In my last blog post I talked about what I mean when I say Young Living is a lifestyle. As I reread my last post I realized I may not have been clear. Making Young Living a lifestyle is, first and foremost, understanding the importance of incorporating therapeutic grade essential oils in everyday life. The FDA has strict guidelines as to what I can and cannot say about oils. For example, I cannot say that any oil treats any ailment and I cannot recommend anyone use essential oils to replace medicine. Why do most people start using oils? Usually to treat an ailment or to replace medicine. Well, it has taken some thought, prayer, and radical mind-set change, but I have to say I totally agree with the FDA. <gasp> You should not use essential oils to treat an ailment or replace medicine. <GASP> You should use them daily, whether you think you need them or not, to SUPPORT specific organ systems and tissues. When you change your mindset and incorporate these oils into your routine every day to SUPPORT your health, you will find you do not need them for any non-FDA-compliant issue! That’s part one of the lifestyle, using these oils daily to support your health and well-being.
Part two of the YL lifestyle is understanding the important role essential oils play in supplements. When you take any supplement, it has to survive the harsh environment of the GI tract, pass through the intestinal membranes, be transported through the blood, be converted to usable form, and then cross through a semi-permeable lipid membrane to get into the cell. This is why the quality and form of specific supplements, like vitamin B12 is so important. Many don’t realize that those cheap supplements they get at big-box stores, don’t ever make it to their cells. So, yes, you may be saving money, but only to end up wasting it in the end. You really do get what you pay for. I’m studying to be a naturopath. When I recommend a supplement to a client, I have to know the supplement I recommend will do what it says it will do. I scan people daily using bioenergetic testing at NWA Natural Living; Young Living supplements are compared to pharmaceutical-grade supplements from companies like Pure Encapsulations and Xymogen, and they test as well and in most cases better than the pharmaceutical-grade supplements. The main difference between the top supplements and Young Living’s supplements is that YL’s supplements are infused with essential oils. According to Dr David Stewart, essential oils can act as neurotransmitters, peptides, steroids, hormones, enzymes, vitamins and ligands, or carriers for molecules in your body. (1) This means they have the ability to assist in the absorption, conversion and assimilation of nutrients at a cellular level. I have taken multiple supplements over the years and none have done what Young Living supplements do for me and what I see them do for my clients.
The third part of the Young Living lifestyle is becoming knowledgeable about toxins. Once you become knowledgeable and see what these chemicals we use in and around our homes and foods are doing to us, most of us do all we can to reduce our contact exposure. Like I said in my last post, just because it says its natural, doesn’t mean it is safe. Over the years I have been deeply saddened to have to give up specific products and lose faith in certain companies when I found out they used specific harmful ingredients in their “healthy” products; it all boils down to money being the bottom line for those companies, not customer health and safety. I have used Young Living products for almost six years now and I have scrutinized all of their products and claims. I have used almost every product. I have watched them change ingredients and tweak products to make them better when solid, new science is introduced. I trust this company. I still scrutinize EVERY product it introduces, though. Young Living is growing exponentially, but it has not compromised its integrity or quality standards.
And, last, if you want a quick fix or a magic pill, you need to dig deep and ask yourself, in your lifetime, has there ever been a magic pill or quick fix when comes to permanent health and weight loss? How many times have you or someone you know used a product, had great results and lost weight, but a year or two later, be right back where you or they started? Permanent weightloss and great health come from healthy lifestyle changes. It comes from reducing the amounts of toxins your body is taking in from the environment, hygiene products, and foods. It comes from daily, monthly, and yearly detox support with truly natural products, essential oils, and foods. It comes from changing the way you think and feel towards life and foods. It comes from getting your diet back to the way God intended it to be: as close to the way He made it as possible. In other words, there is no quick fix or magic pill!
I have had many requests to scrutinize other companies and their products and claims. Last week, in part one, I discussed Plexus and Advocare. This week, I will tackle Xyngular. In the following weeks I will research HerbaLife, Shakeology, and Arbonne. Feel free to message me if you have a company or products you would like me to research for you.
Xyngular
I have had many people asking me about Xyngular products. I went to their website and pulled up the product information for the first item on their website, Accelerate. (2) Right off the bat, I see Vitamin B12 (as cyanocobalamin) at a dose that’s 500% RDA. Do you remember the problem with cyanocobalamin from last week? Over 50% of the population has the MTHFR gene mutation that interferes with the conversion of cyanocobalamin to the usable form, methylcobalamin. When it is converted, your body replaces the cyanide group with a methyl group on the cobalamin molecule, releasing toxic cyanide into your system that your liver has to deal with. Cyanocobalamin is much cheaper than methylcobalamin. So any company that uses it, in my opinion, cares more about the bottom line than your health.
