who would use peppermint as a diffuser just because they like the way it smells. Oh yeah. I don't know if they even realize it had so many beneficial uses to it.

Yeah, but again, listening. Yeah, now peppermint oil may cause some certain side effects like hot burn, you know, especially if you're trying to use it internally, which is really shouldn't do. But if you have high burn, you can take small amounts of the peppermint mixed with a carrier. Like I said before, like with change or maybe sweet almond and you can apply it, you know.

in that area where you have that acid reflux or burning in the chest area because then it calms that down and settles that area of the body. I'm going to show them. But then it can cause, if you overuse it, then you think peppermint oil should not have any side effects. If people say, well, it's just peppermint oil.

You know, because they're thinking, maybe they're thinking peppermint candy, you know, something like that. But like everything else that rules to the road. And it's like driving down the wrong side of the highway. Well, I know how to drive. Well, you're on the wrong side of the highway. So even if you know how to drive, it's still going to be a problem. And I wrote down a list of some of those things. Overusing peppermint oil can cause nausea, vomiting.

morning kind of sickness stuff, cramps, diarrhea, gas, sinus, and respiratory issues. Now, here's the interesting thing. When you use small amounts of peppermint oil, like externally with a carrier, on your feet or certain areas of the body, then the peppermint oil will help with nausea, vomiting.

David Maloof (36:27.405)
morning sickness, cramping, diarrhea, inflammation, respiratory issues, when you're using small amount. When you use too much, then the things that was going to help with a small amount now is contributing to that problem. So, like if I'm saying that peppermint oil will help with nausea, vomiting, morning sickness,

when you're using the proportions right, when you use too much, then it can contribute to the morning sickness and the nausea and stuff like that. I'm hearing kind of a pattern here with these essential oils, which is probably true of any herbal remedy or almost any type of remedy, is you need to take it in the right quantities. And don't be like me with eucalyptus and

dropping half a bottle in my diffuser, you need to use the correct amounts and less is better. Less is better because you're saying that these side effects are predominantly caused from people just doing too much of it. Oh, doing too much of it. Or like with T -Streal, which was number five, using it internally when you shouldn't use it internally. But...

One of the things, if people don't learn anything else from the podcast, one of the things they have to understand is more does not mean better. They've got to understand that there's a do's and don'ts with most of the very powerful herbs because they're very powerful, very strongly medicinal, but also when you overuse it can be very dangerous.

you know, if you overuse it. So there's a balance. You know, there's exceptions to the rule, but what makes it very powerful, more distinctly, can make it very powerful in the opposite direction when you don't know what you're doing. All right. Are we ready to go to number one? Yeah, do we have a drum roll or something for number one? Yeah, I do. I do. But I'm not going to hit the button for that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

We're not going to do that. We'll be in trouble. We're a serious podcast. This is a serious podcast. Natural approaches to good health. So I must not laugh or smile. Yeah, I'll try not to do that. All right, number one. Number one. It's not going to one. Number one essential oil. Lavender. Lavender? That's my mom's favorite. Lavender. Yeah, okay, yeah.

Lavender. That's why you see lavender in so many different things because that's like, you know, where the British always had a king and queen, you know, of the British. But in essential oils, I don't want to put king as a top, but queen as a top. I want to deal with the essential oils. Remember, they use essential oils a lot more than we do.

And you can use lavender, same as some of the others, in a diffuser, mixed with a carrier, applied to the skin. Really, really good for reducing the spasms and inflammation and pain in the muscles and joints. You know, massage in the lavender oil, like around your elbows or your wrists or something, for stiffness or gout or arthritic kinds of pains.

It's very good for helping with sleep deprivation. So when you're having your diffuser, it helps calm the system down where you can. So kind of like the chamomile? Kind of like the chamomile. Some people will mix lavender and chamomile together. Lavender is of course number one, chamomile is number three. I think it was number three, right? It was number four.

It might have been, but there you have it, it was number four. It's still in the top five. It's a top five, all right. Top five. All right, so lavender. Lavender, it reduces stress and anxiety. Especially the stress and anxiety in the nerves, which causes stress and anxiety mentally. So you have points where you may massage it, like acupuncturists or acupressure or massage therapist.

may use lavender oil in some of their massage oil because it helps reduce that anxiety and stress as a massage in the body or helps to spasm to certain areas. So lavender oil is in a lot of the massage oil stuff that massage therapists will use. Then it's used to help with the scent. It diminishes pain.

with the inflammation when it's applied to certain areas of the body, including the bottom of the feet, but then that area. So if I have pain, say in my elbow, like that tennis elbow and stuff, and I'm massaging the lavender or the carrier or by itself with some lotion on that area, it's helping that pain in my elbow because it's helping to calm the pain.

which reduces the inflammation, which helps the blood flow better, which then helps the body be able to heal itself better. And also, along with the pain, it helps protect the body cells. Reducing that antioxidant that deals with those free radicals in the system. So again, this is a topical. Topical, you're putting it on your skin.

