Recipes for Aching Feet

Photo: Pixabay.com

My feet are killing me. Oh, my aching feet. How often have you moaned those words while rubbing the soles of your poor throbbing feet? If you’ve been running around doing last minute shopping, have aching feet from wearing those fierce party stilettos for hours or have simply been on your feet all day, I’ve got some ways to soothe and smooth tired (or abused) tootsies, as well as rough, dry and cracked skin.

Fill two tubs (or foot baths) one with hot water and the other with cold water.  Make sure to fill both tubs with enough water to cover the feet to ankle level.  (Test the hot water to make sure that it is not so hot that it will scald your feet.*)

Place your feet into the hot water for three minutes, then switch to the cold water for 30 – 40 seconds.  Repeat this two times, ending with the cold water.

Alternating between the hot and cold water is invigorating and will relieve foot fatigue and stimulate circulation.

When you’ve been on your feet all day, lavender is very calming in a foot bath and when used with warm water it also helps you relax while it soothes aching feet. You can soak the feet in 5 – 10 drops of lavender oil and 2 – 3 quarts of warm water or try one of the bath soaks below for additional benefits.

Therapeutic Soak
5 – 10 drops lavender oil
3 quarts warm water
2 tablespoons Epsom salt
Soak feet for 10 – 20 minutes

Sea Salt Soother
5 – 10 drops lavender oil
2 pints of warm water
2 tablespoons sea salt
Soak feet for 10 – 20 minutes

*If you are diabetic, check with your doctor before trying any foot baths.

You can get calluses from pressure or friction from wearing high heels or uncomfortable, too tight shoes. The feet jam into the toes as the feet slide forward while you walk. Here are two ways to treat callused feet:
  • Soak the feet and then use a pumice stone to smooth callused skin.  Massage olive oil or castor oil onto the feet and wear socks overnight.
  • After soaking feet, saturate a cotton ball or pad in vinegar and tape to the callused area and cover the foot (or both feet) with socks overnight. 


Photo: Pixabay.com

Peppermint Candy Cane Foot Scrub

Beautify and stimulate your feet with celebrity manicurist/owner of As U Wish Nail Spa, Skyy Hadley’s at-home Peppermint Candy Cane Foot Scrub:

Ingredients

½ cup coconut oil
3 regular-size candy canes
5-6 drops peppermint essential oil
2 tablespoons fresh peppermint leaves (or peppermint tea leaves)

Directions:
  1. Warm up ½ cup of coconut oil and pour into a small bowl
  2. Crush up 3 regular-sized candy canes as finely as possible.
  3. In another bowl, whisk crushed-up candy canes together with 1 cup of granulated sugar until completely combined.
  4. Mix sugar blend into the bowl containing the coconut oil, making sure to break apart any chunks or pieces with your spoon.
  5. Add in 5-6 drops of peppermint essential oil.
  6. Take 2 tbsp fresh peppermint tea leaves and stir in to the mixture until fully blended.
  7. Work the scrub into your feet and heels for 10 minutes, removing dead skin and smoothing out skin.

Enjoy the refreshing aroma while refreshing and reviving your tired toes.

Refreshing Foot Spray

This foot spray recipe is adapted from Reader’s Digest Natural Remedies for Healthy Living.

Ingredients

2/3 oz peppermint tincture
2/3 oz pot marigold (calendula) tincture
1/3 oz rosemary tincture
10 drops lemon oil
10 drops cypress oil
10 drops peppermint oil
3-½ oz witch hazel

Directions:

Add ingredients to a spray bottle. Shake well before using. Spray to feet during the day as needed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I Was Super-Charged by the World’s First Giant Singing Bowl

Image
I was standing in a private room looking at a huge bronze singing bowl. I was in Lucerne, the third stop on a trip to four regions in Switzerland, staying at the Palace Luzern.  The hotel describes it as the world’s first giant singing bowl and I had signed up for the “ceremony,” an experience that promised a “state of lightness and deep relaxation.”  Photo: Courtesy of Palace Luzern The giant bowl is struck, causing 1,000 frequencies to flow through the body and “Every cell unites in harmonious vibration,” states information at the hotel website. OK. Sure. The giant singing bowl took 15 years to create.  This process included studying the effects and functions of small traditional Tibetan singing bowls, making the mould for the bowl, which was cast in solid bronze and has a diameter of 1.76 meters and a weight of 1.2 tons.  It had to be housed in this cozy room on the ground floor instead of in the third floor spa (for obvious reasons.) It ...
Read more

Flowmotion Yoga

Image
I took Sarah Tomson Beyer’s flow yoga class, Flowmotion: Find Your Rhythm, What’s Your Flow, when she came to Pure East in Manhattan. The two-hour class began with warm-up sun salutations and then we were taken through a number of Flowmotion sequences that we would do during the class. As the class moves forward, the pace of the sequences build and you're supposed to “tune into your rhythm and express your flow.” Flowmotion is a cross between modern dance and yoga. Beyer has a background in dance and her technique reminds me of a yoga class I used to take on Mondays and Wednesdays at New York Sports Club. That teacher's name was also Sarah and she was a former gymnast and dancer. Moving through the fluid, and at times therapeutic sequences, makes you feel serene. Unfortunately the room in which we had the class was too small for the number of participants, making the “flow” a bit difficult, and if you're a beginner to yoga (or have been playing hooky fr...
Read more

Voyage: Herbal Remedy for Jet Lag

Image
Lavender. Photo: Jill Wellington from Pexels Voyage is a jet lag remedy I could have really used during the years when I was crazy enough to travel from New York to Hawaii and then straight to Jamaica!  Voyage is an herbal jet lag remedy formulated by clinical herbalist Kilu Horecki , who is trained in western herbalism and Chinese traditional and Ayurvedic medicine.  The claim is that Voyage helps when you’re traveling across multiple time zones. In addition to helping your body cope with the usual symptoms of jet lag, it also helps with altitude and travel sickness, calms anxiety, boosts the immune system and protects against food poisoning.  Photo: Courtesy of Kilu Voyage contains a proprietary blend of “organic and wildcrafted botanical ingredients,” some of which include: Albizzia , a plant native to China. The flowers, stems and bark are used to make medicine. It is taken for anxiety, depression and insomnia, and to improve mood. Albizz...
Read more