Some essential oils get used up relatively quickly and others sit at the back of the shelf for quite some time. How long should we keep them and do they ever expire? These are excellent questions.

Every Food Must Expire By Law

If something is sold for food purposes we must have an expiry date on it.  While essential oils do not expire in the traditional sense of the word some of them will have an expiry date on them because of the category that they are sold in.  Traditionally expiry dates are based on the growth of bacteria and the “spoiling” of a product by bacteria.  This will not be a problem for essential oils because they are oils.  Bacteria cannot grow in them in this way just because they are oils and not water.  Many of our essential oils are antibacterial in nature so that is even more reason for bacteria not to grow in them.  The oils can go rancid though and can also lose some of their constituents, particularly the most volatile or lightest weight components of them.

Bacteria Do Not Grow In Oils

So our oils do not technically expire in the same ways as other foods but they do have an expiry date sometimes the longest date possible from the time of manufacturing just because it is a bit arbitrary. While they do not grow pathogenic bacteria many essential oils can evaporate, changing their consistency.

Essential Oils Can Evaporate if Left Without a Tight Lid

Evaporation happens slowly but it can change the thickness of your oils so if they have been on the back shelf for quite some time and are seeming thicker and more goopy than they were before this may be why. There is something else that can happen when oils are kept in an environment where they are exposed to air.

Essential Oils Can Oxidize

Essential oils can and will oxidize over time. This is a type of rancidity. There are many websites saying that essential oils do not go rancid but they may oxidize. This is really the same thing. This means that the structure of the molecules has been changed and they are no longer healthy for the human body. The amount of time it takes an oil to start to oxidize varies depending on the oil. Each oil will be slightly different. Maybe you keep coconut oil for one year or flax oil for three months and so on.

Every Oil Has its Own Shelf Life

Keeping oils in a cool dark place with the lids on will lengthen the shelf life as much as possible. If I had an elixir fridge (now there’s an idea) I would keep the oils in there.

Please let me know what you think about essential oils, extraction methods and how long to keep them around in the comments above this article. I would love to know your thoughts.

Essential Oils Generally Recognized as Edible.  Don’t eat them without diluting, looking into the purity of the company and working with a mentor or doctor that knows your specific goals.

Alfalfa
Allspice
Almond, bitter
Ambrette
Ambrette
Angelica root, seed, stem
Angostura
Anise
Asafetida
Balsam of Peru
Basil
Bay leaves
Bay
Bergamot
Bois De Rose
Camomile
Cananga
Capsicum
Caraway
Cardamom seed
Carob Bean
Carrot
Cascarilla Bark
Cassia bark
Celery seed
Cherry, wild
Chervil
Chicory
Cinnamon bark and leaf
Citronella
Citrus peels
Clary (clary sage)
Clove Bud
Clover
Coca (decocainized)
Coffee
Cola nut
Coriander
Cumin
Curacao orange peel
Cusparia Bark
Dandelion, all parts
Dog grass
Elder, flowers and berries
Estragole
Fennel, sweet
Fenugreek
Galangal
Geranium
Geranium, rose
Hickory bark
Horehound
Hops
Horsemint
Hyssop
Helichrysum
Jasmine
Juniper berries
Kola nut
Laurel berries and leaves
Lavender
Lavandin
Lemon
Lemon balm (Melissa)
Lemon grass
Lemon peel
Lime
Linden flowers
Locust bean
Lupulin
Mace
Mandarin
Marjoram
Mate
Melissa (see balm)
Menthol
Molasses (extract)
Mustard
Naringin
Neroli
Nutmeg
Onion
Orange, bitter
Orange, bitter, peel
Orange leaf
Orange, sweet
Orange, sweet, flowers
Orange, sweet, peel
Origanum
Palmarosa
Paprika
Parsley
Pepper, black
Pepper, white
Peppermint
Peruvian balsam
Petitgrain
Pimenta
Pimenta leaf
Pipsissewa leaves
Pomegranate
Prickly ash bark
Rose absolute
Rose, otto
Rose buds
Rose flowers
Rose fruit (hips)
Rose geranium
Rose leaves
Rosemary
Saffron
Sage, Greek or Spanish Salvia
St. John’s bread
Savory, summer
Savory, winter
Schinus molle
Sloe berries (blackthorn berries)
Spearmint
Spike lavender
Tamarind
Tangerine
Tarragon
Tea
Thyme
Thyme, white
Thyme, wild or creeping
Triticum (see dog grass)
Tuberose
Turmeric
Vanilla
Violet flowers
Violet leaves
Violet leaves absolute
Wild cherry bark
Ylang-ylang
Zedoary bark

Read more

When travelling I like to make a list of all the essentials for survival, the necessary items and the luxury items.  I like to bring all of the essentials for survival, none of the “necessities” and three of the luxury items.  I often employ this strategy with my packed emergency food.  Please see the related “Eating on the Go Smart Style” article here.  For now let’s plan five luxury food stashes that can really help to get through when the basics of proper prudent planning just don’t cut it.

