Young Living

Insulin Resistance – part 4

Liz James · December 6, 2023 ·

Day 4: Insulin Resistance

Natural sweeteners have been around since the beginning of time. The earliest recorded sweeteners were sugar cane and honey (at least 8,000 BC), and it was a rare treat in a home….. it’s no longer a rare treat, especially not when we are knee-deep into the Holiday Season.

Nowadays, the average American eats over 100 lbs of sugar a year. (That’s the equivalent of eating / drinking 30 teaspoons of sugar a day, every single day).

I love that God gave us foods He created to both nourish and heal. Olives have been around at least as long as sugar and many parts of the olive tree have usefulness. Take a look at this study using Olive Leaf Polyphenols: “Olive (Olea europaea L.) Leaf Polyphenols Improve Insulin Sensitivity in Middle-Aged Overweight Men: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Trial. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3596374/

(after 12 weeks of consistent use of Olive Leaf Extract, the test subjects had an average 15% decrease in insulin resistance. And I quote……” The researchers noted that supplementing with olive leaf extract gave results comparable to common diabetic therapeutics.” )

There’s this study too…. (lots of great info! ) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8398612/ Pharmaceutical Drugs and Natural Therapeutic Products for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Of course, it’s just not possible to out-supplement consistently poor lifestyle choices. That said, for people who are attempting to correct some poor lifestyle habits, there are lots of options out there to support your efforts!

Do you incorporate Olive Essentials into your wellness routine? (There are several more reasons to do so in addition to supporting healthy pancreas activity

)

xoxo~ liz

PS: Posts like these are not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure anything. Rather they are here to create an awareness of the tools we have available to us in addition to the freedom to address diet, exercise, stress, sleep, hydration, etc. You can do anything you set your mind to!

December Gifts from YL

Liz James · December 1, 2023 ·

Oh Christmas tree

, Oh Christmas tree

…… look at those tree oils Young Living has put under our Christmas Tree this December

. Some of my faves, and just in time to restock my oil cabinet on a few of them.

Cedarwood…. who’d have thought such a common tree could have such uncommonly good benefits for our bodies? Remember, if you aren’t sure what to use an oil for, there are lots of resources (like here on H3…. we’re LOADED with a community that cumulatively has thousands of years of experience using oils). Did you know that Young Living has Pubmed studies highlighting many oils on their website? Scroll down to the bottom of the cedarwood page, and you’ll find 4 studies highlighting its supportive effects for pain modulation, sleep, anti-mosquito

, and hair growth. ( there are 532 more studies on Pubmed

Thieves … I don’t know anyone who doesn’t need ALL the Thieves… especially when it’s 15ml for free! This is a staple for our house. It’s often in the diffuser, and ALWAYS on the bottoms of my feet every night for immune system support. Thieves is a blend of 5 VIP immune supportive oils, and if you are a researcher, I’d encourage you to research all 5 of them. Bonus points… it’s a great Fall / Winter scent as is, or add a little Orange, Cedarwood, or Northern Lights Black Spruce for a festive Christmas tree upgrade. #scentswithbenefits

Longevity Vitality. I’m not gonna lie; this oil blend doesn’t smell great (thanks to the aroma of thyme), but it DOES do GREAT things for the body. It is incredibly immune-supportive and digestion-supportive. It also supports healthy cellular function overall. Once I understood how this blend of thyme, orange, clove, and frank was designed to work, it became a regular in my supplement routine. One of the things I do (you do you, Boo), is take a capsule every morning with 3 drops of Longevity, 3 drops of lemongrass, and 3 drops of Pine.

When I learned the value of Copaiba years ago, I quickly added it to my “must have” stash (yep, I pretty much keep at least 3 bottles on hand at any given time). It’s quite the powerhouse when it comes to supporting a healthy inflammatory response. (there’s healthy and then there’s

). If you’ve got some

somewhere in your body, you might end up feeling like hugging a Copaiba tree for all it did for you. Copaiba can be used safely both internally and externally.

I anticipate December’s free gifts every year because there’s nearly always the opportunity for a free Frankincense under the tree…. I mean, WHO doesn’t use and love Frank?

Ya’ll know my reference points always point back to God and science, and Frankincense is a perfect example of this. I mean, anything that was good enough for baby Jesus is surely meant for goodness for all of us (animals too!). I just did a quick pubmed.gov search and noted that there are 920 studies currently listed under the keyword “Boswellia” (the scientific name for our friend Frank). I strongly encourage you to do a little digging. You have likely been undervaluing this plant gift God gave all of us. I use it every single day in my face serum, and frankly (hee hee, see what I did there), I can’t get enough of it.

Here’s my DIY Face Serum Recipe that I’ve used for the last 9+ years:

1- 15 ml empty bottle

15 drops of Frank

15 drops of Lavender

2 drops of Peppermint

(8-10 drops of any of the following depending on “how my skin and emotions are feeling”)….. myrrh, 2-5 drops of blue tansy, geranium, cypress, palo santo, ….. you might find your favorites…. these are mine)

fill up the remainder of the 15 ml bottle with your favorite carrier oil of choice. I love organic fractionated coconut, or macadamia nut, or apricot seed oil. Find the carrier oil that works best with your skin.

