Why I Chose doTERRA

I was introduced to dōTERRA 2 years ago by my friend Ashley who shares similar deep-rooted values with me. I love and trust her to the core, so I knew she was sharing something special with me. That first experience with dōTERRA essential oils at Ashley’s house turned my attention toward using their oils with my family at home and with clients in my practice. 

I never intended to distribute the oils and natural products though. Obviously, I have changed my tune since then! 

Here’s the main reasons why I took the plunge to start something new…

1. I love their purity and efficacy

I’ve used essential oils for over 20 years. However, it wasn’t until I started using dōTERRA that I realized the huge difference in quality among different brands. I had no idea that a label of 100% purity on oils at the health food store means nothing, and that they can still be diluted and adulterated.

DōTERRA created their own testing standards called Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade which go beyond the requirement for the Certified Organic label here in the U.S. This purity must be why the oils have been so effective for my family’s health issues. They work well for my acupuncture clients too, and are actually preferred over Chinese herbs to sustain the acupuncture effects in between treatments.

I’ve seen first hand how these oils help clear ear infections, relieve constipation, regulate menstruation, resolve pain, promote restful sleep, and much more.

2. I love their sustainability efforts

Essential oils are highly concentrated aromatic compounds derived from plant parts. For just one 15 mL bottle of lavender, about 3 pounds of lavender flowers are needed. You can see that if we’re not careful, producing essential oils can threaten plant populations.

This concern was brought the magazine, Mother Earth Living in Sourcing Sustainable Essential Oils (May/June 2018). The author talked about spikenard, sandalwood, rosewood, atlas cedarwood, and frankincense, which are all endangered species. Then, she suggested one choose brands wisely to ensure they’re using sustainable farming practices. But to my horror recommended that everyone avoid all Multi-Level Marketing oil companies (like the model dōTERRA uses).

Setting the Story Straight

I was really upset with their blanket statement to avoid MLMs because dōTERRA’s sustainable farming practices is one of the major reasons I love them so! Immediately after reading the article, I wrote to the editor, expressing my concerns and how I feel they did not do enough research. I shared the video below on how dōTERRA is managing spikenard production very well and are completely transparent with their farming practices.

The adoption of an organic lifestyle is not just a trend for the wealthy and naturally-minded.  It’s an important step we need to take to stay healthy, to increase the quality of our lives, to support our local economy, and to nurture the earth and the animals that roam it.  I have an organic lifestyle guide that can help you make this necessary change!

Many people are starting to understand this, especially here in California where it’s been proven that glyphosate causes cancer and that it’s everywhere in the conventional food chain.

Environmental toxins are polluting our water & soil, are obviously on the food we eat, and are being injected into us in trace amounts through vaccines. The toxic load is being passed on through generations, making children extremely vulnerable. This cumulative effect is one of the main reasons why more children are experiencing learning disabilities & behavior issues like ADD/ADHD, why chronic disease is increasing in the American population, and maybe why infertility is on the rise as well.

So what’s keeping YOU from going organic?

I’m guessing you think…

1. It’s too expensive
2. Going 100% organic is not possible and are confused about what you should prioritize as organic purchases.
3. Everything on store shelves is safe because our government protects us well, this organic thing is all hype, or I simply do not care.

I can’t help much if you’re aligned with #3, but if it’s #1 or #2 that are holding you back, I have a great guide here for you!

Buying organic does not need to be expensive and you don’t need to buy ALL organic, though it is nice to support the movement (thereby decreasing the price because of demand) if you’re able to.

Organic Lifestyle Guide – 10 Simple Changes You Can Start Making Today:

1. Buy organic from EWG’s Dirty Dozen list

Become familiar with the Environmental working group’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists that they publish every year. Note, this list has been pretty much the same since I started paying attention to it several years ago.

It’s handy to print out these lists and keep them on the refrigerator. You’ll have them memorized in no time!

2. Buy organic animal products and eat less meat

Buying organic animal meat, eggs, and dairy ensures that your food is pesticide, herbicide and antibiotic-free. It also means that you’re supporting better animal welfare standards (than conventional factory farms).

From Whole Food’s article Organic Meat: What Does Organic Really Mean?:

“Here are a few of the key requirements for organic poultry, cattle and pigs:

• Must be raised organically on certified organic land
• Must be fed certified organic feed
• No antibiotics or added growth hormones are allowed*
• Must have outdoor access

*Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in raising pork and poultry.”

