Pampering Your Feet

The feet are one of the most abused and neglected parts of the body.  They support our weight, they get crammed into high-heeled shoes, they take a pounding when we walk, dance, play sports or stand on them all day long.  They get hot, sweaty, itchy and smelly.  It's no wonder that 80 percent of Americans will have a foot problem in their lifetimes. An average person walks 110,000 miles in a lifetime.  Our feet support the entire body and control our gait and posture.  Yet we tend to neglect and ignore them and take them for granted.  Eventually our neglect could turn into back problems, poor posture and can even disrupt our body's circulation. Look around your home and you are likely to see several different hand lotions, shampoos, face creams, face scrubs, toners, cotton balls and all the other products you use to keep your hands and face looking great.  But what about your feet?  They need pampering, too!!  Below are some great ideas for pampering your feet.  After all, few things feel more luxurious than a soothing lavender foot soak or an invigorating peppermint foot massage at the end of a long day.  Your feet will thank you for it! ▪ Buying and Wearing the Right Shoes for Your Feet ▪ Exercising Your Feet         ▪ Bathing           ▪ Massaging  ▪ Pedicures          ▪ Common Foot Problems & Remedies Buying and Wearing the Right Shoes for Your Feet - Your foot care should start first with a sensible pair of shoes.  A good fitting shoe should be half an inch longer than your foot, thus allowing moving space for your toes.  Always buy shoes of the right size.  Apart from size, you have to ensure that the length of the heels do not de-stabilize you.  People with bad backs should not wear high heels as they do not support the spine.  One should buy shoes in the afternoon or evening when the feet are swollen from the days walking. Make sure that shoes are not too narrow and will not pinch the toes together. Exercising Your Feet - Most people believe that just because they are 'on their feet' the whole day, they have exercised on the run.  This is far from true.  You need to exercise to relax your tired feet and to strengthen your foot muscles.  The best time to exercise is at the end of the day. Sit comfortably on an erect chair and clench your toes, then relax.  Do this for at least 3 minutes.....4-6 times a day.  Next, draw circles in the air with your feet.  Move one foot at a time clockwise, then counter-clockwise 10 to 12 times each foot.  These exercises really benefit your ankles, keeping them supple, strong and lean.   Bathing - You should bathe your feet daily.  Notice that when you take a bath or a shower, the body, face and arms get all the attention and your feet remain neglected.  So make it a habit of treating your feet to a lavish footbath, especially at the end of the day.  Take a basin of warm water and add salt or even splurge and have an At-Home Spa treatment.  Try Peppermint Foot Soak, Foot Fizzies and Poppy Seed Foot Scrub.  Enhance your footbath by adding marbles to your footbath.  Soak your feet...your aching feet will get instant relief.  Pat dry your feet thoroughly and apply lotion.  At least once a week, consider giving your feet an invigorating foot scrub with Poppy Seed Foot Scrub.   You can find recipes to these at-home spa mixtures here: At-Home Spa Ideas & Recipes. Massaging - Warm some oil in your hands or use foot scrub.  Place your thumbs on the heel of the right foot.  Apply gentle pressure to the entire underside of the foot, slowly gliding your thumbs toward your toes.  Massage the entire heel, including the sides beneath the ankles, with your thumbs.  Add more oil or scrub to the top of the foot.  Place four fingers in one of the depressions between the bones on the top of the foot and gently massage toward the ankle.  Repeat between all these depressions.  Finally, position both hands on one foot, with your fingers underneath and your thumbs on top.  One hand at a time, apply pressure and gently stroke the foot, sliding your hands toward the toes. Minty Massage Oil - 10 teaspoons grape seed oil. 3 drops Eucalyptus essential oil. 2 drops Peppermint essential oil. 4 drops Rosemary essential oil. Blend all ingredients together and store in glass container.   Use as a shoulder, neck, hand or foot massage oil.  Shelf life: 6-12 months. Pedicures - Simple steps for a blissful at-home pedicure: Soak away stress:  fill a tub or foot bath with warm water and drop in 1/2 ounce of your favorite bath salts.  Add a tablespoon of olive oil and soak your feet for 10 to 15 minutes.  The salts will soften up dry skin and calluses, while the olive oil moisturizes. Banish dead skin and calluses.  