Strategy #1, freezer dips:  I like to keep my freezer stocked with dips so that those unprepared veggies in the fridge magically become the easiest meal in my house.  This really is hilarious because it takes under five minutes to make a good dip out of whatever you have on hand.  Just knowing I have this already made makes the times of overwhelm easier to navigate and keeps me nourished instead of grabbing unhealthy foods.  I like to have herbed nut cheeses and dill based dips in the freezer… This brings me to strategy #2…

Strategy #2, pre-frozen sprouted lentils, chick peas, pseudograins:  I have a hommous habit. I have tried making hommous out of just about anything but I am able to get the texture the closest to my old favourites by using sprouted lentils and chickpeas, cooking if I choose and then freezing them.  The cooking makes them less bitter and improves the texture of the dip.  Humous can also be fermented or the legumes can be fermented before freezing them to reduce lectins and phytates to negligible amounts.  Bacteria on our side!

I find it easier to digest the lentils than the chickpeas and strangely enough the freezing seems to make them even better.  It is very hard not to default to grocery-store hommous when I know that I will have to wait for three days for my pulses to sprout…  Enter pre-frozen sprouted lentils and chickpeas.  I like to freeze these in two-cup portions so that they are ready for my next homous fix.  Or another protein rich dip.  I find that freezing the chickpeas and lentils makes them softer for blending too, it is quite a magic trick.  I totally consent that freezing them will result in a few nutrients lost but I am so pleased to be eating homemade real food and totally avoiding canola oil and other processed food add-ons.  This also helps me to reduce my packaging footprint.

Strategy #3, pre-made dip mixes:  to make veggies from any corner store into a fulfilling meal. If the store has almond butter or tahini I am good to go.  I like to use different spices for different occasions.  I will bring onion and garlic powder mixed with dried thyme, parsley and chives to mix with tahini and I will bring spices to make instant peanut sauce for almond butter.  I often ferment yogurt on road trips (yes, it’s easy) and then all I have to do is add this dip mix and I have the HEALTHIEST on-the-road snack and a car-full of jealous friends.  This is also a great trick for through-hiking or backpacking.  The trick is to have the mixes already made up so you just need to pour and stir.  The Cowboy Spice Rub recipe on this app/site is an example of one of these.

Strategy #4, crackers:  These are a real staple to have on hand in order to get through snacky times.  Use your imagination in the creation of your crackers because they can be camping food or fancy food.  Try some pomegranate rosemary crackers from this site or pumpkin crackers, whatever you come up with.  We make a version in Friendly Flora but the general theory is to use soaked flax or chia to hold them together and add a variety of vegetables and herbs.

Strategy #5, something naughty:  This can be chocolate or another kind of “candy” that you really like.  I like to have something like this ready because if this is the “worst” food I eat it is still pretty safe and I have done myself a favour by being prepared.  Over the past twenty or so years I have constantly raised the bar on my bottom-line foods.  I do not tend to feel my best after eating so called junk foods but all things are relative. I am happy to feel prepared and to know that I have taken the time to ensure that I stay on track even if that means having some matcha bars or chocolate apricot squares in the freezer.

Read more

I would like to get back to the essentials…

Greens, of course.  So yes these include spirulina and wheatgrass and other superfoods but you can also make your own green smoothies and dehydrate and powder the leftovers.  You can freeze or dehydrate greens when they are in season and make your own greens powder too.  Yes in doing so we do lose some nutrients, maybe a lot of nutrients and it does require prep.  This is however lightweight and having it on hand can mean the difference between a desperate stop at a fast food stall in the airport and going for what you really want which is ultimate health.  You will be so happy with yourself when you pull out your powdered specialty smoothie while in unfamiliar territory.  One benefit of this is that you can use up your leftover smoothies when you make too much and you can go for really exotic flavours and make it your own, whatever seems the most practical.  You can literally make your own instant green smoothie mix for travelling.

Goji berries are a good source of amino acids and they are portable. They are not going to go bad and they mix well with other nuts and seeds to create an instant trail mix for when you can’t find trail mix.  Goji berries provide energy that is sustained and can be a real lifesaver in long lectures or long flights if they are tolerated by you as a nightshade and with some sugar content.  Some other higher protein dried berries to look into are currents and mulberries.  Currants have many benefits and their phytonutrients are very valuable for our digestive bacteria, heart and brain health.  Having some shelf-stable dried food in my bag really helps me to stay on track sometimes.

