Saturday, August 26, 2017

How I Finally Healed Dry, Cracking Heels and Feet After Years and Years of Trying

THIS IS NOT AN AD. BUT IF YOU, LIKE ME,  HAVE SUFFERED FROM DRY CRACKED HEELS and feet for decades after trying literally everything under the sun, then you might be interested in how I found a 'cure' quite by accident.

I promise to be mercifully brief.

Beautiful, soft feet were never my strong suit.  Plus I have always been hard on my feet and shoes.  I walk, hike, fly fish and regularly meander around river rocks and silt in sandels and tevas.  The dry, dusty climate in Jackson, Wyoming only added to my problem in summers.

When I was guiding and standing in river water for five or six days at a time,  I would bemoan the condition of my feet and heels----dry, cracking with river silt that wouldn't scrub out for months.  I tried everything to remedy this.  I was too embarrassed to  go for a pedicure which was terribly painful anyway.

If I was invited to a party in Jackson after days of guiding in rocky streams and moving about on dusty trails,  I had a routine I would go through to make my feet somewhat acceptable to enter polite society:  after showering,  I got a large bucket, a big scrub brush and a bottle of full-strength Clorox     and then would soak and scrub my feet and heels in a solution of water and bleach as best I could.   Then I would dry them well, put lots of lanolin and lotion on and sometime paint my toenails (which would only last a day with my lifestyle.)  I was ready for a party!

It was a temporary fix but it's the only thing I could think to do.  I also bought and tried all sorts of gear to work on my tough skin.  Nothing really worked for long and often made it worse.

When I would get back to Tennessee after months in Wyoming,  I would do endless google and other searches for answers......I tried everything.

Then last year by complete accident,  it happened:  I found a 'cure.'    For reasons not related to the problem I had with my feet,  I decided to stop eating eggs----I was eating between 5-10 eggs per week.  Within two weeks, I noticed that my feet and heels looked better, younger.  I thought it was just my imagination but continued on my egg fast.  Within two  months, my feet were totally rejuvenated.

I will never know why eggs caused my cracked, dry heel problems.  Sulfer?  Who knows and everyone's biochemistry is different? What I do know is that my tootsies now look and feel normal and healthy.

Yesterday,  I treated myself to  a pedicure and foot massage (without any polish on my toes) with Ann at Bellevue Nails and she made my feet---fresh back from the wilds of Wyoming but in good condition for once----feel like royalty.   I am grateful and thrilled about this.  And yes,  I still eat an occasional egg or omelette with emphasis on occasional.  In between once a month pedicures,  I use an inexpensive pumice stick, a rich lotion and Vaseline at night (sometimes with socks)  on my precious, now dainty as a baby's bottom feet and heels and feel like a million. The Lord works in mysterious ways. 

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