Essential oils, I'm sorry to stop you, but essential oils, essential oils you always think external unless you told something I'm just trying to get that into my head. Yeah, it's a very powerful external applied to the skin, you know, stimulating the senses of the smell, you know, that's where it's most powerful, you know, and that's when you're using it right, you know, so.

And that's what makes essential oils unique, you know, because you're drawing the oil from the flowers, not from the roots or the bitters and stuff. So it's like as effective as the bitters, but the bitters are used internally, the essential oils are always used externally. And they have similar benefits just applied differently, different concentrations, you know. And I've had some people say, well,

You know, that lavender oil made me sick. I said, what did you do? Well, I had a cup of tea and I put, you know, 10, 15 drops in my tea because I figured it was going to be okay because I'm smelling and it's only 10, 15 drops. Well, no, it's the wrong way. You're driving, like you hear me say, you're driving down the wrong side of the highway kind of stuff.

Okay. So, all right. So, so lavender oil is an antioxidant anti -inflammatory can help. And because it's anti -inflammatory, it helps with, with pain. And it's also very relaxing. It just helps relax the muscle. I'm just repeating what, what you've told us, but that's kind of how I, how I learn. Wow. It just sounds like a.

Even what you're saying so far, it's amazing. I can see why you have it as number one. Oh yeah, oh yeah. It's the queen. All hail to the queen. It's the queen. All hail to the queen of essential And then there's a king. Then there's a king. But in an essential way, the queen is the top. The queen is number one. The queen is number one.

and then we get to the king. So the queen in the central oil would be the lavender. Now, the king or the next thing down from it is peppermint. Some people will interchange it. Number two for them might be eucalyptus, and number three is peppermint. So depending on the person, the peppermint and eucalyptus, you know.

can flip two and three because they're both almost equally as good. I'm giving you my order of the five essential oils. That makes sense. That's what we asked for. So lavender's at the top. Now lavender, from what I understand, I mean, it's like anti -microbial. It has some strong benefits because...

Go ahead. Well, no, you finish your question. Well, so what I've read on Lavender is even, you know, certain aspects in the medical profession where some people may have difficulty with certain antibiotics, that Lavender under a doctor's direction is considered a potential alternative.

under very certain circumstances. And I just think that's amazing. That's an essential oil. But people think, well, let me tell you what I think. Essential oils, I think of those commercials from years ago with, oh, this has essential oils and all that. And it almost degraded, in a sense, it made it sound like they're so common. Oh, it's essential oils. It's just another ingredient in whatever cream or something or their goo or whatever that they're selling.

And then, to me, who at the time when I really wasn't paying that close attention, it just sounded like a marketing term, to be honest, essential oils. I had no idea that they could do these things. Yeah, and that's how they've been treated. Years ago, it's like a smell good thing, and it was far more than that. And here's the other thing.

There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of essential oils. I have reference, because I've trained people in the use of essential oils. I have reference books that have two, three hundred different types of essential oils, and many of them have your very unique qualities. But some of them, like jojoba oil, or sweet almond oil, or...

something called the Lang Lang. I mean, it just like, you know, there's a whole world of essential oil that you could deep dive in and never get back to the bidders because the essential oils have just swallowed you up with the essential oil world. We don't want to leave the bidders. We don't want to leave them by themselves. We them alone. But that's how, you know, when you start digging into, if you get a book on essential oil,

He just opened it up and said, oh, what's this one say? He'd be like, who knew? You know what I mean? So, grape seed oil, you know, is a carrier oil, but it's essential oil by itself. So there's a whole world, I'm trying to make people to listen and understand that there's a whole world of essential oil, but just start simple, you know, start with the, you know,

4 -3 -2 -1, you know, T -3 oil is like, you know, strictly medicinal, but you know, the others we listed, and you want to start with them. Get to know them really well, or, you know, when you have questions, you know, contact me, or, you know, and it's just like, you know, I heard about the central oil, you know, and I got this, that, and that going on, you know, and what do I need? And I'll point you toward the bitters, you know, or the bittern tonics, but then also,

what will complement will be the external with certain types of essential oils. Well, Doc, if anyone wants to reach out to you, your contact information is popping up on the screen. It's also in the show notes and the transfer. So if they want to reach out to you, they can reach out to you by telephone or through your website. So, Doc, thank you very much for.

expanding our knowledge and experience regarding essential oils, the top five. Thank you. The top five. Thank you for having me. Top five. All right. All right. Well, that was a fantastic conversation. And thank you very much for Dr. Tate's on his top five essential oils. Now, thank you to you, my audience. Thank you for watching. Thank you for liking. Thank you for commenting and.

Thank you for hitting that button right down there, right down there, the subscribe button. It really does, I don't know, the algorithms do something to the channel and it really helps the channel. So thank you very much. So until next week, this is David Maloof, exploring natural approaches to good health. That does it for this episode of Adventures in Good Health.

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