Natural Lifestyle Health Consultations  

 

Hi Everyone!

 

Here we are once again, Saturday afternoon. And time for us to send out the weekly menu. You will  find it, the July 22, 2010 Wholly Macro Delivery Menu, in the Weekly Menu Section of this newsletter: below.

 

It is full of variety this week (and always). Each dish contains the essentials, such as beans, grains, sea vegetables, and multitudes of other healthy vegetables, including Wholly Macro's homemade vibrantly alive bean and grain sprouts. Yet they are prepared in very light, refreshing, and cooling ways (seeing that it is now late July). It would be a mistake this time of the year, to prepare foods in such a way as to create heat in the body. For one thing, we would feel (more) uncomfortably hot that we already do. And more importantly, it is hard on the organs of our body physically. They are working hard enough in order to stay hydrated, cool the body, and do the labor intensive work of movement, digestion and elimination, without us adding to the burden by eating heat producing hard to digest foods, OR by eating (or drinking) foods that are too cooling to the body, causing the kidneys to weaken and the body to lose essential minerals.

 

A loss of essential minerals in the body is manifested in many negative ways. But one way that I see it manifesting far too often is as foot problems and foot pain. Minerals are essential for kidney health, and the kidneys govern the bones, the feet, and the ankles. In other words, problems with your feet and ankles can be related to kidney weakness.

 

Here are a few suggestions that I have learned, and would like to share with you on how to better take care of your precious feet.

 

~ Give yourself a foot massage. Daily if possible. Yes, you can do this yourself, by just bending one leg while seated, and resting that foot on the opposite thigh. Rub and massage your whole foot, the toes, the arch, the heels, and the Achilles tendon and ankle area. You can use the knuckles for a deeper massage. Or try holding your foot with both hands and using both thumbs. Pull the toes back and forth and apart. Lace your fingers between each toe, and flex and bend the toes with your fingers, stretching the muscles and tendons of the bottom of the foot along with the toes. It's fun, and can be done anytime you are sitting. In front of the TV, in the car (while someone else is driving please!), and your feet will love you for it as you stimulate circulation, relax the muscles, reduce tension, and often times alleviate foot pain.

This is also an excellent time to examine your feet and notice any potential problems.

 

 ~Do a warm or cool foot soak. If your feet are feeling hot, burning, and inflamed, try doing a cool foot soak. Just use cool water. Do not load it up with ice as this is too extreme for your feet and can cause problems. Our favorite is to add peppermint or eucalyptus essential oil, or Dr. Bronner's soap, to the water for a cooling and refreshing foot soak. If your feet feel tired, sore, stiff, or normal or cool to the touch, try a warm foot bath. If your feet tend to swell, you can add sea salt to the warm soaking water. If on the other hand your feet feel very tight, try using Epsom salts.

 

A warm ginger foot bath is always a great thing to do for your feet. It is extremely helpful to do following a foot injury, well after the initial inflammation has subsided. It will promote circulation and healing deep into the feet.

A warm foot bath also helps the insomniacs among us! It brings blood out of the head and down to the feet, quieting an overactive / over thinking mind. Best to do a warm foot bath at night before bed if you have trouble falling or staying asleep. Our recommendation for this type of warm foot bath: add lavender oil, or lavender Dr. Bronner's soap to the water for enhanced relaxation.

 

~ Walk barefoot on the sand or in the grass. This is my personal favorite. I especially enjoy walking barefoot on the sand (at the beach). The way the sand molds to your feet, gives your feet the ability to naturally adjust themselves. The sand allows every tiny little bone in your feet to find their natural position, while gently encouraging the many tendons and ligaments in your feet  to release their tight hold. An added bonus of a barefoot beach walk is the salt water. Let your feet get wet. The mineral laden ocean water will give your kidneys a real boost.

 

~ Utilize massage devices. There are numerous massage / specific foot massage devices on the market. Anywhere from simple wooden rollers that you can keep under your desk to roll your feet over while working, to quick pick - me - up vibrating tools of all kinds. You will need to explore the options to determine what works best for your needs.

 

The bottom line: take excellent care of your feet so that they can take excellent care of you. And use every option available, including and most of all, proper diet.

 

Next week we will talk about this more, shifting our focus from foot care, to re-examining walking habits, walking posture, and patterns of movement to best enhance foot, and total body health.

 

Until then, we wish you the best of health. As always.

 

Gayle and Jaime 

Gayle Stolove / Wholly Macro 

www.whollymacrobiotics.com  ~  whollymacro@bellsouth.net

 

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