Essential oils can play an important role in any weight-loss program. There are many oils that are complementary to other lifestyle changes, and add up to create synergistic effects. This post lists some of the best essential oils for weight loss and the recipes for these oils.
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Essential oils have been in use across a variety of ancient cultures for thousands of years – from the Egyptians and Chinese to the Greeks, Indians, and Romans
The oils are taken from a variety of different sources in nature, including the fruit, leaves, seeds, and sap of a plant as well as the roots and bark, too. Each essential oil is unique and has its own healing properties.
Some essential oils have antibacterial properties while others are wonderful for reducing inflammation. There are also essential oils that are helpful for boosting mood, burning fat, suppressing appetite, and alleviating cravings.
How Essential Oils Help the Mind and Body
When you inhale essential oils, the stimulation influences your mental, physical, and emotional state. This, of course, has an influence on your stress levels, blood pressure, motivation, heart rate, and even your mood.
So, yes, using essential oils can do incredible things for anxiety and stress, but it can also help you in your attempts to lose weight and keep your appetite at bay. Whether it’s constant cravings of fatty, sugary foods or you deal with mood swings and poor digestion, essential oils can play a key role.
A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology suggests that sniffing certain aromas can inhibit your desire to eat.
Scents like eucalyptus, peppermint, and grapefruit are some of the best essential oils for weight loss. Just deeply inhaling their aroma a few times in each nostril should be enough to curb even the greatest craving or hunger pang.
Experts suggest that you avoid using the same essential oil two days in a row as you may become too used to them. So for the greatest impact, change your chosen scent on a daily basis.
Best Essential Oils for Weight Loss & How to Use Them
1. Grapefruit
Grapefruit has been a popular fruit in weight loss for decades. The essential oil is extracted from the fruit’s rind and has proven to be excellent at burning fat, limiting bloating, and suppressing appetite.
This is believed to be due to high concentrations of a component that triggers 5′ adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which causes the body to use its sugars thus preventing fat from accumulating. This reduces fat stores and encourages weight loss. This is why grapefruit is one of the best essential oils for weight loss.
Studies have shown that rats who were exposed to the oil three times a week for just 15 minutes a time ate less and lost weight.
Grapefruit Essential Oils for Weight Loss: Recipe
- Add a drop or two to a glass of water and drink it first thing every morning. This should give your metabolism a boost thus helping you lose weight. You can also drink it after you eat, this may help prevent bloating and encourage proper digestion.
- Alternatively, you can keep a bottle handy to inhale it when you’re overrun by cravings.
- It also works if you rub a drop or two on your temples, wrists, and underneath your nose.
- You can also decide to pop it in your diffuser.
2. Cinnamon
Cinnamon essential oil has become popular among diabetics and the reason for this might just be due to the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, study (on the medicinal properties of true cinnamon) which found that it could help lower blood glucose.
As it turns out, true cinnamon has anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-parasitic properties, and helps fight free radicals. Therefore, cinnamon oil can help keep your blood sugar in check thus preventing cravings, over-eating, and weight gain. It is, therefore, one of the best essential oils for weight loss.
Adding it to your meals may also aid in slowing down just how quickly glucose is released which, of course, also helps your weight loss journey. It may also be effective in curbing cravings (and preventing over-eating) because of the presence of eugenol. This is a component, which can change neurosensory perceptions thus changing how you smell and taste food.
How to Use Cinnamon Essential Oils for Weight Loss
- It’s easy to use for weight loss – simply drink it! Add a drop or two in warm water with raw honey and enjoy this daily. You can drink it before a meal or in the evening when your cravings tend to strike.
- It can also be added to your cooking, whether it’s smoothies, oatmeal, or even baking.
- Alternatively, you can inhale it as you do with grapefruit oil. It’s particularly helpful for those guilty of emotional eating.
- You may also use it topically or with a diffuser.
3. Ginger
This is an anti-inflammatory essential oil, and this can play an important role in weight loss, as relieving inflammation will allow your body to digest and absorb nutrients more efficiently.
Gingerols, the compound found in ginger, reduce intestinal inflammation and in addition to nutrient absorption, also helps prevent disease.
Ginger can help prevent obesity as caused by a diet high in bad fat and sugar. It especially helps with the fat around the belly. This is because ginger suppresses cortisol levels, which can cause people to over-eat the wrong types of foods.
How to Use Ginger Oil
- Add a drop or two to a cup of warm water and add raw honey and/or fresh lemon juice before drinking.
- Of course, you can also inhale it directly in the face of cravings.
4. Peppermint
This oil is most commonly used for the digestive system but its ability to relax the abdominal muscles and decrease bloating shows it has a place in the weight loss world, too. Its cooling compound improves digestion and expels gas, calming even the most upset stomach.
It also has an effect on how you smell and taste food; thus it may be the ideal option for curbing the appetite and suppressing cravings.
How to Use
- Add a drop or two to a glass of water and enjoy it 30 minutes before meal.
- It is particularly powerful when you keep the bottle handy to inhale it when you are overcome by hunger or cravings. It can suppress your appetite and make you feel full.
- You can also take a sniff or two before you eat to prevent any over-eating.
