My new series of posts will be on hacks for common foot and shoe problems.  These are problems that I see on a daily basis and I get asked about all the time.  I will be discussing the problems and easy ways to help fix them.  Of course these hacks are not an alternative to seeing your doctor.  If you believe that you have a serious medical condition please see your local foot specialist. 


Dry, Cracked Feet

We are definitely hard on our feet.  Whether they are exposed to the elements like cold weather, running on them for miles or stuffing them into tight stilettos.  It is not a surprise that dry, cracked skin is a common complaint.  Dry skin on the feet can be unsightly and embarrassing.  It can also become itchy, burning, painful and may even lead to deep cracks in your skin called fissures.   

Dry skin on the feet and toes, just like anywhere else on the body, can occur because of a number of reasons.  As stated above, dry and cold weather, certain medications, harsh ingredients in soaps and detergents may strip away the protective covering in our skin.  You may even get red, scaly patches. 

If you have tried moisturizing but it did not help you may have a bigger issue or medical condition.  Some medical conditions may include psoriasis, eczema, diabetes or athlete's foot.  I have seen many patients that thought they had dry skin when they actually athlete's foot and were treating it the wrong way.  Athlete's foot can cause dry, scaly looking skin as well as redness, irritation and even blisters.  Be careful before treating dry skin and if you are concerned definitely contact a podiatrist for an evaluation. 

Hacks for Dry Feet

Step 1: Exfoliate
Dr. Suz Heals likes to use all natural ingredients that you may find at home whenever possible.  Here is a great recipe for at home foot exfoliation!

1. Combine equal parts olive oil and brown sugar to make a thick exfoliating scrub.
2. Use your hands to rub the mixture all over your clean feet, focusing on your heels and any other places that are extra dry.
3. Massage your feet with the scrub vigorously for 10 minutes
4. Rinse the mixture off completely with cool water.
5. Pat your feet dry with a clean towel.  Voila!

Step 2: Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!
For a deep skin moisturizer I combine coconut oil and shea butter.  Coconut oil should definitely be in your pantry.  It has many wonderful uses in cooking, skin care, weight loss, disease,infection prevention and more! 

What you will need:
3/4 cup of Coconut Oil (find best quality coconut oil here)
1/2 cup of Shea Butter (find organic Shea Butter here)
15 Drops of Lavender Essential Oil or combination lavender and tea tree oil for fungus (find essential oil here)

1. Combine the coconut oil and shea butter in a sauce pan and place on low heat.
2. When melted, remove from heat and stir in the essential oil.
3. Store in a jar with a lid.  Make sure to store somewhere cool in order to use when solid. 

Massage moisturizer into feet, focusing on dry, cracked areas. Depending on how dry your feet, you may need to do this daily or every other day to start.  Once your skin is healthier you can use this hack whenever your feet need a little extra TLC

Step 3: Cover Your Feet

Using a good foot cover is essential to help lock in healing moisture.  Make sure to protect your feet with a comfortable covering.  Many people will use socks which will cause the moisturizer to rub off and will do little to help with absorption. 

I have had some patients tell me they tried using plastic wrap and then putting socks on, which seems like a good idea until they start tripping and falling all over the place!  Use a non-slip sock or foot cover like the one from Earth Therapeutics Moisturizing Foot Socks.  


Cheers to Your Health!

I recently posted a 30 Day Feel Better Challenge on Instagram.  For full descriptions feel free to check out all of the posts.   I have listed below each day's challenges so you may add these to your daily routines in order to improve your life and feel better!  I separated them per day in order not to overwhelm you with too many changes at once.

Check out the full descriptions of each challenge and pictures on my Instagram Follow @DrSuzHeals.  Cheers to your health!

Day 1: Create a Morning Routine-I am challenging you to wake up 15 minutes earlier than usual.  Use this time to start moving! After waking up grab a glass of room temperature water and add lemon. 

Day 2: Add 1-2 Servings of green vegetables to two of your daily meals.

Day 3: Sleep better by getting 7-8 hours of sleep

Day 4: Send an e-mail to someone expressing how you feel.

Day 5: Get Nuts!

Day 6: Drink two glasses of water upon waking in the morning.

Day 7: Blenderize a meal.  This is a great way to get all of your essential micro and macro nutrients.

Day 8: Smile and say hello to strangers.  Try looking up from your cell phone once in awhile to say hello!

Day 9: Strengthen your core with this one brilliant exercise!

Day 10: Treat your feet right.  Most people tend to ignore their feet and ankles for most or all of their lives until there is a problem. 

Day 11: Eat more homemade meals. 

Day 12: Compliment someone.  It will make that person feel great as well as yourself.

Day 13: Prepare your meals ahead of time on days when you have more time like the weekend.

Day 14:  Floss your teeth to avoid dangerous gum disease.

Day 15:  Take 30 seconds before beginning a task to plan what your goal is.  Sometimes taking a step back instead of jumping right in, could help prevent wasting your precious time.

Day 16: Consume Antioxidants to prevent oxidative stress to your cells.  (Make sure to check out this list of antioxidants on Instagram!)

Day 17: If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten."-Tony Robbins

Day 18:  Take the stairs.  When given a choice to take the stairs or elevator, take the stairs!  When parking somewhere try to park further away from entrances rather than right up front.

Day 19:  Work hard and don't forget to play harder.

Day 20: Read ingredient labels on packaging.

Day 21:  Never give up, no matter what.

Day 22:  Get your Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is essential for strong bones as well as the health of almost every organ system in your body as well as helping to prevent upper respiratory infections and depression.

Day 23:  Decrease the amount of time that you are sitting at your desk

Day 24:  Set exercise goals.  Think about the gains of exercising and NOT the losses to help motivate yourself.