My reducing your meat consumption to just a handful of times per week, you can save some money as well.

3. Buy in bulk at health food stores

For cereals, grains, nuts, seeds, and dried fruits, buying in bulk at health food stores is the way to go. Sure, they don’t have the fancy packaging that you might see in prepackaged food, but I’ve noticed time and time again, the price is well below what you buy with prepackaged foods.

Side note here: organic prepackaged foods are often more expensive in mainstream grocery stores than in health food stores, at least in my neighborhood.

4. Buy produce at Farmer’s markets

Going to a nearby Farmer’s Market can be fun for the whole family. It’s a great way to support local farms too!

I like to go with a list of exactly what I need and budget for treats. If you’re trying to save money, you may want to try go close to closing time. You may run the risk of not having many options, but some vendors may give you a discount if they need to sell everything. Some vendors may negotiate with you too.

5. Grow your own fruits and vegetables

Starting an organic garden may sound like a huge endeavor, but it’s really not. All you need is a small spot that gets sun for at least half the day.

My family has a potted lemon tree, raspberry bush, several strawberry plants, and many herbs on our very small townhouse balcony.

We also have a 4′ x 8′ plot in our community garden. This area used to be wasted space until several of us families contacted the homeowners association with our idea to turn it into a community garden. We produce large quantities of leafy green veggies all year round and other seasonal veggies. This year we have beautiful flowers as well.

If you’re saying you want a garden but don’t have enough space, maybe you just need to get creative or go in with a few friends who have a bit more land than you. It’s fun for the family to plan the garden and even more fun when a few families get involved!

6. Find discounts in online stores, warehouses, and CSAs

There are several online resources out there that have organic products like Amazon, Thrive, and Vitacost. You can probably find coupons and occasional discounts there.

Costco Wholesale is gradually increasing their stock of organic products. It’s not my favorite choice for my 3 person family though because I’m concerned about space and overconsumption. I don’t really need to buy 4 dozen eggs at a time!

You may also want to check out Community Supported Agriculture which provides produce and products from local farms. I L-O-V-E our local CSA: Real Food Bay Area. There are some artisan products that are on the pricey side, but the meat, dairy (they have super nutritious RAW goat & cow milk!), and produce are competitively priced.

7. Make homemade meals

Unless restaurants make a point of listing organic foods on their menu, you can best that they are using low-quality, conventional produce and animal products.

So if you’re committed to eating organic, you’ll need to start cooking more at home. You’ll have complete control over your menu and food quality, and of course this can save you some money too.

Sound exhausting? Not really if you plan your meals and get the family involved!

8. Buy organic skin and hair products, or DIY

This organic lifestyle guide would not be complete unless we address personal care toxins.  Anything we put on our skin and scalp is easily absorbed into our body, so we need to look closely at the ingredients in the products we buy.

Just because a product says it’s organic, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily safe though. From EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database FAQs:

“It’s hard to tell which ingredients are truly “organic” or “natural” because truth-in-marketing rules for food don’t apply in the cosmetics world. An exception – products bearing the USDA organic seal contain ingredients that come from plants grown without artificial pesticides and fertilizers.”

Joining the Do It Yourself movement can make moving to the organic movement much easier when it comes to skin products. Just type in DIY skin or DIY hair on Pinterest and you’ll find recipes to make just about anything.

You can follow my DIY Skin Board too:

9. Buy Organic Cotton, at least with underwear

Did you know that conventional cotton crops use 25% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of the world’s pesticides? Read more about this and other reasons why buying organic cotton is a better idea here:

Protecting Our Planet and Protecting Ourselves: The Importance of Organic Cotton

Avoiding conventional cotton is a huge endeavor though! It might be hard to buy a whole organic cotton wardrobe and you might not like the styles out there (unless you love the bohemian look!)

You can make wiser choices though, like buying organic underwear and pajamas for your family.

Here are some online resources I love:

Hanna Andersson (underwear for kids, pjs for the whole family)

Soul Flower (yoga & boho)

Blue Canoe (yoga & professional)

You can also find used organic clothing on eBay.

