No Way to Lose Weight a Few Unusual Reasons Why Essential Oils Can Help – And How
Why you’re having trouble losing weight and how they can help you get over a weight loss plateau…
So…you’ve increased your exercise routine and been dieting for what feels like an eternity, yet you’re still having trouble losing weight.
Nothing you try seems to help now that you’ve reached the dreaded weight loss plateau. Yes, you are aware that a slower metabolism causes weight loss as you lose weight. You’re still firmly stuck though, despite changing things up. And in need…
You’re not required to be. It all comes down to realizing that diet and exercise are just the beginning of what losing weight – and keeping it off – entails. Whether or not you can break through that weight reduction plateau and subsequently permanently maintain a steady weight depends on a variety of factors, including your hormones, emotional condition, and even lack of sleep.
Essential oils can be useful in this situation. Each oil has a special set of medicinal qualities that can aid in weight loss. Some can really increase fat loss, while others can enhance digestion and gut health. Others balance hormones that may be harmful to your attempts to lose weight. Additionally, they can do a lot more, such as reduce hunger pangs and speed up metabolism.
Many essential oils have potent therapeutic characteristics that can actually treat a wide host of unique reasons why you are still battling to lose weight, even if they won’t “magically” melt those pounds away.
Is That Why You Can’t Lose Weight?
Everybody is aware that a good weight loss plan must be built on a foundation of healthy diet and regular exercise. You’ve cut back on portion sizes, given up sodas and fruit juices in favor of water, quit snacking, removed sugar and processed foods, increased your consumption of protein and cut back on bad carbs. You’ve also included HIIT to your training regimen. What exactly is going on when you try your absolute hardest to lose weight, regardless of how well you eat or how hard you work out?
You can be a target of one of the unanticipated weight loss saboteurs. Because they are such intricate mechanics, our bodies frequently go out of balance when they don’t receive the proper care. And in many cases, this can seriously damage your attempts to lose weight.
Not Sleeping Well, You, Yes, You!
Make sure you are receiving enough, high-quality sleep if nothing else. Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker contends that maintaining healthy sleeping habits is more crucial than dieting and exercising for weight loss (and overall health).
Poor sleep is one of the largest risk factors for obesity, according to studies. Adults who don’t get enough sleep are 55% more likely to gain weight, while youngsters are 89% more likely. And it’s very likely that your bad sleeping habits are the reason you’re having trouble losing weight or have reached a weight loss plateau.
This is because being sleep deprived causes the release of no fewer than five different hormones that have an immediate effect on your weight. First of all, your resistance to insulin decreases, resulting in elevated blood sugar levels and weight gain. Then, as leptin, the hormone that indicates fullness, plummets, your hunger hormone, ghrelin, goes into overdrive, causing you to experience constant hunger pangs. Include the stress hormone cortisol, which rises when you don’t get enough sleep and causes your body to retain additional fat, particularly in the belly. Last but not least, getting less deep sleep deprives your body of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which slows down how quickly it burns fat.
Optimal Aromatherapy Oils for Sleep
Lavender, sometimes known as the “Queen of Sleep,” is your go-to essential oil for falling asleep quickly and getting a good night’s sleep. Roman chamomile, cedarwood, vetiver, and bergamot are additional oils that naturally promote weight loss while also promoting sleep.
ARE YOU OFF BY STRESS, ANXIETY, OR DEPRESSION?
We all lead busy, stressful lives. Chronic stress, on the other hand, can wreck havoc on the body and play a significant role in uncooperative weight loss.
The stress hormone cortisol can become persistently increased as a result of a difficult job, relationship, or even when day-to-day obligations become too much to handle. This just increases your desire to consume more. It gets worse because your body then turns any extra sugar into fat, especially belly fat. Additionally, stress increases the brain chemical neuropeptide Y synthesis, which increases your need for carbohydrates. In fact, a study found that women may actually put on weight as a result of ongoing work-related stress.
When you’re depressed, your cortisol levels are likewise elevated. Additionally, it’s pretty typical to mindlessly eat comfort foods that are rich in calories while you’re depressed. It should come as no surprise that stress, worry, and depression will almost certainly undermine any attempts to lose weight.
Best Essential Oils for Depression and Anxiety
Numerous essential oils have been demonstrated to improve stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, which will support your weight reduction attempts. Use rosemary, lemon, and grapefruit to improve your mood, and lavender, bergamot, peppermint, rose, and ylang ylang to soothe anxious or gloomy thoughts.
While You Are Eating Well, Your Timing Is Off
The circadian rhythm, which describes how your body and brain react to daily cues of light and darkness, is definitely something you’ve heard of. It has an impact on everything from your metabolism and hormone levels to your body temperature. But did you realize how much it can impact your attempts to lose weight?
It turns out that as night falls, your body uses less energy to absorb and assimilate your food. So even while your body may be able to burn off that nutritious salmon and avocado salad you had for lunch, by the time melatonin production time approaches, your body’s capacity to effectively metabolize even a healthy meal is much diminished. According to a study, college students who ate closer to night had higher body-fat percentages and a higher body-mass index.
Therefore, even if you aren’t eating more, this element alone may make it difficult for you to lose the extra weight. Additionally, according to experts, you should only eat for 8 to 12 hours each day, and then skip meals the rest of the time, particularly as you age and your metabolism slows.
Best Essential Oils for Sugar Cravings and Appetite Suppression
You can improve your metabolism by changing the times of your meals, but sugar cravings and hunger pangs can still derail your efforts. Grapefruit, lemon, and bergamot essential oils, as well as fennel, cinnamon, peppermint, and ginger, are all recognized to be potent appetite suppressants that support weight loss naturally.
Your Gut Is Not Healthy
According to a 2021 study, you may also blame your gut if you feel that your efforts to lose weight are failing. Your gut, which is home to around 80% of your immune system and is made up of a complex ecosystem of trillions of bacteria and yeast, also aids in regulating your metabolism, appetite, and weight.
An ideal bug equilibrium exists in a healthy gut. But problems like a bad diet, obesity, and insufficient sleep can swiftly derail this. This results in an overabundance of undesirable bugs, which in turn induce inflammation, insulin resistance, and weight gain.
In addition to being unable to lose weight, other symptoms of poor gut health include sugar cravings, gas and bloating, diarrhea, or constipation.
Best Essential Oils for Gut and Digestion
While diet and sleep deprivation should come first, essential oils like peppermint, clove, lemon, fennel, ginger, and cinnamon all function in different ways to assist correct poor digestive health and aid in weight loss.
You Might Not Respond to Insulin
The fact that so many people have insulin resistance is one of the main causes of the problem with weight loss. It does much more than just regulate your blood sugar levels. It also manages the storage of fat.
Being insulin resistant normally means that your blood sugar levels are constantly too high, and the only way the body can regulate this is by converting those sugars into fat storage. This is because insulin is responsible for lowering your blood sugar levels. According to a study, having high insulin and leptin levels also makes it impossible for those fat reserves to ever be burned off. You may therefore continue to gain weight if you have insulin resistance, and it will be difficult for you to shed it as well.
Best Essential Oils for Blood Sugar Reduction
Even though essential oils can never be said to completely treat insulin resistance or lower blood sugar levels, some, such as cinnamon, coriander, ginger, lavender, rosemary, and citrus oils like lemon, grapefruit, and bergamot, have been shown to lessen the severity of these conditions and aid in weight loss efforts.
How Essential Oils Support Weight Loss
While a balanced diet and regular exercise will always be necessary to help you lose weight, essential oils can be a vital ally in your weight-loss efforts.
Each essential oil has a special combination of therapeutic characteristics that can support your weight loss attempts. For instance, although some oils can assist control blood sugar levels, others have molecules that can burn fat. Additionally, they can aid in reducing grazing, reducing frequent food cravings, and enhancing intestinal health.
Some essential oils help you sleep well and can be really helpful if you’re stressed or anxious. Many also have potent anti-inflammatory properties.
Therefore, these are the greatest essential oils that might be the missing pieces you need to help you fast and successfully lose weight, whether you’re battling sugar cravings, a sluggish metabolism, or poor digestion, or trying to lessen emotional eating binges, chronic exhaustion, or high stress.
For Weight Loss: Grapefruit Oil
Best for: Increasing metabolism, burning fat, reducing belly fat, controlling blood sugar, suppressing appetite, reducing food cravings, bloating, and water retention.
Nootkatone, a special phytochemical found only in grapefruit essential oil, stimulates the enzymes involved in metabolism, causing the body to burn more fat and glucose. It is well recognized to assist people lose weight. According to one animal study, animals who were given grapefruit juice while following a high-fat diet gained 18% less weight over the course of three months.
Another study discovered that D-limonene, a crucial grapefruit oil component, increases lipolysis, the body’s process of dissolving fat and protein. This directly supports metabolism and lowers cravings, hunger, and body weight. In addition to being a great fat burner and appetite suppressor, it aids in avoiding bloating and water retention in the body.
Use of Lemon Oil to Lose Weight
Best for: Increasing metabolism, burning fat, lowering stress levels, lowering blood sugar, suppressing appetite, reducing sugar cravings, digestion, gut health, and detoxification.
Lemon essential oil, another potent aid to weight loss that also contains D-limonene, is well known for its capacity to dissolve cholesterol and fat. According to one study, lemon oil increased lipolysis when coupled with grapefruit oil, breaking down body fat and preventing weight gain.
According to a different study, D-limonene can both prevent and treat metabolic syndrome by lowering blood glucose levels and improving cholesterol levels in obese mice fed a high-fat diet.
Lemon oil’s ability to uplift the spirit and relieve stress and anxiety is one of its best qualities. It balances hormones, boosts oxygen delivery, and enhances blood flow. Additionally, it is an excellent hunger suppressor, aids in detoxification, guards against intestinal parasites, and enhances digestion in general.
Oil of Bergamot for Weight Loss
Best for: Reducing cortisol, reducing stress and anxiety, weight loss, belly fat, blood sugar levels, hunger pangs, and appetite suppression.
Bergamot essential oil can assist you stop munching during stressful times if you find that emotional eating when you’re stressed or unhappy is destroying your diet. According to a study, 15 minutes of inhaling bergamot oil considerably lowers the stress hormone cortisol while also improving mood. Excess glucose is produced when cortisol levels are consistently high, which raises blood sugar levels and makes it challenging to lose stubborn belly fat.
Bergamot oil, another D-limonene-rich citrus oil, suppresses hunger, lowers insulin resistance, and prevents weight gain. According to a study, bergamot helped patients with hyperlipemia (high blood fat levels) dramatically lower their cholesterol and blood glucose levels.
Additionally, bergamot is naturally rich in polyphenols, a substance also present in green tea that lowers inflammation and helps control cravings and hunger pains.
Cinnamon Oil for Loss of Weight
Best for: Increasing metabolism, burning fat, regulating blood sugar, suppressing appetite, reducing food cravings, and gut health.
Numerous studies indicate that cinnamon essential oil can help with a variety of tasks, including assisting weight loss efforts. It lessens cravings for food, speeds up digestion, and increases metabolism while balancing blood sugar levels, which can cause overeating.
According to one study, it is especially helpful at controlling blood glucose levels and the glucose tolerance factor (GFT) to help curb cravings and hunger. Another study discovered that it mimics the action of insulin, which aids in transferring glucose, or sugar, into your body’s tissues for use as fuel.
Additionally, a study discovered that cinnamon accelerates metabolism by directly stimulating fat cells to begin metabolizing energy through a process known as thermogenesis. Additionally, cinnamon can assist enhance gut health by lowering several digestive enzymes that impede glucose breakdown.
Ginger Oil for Loss of Weight
Best for: Inflammation, accelerating metabolism, burning fat, losing abdominal fat, controlling blood sugar, suppressing hunger, digestion, and gut health.
Another fantastic multi-tasker that works in numerous ways to aid with weight loss is ginger essential oil. A analysis of 27 studies shown that it not only increases your body’s capacity to burn fat and increase metabolism, but also lessens the amount of fat your body absorbs, decreasing cravings for unhealthy foods.
Ginger dramatically reduced body weight and abdominal fat, according to another study. Additionally, it sharply reduces blood sugar levels to aid in reducing hunger. Blood sugar control is essential for both weight loss and maintenance.
Ginger essential oil, a potent anti-inflammatory, contains antioxidants called gingerols that considerably reduce gut inflammation, speed up food digestion, and stimulate the body to digest food more quickly, all of which promote weight reduction objectives.
Peppermint Oil for Loss of Weight
Best for: Digestion, gut health, suppressing hunger, reducing sugar cravings, and relieving stress and anxiety.
For individuals wishing to enhance the health of their digestive system, peppermint essential oil is the best choice. One of the key factors for weight gain is poor digestion. Menthol, a cooling substance found in peppermint, has been shown in studies to be beneficial for relaxing an upset stomach, enhancing digestion, lowering bloating and gas, and even assisting in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.
Additionally, peppermint oil works wonders in reducing hunger by reducing cravings for sweets and other meals. This helps prevent overeating. An inhalation of peppermint oil every two hours is highly efficient in lowering desires for food and reducing appetite, according to a clinical study. Participants were able to support their weight loss objectives by considerably reducing their calorie intake as a result.
In addition to being an antispasmodic and muscle relaxant, menthol can help you unwind while experiencing anxiety. Because stress is believed to contribute to weight gain, peppermint can help you relax.
French lavender bouquet, sonoma lavender essential oil, and essential oil spray
Lavender Oil for Loss of Weight
Best for: Increasing quality of sleep, lowering levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, reducing inflammation, regulating blood sugar, reducing belly fat, and reducing appetite and overeating.
It is common knowledge that regulating your diet and exercise routine are not the sole factors in weight loss. Lack of good quality sleep and a high incidence of stress, anxiety, or depression are two particularly significant causes of obesity.
All of these affect hormones that regulate hunger, appetite, and blood sugar, including cortisol and insulin. This not only sets off binge eating episodes, but it also makes it much more difficult for your body to lose those extra pounds.
Lavender, also referred to as the “Queen of Calm,” is the essential oil to use if you want to get a good night’s sleep as well as lessen your feelings of rage, melancholy, and anxiety. Numerous studies confirm lavender’s effectiveness as a natural sleep aid and stress, anxiety, and depression reducer.
It enhances mood, enhances the quality of sleep, and promotes the release of “feel good” chemicals. This lessens inflammation in the body and aids in preventing weight gain brought on by insufficient sleep and stress, two factors that are known to contribute to extra belly fat.
Evidence That Lavender Can Improve Your Sleep (Without Pills) – Read More
Fennel Oil for Shedding Pounds
Best for: Fat burning, appetite control, digestion, intestinal health, sleep, circadian rhythm, and metabolism.
Fennel essential oil helps control sleep/wake cycles and is well known for promoting digestion, enhancing metabolism, and suppressing appetite (circadian rhythms).
Since ancient times, fennel seeds have been used to support digestive health and reduce hunger. According to a study, consuming fennel oil can drastically lower calorie intake while also enhancing digestion. Additionally a diuretic, fennel oil aids in the body’s toxin removal and may aid in weight loss.
Additionally, fennel contains melatonin, which controls circadian cycles and is frequently used as a sleep aid. A study has revealed that melatonin can also help people lose weight by encouraging the production of brown fat, which is helpful for burning energy, rather than the “bad” white fat that is stored.
Rosemary for Loss of Weight
Best for: Metabolism, lowering cortisol, reducing stress and anxiety, and controlling blood sugar.
Rosemary essential oil, which is abundant in antioxidants and acts as a natural anti-inflammatory, aids in the promotion of weight loss by considerably lowering cortisol, which rises during periods of intense stress and anxiety. It is challenging to lose stubborn abdominal fat when cortisol levels are consistently high because excess glucose is produced as a result of these raised blood sugar levels. Additionally, emotional eating and undesirable weight gain can result from high amounts of stress.
It has been discovered that 5 minutes of inhaling rosemary essential oil can reduce cortisol levels by up to 23%. Another Japanese study verified the ability of rosemary oil to lower cortisol levels.
Additionally, rosemary naturally contains a lot of carnosic acid, which prevents the growth of fat cells and helps people maintain a healthy weight. In a research on animals, rosemary oil lowered weight growth by 64% and fat gain by 57% when compared to controls when on a high-fat diet. Another study that discovered a 79% improvement in fat loss supported this.
Using Essential Oils to Help You Lose Weight
Simply breathing in an essential oil is the method that individuals use it in the vast majority of cases. Within seconds of inhaling an essential oil, the evaporating microparticles make their way to the area of your brain that governs your emotions and behavior.
However, you can also mix a variety of oils in a diffuser, add them to your bath or shower, or apply 12 drops with an ounce of a carrier oil (such as sweet almond or jojoba) directly to your skin pretty much anywhere on your body. Just be careful not to get any closer than necessary to your eyes, ears, or any areas of broken skin. Additionally, essential oils applied to the skin quickly enter the bloodstream.
It’s recommended to alternate the essential oils you inhale each day so your body doesn’t become accustomed to them and you may continue to benefit from them.
Since essential oils are highly potent, it is recommended to become familiar with all the best practices before you begin using them if you are unclear of how to utilize them.