You’ve got your beach bag, cooler, and bathing suit ready, but what about essential oils? Believe it or not, the beach isn’t the only thing that can offer an uplifting and refreshing experience during the summer. Summery essential oils offer cooling properties that make them ideal during warmer months. Some of the essential oils in this article even offer protection against insects, sun exposure, and overheating, in addition to supporting your skin, energy, and mood. 

Most of the summer essential oils offer anti-inflammatory, soothing, and antimicrobial properties. They assist in helping you stay balanced during hot and humid weather. They tend to have floral, citrusy, and herbaceous aromas, making them perfect for diffusing in the home. You can also use them in DIY body sprays, apply them in diluted form to the skin, or add them to your summer skin or hair care routines. 

Spearmint Essential Oil

Different to peppermint essential oil but still similar, spearmint essential oil offers a cooling sensation that may help relieve tension, improve focus, and freshen the home. It has a milder aroma than peppermint essential oil, but still gives off an uplifting, minty scent. Spearmint essential oil is great for those who are sensitive to strong oils. Some studies found that it may soothe headaches, freshen breath, and support digestion.

Cedarwood Essential Oil

Cedarwood essential oil has a woody aroma that helps to calm the nervous system. Many people value it during the summer because it exhibits potent insect-repelling abilities. It may also help with oily or acne-prone skin, and even lends itself to nighttime diffusions to promote better sleep. 

Citronella Essential Oil

Citronella is a well-known plant that helps repel bugs, especially mosquitos. The essential oil is very energizing and deodorizing, making it a great oil for outdoor gatherings. Citronella is a must-have during summer, particularly if you want to spend your evenings outdoors in the summer. You can use it in a diffuser to help repel mosquitos, or even add it to homemade body sprays. 

Citrus Essential Oils

Known for their uplifting and invigorating properties, citrus essential oils can help boost energy, promote positivity, and provide a zesty scent. Citrus oils, including lemon, orange, and grapefruit, exhibit antimicrobial and detoxifying properties, helping support digestion and immunity, two things that are challenged by extreme heat. Lemon essential oil may offer relief from nausea and assist with skin care management. Grapefruit essential oil, similar to lemon, offers antibacterial properties and may help reduce stress and sugar cravings. Finally, orange essential oil is a great one to use during summer, due to its immune-boosting effects. You can also add it to DIY non-toxic cleaning products. 

Tea Tree Oil

Offering antibacterial and antiseptic properties, tea tree oil is highly useful for minor cuts, scrapes or bug bites that occur during summer. It also exhibits anti-fungal activity, making it excellent for managing skin irritation, athlete’s foot, and acne. You can add tea tree oil to natural insect repellent recipes, foot sprays, scalp treatments, or DIY deodorant. 

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender essential oil is commonly used to promote sleep, as its aroma helps to calm the mind and body. It can also help soothe sunburns, insect bites, and minor cuts. Lavender is a highly useful and versatile essential oil that shines during summer. The anti-inflammatory properties make it helpful for calming sensitive or irritated skin. 

Peppermint Essential Oil

Got a little annoying cricket chirping away outside your window at night? Time to bust out the peppermint essential oil! Crickets despise peppermint’s aroma, so you can place a few drops in your windowsills to deter them. Peppermint essential oil offers cooling effects, making it great for hot summer days. It may help lower body temperature when applied (diluted of course) to the skin and may soothe sunburns and heat rashes. From an aromatic standpoint, peppermint essential oil boosts alertness and may help relieve headaches. 

Bergamot Essential Oil

Bergamot essential oil exhibits a bright, citrusy aroma that may uplift your mood and reduce stress. It also supports emotional balance, making it great for summer anxiety or emotional burnout. Additionally, bergamot essential oil may help reduce the appearance of blemishes and balance oily skin. Avoid sun exposure after application due to bergamot’s photosensitivity, just like citrus essential oils.

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If you want to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet, start making smoothies. You can customize smoothies to align with your taste preferences, tailoring levels of sweetness, tartness, or bitterness to your liking. Plus, smoothies can help fill you up, provide you with lots of nutrients in one fell swoop, and help cool you down on hot summer days. 

What flavors do you want to refresh your palate during the summer months? Tropical ingredients, such as mango, pineapple, papaya, kiwi, and acai tend to do just that! You don’t have to rush out to a specialty grocery store to grab the most exotic, tropical fruits you can find. A simple banana, blueberry, spinach, and mango smoothie will do you right! If you want to mix it up, though, you can enjoy the recipes in this article. 

