Taking Care of Your Feet

 “When our feet hurt, we hurt all over.”
                                                                                       - Socrates

Unfortunately, many commercial foot creams and lotions are composed mainly of water.  As this water enters the skin, it temporarily expands the tissues much like air filling a balloon, so wrinkles fade away and your skin feels smoother.  As soon as the water evaporates or gets carried away by the bloodstream, however, the dryness and wrinkles always return.  In addition, these products often contain highly refined vegetable oils that have been stripped of all their natural protective antioxidants.  As a result, they are highly prone to free-radical oxidation that can actually make your skin age faster.  In effect, although these creams and lotions may bring about temporary improvement, they could actually end up accelerating a vicious cycle of aging skin.

Fortunately, a number of natural substances, including certain essential oils and herbal essences have been scientifically proven to overcome these problems and help your feet look younger and feel healthier.

Soothing Power of Eucalyptus

            One of nature’s most powerful ingredients for moisturizing, soothing, and detoxifying hard-working feet is eucalyptus oil.  Its ability to modulate ceramides (lipid component of skin structure) helps the skin’s outer layer to retain moisture.  This is extremely important for the feet, which can excrete as much as one pint of moisture every day.

            A compound called 1,8-cineole in eucalyptus facilitates the production of hydrating ceramides in the epidermal cells, increasing the skin’s softness and suppleness.

            Carefully extracted by steam distillation from the leaves and stems of the tallest and fastest growing tree in the world, eucalyptus essential oil contains about 80% 1,8-cineole (it’s main active ingredient) and other healthy plant essences such as pinene and limonene.

Not only does eucalyptus oil enhance the water-binding ability of ceramides, it has long been used in therapeutic programs to help cleanse and detoxify the skin.
 

            Eucalyptus oil also has potent antibacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-microbial properties against a wide range of microorganisms that prosper in moist, dark environments.

            Aromatherapy experts have long believed that quality essential oils like eucalyptus oil can also penetrate deeply into the skin and enhance circulation, thus promoting the delivery of oxygen and essential nutrients to the skin’s deepest layers.
 

            Tired feet therefore benefit from the natural soothing properties of eucalyptus, a proven analgesic that is one of the best oils known for lessening the discomfort associated with joint and muscle aches.
 

            These numerous benefits of eucalyptus oil make it an essential ingredient in a program designed to hydrate, soothe, and protect the feet.

Refresh Tired Feet with Menthol

           
 Used medicinally in Japan for over 2,000 years but not isolated in the West until approximately 200 years ago, menthol constitutes about 50% of the essential oil in peppermint.

            When massaged into the skin, menthol has a miraculous effect on the sensory nerves by stimulating those that produce a cool, soothing sensation to refresh tired, aching feet.  Menthol does this by activating what scientists call transient receptor potential ion channels.  These channels function as receptors for natural compounds such as menthol that evoke thermal sensations across the entire peripheral nervous system.

          Furthermore, menthol inhibits a specific pain receptor, a finding that may help explain its effectiveness as a topical analgesic for the relief of minor skin discomforts.

            In addition to its local cooling and pain-relieving properties, menthol can speed up healing by dilating blood vessels, so increasing blood flow to the affected area, which is an important property in alleviating muscle and joint soreness.

            Still another therapeutic property of menthol is its ability to help subdue many types of pathogenic fungi and bacteria and so prevent them from establishing infection in the moist, dark areas between the toes.

            All of these features make this versatile ingredient a must-have ingredient in the ultimate formula for healthier, happier feet.
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This article above appeared in LIFE EXTENSION Magazines September 2008 Issue; Page 72.  To subscribe please visit www.lef.org                                 

                                        Foot Care

While the foot is one of the most widely utilized parts of the body, most of us neglect proper foot care.  Feet also have the largest pores on the body so they are an excellent choice for absorbing healthy natural substances, essential oils, herbal essences, antioxidants, and plant derived fatty acids - - -  all of which can help your feet look and feel younger.

The feet are not only subjected to tremendous mechanical stress, they must also resist fungal and bacterial infections, dehydration, and everyday aches and pains.  Essential oils are an excellent companion and support system in this area as well.

Our feet have approximately 250,000 sweat glands each and can excrete as much as one pint of moisture every day.  This dark, damp environment between the toes is a perfect home for many disease-provoking microorganisms to thrive, paving the way for common infections such as athlete’s foot or on-going nail fungus issues.  And cracked or broken skin provides a gateway for microorganisms normally found on the skin’s surface to enter the bloodstream, setting the stage for potentially dangerous infection.

Normal aging causes decreases in the bodies production of natural lipids called ceramides that are essential for skin hydration.  While the water content of the skin’s outer layer, the stratum corneum, for normal healthy skin is in the range of 10-20%, diminished ceramide production can cause it to fall below 10% - - -  making your feet look and feel dehydrated.  So as we age, the skin on our feet are in need of constant nourishing, moisturizing and attention filled hygiene.
 

NOTES:

Squalene

Squalene is a natural substance that has the power to nourish and hydrate.   It is found naturally in the protective surface of the skin, where it amounts to 15% of the total fat content.   Distributed widely throughout nature, squalene is found in everything from the liver of deep sea sharks to vegetable sources like olive, palm, wheat germ, and rice bran oils.

Truly one of nature’s great emollients, squalene is quickly and efficiently absorbed deep into the skin, restoring healthy suppleness and flexibility without leaving an oily residue.  It is highly effective as a natural moisturizer at replacing missing oils and soothing dry, rough, or problem skin areas.

Coconut Oil

Early Spanish explorers called this large, round, hairy nut with the three indentations (that looked oddly like two eyes and a nose) “coco”, meaning “monkey face.”

Pacific Islanders use the coconut palm as a source of food, shelter, and medicine and call it “The Tree of Life.”

Polynesians have long used coconut oil cosmetically as an ointment to help maintain their beautiful, smooth and soft skin, mixing it with different varieties of flowers and other seed oils such as ylang ylang, kukui, and sandalwood for added fragrance and variety.

Also a staple of traditional medicine among Asian and pacific Island populations for thousands of years, the oil of the coconut has been used for diverse health concerns ranging from insect bites to indigestion.

It is only recently, however, that medical science has begun to unlock the incredible healing powers of the coconut oil.

Coconut oil is one of nature’s richest sources of medium chain triglycerides.  These novel lipids are almost identical to the medium chain fatty acids found in human sebum and have demonstrated interesting health benefits.

Coconut oil and its constituents have been credited with antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties, which may help to prevent skin infections.  In fact, a derivative of coconut oil has demonstrated broad-spectrum activity against numerous types of bacteria implicated in superficial skin infections.  Coconut oil has also shown antifungal benefits against Candida albicans, a type of yeast involved in vaginal yeast infections as well as thrush (a fungal infection affecting the oral cavity).

The combination of your sweat along with coconut oil fatty acids creates a thin, protective mantle on the skin that helps keep pathogens at bay.  Coconut oil softens and moisturizes while removing dirt from the outer layer of skin, leaving it shiny and smooth.  In consideration of all these wide-ranging benefits, it’s only fitting that coconut oil takes its rightful place as one of the key ingredients in optimal foot care.

***The above report was taken, in part, from a fully footnoted article appearing in LIFE EXTENSION magazine September 2008; pages 74 and 75.

A highly recommended source of  top-quality Coconut Oil  (and related books)  is available at:
http://thepowermall.com/thecenterforhealth/healthy_food/coconut.htm#1%20Pint%20Philippine%20Virgin%20Coconut%20Oil