I was looking through their product lines and packages, and decided to focus on their weight loss package that includes Cheat+, Flush, Lean, Xyng and XR2. Cheat+ contains green coffee bean extract. I discussed this in my last post, too. Green coffee bean contains chlorogenic acid that has been shown to increase homocysteine levels, which has been tied to inflammation and increased risk for heart disease and stroke. (3,4) The rest of the capsule is mainly fiber and phytosterols. A small bowl of whole grain rice would give you more fiber and phytosterols for a lot less cost. I would also call into question where they get the phytosterols from, since rice bran and wheat germ are both plentiful and cheap sources. If it is not organic, and it does not say that it is, then it is most likely laced with herbicides and pesticides
Flush is the next supplement in the weight loss line. Its first ingredient is senna leaf, a powerful natural laxative that works by irritating the lining of the gut and is known to cause abdominal cramping, electrolyte imbalance, and dehydration. The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) warns against long-term use of senna leaf. (5) Senna also does nothing to address the pockets of plaque that can build up in your colon. According to Xyngular’s Ignite Fat Burning System brochure, you are supposed to take Flush every night. (6) Indefinitely. Not good.
Lean is chocked full of protein, vitamins, and minerals and looks really good for you, right? (7) Wrong. Lean uses soy isolates, soy milk, whey isolates and whey concentrate as their proprietary protein blend. Lets talk about soy first. Soy contains substances that mimic estrogen and lower testosterone. Soy-based tofu was used by monks over two thousand years ago to help with sexual-abstinence. Soy is low in methionine, an essential sulphur-containing amino acid. Liver disease, brain disorders, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and depression are just a few of the disorders linked to low methionine levels. Soy also contains substances known to be anti-nutrients. These include protease inhibitors, phytates, lectins, and saponins. Protease inhibitors actually prevent you from breaking down protein properly. Phytates found in soy also reduce absorption of minerals like calcium, zinc and iron. Lectins disrupt the protective mucosal lining of the gut and, along with saponins, which damages the gut lining, lead to leaky gut syndrome. Soy also contains goitrogens that disrupt thyroid function. Then you have to take into account the fact that most soy in the United States is grown using copious amounts of herbicides and pesticides. (8) The only edible soy is fermented soy in which the anti-nutrients are broken down and lose their effects.
Soy and whey protiens have something in common. They both contain hidden sources of MSG, a neurotoxin that actually kills cells in the hypothalamus. (9, 10) Also, consumer reports tested 15 whey protein brands on the market and found that all brands had at least one sample containing one or more of the following contaminants: arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Those metals can have toxic effects on several organs in the body. (11) Diets high in protein have been linked to kidney problems. (12) Whey, when it is isolated loses all the alkalinizing effects of the vitamins and minerals that come from getting whey from the whole source, which is cow’s milk. This leads to excessive acidity in the body. It is my belief that it is excessive protein intake, exacerbated by leaky gut, that is a leading cause of the increase in adult-onset allergies we are seeing in America.
The last two products, Xyng and XR2 could be called upper and downer, respectively. Also, as I researched Xyng, I saw a pattern of ingredient changes over that last four years that really concerned me. Back in 2013, Xyng contained ingredients that mimic amphetamines and that have subsequently been banned in the US and other countries. (13, 14) They replaced these ingredients with “caffeine anhydrous.” Caffeine anhydrous is a legal central nervous system stimulant derived from the decaffeination process of coffee and teas. So you take all this caffeine during the day, you need XR2 to go to sleep at night. This does not set a natural circadian rhythm in the body, taxes the adrenals, and will lead to health problems down the road.
My research has made me doubt the integrity of this company and I would subsequently not recommend any of their products if you are looking to live a healthy lifestyle.
1) The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple, David Stewart, Ph.D., D.N.M., CARE Publications
2) https://www.xyngular.com/en/products/accelerate/
3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11237928
4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24864108
6) http://www.healthineurope.eu/data/xyngular-ignite-weightloss-brochure-plan-english.pdf
7) https://www.xyngular.com/en/products/lean/
8) http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/whole-soy-story
9) http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html
10) http://www.realfoodwholehealth.com/2011/05/excitotoxins-msg-and-hidden-names/
11) http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/july/food/protein-drinks/overview/index.htm
12) http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/271663.php
13) http://www.sequenceinc.com/fraudfiles/2013/02/xyngular-starve-binge-purge-repeat/
14) http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/ProductsIngredients/ucm346576.htm
*Our team of oilers, called Anointing Nations, made the resolution this year to commit to educating our team daily. “YL – It’s a Lifestyle” is a daily post that will be on our private Facebook group. I was asked to write weekly for this, so every Wednesday, I will focus on the YL Lifestyle and share how I live it daily with my family. If you are interested in joining my team, please message me or follow this link to my website for more information.
**All the statements, comments and photos on this website have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. All medical evaluations and decisions should be made by a licensed professional.