The Benefits Of Smoothies

Not only are smoothies delicious and refreshing, but they also provide essential nutrients that encourage optimal, overall health. Fruits, especially tropical varieties, tend to overpower the flavor of greens, which is great considering that a lot of people don’t consume enough greens every day. Spinach, however, does not exhibit strong flavor, despite the fact that it transforms the color to a rich emerald. 

Hydration is of extra importance during the summer months. Most people don’t drink enough water as it is, and tend to drink dehydrating beverages, such as soda, alcohol, or caffeinated drinks. You can enhance your hydration efforts by consuming smoothies, especially when you add water-rich fruits and vegetables, such as watermelon, cucumber, citrus, or melons. 

Finally, smoothies can be a helpful tool for total weight management. Smoothies are typically low-calorie meal options, unless you add lots of nuts or nut butters. The fiber from the fruits and vegetables helps keep you feeling full and satisfied for longer periods of time, which prevents overeating. If that sounds great to you, continue reading for five healthy and refreshing summer smoothies. 

Watermelon Mint Smoothie

How refreshing! A watermelon mint smoothie is the seasonal hydrating beverage you need to cool you off on these hot summer days. 

Click here to make the smoothie. 

Cucumber Apple Smoothie

This green smoothie is a refreshing combination of crisp cucumber, crunchy and tart apple, zesty lime, herbaceous mint, and hearty kale. 

Click here to make the smoothie.

Lemon Blueberry Smoothie

A gorgeous lemon blueberry smoothie with refreshingly sweet and tart flavors. This is easy to make and you can add nutritional boosters too! 

Click here to make the smoothie.

Pineapple Grapefruit Detox Smoothie

Boost your fiber, vitamin, and mineral intake and promote detoxification by enjoying this pineapple grapefruit smoothie.

Click here to make the smoothie.

Antioxidant Beet Berry Smoothie

A bright red antioxidant beet and berry smoothie is a secret weapon for your health! Frozen bananas and dates naturally sweeten this smoothie.

Click here to make the smoothie.

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Depending on where you live, you might be in a weird limbo between spring and summer. The weather can fake you out, getting warmer for a few days, only to have a crisp chill in the air the next. On those warmer days, though, it is great to incorporate some hydrating, refreshing ingredients into your diet. That’s why we put together this lovely citrus salad, which is just as flavorful as it is beautiful.

If we could insert just a little of our own opinion here….we would tell you that we could eat this salad whenever the weather is warm. It just screams warm vibes on the beach or chill afternoons in the park. You can also enjoy this citrus salad in the comfort of your own home! And even though the word “salad” is part of the recipe, it is truly just a combination of different citrus fruits. Even the dressing contains lime! Because this salad contains three citrus varieties, it is very rich in vitamin C, which helps to optimize immune function and encourage collagen production, which contributes to healthier-looking skin.

This salad consists of Cara Cara oranges (although any orange variety is acceptable to use) and grapefruit. Cara Cara oranges are naturally sweeter, complementing the tart and slightly bitter flavor of grapefruit. Make sure to peel the oranges and grapefruit, ensuring you remove any excess pith (the white inner part of the peel). Cut your fruit into segments to give your salad an elevated look. Don’t have time for all that fancy jazz? Cut the oranges and grapefruit as you please and toss the pieces in the dressing.

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This is not your average fruit salad, people. This jicama salad, known as xec, is a citrus salad from the Yucatan state in Mexico. Xec is actually the Mayan word for salad, or ensalada. It is a quick and easy dish that is a classical side during the Day of the Dead. The ingredients in this salad may change depending on the time of year, as people use the seasonal produce that is available. Typically, though, the salad is made up of jicama, citrus fruit, and either chili powder or freshly diced serrano or habañero peppers. A classic ingredient list is as follows:

• Jicama
• Orange
• Grapefruit
• Mandarin (or tangerine)
• Sour orange
• chili powder
• Salt
• Pepper

In Yucatan, jicama is in season from November to January. It’s very common to see this salad sold by local vendors in markets in Mexico, but the ingredients can vary with the seasons. Mangos come into season during February and dragon fruit, pineapples, and other fruits and vegetables arrive during spring. Feel free to get adventurous with seasonal produce or use this recipe that is a great mix of fresh flavors.

The hardest part of making this fruit salad is the prep work, specifically the peeling of the jicama. Make sure to remove any excess skin and then dice the jicama up into bite-size pieces. It’s very common to squeeze half of a lime over the jicama to help awaken some natural flavor. This process also helps to prevent the jicama from browning.

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Sometimes, you come across a beauty product that can only be described as “tasty.” It smells so good that you want to take a bite! This homemade grapefruit mint body wash is one of those recipes. Not only is it incredibly easy to make, but it also works to boost the health of your skin. After soaping up in the shower, your skin will feel silky smooth. Let’s take a look at the ingredients that elevate this body wash (and your skin) to the next level. 

Castile Soap

Liquid castile soap originally contained laurel oil and olive oil. After laurel oil became unavailable, it was exclusively made with olive oil. Nowadays, liquid castile soap contains other oils, including coconut oil. Castile soap is made more ethically and is way more environmentally friendly than a lot of other soaps out there. In addition to being biodegradable and nontoxic, castile soap does not strip away the skin’s natural oils. Instead, it helps to clean the skin while hydrating it at the same time. 

Almond Oil

Almond oil is a nourishing oil that is suitable for every skin type. It assists with cleansing the skin while adding moisture simultaneously. Almond oil is a rich source of monounsaturated oleic acid, an omega-9 fatty acid and linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid. Researchers note that almond oil is also a rich source of vitamin E, providing nearly 261% of the recommended daily value per 100 milliliters. 

Witch Hazel

As an astringent with anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties, witch hazel may help soothe inflammation and fight acne. It is commonly applied to the skin and scalp to reduce skin irritation. Roughly 45% of Americans have sensitive skin, and some research indicates that topical application of witch hazel to sensitive skin may help treat broken, irritated, or inflamed skin. One study found that using a lotion with 10% witch hazel extract helped reduce skin inflammation and effectively treated erythema. 

Peppermint Essential Oil

Peppermint essential oil exhibits a long list of benefits for skin health. It contains antimicrobial, antibacterial, anti-itching, and anti-inflammatory properties. The primary compound (menthol) in peppermint essential oil may exhibit anti-inflammatory effects when applied to the skin. Researchers note that menthol has cooling effects on the skin, which can help diminish the sensation of itching triggered by histamine. 

Grapefruit Essential Oil

Grapefruit essential oil is bursting with vitamin C, an antioxidant that helps to brighten and hydrate the skin. It even works to support the production of collagen. Grapefruit essential oil also contains other antioxidants that work to protect the skin from harmful free radicals. It also contains fruit acids, which help exfoliate the skin. Finally, it has d-limonene, which exhibits antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties, making it an effective ingredient to help fight acne.

Grapefruit Mint Body Wash

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 2/3 cup witch hazel
• 1/4 cup liquid castile soap
• 1/4 cup almond oil
• 20 drops grapefruit essential oil
• 10 drops peppermint essential oil
• Foaming soap dispenser

Instructions:

• In a large bowl or glass measuring cup, add all of the ingredients and stir well to combine. 
• Place a funnel into the foaming hand soap bottle and pour the mixture into the dispenser. Leave an inch or so of room at the top for residual foam. 
• Pump, soap, and enjoy!

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Lately, we’ve been on a seasonal produce kick. Summer offers beautiful stone fruits, but it also is the best season for fresh watermelons. The best thing about juicing watermelons, besides the addictive flavor, is that the juice helps encourage optimal hydration. Watermelons are over 90% water and contain necessary electrolytes, which work to fight against dehydration on hot summer days.

Now, not everyone owns a juicer, but most people have blenders. Juicers can be great if you use them all the time, but they do take up a lot of space. Depending on where you live, space might not be on your side. To conserve space, and to make your life easier, this recipe uses a blender and a fine mesh sieve or strainer. Ideally, you squeeze the oranges and grapefruit to get their juice and blend the watermelon with the fresh ginger root. Poor the citrus juice in a large pitcher and strain the blended watermelon mixture into that same pitcher. Mix everything up and you have yourself a refreshing glass of summer goodness.

Since fresh turmeric root is not always easy to find, this recipe calls for turmeric powder. If you want to use fresh turmeric and have it available to you, use about one to two inches of fresh turmeric root. Just make sure that you peel it. Otherwise, use the amount of turmeric powder listed in the recipe below.

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The great thing about making a salad for a meal is that it doesn’t require too much effort or time. As long as you have about 10 to 15 minutes to prep ingredients and toss them in a bowl, you can make a salad. It can serve as your main course or you can enjoy it as a side dish. The choice is yours, but a salad is always a quick and easy meal to enjoy while you are cleansing. The key is to use different ingredients and dressings, so that you keep your taste buds interested in raw foods.