Day 25:  Knock your socks off!  Your feet can tell a lot about your health.  Take your socks off and have a look.  Disease such as diabetes, peripheral vascular disease and arthritis can be detected by a foot examination.

Day 26:  Write down your goals.

Day 27:  Eat seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Day 28:  Have a positive body image.  Every body is beautiful.

Day 29:  Eat at least one super healthy meal per day.  An example would be a mixed green salad and a few slices of organic turkey for lunch.

Day 30:  Live, love and Enjoy Life! 

I hope you have a great time incorporating these challenges into your life.  For more information check out my Instagram @DrSuzHeals. 

By Yaniv (Coach Goonda) Keter

One day your life will flash in front of your eyes, let's make sure it was a nice journey!

As you look back on your life, I guarantee that you can remember your first kiss, your first day of school, and when you fell in love for the first time.  Life goes so fast.  You never know what will happen in the next minute. 

The same could be said for running. You start running and feel great!  You may eventually feel tired, but while your legs keep moving you will find yourself paying attention to the world around you.  You might notice the birds  in the park, the melody in your ears or the trees blossoming.  Your heart rate is high but your mind becomes focused.  

I believe that if you love someone or something so much that love will never truly die.  Your love dies because you stop trying.  You take for granted and stop putting effort into your relationships or work.  For me, it is the same as with running.  If you keep working towards your goals and stay focused, you will be able to achieve things you once thought were impossible. 

Don't be afraid to fail, be afraid of not trying.  Many life lessons can be used when starting to run.  Remember this; no matter how slow you go, you are still faster than those who are still sitting on the couch.

Running is good for your life!


Week #3 Workout #3

3 Minutes-Easy Run (5.0-5.5 mph)
2 Minutes-Walk
Repeat 5 Times
Total: 25 minutes
Perform 3x/1 week

See you next week!
#CoachGoonda

 
Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae that contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that protect from cell damage.  Spirulina is a great example of a superfood because it contains micronutrients and macronutrients like protein.   It has all eight essential amino acids.  Many people use spirulina in a powder or pill form.  Spirulina can be taken on a daily basis.  I enjoy spirulina in a powdered form.  It quickly gets right into the blood stream and provides energy building compounds.  I add it to smoothies as well as other vegan recipes (these will be listed in an upcoming post).

Spirulina contains micronutrients like B complex vitamins, vitamin E, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, selenium, beta-carotene and essential fatty acids.  It is one of the only plant sources of vitamin B12 which is amazing for vegans and vegetarians. 

One of the more commonly studied and talked about components of spirulina is phycocyanobilin, which makes up about 1% of spirulina. This compound mimics the body’s bilirubin compound (kidney health), in order to inhibit a specific enzyme complex oxidase.  By inhibiting this complex oxidase, spirulina ultimately provides strong anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects in the body protecting several organ functioning like the liver, kidney, heart and brain. 
 
Laboratory and animal Studies have shown that Spirulina may help strengthen the immune system, protect against allergic reactions, and have antiviral and anticancer properties.  More research is needed, however, to determine the exact benefits in humans.  This superfood blue-green algae can contain heavy metals and toxins from the water because it absorbs from its surroundings.  If you do buy this superfood compound, make sure it is a highly trusted brand like Garden of Life's Perfect Food Green Powder or Garden of Life's Perfect Food Green Caplets.

Let us take a look at some recent evidence based research studies.  As always, I will help break them down for you. 

A study by Serban MC, et al. from 2015 in Clinical Nutrition explored the benefits of supplementing with spirulina to help reduce cholesterol.  In fact, the study did conclude that supplementation with Spirulina did provide a significant reduction of plasma concentrations of total cholesterol, LDL-C (bad cholesterol), triglycerides and elevating those of HDL-C (good cholesterol). 

A study, performed by Pan R, et al. published in 2015 in the International Journal of Biology and Marcromolecules, was designed to determine the effects of phycocyanin (PC) on Human ovarian cancer SKOV-3 cells.  This study indicated that phycocyanin has an effect on tumor cell apoptosis (cell death) and provided the scientists with more information about the pathways and mechanisms on which it acts. 

Spirulina may also have anti-toxic properties as shown in a recent study from the October 2015 issue of Pharmaceutical Biology by Martinez-Galero E. et al.  They concluded that spirulina could be a useful co-agent  in clinical practice to help counteract toxic pollutant effects such as arsenic, lead or cadmium. Because of these potential anti-toxic properties, spirulina is commonly used in detox diets. 

By Goonda Yaniv Keter

Running is one of the last great equalizers between people.  Let me tell you a quick personal story.  10 years ago I worked as a dishwasher in a bar.  I would look at the wealthy customers that used to come in and besides talking to them about what they wanted to eat or drink, I felt as though we really had nothing in common. 

One day I went for a run and I passed this guy that looked familiar.  He was one of the patrons I would see in the bar.   We looked at each other and then it hit me!  Running is one of the last places that you can still find equal rights and opportunities for everyone.  Once you put your running shoes on and get out there you are just like everybody else regardless of whether you are a dishwasher or a CEO.  

Running allows everyone to feel alive no matter what you do in life or how much money you have, no matter how smart you are or your color of skin.   The person next to you on the track might run faster or slower than you but you both have a similar goal in mind, running!   This is the beauty of running, you can work for him today but he can lend you a helping hand or a water bottle tomorrow.  

Coach Goonda's Workout #2

Walk Fast 5 minutes
Run 2 minutes, Walk 2 minutes repeat 6 times
Easy Walk 5 Minutes to Cool Down


Do you have a good song to run with?  I will be more than happy to learn about it!  Please leave it in a comment :)  -Coach Goonda