Apple Cider Vinegar Soak
| 5 star (1) | 50% | |
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★★★★★
I was finding that drinking apple cider vinegar lowered my blood sugar levels drastically at times, making me feel faint, but have not had any side effects from soaking thus far. The blood sugar reaction from ACV is a new thing. I had been drinking it regularly for many years before that without any problems.
I am using the organic brand of acv right now, even though you can buy a gallon of regular grocery store acv for the same price. I am thinking about ordering organic acv in bulk, since it takes up almost half a bottle of organic acv to fill the small dish with enough liquid to cover my toes. I must admit, right now I am re-using the acv a few times, otherwise it just isn't cost effective. But yes, I wash my feet before soaking them!
Sorry to say that I have had cracked heels for 11 years now (coincides with when I started training at the dojo). Only recently did it move into toenail fungus. Getting rid of it once and for all is long-overdue. Bad idea to have a fungal infection lingering on for years and years. I am determined to keep this up for months if necessary.
To Deirdre Re cracked heels. I have had great success with the following -
Before you put your feet in any liquids use an emery board to remove any dry flaky skin. Your feet MUST be dry for this. Wet skin will only move with the emery board not fall away. The type of emery board is important. Here we use the black style. The types for nails that come in different colors i.e. pink blue etc. The reason you don't want to use the metal ones or the one designed specifically for the feet that are like cheese graters is that they are too hard and pull too much skin at once from what is already a very dry area. Think of how they would leave the cheese looking. I always recommend that this can be done while watching the telly or listening to the radio cos you can't damage yourself with these as you can with the metal type. Try to get the hard bit on the edge of the cracks without making yourself sore. You will be very surprised at the amount of dust that you will see coming away from your skin but this is normal. The brown old fashioned emery boards are too gentle and the black ones are perfect. When the dust stops flying move to the next part. If you are getting sore at all you have done enough for the day. More will come off tomorrow.
Rinse that dust off your feet as while it is blocking your pores you will absorb nothing transdermally. And it should only be dust, if you see larger bits of skin the emery board is too strong for you. At this stage you can soak your feet in any liquid of your choice i.e. anti-fungal, vinegar, peroxide or oils or salts for as long as suits you. Doing this with a couple of sports clubs some of the men chose to do it with plain old washing up liquid (detergent). So it is a case of whatever suits you. Use antiseptics or peroxide if there is any chance of an infection or dirt being caught in the cracks as it may close over the dirt and cause a diferent problem.
Then this is most important. Pack the cracks with some kind of thick oil. Our choice at the time we did this was vaseline but some would not choose this because of the petrolatum issue. Whatever you use press it over the crack to ensure that it has gone in the full depth. These cracks cannot heal while they are dry. If you had an operation on your stomach and the skin dried out to the same extent it would not heal either. We usually put large medical issue bandages over them to keep the vaseline on the feet.This won't suit everyone so a cotton pair of socks will do. The people we did this with all had to walk home so bandages were needed to keep the vaeline well packed. Wash next day as normal and leave bandage off. You want your feet fairly dry to repeat the process the next evening.
Remember it will be easy to slip on the floor until this is washed off. Do the same the next evening and continue til necessary tapering the amount of times done as they heal.
This worked within 3 days for some and some took approx 2 weeks. But it makes sense that the hard skin needs to go and the skin to be wet for the cracks to knit together.
As for the fungal infection. Many people will only treat the area that they can see the infection on. The human eye cannot see all of a fungal infection so if it spreading nor can they see it when it is at the last stages of treatment so it is very important to treat outside the area and for a lot longer that you can see it or feel it. My husband picks up an athletes foot while he is travelling for business on a regular basis. He never feels it but we can see it between his toes. We only know he has it when I catch it because I get the itching and burning long before I can see it. We use a providone iodine antiseptic wash which is normally used for pre-operation swabs in a footbath then antifungal medicated creams. Because he gets the moccassin type we bathe and cream his feet up to the ankles. I only get the moccassin type around the toe area so I only need to cover the shoe area. This is a long winded way of telling you how to do it but it actually doesn't take long perform it. The longest part of it is how long you choose to soak you feet and it is our tried and tested method.
EC: Tricia - Wow, thank you so much for these detailed instructions! Much appreciated. I will start immediately.
P.S. Your feedback has been cross-posted to the cracked heels page.
One thing that I forgot to say in my previous post is to mark your nail file in some manner i.e. nail polish. Make it obvious so that you never use it on your finger nails or that somebody else might use it inappropriately. If you are carrying an infection of any kind (and most people do) it will be transferred to the fingers. The nail file can be cleaned with peroxide or rubbing alcohol but the dust is so minute and nail files are not easy to fully clean without a steriliser. So make sure it is kept for YOUR feet. As we say in Ireland "to be sure, to be sure".
(Earth Clinic)
10/07/2009
Not all apple cider vinegars are made alike.
