THE ESSENTIALS OF ESSENTIAL OILS - LEMON
Lemon is a very misunderstood fruit. Due to its naturally sharp flavour and the fact that, in its natural state Lemon has a pH of 2, Lemon is regarded as acidic. However Lemon has a very alkalizing affect on the body. Once metabolized Lemon can bring the body's pH up to 7! The English word Lemon is from the Arabic "lamuin" and Persian "limun" which means citrus fruit. Due to its zesty tang and vibrant yellow, Lemon is often referred to as "Liquid Sunshine". Both fruit and the essential oil, have been used in Ayurvedic medicine for millenia. Native to Asia, the Lemon was loved by ancient Egyptians, Romans and Indians, particularly in treating infectious diseases. Lemon was essential in ancient naval excursions for preventing or treating vitamin deficiencies - such as scurvy. History tells us that the first Lemon to reach American shores was thanks to Christopher Columbus.
We are blessed to have a beautiful old rough skin lemon on our South African homestead. The fruit is huge with plenty of lovely peel. The peel of the Lemon is rich in fat soluble phytonutrients. If you scratch the nutrient dense Lemon peel with a knife you can see the droplets that form are fatty. This is why the essential oil is extracted through cold-pressing the Lemon peel. The zesty aroma and flavour peculiar to a Lemon is evidence of the extremely concentrated active chemical components. Lemon essential oil is an invigorating oil with powerful therapeutic properties. This means it is a very effective in treating mental exhaustion as well as physical fatigue.
Lemon essential oil is a wonderful anti-inflammatory. It is also known for its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. You can use Lemon essential oil to treat digestive issues. It also stimulates circulation and reduces blood pressure. People suffering from arthritis find relief applying Lemon essential oil topically. The cosmetic industry incorporate this zesty essential oil in their skin, hair and nail products. For a refreshing and balancing hair spray, following your regular wash, add a few drops of Lemon essential oil to a spray bottle of diluted Apple Cider Vinegar (50/50 ratio to water). In culinary dishes, whether raw or cooked, sweet or savoury Lemon really jazzes up food and adding its powerful nutritional properties. While discussing the diverse uses of Lemon let's not forget using it as a household cleaner. Its anti-fungal properties, combined with the ability to break down fats, make it essential in your home. Instead of discarding the peel store them in an airtight container, covered with white vinegar. After 2 weeks strain and use, diluted in a bucket of water for cleaning. My favourite is a generous amount of Lemon and Orange essential oils to my laundry gel (Here you can read about my Sunshine Gel: https://steemit.com/howto/@buckaroo/laundry-liquid-with-essential-oils-the-sunshine-recipe
Lemon is, by far, my most favourite essential oil. It was only when I was pregnant and suddenly restricted in the use of potent essential oils that I fell in love with Lemon as an essential oil. I made a nutrient dense body butter -rich with jojoba, rosehip, avo, flax and Vitamin E - and plenty of Lemon essential oils. I called it Zest for Life, and it was soon popular with many other pregnant and breastfeeding mamas. A month ago I decided to begin a health series about essential oils. My first of "The Essentials of Essential Oils was the lovely Lavender https://steemit.com/naturalmedicine/@buckaroo/the-essentials-of-essential-oils-lavender @naturalmedicine then asked me to contribute to their budding group. After wracking my brains for the past week about a suitable home remedy for the exciting challenge held by @naturalmedicine, I decided that it had to be Lemon!
If the previous information packed paragraphs haven't already blown you away, then buckle your seatbelts for a zesty ride. Since joining Steemit my Husband has encouraged me to write about natural child rearing. "After all" he keeps reminding me; "You have so much to write about! Baby wearing. Cloth diapers. SBO's and probiotics. Breast feeding. Foundational first foods. Your Blue Box and Essential oil remedies! The list is endless. You can help people." But I'm still on the journey of discovery and with so many amazing and experienced mamas and health experts out there, I have to admit, I don't feel quite up to scratch. That said I am passionate about health. I am passionate about my family. And I am passionate about my animals (read goats). I only ever use natural remedies (unless a real life and death crisis) and am amazed by the power of #naturalmedicine.
Recently I was really blown away by the remarkable Lemon essential oil. My one year old loves real food. He starts the day with Barley Green powder and by lunch time is pointing at the Vitamix telling me it's time for fruit smoothies. Among his favourite foods are sauerkraut, bone broth and - yup - you guessed it - Lemon! He loves to chew on lemon. This little boy of mine has never been sick. And then with the last batch of teeth, four at once, he had a cold for 2 days. He was miserable and really congested. Squirting breastmilk in his nose helped for an hour or two, much to my delight. Tissue salts and my well traveled homeopathic Blue Box gave him relief during the day but after the second sleepless night I was a little desperate. My dear Husband then asked "What about your essential oils?" When he's teething I massage my son's little feet and jaw line with coconut oil and a dash of chamomille. It helps the pain, inflammation and calms him. So I added Lemon essential oil to the massage blend. That night I put two drops of Lemon and two drops of Chamomille inside his little pillow. And we all slept! Ater a full night's rest thanks to cleared nasal passages my little boy bounced back - literally. Did I mention that Lemon essential oil is a natural decongestant?
My love and use of Essential Oils goes back many years. While this is the start of my series "The Essentials of Essential Oils", I am by no means an authority. This is an area that fascinates me and I still have much to learn. Essential oils are defined as a: "concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (defined as "the tendency of a substance to vaporize") aroma compounds from plants; a natural oil typically obtained by distillation and having the characteristic odour of the plant or other source from which it is extracted." While not all plants produce essential oils, essential oils can be found in leaves, flowers, stems and even the fruit of certain plants. The essential oil journey is an incredible one and I never leave home without my small natural first aid kit, in my hand bag. I am delighted to contribute to the wonderful #naturalhealth initiative. Join me in this health adventure!
My lemon tree is still in its pot and just growing leaves. Not sure if it's ever going to give us lemons this year but The Lord willing, we will. Last year we were blessed with fruits.
Do you ever extract lemon oil? I have lemon EO so I might use it more often now when we're decongested.
No we've never extracted oil. It's one challenge I've chosen not to attempt. But I'd be interested to try. Hope your lemon tree grows big and strong. I believe it's an essential in a garden
Woo! Love your post - we've given you a 100 percent upvote and hope it helps you continue to write such amazing posts. We're resteeming this and putting you in the curation too for next week. Thanks for using the natural medicine tag so we can more easily find you.
If you're a supporter of all things natural healing, and haven't already got on board our collective, you might like to read our introductory post here. We'd also love to welcome you on Discord here!! Delegations appreciated in order to support our growing collective - to do so click here.
Thank you @naturalmedicine. I hope others can learn something about the amazing power of essential oils.
We have lemons galore around here. We usually just use it to make lemonade and then throw the peels out the window into the yard. Ha! I hadn't thought of turning them into a cleaning solution. I'll have to give that a try (I once tried some orange peel one but never thought of lemon peel). We got about 50 lemons off of trees last week and I didn't even get all of the ones that were ripe!
Oh wow, galore! Yes, collect the lemon peel and use it for cleaner. Although, I'm not sure how to extract oil from the lemon peel. It'd be interesting.
@apanamamama I always feed the peels to my goats - as you can see in the photo! They love it and it's so good for them. @lovenfreedom first put me onto the orange cleaner with peels, and I thought, with so many lemons, why not? My goats are disgusted but they aren't totally deprived
Love this. Trying it. Posted about it. :)
Oh wonderful! Happy that you found value in the post. Will check yours out @corazondelcielo
This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
You have a minor misspelling in the following sentence:
It should be millennia instead of millenia.I too am a huge fan of essential oil ... nature is so full of rememdies, there's no need to hit up the local pharmacy for toxins ;) Love this post @buckaroo :)
Absolutely! It amazes me that nature has a far more powerful (and cheaper) pharmacy! Happy you could relate to this post @lynncoyle1
Love lemon! I had no idea lemon essential oil was a natural decongestant. I use it when my husband and I have colds or sore throats as a natural antibiotic. I would get teased at work for drinking garlic lemon teas to fight off any scratchiness in my throat. Haha, but it works for me.
So good to hear your boy has never been sick. All of the nutrients you’re teaching him about will go a long way for his health in the future. We’ve just figured out that perhaps it’s better that we can not get everything we need at a ‘food store’.
Anyway, your husband is right you have a ton to write about and I’d venture to say an audience who wants to read it. ✌️
That is such a sweet response @puravidaville. Thank you. Drinking lemon tea is fantastic. I usually make a strong lemon blend with cayenne pepper and ginger to sip through the day when the flu is doing it's rounds. I prefer swallowing garlic whole, like a pill, although I love it in food. You are right. It is better that we can't always get what we think we need from the store
I’ll do the cayenne pepper mixture as well. I’m still learning about natural remedies and healing through food, there’s so much to learn, that reading your knowledgeable posts are quite helpful to me.
Happy to share my experience!
We never used essential oils until we lived overseas. We often used a diffuser and applied topically when we lived in Indonesia. It was more challenging to buy the oils. Now that we are back in the United States, it is much easier to find high-quality products.
In Indonesia, we lived near a farm that started making kalamansi essential oil. Kalamansi is a cirtrus that was originally found in the Philipines.
Thanks for sharing!
That is fascinating @sumatranate! Essential oils in the recent years have gained popularity here in South Africa. We have a very good local company, S.OIL, that extracts their own from locally grown herbs. I wish we had could get essential oils that can be ingested. We can import doTerra but it's far too expensive
i use lemon as a natural deodorant for myself :) just a few drops of the juice under my armpit and i am fine for the day! works 99% for me :) i do natural cosmetics, like sunscreen, creams, tooth pastes, but never deodorant :) i am too happy with the lemon :)
i resteemed it, for others to lean about the essential oil also! :D super informative post! :)
That is a fantastic idea @purplemoon! I make my own natural cosmetics and put lemon essential oils in most of them. Thank you for the resteem
do you also do deodorant with lemon e.o. inside? how does it do with the sun? The reason why I don't use lemon in my creams because is photosensitive, what's your experience with it? Very interested on the topic! :D
Yes I use the e.o in the deodorant @purplemoon. But I make a dry one, in small quantities, and it lives in the cupboard. I must say I had a rather amusing first experience with how volatile citrus e.o are! I made a gardening body butter with grapefruit, lime and lemon. In the middle of summer. And it got a bit of sun. The thing became volcanic and I had this curdled cream mess oozing all over the place! Live and learn
I love lemon both as food and as scent ...
Lemon is amazing. I love the fresh scent
nods