- Of course, you may also pop it in your diffuser and allow it to run throughout the day as a means of preventing cravings and lifting your mood.
5. Lemon
Like grapefruit essential oil, the lemon oil is extracted from the rind of the fruit. The rind contains limonene, a compound known as a natural fat dissolver.
How to Use Essential Oils on Skin | Essential Oils for Skincare
A study from the Niigata University School of Medicine found that when the two oils are combined, they support the breakdown of body fat, which prevents weight gain. Lemon oil also improves digestion overall.
How to Use Lemon Essential Oils for Weight Loss
It’s the same method as grapefruit essential oil
- Just add a drop or two in a glass of water and drink it when you wake up.
- Again, you can inhale it to prevent cravings or use it in a massage oil on cellulite.
6. Bergamot
People who are caught up in emotional eating know just how much depression and anxiety can play a role in this. Sadly, giving in to those feelings may provide you with an immediate boost but it won’t last, and this results in feeling lower than before and is a serious blow to your self-esteem.
A study from the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine has found that 15 minutes of inhaling bergamot will reduce cortisol levels and give you a serious mood boost.
As it turns out, bergamot contains polyphenols (the compound in green tea) and this helps burn fat and sugar. While the sweet scent creates relaxation and a mood boost, the polyphenols help prevent emotional eating and cravings.
How to Use
The most effective way to harness the power of bergamot oil for weight loss is by inhaling it from the bottle or adding a few drops to your shower!
7. Sandalwood
This is another excellent option for anyone who is prone to emotional eating during stressful situations. It can help bring about a sense of calm thus suppressing negative feelings. That pleasing woody scent creates a natural therapeutic effect on the brain’s limbic system.
The limbic system is the part of the brain controlling emotions like anger and pleasure. Using essential oils to balance your mood and emotions will ensure you feel good, encouraging you to strive for weight loss.
How to Use for Weight Loss
There are three options on how to use sandalwood in your weight loss journey
- You can inhale it
- Diffuse it
- Apply it topically
8. Lavender
It’s the most popular of all of the essential oils and it might just be the most versatile as well. While some of these oil suggestions will aid digestion and others will suppress appetite, lavender’s effect is different.
One of the biggest contributors to weight gain in our modern society is anxiety and depression. Lavender can bring about a sense of calm and help fight feelings of anxiety and depression.
- Inhale it or diffuse it. Either way, it will help you in your drive to manage your mood and fight weight gain.
9. Eucalyptus
Looking for a way to reduce stress? Check! Desperate for relief from mental fatigue? Double-check! In desperate need of weight loss assistance? Check!
A quick sniff can save you from giving in to your cravings by giving you an invigorating boost.
- Inhaling it is the most efficient way to harness its power – just have a sniff when you need it, particularly when you feel a craving.
- Alternatively, you can add it to your shower to start your day off right.
10. Frankincense
This oil is effective in calming anxiety, which can be the trigger for overeating. It also aids digestion, which is helpful for weight loss.
- You can inhale it as with the majority of the oils listed above or choose to add drops of it to your diffuser. Either way, it works!
11. Jasmine
Jasmine has a calming effect. It has been used to treat anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Therefore, it’s an excellent choice when it comes to controlling cravings and trying to lose weight.
- Inhaling jasmine oil is helpful, particularly if you do so before you eat. While you can inhale it at any point you feel anxious or you have a craving, doing so before you eat should help prevent overeating.
- You can add it to your diffuser (in addition to some grapefruit oil) to boost your mood and relieve cravings.
12. Orange
This appetite-suppressing essential oil can help prevent you from overeating. It also packs a vitamin C punch and serves up serious antioxidants. It’s great to boost the mood and help keep your spirits high to avoid emotional eating.
- This is ideal to inhale as it acts quickly to leave you feeling energized.
- You can also add it to water and enjoy the glass before a meal.
13. Rosemary
It’s as delicious as it is potent, and you might not look at rosemary the same again. This oil reduces cortisol levels. Not only does cortisol increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure, but tends to cause overeating and making wrong food choices. Managing your cortisol levels is a sure way to keep your weight in check.
- The perfect way to use it is by inhaling it – simply take deep breaths for around five minutes (whether right from the bottle or by putting it on a cloth or cotton ball).
14. Fennel
This is a scent that is both earthy and sweet. Fennel is great for improving sleep, digestion, and curbing your appetite. It contains melatonin, which is known for regulating your body’s circadian rhythm and improving sleep.
- You can either drop it in water to drink before you eat or put a drop on each of your wrists (this is particularly helpful for anyone who constantly battles cravings for sweets).
Final Thoughts
Essential oils are regarded as extremely effective in aiding weight loss. Whatever your lifestyle, diet, and exercise habits are, essential oils play a helping role in the final outcome.
As always, when ingesting oil, be sure you are using an oil that can be acceptably used for dietary purposes. It should be purchased from a trustworthy source, and would preferably be organic.
Try a few of these essential oils for weight loss and give your body the push it needs to do the needful with the extra weight.
References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17615482/
https://academic.oup.com/bbb/article/83/5/923/5937740
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20623616/
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