Book Review: The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy: Over 600 Natural, Non-Toxic and Fragrant Recipes to Create He

This book review is part of a series that covers the topic of Aromatherapy. Aromatherapy is the use of selected fragrant substances in lotions and inhalants used to affect mood and promote health. Luke Vorstermans is the Official Guide to Aromatherapy. The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy: Over 600 Natural, Non-Toxic and Fragrant Recipes to Create Health - Beauty - a Safe Home Environment, by Valerie Ann Worwood, is a valuable resource for people interested in Aromatherapy and it is available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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A necessary resource for anyone interested in alternative approaches to healing, this book contains more than 600 easy-to-follow recipes for essential oil treatments and aromatherapy.

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Essential oils are one of the world's great untapped resources. This complete volume explains how to incorporate these ancient medicines of the earth into everyday life for personal care, physical and mental health, and a safe home environment. It gives more than 500 recipes using essential oils as alternatives to often toxic human-made health, beauty, and cleaning products.

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There are plenty of good books on herbs, and some of them devote a chapter to essential oils, but there's nothing comparable to Worwood's work. Her premise is different from other herbalists--she believes that the most effective way to use herbs medicinally is by external application or inhalation. Both methods allow the essential oil to enter the bloodstream without passing through the digestive tract. Her grasp of basic physiology is somewhat confused, but there's nothing dangerous in her suggestions. (Worwood runs an aromatherapy clinic in England and conducts research on aromatherapy.) Her book prescribes oils for everything from basic first aid and treating common ailments to natural cosmetics and body care, fragrance for the home and office, and cooking with essential oils. A good addition to alternative medicine collections.See also Susanne Fischer-Rizzi's Complete Aromatherapy Handbook , LJ 7/91.--Ed.-- Katharine Galloway Garstka, Intergraph Corp., Huntsville, Ala.