Homemade Deodorant with doTERRA Essential Oils

doTERRA has a recipe for a deodorant just using essential oils that you mix and put in a skinny glass roll-on tube that you can purchase online. I used a recipe from a different company that included ingredients like baking soda and beeswax & I also added some of my oils from doTERRA. I chose to use Purify, Onguard, & Bergamont. I love the smell! And the deodorant works great. You can find the recipe I used here. 

Bacteria is what causes your armpits to smell and the doTERRA essential oils called Purify & Onguard kill the odor causing bacteria. I read that the beeswax acts as an antiperspirant.

When making this recipe, I recommend melting the beeswax first then adding and melting the coconut oil before you add the remaining ingredients. The beeswax took a long time to melt on low heat, but would melt faster if that was the only thing in your pot. 

Have fun making this recipe! I found the beeswax pastilles melt faster, are easier to measure and it is cheaper to buy them through Amazon. 

I was surprised how much it made.
I saved two of my old empty
deodorant/antiperspirant bottles
and still had a 1/2 cup left over.
This deodorant WORKS GREAT and I LOVE it!!

What I've Done over the Past 5 Months to Drastically Improve how I Feel

There was an interesting article posted on Facebook that talked about sleep aids, over the counter and prescription and their long and short term affects. Since I am not a medical profession, it would be best & wise if you talked to your doctor ALWAYS, no matter what you hear or read. I am very med compliant and always will be. 

I do like both conventional and natural medicine but found it interesting to read how some over the counter medications affect our bodies in the long term. That's why if I can I will take or do something that is more natural. Talk to a health care professional before you try anything. I am not your doctor. (: I can only write my OPINION on what helps me (i.e. doTERRA oils and nutrition). Some nights I do have a hard time falling asleep and that is why my favorite oil is Serenity & probably always will be! (If you become a doTERRA member, the oils are A LOT cheaper and you get loyalty reward points back that you can use for free products).

Here's a quote from that article I mentioned,



"You’re far better of finding safe and natural solutions that will actually address the underlying causes of your sleepless nights instead of just cover up the resulting symptoms."

-Boby Truther (interesting last name, Boby, lol)

I liked how he made suggestion to find the root cause of a sleep problem. You can read the full article in it's entirety here

Another reason why I like essential oils? I still have symptoms of depression and anxiety, they're just more manageable and less intense because of the medications I take. (By the way, I'll never write down medication names, which ones worked and which ones didn't. I don't think that would be right. Everyone's DNA is so unique that what didn't work for me works miracles with the next person.) 

At the BRIDGES Teacher training I found that a feeling of being "choked" is a symptom of an panic attack. I experience this off and on but didn't know it was an anxiety attack. Someone in our group asked me what I do when I feel that way and I asked, "Honestly? I use this doTERRA oil called SERENITY and just rub some directly on my throat. It calms things down and the feeling goes away."

So...if I find something that has helped me combat my depression and anxiety then yes, I will share what I know. About six months ago I was miserable and thought that this was as good as my life was going to get. I was tired of being depressed for 2 1/2 months at a time and then having a good week and slipping back into depression. Most people didn't know I was depressed. Apparently I looked fine on the outside! Or...I hid it well and didn't talk about it. So what has changed since then to help turn things around? (my meds have stayed the same for years, which is a blessing)


-Learning more about Nutrition & I'm eating healthier.

-Using doTerra oils regularly (several help with anxiety and/or depression). I do sell doTERRA from my website, but I actually like an oil that a company called Young Living sells. It's an oil blend called JOY and I like it better than the doTERRA equivalent. I don't sell for them or have an account but I like the oil JOY so much that I patronize the company just for that one oil.

-My awesome and amazing mentor/coach & my mentoring group who I have learned so much from (They're amazing cheerleaders!). My mentor has helped me with my blog and has helped me overcome negative thought patterns that were holding me back and keeping me stuck.

-My Faith. I'm spending A LOT more time in my scriptures, listening to uplifting music, listening to the Mormon Channel, writing positive things about myself in my journal (helps you to learn to truly love and accept yourself), praying and spending more time that I ever have truly listening for answers.

-Exercise! I have biked & hiked this week. And I have gone up and down a ladder today picking apples!  <---I consider that exercise! I'm a little worn out and I'm still not done several hours into it! Thanks to the neighbor who gave me permission to have the (organic!) apples which were just going to go to waste. Tomorrow's agenda, canning...

-Service. Through thinking of others and finding ways to serve them my life has been tremendously blessed. This is the KEY to true happiness. Like President Hinckley's father said, "Forget yourself and get to work."

Real Foods Cafe...for Big Results I'm Making Big Changes!

               My lunch today....

Gluten-free, organic, corn-free, dairy-free yummy hummus (this is the first time I've actually liked hummus and I've tried it a couple of times) and eggplant baba ganoush. It was yummy!   #wishinrealfoodscafewascloser And...of course, my husband had to bring home a chicago stuffed crust pizza from Papa Murphy's. Oh, I was tempted!! But I have decided to follow doctors orders because I want BIG results in my overall health! 