This salad contains two different citrus fruits: orange and grapefruit. If you are opposed to grapefruit for whatever reason, you can omit it and just replace it with more orange or even blood orange, provided you can find that variety. You can also use tangerines or mandarins, depending on your preference. Similarly, you can use fresh lemon juice if you do not have limes on hand. With all of the citrus in the dressing, you don’t have to worry about the small amount of freshly diced jalapeño. Both the citrus and creamy avocado tame the spice, but you still get to enjoy that subtle kick.

Ideally, use fresh tarragon to get the best flavor. Tarragon is a leafy green herb that is very aromatic, and it goes great in salad dressings or marinades with fresh citrus. It exhibits a mild licorice flavor, but it is less intense than star anise. It is common in many French dishes because it can elevate a dish. In fact, some French chefs refer to it as “the king of herbs,” but just remember that a little goes a long way. That subtle licorice flavor also pairs nicely with the peppery arugula.

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With summer just around the corner, there has never been a better time to get healthier. Plus, the warmer weather calls for more refreshing recipes, and this green smoothie fits the bill. You can slurp up this low-calorie, nutrient-dense smoothie in no time! And do you want to know the best part? It can help you stay hydrated and may even help you slim down.

Pineapples offer a sweetly tart tropical flavor and make for a great summertime snack. They are naturally rich in bromelain, an enzyme that works to boost metabolism. When your metabolic rate is higher, the body can burn more calories at a quicker rate. Bromelain also works to aid digestion, helping your body absorb nutrients from the foods you eat more efficiently. Pineapples are also rich in fiber, which helps you feel fuller for longer. That means that you’ll be less likely to eat excess calories.

Much like spinach and pineapple, grapefruit is also a weight loss-friendly food. Grapefruit also contains fiber, offering two grams per half a grapefruit, which is the amount this recipe calls for. Grapefruit also contains a lot of water and very few calories, two characteristics known to help with weight loss. One study found that people experienced a reduction in waist size when they consumed grapefruit daily with their meals. That said, study authors didn’t notice significant differences in waist sized reduction between participants who ate grapefruit and those who drank water. More research is necessary but the initial research is promising.

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When you find something that you like, especially a smoothie, it can be hard not to stick to it. That’s how we feel about green smoothies, anyway. Most people struggle to find a green smoothie that they actually enjoy. A green smoothie that is too bitter or tastes like fresh cut grass doesn’t entice your taste buds to return to that flavor. Mix the right fruits with the right greens, though, and you’ll set yourself up for success.

The great thing about this detox smoothie is that it contains many beneficial ingredients that support the body in myriad ways. So as not to bore you, we are going to focus on two standout ingredients that aid the body’s natural detoxification processes: grapefruit and pineapple. Both of these ingredients aid the body in the following ways:

Grapefruit: This citrus fruit exhibits antiseptic properties and acts as a digestive tonic. Many studies have found grapefruit to be highly beneficial for the lymphatic system, as it boosts lymph gland activity. That can help remove lymphatic waste and prevent circulatory issues, allergies, fluid retention, breakouts, and even cellulite.

Pineapple: Pineapple is a great ingredient for your detox smoothie, particularly because it aids digestion and is full of nutrients. One cup of pineapple contains almost 75% of your recommended daily intake of manganese. Pineapples are naturally rich in carotenes, flavonoids, and polyphenols, all of which work to neutralize free radicals and aid the removal of toxins from the liver and bloodstream.

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Isn’t it amazing when you get to wake up a little later on a Saturday morning? The sun peaks through your curtains/blinds and helps you wake up when you enter the rest of your house. Basking in the glow of morning sunshine helps to boost your mood and provide natural energy. Maybe you sip some morning tea or lemon water and pop a squat on your couch while doing so. The only other thing that can enhance a morning such as this is a refreshing and nourishing cucumber grapefruit juice.

Juice is so easy to make, even if you don’t have a juicer. As a quick note for people who want to make juice without juicers, blend your ingredients in a blender and then pour the blended mixture through a fine mesh sieve, pressing the pulp to extract as much liquid as possible. You may end up with some bits and pieces in your juice, but the flavor is there and that’s what matters! Just keep in mind that your blended mixture will not yield as much juice as is in the blender. This is because you remove the fiber from the ingredients, which is leftover in the pulp.

This cucumber grapefruit juice is low in calories and incredibly refreshing. The spicy kick from the ginger adds a little zing that wakes up your palate. Both cucumber and grapefruit have a water content that exceeds 90%, so they aid your hydration efforts. Grapefruit is rich in vitamin C, which aids immune function, and it may help prevent insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes. Studies suggest that eating grapefruit can help regulate blood sugar levels and keep insulin levels controlled. How amazing is that?!

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