It is summer, and we are showing our feet. You rather want to hide yours? Here are two, no three beauty tips:
1. Walk on your feet. Feet are beautiful when they are functional. Feet that are not used become ugly.
As a child, I had the ugliest feet you can imagine. I only learned walking when I was three. Then I had to wear orthopedic boots until I was eight. Needless to say, I never enjoyed walking. – Fast forward: I found out my problem were not my feet but gluten intolerance. I started walking – really enjoying it – and my feet have become beautiful over time.
2. Don’t wear high heels – or wear them as little as possible. High heels twist your whole body out of shape, not only your feet.
Many years ago, in Germany, I consulted a physician for headaches. He looked at me, looked slowly down at my body, fixed his stare on my feet and said: “No wonder, with those flat feet!” – If you wear high heels, it affects your hips, your knees, and your entire spine (low back pain, slumping, neck pain!).
3. Against toe nail fungus, cracked heels, calluses (except for corns, they need special treatment - perhaps by a podiatrist): Apply tea tree oil to your feet; put extra attention on your toe nails. Then rub your feet with olive oil – same stuff you cook with. It is nice to add a drop of essential oil like rosemary, thyme, myrrh to a small bottle – gives an extra nice scent. In the beginning, treat your feet twice a day; later, when they look beautiful, do it once a day.
You’ll never want to hide your feet again! Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
Tick Time
May 14, 2010
A few years ago, our son returned from camp with fever, stiff neck and the worst headache of his life. It took me a second to decide that this was NOT a case for natural medicine and to ship him of to the ER immediately.
Well, he was misdiagnosed, initially. I sat at his hospital bed and saw him slip away. But then a good doctor appeared and made the life-saving diagnosis (I would not have known, not even for the life of my son, I was so thinking-impaired): tularemia. A few days of antibiotics, and our son was fine. A scary experience, more for us than for him - because of his delirium, he has nearly all forgotten.
Tularemia is one of several tick-borne diseases - none of them nice – probably the least likely of them, about one hundred cases a year in the United States. Much more common are: Lyme, Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, relapsing fever; babesiosis; meningo-encephalitis and Colorado tick fever.
What to do about ticks? All winter those little creatures have been waiting for us, starved for attention – and our blood.
If you go outdoors, you are exposed. Ticks sit on grasses and bushes, ready to drop on us any time. This is what you can do:
• Have a high suspicion: Check yourself for ticks every evening, on your scalp, in body folds, behind the ears.
• Wear long sleeved gear and tucking in pants into socks helps deter them. Light colors are recommended – not sure because ticks like dark colors or that you can better detect them on light colors.
• Wear natural repellents: Citronella, lemon grass, peppermint oil.
• Eat garlic – not sure it works … but then again, it repels vampires.
• For Lyme disease, a tick has to be lodged into your skin for about twenty-four hours before transmitting disease. For tularemia, alas, just a little nick and a trace of saliva suffices.
• Remove ticks immediately (a little tea tree oil or other essential oils will make them relinquish their feeding place voluntarily).
• Watch for symptoms like rashes, fever, joint pains, stiff neck, headaches, nerve palsies, and go to an ER straight away.
• If put on a antibiotic, take it all to the end - untreated, these diseases can lead to life-long debilitation. If it was me, I would also take some GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract), just to be on the safe side. Also take a probiotic while on antibiotic to protect your gut.
And no, our son did not get bitten by a tick in camp - it happened before and closer to home, in Concord, MA. Read More