Today, we are talking about a beloved kitchen stable that has been hiding, gathering dust in the spice cabinet. Well, it won’t be stuck in your kitchen anymore once we explore just how versatile this herb really is!

Sage Essential Oil. No longer will it be relegated to flavoring your thanksgiving stuffing or your breakfast sausage. This EO has a whole host of uses and benefits that will having you grabbing it for all kinds of needs.

First, our fun facts of the day are:

• Sage is part of the mint family. And there are a ton of different varieties for gardening, culinary uses, medicinal, etc.
• The Lakota Indians swore by Sage and called it their master healer and used it as a purifier. Kind of like we consider Lavender our swiss army knife, that’s how they felt about Sage.
• The Romans were pretty in love with Sage and called it Herba Sacra or Sacred Herb. The variety we’re exploring today is called Salvia Officinallis. Salvia translated from latin means to heal and is a root word for salvation. Hence our post title… 😊

So, now let’s talk about some serious health benefits that Sage offers us.

I do have to note that Sage EO comes with a strong warning. Do not use this variety of sage if you have diagnosed epilepsy. It’s known as a stimulant, which works for your nervous system, circulatory system, brain, liver, excretory system (which is your kidneys, sweat glands, lungs and liver), meaning it activates and optimizes these areas of your body, but in the case of epilepsy, typically your nervous system and brain are kind of haywire, so using and inhaling this particular EO, may cause some epileptic symptoms. Also, it should be noted, do not bring Clary Sage anywhere near a pregnant woman. If she smells it, she will have contractions and possibly go into labor if she’s close to term. But hey! If you’re ready to give birth, then smell away ladies! You don’t even need to diffuse it, just sniff from the bottle.

Okay, now that we have that public service announcement out of the way, Sage EO is fabulous for your reproductive health! For both men and women. Sage EO actually mimics estrogen in the body and helps regulate female cycles and helps to reduce the symptoms of the cycles, but it also helps to lessen the symptoms related to menopause. A lot of reproductive issues, like infertility and estrogen related cancers we’re experiencing lately are because of the high content of estrogen in our foods. Sage EO helps your body’s response to all the extra estrogen. It helps support regular levels within your body and not an estrogen free for all. I do want to note that if you experience some of these problems, try to reduce your daily intake of soy. About 90% of the soy produced around the world today is genetically modified and has been found to be a serious estrogen disruptor. If you do consume soy, try to make sure it’s Non-GMO verified and read your ingredient labels. Soy Lecithin, people, Soy Lecithin. I’ll now step off my soap box.

Men can benefit from Sage EO, as well, because it not only helps regulate your estrogen levels, but it helps keep your testosterone and progesterone levels in check, too. Sage EO working as a stimulant will help your endocrine system, by way of your hypothalamus (governor of your base body responses like your endocrine system, thirst, hunger temperature, sleep, etc.), to make sure its producing and using the proper hormone levels all throughout men’s reproductive system.

To use this great EO for men and women and their reproductive health, I would take one to two drops of this EO and rub it right across your lower abdomen.

Next, Sage is awesome for your digestive health! As we talked about earlier, Sage is a stimulant, so when it comes to digestive health, Sage helps to speed up and regulate the digestive process. It supports proper gastric juice and bile levels to allow your intestines to properly break down the food you eat. It also helps to control microbe levels within your gut, that can interfere with the digestive process. Long story short, it keeps the bad bacteria in your gut under control. A great EO to combine with Sage would be Peppermint. Peppermint helps to reduce acid levels within your stomach and decrease bloating, while Sage allows everything to move along. I would combine a drop or two of each EO in a gel cap and take it as needed. I will give you fair warning, you will burp peppermint and Sage for a little bit after consumption. I’ll gladly take that if it means no heartburn and post-dinner tummy.

And lastly, yes, you can cook with Sage EO. That’s one of the things I love the most about Essential Oils. They are a wonderful substitute for the actual ingredient in your recipes! There are plenty of times I forgot a particular herb or produce at the store and used my oils to pinch hit. In fact, I don’t even use real lemon anymore to make my cocktail sauce. Just a drop or two of Lemon EO and all’s well. Now, back to Sage. One thing you want to keep in mind is that all EO are a concentrated version of their source. So, if you’re considering using Sage EO in your Thanksgiving dressing/stuffing (Gotta keep the north and the south happy!), you’ll want to start with 2 drops and then add to taste. I would personally think 3 to 4 drops would be sufficient. You could also use Sage EO when you’re making sausage gravy. I love sage sausage and the thought of making biscuits and gravy with regular sausage instead of the sagey goodness, no way. It just adds that x-factor to your gravy, again start with one drop then add from there. I’m telling you, it is concentrated flavor, so use sparingly. And don’t forget, only use 100% therapeutic grade essential oil for recipes and internal use. Young Living all the way for me. Did you know they have a cookbook for using oils in your recipes?! Amazing!

Well, that’s all we’ve got for Sage EO today! If you want to learn more about essential oils and how to incorporate them into your life, contact me! You can click the contact button up top or find me on Facebook @The Current Oil Report. Until next week, Happy Oiling everyone!