Chia: small, light and makes you feel full. Hey it’s not pretty but it is practical.  Again if the choice is chia or fast food you will be rejoicing that you had them stashed away somewhere safe.  I like to soak them overnight on long flights, camping or car trips.  I try to make sure that I chew them very well if I am just eating them as is.

I celebrate fruit.  It comes in its own package! I often carry lemons in my purse for salad topping but apples and oranges travel well and can be so welcome on a road trip.  With the lemons I like to use Dulse or Kelp flakes, taking up very little space in my bag but giving my road-trip or restaurant salads a sense of the exotic.

I like to bring good quality salt along because it takes up so little space and weight and has high value compared to table salt for me.  Kelp or dulse flakes are good alternatives for this also.

Carrot sticks and other hardy vegetables such as cabbage and beet sticks travel really well and maintain their crunch for some time.  I like to ferment yogurt on the road.  This enables me to make dips almost instantly and consuming these root veg with my yogurts gives me prebiotics and probiotics.  This helps to keep the immunity up while away from home.

I often bring a small amount of raw olives or nuts and seeds when I need more calories and am not able to find any food. I like to save these for last and use the other foods first for some reason it makes me feel like I still have a back-up plan. The nuts and seeds can of course be candied or seasoned with tamari and herbs or just eaten the way they are. They can often also be purchased in situations when it seems like there are endless gas stations and no health food stores in sight.

Do you pack any of these essentials when you are out? Do you have anything to add? I would love to have some new ideas for travelling with foods or even foods to put in the glove box for passenger emergencies. Please let me know in the comments what has worked for you!

 

Read more

Through being healthy we can help others.  It is for my family and friends that I work on my health so that I can be there for them.  I like to lead by example and through listening and empathy.  I have more to give when I am in health.  I want to be a strong spokesperson for kindness and respect for all beings.

In the beginning of a whole foods plant based diet people often experience benefits from having less of a burden of allergens and unhealthy foods on their systems.  This can feel amazing and a person can ride this wave for a few years without having to put much planning or thought into their dietary needs because, simply, they feel better than they ever have before.  In time, however, there will be ups and downs.  Because we are human.  Healing and detox go to new levels and mineral deficiencies that were probably there before become more apparent. Mineral deficiencies are not specific to any diet.  Studies have shown almost half of the population to be B12 and zinc deficient and even more for magnesium.  Is it a problem with our soils?  I think part of the problem is malabsorption and part of it our food production industry.

One issue when we change diets is that the increased nutrient intake from whole plants can mask symptoms of underlying imbalances, simply because we are more nutrified than before and it can take some time to realize those imbalances still affect us.

You are already eating the best food that you can find so we are going to skip the preliminary steps of 1, put down the turkey sandwich, 2, eat salad, 3, expand your horizons with new foods. We are going to go to three strategies to maximize your mineral intake if you are already following a nutrient-dense diet.

Strategy one: soak and sprout
Strategy two: digest
Strategy three: absorb

Soaking nuts, seeds and grains before eating them can reduce some of the anti-nutrients that can get away from the digestion and absorption of minerals in those foods.  Specifically this applies to phytates and lectins.  This can be a simple soak as with almonds, overnight in the fridge or it can be a longer process like sprouting hulless oats until they grow little tails before eating.  Many sources recommend soaking nuts for 18-24 hours to maximize the benefit.  If I do this I soak in the fridge and change the water.  I love to sprout quinoa and make it into amazing salads or Moroccan inspired dishes because it sprouts so easily.

While many grains are simply indigestible raw without sprouting some nuts and seeds could be eaten either way but will be more easily digested through soaking and sprouting.  Let’s look at sesame seeds. These seeds contain a great amount of calcium but they also contain a great amount of oxalates.  This means that the calcium within the sesame seeds is largely unabsorbable.  FERMENTING is the best way to decrease oxalates in sesame milk or even in the seeds themselves if fermented in a Lactobacillus bath.  There is some debate about how much of the oxalates are destroyed by sprouting.  Sesame seeds also contain phytic acid.  Phytic acid binds to the zinc making it less absorbable along with other minerals such as manganese and iron. Sprouting reduces the amount of phytic acid.  There is research pointing to the health benefits of consuming phytic acid but that is a topic for another post… Fermentation can also release much of the phytates in foods but soaking and sprouting is a good start and a critical step. We are soaking to maximize the minerals available for digestion.

To maximize digestion itself we need three main things:  chewing, good levels of stomach acid and good levels of other digestive enzymes, bile and hormones.  Chewing food is important and I am sure you have heard the adage chew your drinks and drink your food.  It helps me to sit somewhere nice while I am eating and make a bit more of a ritual of it rather than just stuffing down some food in between dropping someone off here and picking something up there.  This is a part of digestion I need constant reminders on.

I talked in this week’s video a little bit about stomach acid levels.  You can try the apple cider vinegar trick and maybe working with someone to see if low stomach acid might be a problem and if so taking steps to correct it.  If you have a history of stomach ulcers, reflux or GERD increasing stomach acid can present challenges and risks but ironically it is those conditions that can benefit most from a healthily acidic stomach environment.

In order to cleave all the minerals from the greens and seeds we need a good level of stomach acid. There are many other organs that contribute to digestion through hormones and fluids. Some organs receive signals to release fluids like bile and enzymes into the small intestine from stomach acid.  For example the gall bladder releases bile to buffer the pH of the foods coming out of the stomach into the small intestine based on the amount of stomach acid detected.  This creates a more ideal environment in the small intestine and benefits the digestion of food by discouraging the growth of unwanted bacteria.

After making sure that the nutrients are available, chewing them and optimizing stomach acid we are ready to absorb as much as possible.  For good absorption we need the right environments in the small and large intestines to encourage the right bacteria to grow in the right place and to help bring the nutrients across the digestive border. The bacteria in our digestive systems break down the foods but they also alter the environment to be in their favour and if they are not in the right place they might be creating an environment that is in their favour but not in ours.

As I hinted at in the previous paragraph the small intestine is a slightly alkaline environment that is not supposed to be friendly for the “probiotic” bacteria to proliferate except a small amount of lactobacillus.  Those acid forming acidophilus type bacteria love to live in the large intestine and these are really two separate environments.  Probiotic foods or supplements tend to have the bacteria that we want in the large intestine but for a small amount that stay in the small intestine, lining it.  Because of this it is important to have the acidity/alkalinity of different parts of the digestive tract in balance so that we will be encouraging growth in the “right” place.

Many probiotics cannot colonize in the body (including the yogurt I sold) because they are transient, not native bacteria. Learning how to create a real symbiotic environment and rebuild native flora can benefit the absorption of nutrients and digestion of food.  If you have ever brewed Kombucha or Kefir you will have taken care of a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts.  They work together.  The yeasts are able to put out little feet and hold on to their home and the bacteria feed off of the wastes that the yeasts create.  Through this process they are able to create a colony that doesn’t get washed away and actually rebuild the flora.  There are many probiotic foods that you can purchase with different strains of yeasts and bacteria that have been cultured to digest certain types of vegetables, fruits or sugars. Choose wisely and think about what you would like to be digesting inside your body with the help of the bacteria in relation to what they have been acclimated to break down.

See if you can buy fermented foods that are not pasteurized and remember “probiotic” only refers to a handful of certain bacteria that have been tested and proven to have health benefits but there are many many many strains of bacteria that can help us to digest foods and this science is really very young and is largely funded by yogurt companies…    The best evidence is how you feel after working to rebuild digestion and absorption.

Read more

Something you may not know about me:  I own a non-dairy yogurt company called Almond Yoga.  We sell our yogurt locally at the Whole Foods among other stores.  Several months ago I attended a meeting for food producers that sell their products at Whole Foods.  This was organized to educate us all about their new GMO labelling initiatives that are coming into play in several years.  They are asking all of their producers to apply for GMO-free certification.  I learned some things at this conference that were a surprise to me but made total sense when I thought about them.

100% organic and Certified Organic products in the USA and Canada should technically be GMO-free because they are not allowed to contain GMO ingredients EXCEPT corn starch and soy lecithin. Those ingredients are red flags on packages for my family and I as we know it is pretty impossible for them to be non-GMO at this point.  Pretty big loophole if you ask me!  There are other loopholes as well around the uses of antibiotics in fruits and vegetables.

Certified GMO-free products are also tested for genetically modified ingredients from seed to final product whereas certified organic products are not tested for GMO constituents per se.  There can be contamination (non-GMO and GMO seeds mixed together) from suppliers and contamination from wind blowing seeds from farm to farm.  This just makes me sad.  If there is one thing I care more about than what I put in my body it is human rights; other people’s well being.  I don’t like the idea of a persons’ seeds or livelihood being cross-pollinated by GMOs.

As organic products become more mainstream the certification boards will continue to come under more and more pressure by certain seed companies to allow some GMO products under the organic umbrella. The more these companies have to lose the more they will pressure anyone who stands in their way in order to find ways to profit from the organic market. This is why you and I have to hold fast to our standards and step forward even when people do not understand us because if we do not set the standards for the food that we eat nobody will.  We must not give up even when the information makes it harder to choose.

Read more