10. Relax, you can always detox

Know that any effort to steer your family toward an organic lifestyle is worthwhile. So try not to worry too much when you veer off course (like the fish tacos I had yesterday when traveling – at least they were wild-caught halibut!).

There are several ways you can detoxify your body from pesticides, through diet, essential oils, baths, and other methods that we discussed in:

The Best Natural Treatments for ADD/ADHD

6 Easy Ways to Detox at Home

Are you ready to take the leap to living organically?  If yes, did this guide help? If no, what’s holding you back?  Let’s discuss in the comments!

Sitting still and listening in a classroom is challenging for most kids and is just one of the many reasons why school is not a great fit for my family (we’ve been homeschooling for a year). But for kids with ADHD, time in the classroom can be unbearable. They tend to:

• daydream

• fidget

• talk out of turn

• engage in impulsive behavior

They also tend to get in trouble for these behaviors because they distract the other kids from focusing and make it hard for the teacher to manage the whole group. As a result, these kids can start to dislike school, get lower grades, and they often lose self-esteem. It is a serious issue because if not treated, these kids have a harder time finishing school and can grow into adults who have a greater chance of:

• Experiencing depression

• Abusing drugs & alcohol

• Job failure

• Incarceration

• Obesity

• Divorce

• Alzheimer’s disease

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The CDC reports that as of 2012 approximately 11% of children 4-17 years of age (6.4 million) have been diagnosed with ADHD.

You can use the checklist in this link to determine if your child has a problem with inattention or hyperactivity/impulsivity that would fit their definition of ADHD.

What do I know about ADHD?

I know quite a lot, actually! My brother (who is 15 years younger than me) was diagnosed with ADHD when he was in high school. I tutored him quite often because homework and special projects were always a challenge for him. I was a grounding presence, constantly teaching him how to organize his thoughts and how to focus on the present moment.

He was tested for learning disabilities, but it was clear that was not the problem. Still, tests were hard for him to complete in time, his grades were low and school counselors were urging my mom to medicate him.

We just wanted him to be successful, so my mom did get a prescription filled for Ritalin, the standard medication for ADHD. He refused to take it. So instead, she focused on reducing sweets, managing his screen time, and making other lifestyle changes. It was hard and he barely made through high school, but he did make it. He is now a responsible grown man, doing great at a job he loves, while he supports his wife and 3 kids.

I learned great deal, through my brother’s experience, about how lifestyle choices can affect the brain (though I wish I knew then what I know now about natural remedies).

I also saw how easy it was to succumb to the pressure of school authorities to medicate and dampen the symptoms of the problem just to fit certain standards and make the teacher’s job easier.

Standard Treatment for ADHD

Ritalin and Adderall are the most common medications prescribed for ADHD. They are very effective in helping children focus better, but the side effects are pretty horrible for both:

Common side effects:

• trouble sleeping
• loss of appetite
• dry mouth
• anxiety
• increased heart rate
• irritability
• headache
• dizziness

Serious side effects can include:

• addiction
• heart rhythm problems
• psychosis, hallucinations, or feeling like bugs are crawling on your skin
• Raynaud’s syndrome
• slowed growth in children

Can you imagine a young child dealing with psychosis and addiction? There are dozens of other medications doctors can prescribe too, some of them classified as non-stimulants, but they have a reputation for not working as well. Luckily, there is much you can do before considering medication!

Natural Solutions For ADHD

1. Identify The Cause And Remove Triggers

If your child has signs of developing an attention disorder, determining the triggers and addressing them should be your first step.

Known causes of ADHD include birth trauma, maternal drug use, premature birth, and low birth weight. Environmental toxins definitely have an impact as well though. The CDC cites lead exposure as being a culprit in some cases, though mercury and aluminum exposure have a strong correlation with ADHD too and are way more predominant in our culture these days (through food, dental fillings, and an increasing load of vaccines).

The CDC also states that although they haven’t been proven to cause ADHD, eating too much sugar, eating junk food, watching too much TV, playing video games, and long periods of inactivity can make symptoms worse, so are recognized as triggers.

Avoiding the causes and removing the triggers can help immensely, even if there’s a history of ADHD in the family.

2. Heavy Metal Detoxification

Purging your child’s body of heavy metals is a good idea, even if you don’t think it’s the main cause of his/her symptoms. This is a great article explaining more about the prevalence of metals in our environment, in our bodies, and how we pass on this toxic load through the generations.