Massage an exfoliating body scrub into the bottoms of your feet.  Leave the scrub on and use a pumice like surface to buff down calluses and slough away dead skin cells.  Rinse your feet with cool water. Trim nails and care for cuticles.  Trim the toenails cutting them in a square shape to prevent ingrown nails.  Gently push back cuticles with an orange stick.  Never cut your cuticles, they are necessary or keeping bacteria from entering the skin. Moisturize and massage.  Dry off your feet with towel and apply an invigorating foot cream, massage in long upward strokes, moving from your toes to your calves. Finish with polish.  Apply a base coat and two coats of your favorite polish, followed by a top coat.  Let your nails dry for at least an hour then rub a dab of oil into your cuticles and nail beds to moisturize them. Common Foot Problems & Remedies - We only pay attention to our feet when, finally, they rebel from utter neglect.  When this happens we are aware of calluses, corns, bruises, ingrown toenails and bunions.  We should look after our feet before one of these problems may need the attention of a doctor.  So prevention is always better.  You can prevent a lot of problems by knowing about them and preventing them. Cracked Heels - This is one of the most common and embarrassing problems.  Cracked heels are the first signs of neglect.  A daily dose of cleaning and moisturizing can help.  Before going to bed, soak your feet in soapy water.  Soak for 15 minutes.  Dry your feet.  Take one teaspoon Vaseline and add to it the juice of one lemon.  Rub this mixture into the cracked heel and other areas of the feet till it is thoroughly absorbed.  This should be done daily.  A mixture of rosewater, too, if applied regularly, can help soothe and cure cracked heels. Corns - These are caused by friction and pressure when the bony parts of the feet rub against your shoes.  The problem needs to be treated by a doctor.  Change your footwear immediately.  Use exfoliates, footbaths and moisturizing routines to ease the pain.  There are a few home cures that may cure newly formed corns.  They should be treated at once.  Marigold - The marigold flower has antiseptic qualities.  The juice of the Marigold is an excellent cure for warts.  The sap from its stem is useful in curing warts, corns and calluses of the feet.  All one has to do is to slice the stem lengthwise and apply the juice of the stem on the affected areas.  Use this treatment everyday at the first sign of the corn. Licorice - The dried roots of this plant and its underground stems are usually flavoring agents in food as well as the base in many cough medicines.  Take a few licorice sticks.  Powder them and add a little mustard oil.  Rub this paste onto the corn and the hardened skin.  Use regularly, especially at bedtime.  All newly formed corns will disappear. Pineapple - This is an absolutely unique way to treat corns.  At night, just before bedtime, soak your feet in warm water for 20 minutes to tenderize the corns.  Cut out a square piece from the pineapple peel and rest the insides directly on the corn.  Use tape to attach this piece directly on the corn.  Cover with socks and leave on overnight.  Apply for four to five nights consecutively.  Swollen Feet - Mild water retention or edema, especially during the menstrual cycle or due to hormonal changes can cause immense discomfort.  Here is a simple cure: Carrot & Parsley Juice!  Take four carrots, one beetroot or apple, and a few sprigs of parsley.  Wash, peel and finely chop the carrots and also the apple or beetroot. Add all together and blend in a juice strain.  Drink twice a day to treat bloated feet. Athletes Foot - This is one of the most common and irritating foot infections.  This spreads through wet socks, bedding, on bathroom or swimming pool floors.  This infection spreads due to dampness.  The best thing to do is to keep your feet dry.  Here is a useful home remedy: Ginger or Garlic - Soak your feet in a basin of warm water containing either a few pieces of crushed garlic or crushed ginger.  Add to this a little alcohol.  Soak for 10 minutes.  Remove feet and dry them thoroughly.  Repeat 2-3 times a day.  This provides immense relief. An all-purpose foot cream can easily be prepared at home, too: Coco Rose Foot Cream - Take half cup coconut oil, one teaspoon glycerin and 2 Tablespoons of rose water.  Take a mixing bowl and pour all these ingredients together.  Beat till smooth paste is formed.  Store in a jar and keep in your bathroom.  Use every night to prevent drying of the feet and cracking of the feet.  It's an ideal, multipurpose foot cream.

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