My mentor and coach, Amy King Walker said that in order for you to see BIG results, you need to make BIG changes. I want to feel better physically and mentally so I am making lifestyle changes.

Change Happens When...

People change when they

hurt enough that they have to,

learn enough that they want to,

or receive enough that they are able to.

-John Maxwell

I saw this quote on this blog by Barry Pearman and it resonated with the changes that I am trying to make in my life right now. 

When I was talking to my mentor and coach I told her that I didn't want to be in the same place a year from now. That I didn't want my depression cycles lasting two and a half months and for there to be one good week and then for another depression cycle to start.

I am at a point in my life where I am learning enough that I want to change and I am making room enough to be able to receive the help I need to be able to. It is definitely a lot of work but I am happiest when I follow and do the things my mentor has challenged me to do.

Depression and Sugar Cravings: My Story Part 2

Our brains sole purpose is to keep us alive...to survive. When our bodies are depressed our brain will actually crave sugar to give us a "boost" because it doesn't like being depressed. This is also why we crave "comfort" foods because those are usually high in carbohydrates which rapidly turns into sugar in your body.

I love this blog called Whole Food Mommies. Here is an really good article they wrote on sugar and the negative effects on our bodies.

SUGAR: The Ultimate Addiction

This is why I like making recipes from Simple Healthy Tasty's blog because she uses sucanat (a less refined sugar), honey, agave and real maple syrup. These sweeteners have less of an affect on my mood than the highly processed white table sugar or high fructose corn syrup. I don't use artificial sweeteners because really they are just chemicals developed in a research lab, no thank you! 

I find that with Simple Healthy Tasty recipes I am fine eating just one cookie or having one treat and I don't feel like eating the whole batch if you know what I mean. Her dessert recipes are healthified and yet they are still yummy! I've made Tammy's (the author of SimpleHealthyTasty's blog) taffy that only uses honey and I loved it and so did my family!

Here's her recipe for the honey taffy http://www.simplehealthytasty.com/2010/12/honey-taffy_17.html

Green Smoothie Night was a BIG Success!!! And Lou Lou had a great weekend.

YEAH! I think I heard my volunteer "waitresses" who helped pour the different smoothies into cups count 43 every time. My good friend was such a big help in the kitchen and it was thanks to her that everything went smoothly. She was awesome in knowing what ingredient I needed next and would prep it and set it next to the blender. Thank you!

People asked a lot of questions, we laughed, I was gentle in the amount of greens I added, I taught them a lot about nutrition and they surprisingly enjoyed the recipes (surprising to them, not me, lol)!

It turned out to be a fun girls night and a good way for the Relief Society sisters in my stake to get to know each other.

I chose to trust that people would come and refused to take counsel from my fears that no one would show up. (:

 Life is so much better when we choose to trust.

I'm going to experiment. I will drink three green smoothies this week and choose to eat "healthified" treats and see if it makes a difference with how I feel emotionally and mentally. I already know that eating "crud," also known as sugary or highly processed foods that my body craves when I am depressed, actually makes my depression worse.

***My daughter had a lot of fun spending time with her cousin this weekend. We spent a night at my parents house and on the couple of hours ride back Lou Lou and my nephew laughed the whole way. They were being goofy and it made me happy to see her laugh and have fun. My hubbie and I both agreed that this was the best car ride ever. No fighting. Everyone got along. I LOVED IT! Thank you, nephew!

Lifestyle Changes

I was at my doctor's office

a few years ago

and he told me to stay away from



SUGAR.

"Pfph!!!"

and

"Ya Right!!!"

is what I said to him.

He told me that sugar is really

bad for those who are depressed.

I asked him, "Why then do I crave

Sugar

when I am depressed?"

It seems my body has this defense mechanism

when I feel depressed

where I crave foods such as

candy

or carbs

that gives me a mood "boost."
But I am also really, really irritable.

And THEN...

I crash,

and feel depressed all over again.

So I tried to completely go off sugar

and succeeded for about three weeks.

It's amazing when you try this and

find out that you don't crave those

things anymore.

But...

that approach isn't really practical

is it?

So over the past six months I have learned to replace those refined, over processed and unhealthy sugars with ingredients like:

honey, dark agave, 100% pure maple syrup, sucanat & coconut sugar.

A really good place to read more about why refined sugars are so unhealthy can be found on a blog http://www.simplehealthytasty.com/2008/04/ingredients-what-to-look-for-when.html

So I haven't given up treats, I just buy or make ones that are "healthified."

In order to get well, I have needed to make lifestyle changes which has included my diet. I will write more about this later in a following post. All I have to say is that my mood is so much better. I have more energy and I get depressed less often.

**As a side note: 

(Coconut sugar has a low glycemic index like that of an apple. I buy it from the grocery section on Amazon.com for a decent price and the sucanat I have bought from http://www.azurestandard.com/ I buy the agave and maple syrup from Costco or Sam's Club. I buy my honey from beekeepers in my hometown.)