I love knowing that using Frank on my face has a positive effect on every cell in my body

If you’d like to learn more (because there is a TON more to learn about our freebies this month…. here’s a link to explore: https://1602257.lifestepseo.com/…/december-gift-with…

Hugs and Happy December friends! ~ liz

Insulin Resistance – part 3

Liz James · November 30, 2023 ·

Cinnamon is one of the oldest and most popular spices, as it has historical value both in flavoring and as a “medicinal” spice. We in the Young Living world often think of the essential oil blend Thieves when cinnamon comes to mind! (If you don’t already incorporate Thieves in your life, you are missing out on a fantastic health and wellness tool….. and that includes the benefits of Thieves Household Cleaner!)

You’ve heard my views here on the injectable medications Ozempic/ Wegovy / semaglutide . Nearly all medication originates from a natural form (plant, animal, mineral, etc), which man attempts (poorly) to replicate. Man will never be able to replicate the work that God has done for us….. no matter how hard he tries.

One of the ways these medications work for weight loss is the extreme slowing of stomach emptying time (even to the point of acquiring a new painful digestive dysfunctional state called gastroparesis that often is not reversible when discontinuing the drug ).

Perhaps “they” attempted to model the effects of cinnamon on the body when these products were created.

Adding cinnamon to your daily regimen does so much more than support the immune system ( thank you, Thieves!). Take a look at this study, ” Effects of cinnamon on postprandial blood glucose, gastric emptying, and satiety in healthy subjects.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/pii/S0002916523281113…

According to this study

cinnamon appears to reduce “after eating” blood glucose levels,

because of slowed gastric emptying…. (but again…. God is in the details…. not slow enough to cause problems).

That study above was smaller….. so if you are looking for a meta-analysis (ie: a study of studies.) Here’s one that looks at the results of 8 separate studies focusing on fasting blood sugar. ” Cinnamon intake lowers fasting blood glucose: a meta-analysis”. This study of studies suggests that cinnamon has been shown to improve (ie support the body’s efforts) to respond to insulin. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21480806/

Here’s another one….. “Cinnamon use in type 2 diabetes: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24019277/

If you are curious about learning more, there are over 350 studies related to cinnamon and blood glucose in pubmed.gov, and if you want a cliff notes version of all the goodness cinnamon offers… including some great recipes, here’s a link for you: https://1602257.lifestepseo.com/…/cinnamon-bark-spotlight

PS: to keep the FDA happy, I should also give the obligatory disclaimer….. despite the plethora of research out there… “The FDA has not evaluated these statements, and such evidence should not be construed as diagnosing, treating, curing, or preventing any disease. “

Insulin Resistance -part 2

Liz James · November 28, 2023 ·

Day 2: Insulin Resistance

We have so many tools….. and we also have tools with so many uses! A Swiss army knife of plants

if you will.

We tend to think of Ginger as a wonderful support tool for digestion, but did you also know it’s quite the tool for supporting healthy insulin levels too?

There are lots of studies out there when you do just a wee bit of digging.

How about this one….. a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. ( even better…. not funded by any organization with a conflict of interest.)…. The Effects of Ginger Powder Supplementation on Insulin Resistance and Glycemic Indices in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes:

8 weeks into the study, the “ginger group” reduced their fasting blood sugar by 10.5%.

Additionally, insulin sensitivity increased significantly in the ginger group.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/pii/S0965229914000028…

Here’s another one: The Effect of Ginger Consumption on Glycemic Status, Lipid profile, and some inflammatory markers in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. https://www.tandfonline.com/…/10.3109/09637486.2014.880671 (go read the abstract….. fascinating stuff!)

There are sooooo many more studies out there. Per the Young Living website, Ginger “may support healthy weight management when combined with exercise and a healthy lifestyle regimen as a dietary supplement.”

While we will never be able to out-supplement poor lifestyle choices, we can use tools like ginger to help mediate and support good choices! I’m thankful for the many tools in the toolbox such as Ginger Vitality!

Insulin Resistance -part 1

Liz James · November 27, 2023 ·

Good morning friends! I realize this may not be the best time of the year

to talk about insulin resistance…… or maybe it is!

When you go to the doctor, and they run

labs, 90% of the time they run blood glucose and nothing else unless there is a known blood glucose problem. If there’s a known problem, they will generally add in HbA1c too.

99% of the time, a typical Western medicine practitioner fails to run a fasting insulin test. In their defense, insurance generally won’t pay for it unless there is evidence of a problem. (Having the practitioner choose the right ICD10 code… billing code…. often rectifies this problem).

You’d be

to learn just how many people are headed towards insulin resistance (and don’t even know it!) with this simple $35ish dollar out of pocket test. (WELL worth the money to know what’s lurking so you can do something about it!)

I run this test myself annually to keep a finger on how well I manage my health. (The lab company I work with nationwide is having a Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sale now thru 12/1… please message me if interested in running labs).

If you are struggling with insulin resistance, here are some great studies. God gave us plants to help support healthy blood sugar, and Young Living does their research!

Turmeric: Whoa now….. 400+ times more potent than a VERY POPULAR medication at activating glucose uptake?… read the brief abstract for more info.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19665995/

And then there’s this article

from the American Diabetes Association: “Curcumin Extract for Prevention of Diabetes.” A 9-month study of 240 individuals with prediabetes who were either given a placebo or curcumin/turmeric.

After 9 months, 16.4% of the placebo group had full on Type2 diabetes, whereas NONE of the curcumin group did.

Additionally, the curcumin group had:

better overall function of beta cells (the cells that create insulin)

higher adiponectin (a protein hormone produced by fat cells… its physiological effect includes the reduction of inflammation and reduction of fatty deposits to the arteries and enhanced response of cells to insulin.

You can review this study here: https://diabetesjournals.org/…/Curcumin-Extract-for…