Detox can be done through diet, incorporating these foods into a daily smoothie:

• cilantro
• wild blueberries
• celery
• barley grass juice
• spirulina
• Atlantic dulse

You can also give your child a detox bath with these ingredients:

• 1 cup epsom salt
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 10 drops of essential oil, optional (citrus oils like wild orange, mint oils like spearmint, rosemary, clove, and myrrh are well-known for their detoxifying properties)

3. Traditional Chinese Medicine

Many of you may be puzzled as you imagine your hyperactive child laying still for several minutes with a dozen acupuncture needles. Is that even possible?! You may actually be surprised at how receptive your child is to acupuncture once they know how relaxing it can be! And with younger kids, needle retention is very brief.

But even for kids who are needle shy or cannot sit still, there are many other treatment options available: Tuina massage, cupping, cold laser, microcurrent, and shonishin (Japanese acupressure).

Side story here:

I was seeing an 8-year-old patient for his attention disorder and there was no way he would let me use needles. Even though his mom was urging me to assert my authority and do it anyway, I respected his wish and reassured her that other methods of treatment were just as effective as acupuncture.

We did Tuina massage instead. Every time, he would be squirmy and silly for the first 15 minutes and I’d engage him with jokes. But when I’d start working on his back and especially when I would massage his feet, he would fall asleep – every – single – time!

He looked forward to our treatments together and said that he could focus a little better in school, but the problem was that all the triggers for his behaviors were not being addressed.

His parents were divorced and he was constantly shuffled between the two homes. His dad was not supportive of what we were doing and the boy ate junk food, was constantly in front of the TV, and didn’t get enough sleep at his house. But his mom and I were happy that he was getting a much needed break when he was in her care and that he appreciated this natural approach to healing.

4. Balance Blood Sugar Levels

Riding the roller coaster of a sugar high and the subsequent crash can make matters much worse for a child with ADHD. To have the greatest success, decreasing the load of sugar in their diet is very important. Check out my post Have a Sweet Summer Without the Excess Sugar to learn how to balance blood sugar levels and make better choices (not just in the Summer, but for life!)

5. GAPS Diet & Rebuilding Gut Biome

The Gut and Psychology Syndrome diet is something you may want to explore for your child. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has had a great deal of success healing children and adults with not just A.D.D./A.D.H.D., but also autism, dyspraxia, dyslexia, depression, schizophrenia, and many autoimmune disorders.

GAPS children and adults all have digestive problems – colic, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, and malnourishment – to different degrees. McBride and many other researchers believe that all disease begins in the gut and these are digestive disorders, not behavior disorders.

The focus of the diet is to eliminate grains (which are abrasive to the intestines, break down to considerable amounts of sugar and contribute to poor gut flora levels) and refined sugar, and then restore gut flora with healing broths, fermented foods, and supplements.

It’s not as hard as it sounds. I’ve done it for myself and did not starve. There are a lot of yummy recipes, including many bread substitutes, that your family will enjoy.

You can Follow my Pinterest GAPS Board for ideas.

If the GAPS diet sounds too daunting, then at least try the other methods of restoring gut health that I’ve outlined here: Improve Your Family’s Gut Health to Increase General Health, Part 2.

I know it’s challenging to eat a basic diet like this when we’re so used to stimulating processed food, large amounts of sugar, and artificial ingredients that make up the Standard American Diet. But this is one of the main reasons why Americans have one of the highest rates of chronic disease in the world and why our children are suffering. It’s important to go against the grain (pun intended) and make your child’s health a priority, even if it’s inconvenient!

6. Behavior Therapies/Mindfulness Practices

Managing ADHD will be easier if your child is aware of his/her behavior and what affects it. Psychologists, licensed counselors, and social workers can all provide behavior therapy that trains both children and their parents on how to control behavior.

The CDC has a directory for behavior therapists, including online resources.

Your family can also engage in mindfulness practices on your own that will help ground your energy, teach body awareness, and to provide insight about behavior and what brings you out of balance and out of control.

Walking meditation is perfect for kids with a lot of pent up energy, and especially for those with ADHD. Here’s a simple, fun, walking mediation practice from Jaclyn Long at Mind Body Moms: