Why You Should be Thanking Your Cracked Heels.

Thanking them?  Are you out of your mind?  They hurt!  They itch.  They don’t look pretty in my new sandals.  They trash my stockings at work. They even bleed onto the floor first thing in the morning sometimes!

While only someone who has suffered badly cracked heels can ever appreciate those feelings, it doesn’t change the fact that cracked heels ARE really important and something we should be thankful for.  Because they are visible and irritating and embarrassing, we notice them.  We even start reading blog posts to try and fix them.  The challenge is to understand them and the message they bring us.

The skin on our heels is like the canary in the proverbial coalmine.  It’s under more strain than the skin on other parts of our body, simply by virtue of the weight our feet carry each day, step by step.  The skin on our heels is exposed to a challenging range of environmental conditions, from being super cold on frosty mornings, to being stifled in synthetic shoes all day, to having the blood flow limited for hours on end while we sit and play on facebook, and to getting the dregs of nutrients from our blood by the time it gets all the way down there.

So what are your cracked heels telling you?  Firstly, they’re telling you loud and clear that your essential fatty acid balance in your diet is inadequate.  You need to increase your Omega 3 and 6 and 9 intakes through raw nuts, seeds, avocadoes, oily fish and natural cold-pressed vegetable oils.  These same essential fatty acids that support the sub-structure of our skin are also critical for heart health and hormone balance – better to heed the message from your cracked heels now than to be in the ICU after your heart attack or sitting in the oncologist’s office to chat about your breast or prostate cancer problem.

 

When your liver is overloaded with environmental and dietary toxins and struggling to process masses of alcohol, fats and processed foods every day, your body is less able to absorb the essential fatty acids that you do manage to eat.  And you see the result in your cracked heels.  A toxic liver is less able to fulfill its normal function as a part of the body’s healthy immune system.  Your cracked heels are telling you that your immune system is less than optimal and going to be less-than-able to deal with incoming threats.

   

Cracked heels are also telling us that our blood circulation is suboptimal.  The sluggish blood supply to the far-flung regions of the body is causal for cracked heels, but it also contributes to things like blood clots that trigger strokes and kill people.  Far better to be improving your exercise regime because your cracked heels gently suggest it, than to be in a stroke rehab unit one day trying to learn how to feed yourself again. 

OK, so I think you get it.  Cracked heels are a sign of poor diet, poor circulation and a toxic liver.  Dealing with those three things now could make a massive difference to your health in later life.

Meanwhile, is there anything you can do to relieve your cracked heels?  Yes, there are two simple things you can do to help cracked heels while you detox your liver, boost your exercise and change your diet.  Firstly, you can remove the old, dry and cracked skin by soaking your feet and scrubbing away or cutting off the old skin.  Do it often.  This makes it easier for the new and healthier skin underneath to absorb any nourishment you apply.  Which brings us to the second thing you can do: apply a nourishing, soothing natural heel balm at least twice a day.  Make sure it is a beeswax balm and not one which has a petrochemical base.  How will you know?  Read the label!  Why does it matter?  Petroleum bases contain things like glycerin and white mineral oil (both toxic petroleum products) which are actually skin drying agents and will compound the problem over time.  Natural beeswax is an ancient skin conditioner which protects and soothes and aids natural healing. Beeswax enables the skin to regain its natural elasticity.  Use it regularly to prevent cracked heels too.  For best results, apply before bed and sleep in a pair of cotton socks – you’ll be amazed at the difference in the morning. 

So remember to thank your cracked heels.  Listen to what they’re telling you and make the big changes that are needed – in the end, no amount of fabulous natural heel balm will be enough if you’re not nourishing your skin from the inside, promoting good blood flow through exercise and keeping your system as clean as possible so it can absorb those important essential fatty acids that your skin needs for health. 

And if you’re looking for a fabulous natural beeswax foot repair balm?  Well, you know where to find us.  http://arunthainatural.com