Okay, yeah, I win this week's "ultimate dork" award. I have been faithfully following Tricia's remedy for cracked heels for days now. Yesterday, a dark and gloomy day in Atlanta, I proceeded with Tricia's remedy as usual and used a fine nail file on the cracked area of my feet and heels. Then it came to soaking them, and this is where I changed my protocol and decided to use cheap apple cider vinegar from Heinz that I bought at the store ages ago. Usually I use the organic, raw, decidedly more expensive ACV to soak my feet, but not this time. Heh heh. I filled up my casserole dish with 1 inch of apple cider vinegar (room temperature & undiluted) and then started soaking my feet as I worked at the computer. I lost track of time. Some time passed, maybe a lot of time. I came out of my Earth Clinic computer fog enough to register that my feet were FREEZING and that an hour and a half had passed. A trace longer than the half hour that I usually soaked. My feet did look pickled and prune-faced, but that didn't worry me. I went and rinsed off the apple cider vinegar. Heh heh. Then I sat down to apply the moisturizer, just as Tricia recommended, and that's when I saw my new feet. By new, I mean discolored, burned, orange-tinged feet with a dark line running across the bottom half of my ankle, showing where the apple cider vinegar stopped and the air began. They looked so ridiculous, the feet of a clown: half orange, half pasty white.
Confidentally, I was certain the new color scheme would fade within the hour. But they didn't. Or they haven't I should say. Time has passed, almost 24 hours, and my clown feet have not returned to their original color. Wish me luck.
(Thousand Oaks, Ca, USA)
10/07/2009
You had me laughing out loud... Clown Feet! I can only imagine. And yes there is a difference in quality of ACV. When I first started trying ACV after coming to this site, I used Heinz since it was in my pantry and I was anxious to get started with ACV. It took me about 5 days to finally get to the health food store to get _____s- the one with the mother as they say. Without a second thought, I took a tablespoon of it as soon as I got home which was the night- about 8 pm. After going to bed I awoke about 3am with raging detox symptoms- sweating, chills, body aches which were excruciating and basically feeling sick. I rolled over and said to my husband that I felt really sick and he said," Don't you remember you took the ACV when you got home?" Never had anything with the Heinz. Big difference...
(Anon)
10/11/2017
You may wish to buy new shoes and socks, or treat the shoes and socks for fungus to prevent recurrence.
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
★★★★★
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
I've been able to use way less vinegar by putting my feet into the gallon size zip lock plastic bags, putting the bagged feet into a rectangular dishpan from the $1 store, in case the bags leak or spill vinegar.
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
(Sea, Wa)
06/04/2011
the best way to get it down is to plug your nose and use a straw positioned farther back in your mouth and then after you're done lick a spoon dipped in a small amount of honey.
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
If you are having trouble getting the honey to mix with the ACV try this. I talked to the B__gg people and they said it is fine to do this. I mix 1 c. ACV and 1/2 c. Honey together and put into an empty ACV bottle. Then when I am ready to drink it I take out 1 Tablespoon full and mix in 8 oz. water and drink. I don't mix up any more than that because the B__gg folks said to not keep it over a week like that. Works great for me and saves a lot of time.
Thanks,
Carolyn
EC: Thanks for finding that out and sharing it with us!
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
Thanks
Harold
EC: Many grocery stores are now selling organic apple cider vinegar. We've seen it stocked at Publix and Kroger in their "healthy eating" section.
(Dubois, Pa)
09/30/2009
Grocery store ACV (acetic acid) starts out as "glacial" acetic acid...that is, water-free acetic acid, which has a pH of 2.4. They then take that glacial acetic acid and water it down to a pH of 5 to get a standardized solution of acetic acid that they label "vinegar"...in other words they "reduce" the acidity to 5 percent. That is what they mean by "reduced to 5 percent". I don't' know if what they call organic vinegar is also just diluted glacial acetic acid, so I'll find out by reading the label the next time I go to the store. Personally, organic vinegar is so much more expensive than regular vinegar that it is not worth the price. Plus, it is very easy to make your own organic vinegar at home. Buy a gallon of organic apple cider. Remove the lid, and cover the top with several thicknesses of cheesecloth, secured with a rubber band (to keep the fruit flys out). Stir the cider around to introduce air into it and in a few weeks, it will naturally turn to vinegar. Put the cap on and shake the cider every day to make sure that air is getting into it (acetobacteria are an aerobic species and need oxygen to do their work). You can also innoculate your cider with a small amount of vinegar (organic or regular) to get the fermentation going. Given time and oxygen, cider or wine will turn to vinegar.
p.s. and in case you haven't noticed, regular old grocery store vinegar will also develop a mother culture over time, so there is nothing special about organic vinegar except the price.
(Hailey, Id)
09/30/2009
Thank you for this recipe! I have always wondered how to do this!
(Dubois, Pa)
09/30/2009
Oh, no problem, Tanya. But be aware that the fermentation will draw fruit flys. And btw, the vinegar is ready when the cider smells and tastes like vinegar...let your nose and tastebuds be your guide. Also, homemade vinegar can vary in acidity and sometimes have a pH of above (meaning more alkaline than) 5, which is why it shouldn't be used for water-bath canning of pickles, relishes, etc. In other words, home made vinegar may not be acidic enough to deter botulism in water-bath processed home-canned goods.
(Anon)
10/11/2017
What IS special about expensive "organic" ACV is its lack of pesticides. Apples are one of the most heavily pesticides crops. If "regular" store vinegar were "organic" it would be declared boldly on the label because "organic" is a selling point that allows them to demand a higher price for it. "Regular" vinegar is neither "organic" nor equal to organic ACV.
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
(Salyersville, Ky, USA)
09/13/2009
I was having a terrible time trying to take ACV and then I followed a post that ted responded to and he said o mix 1 teaspoon ACV and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in a cup and then wait for it to stop fizzing and then add 1/2 a cup of water. I was so excited because you could not taste or smell the ACV. I am 39, female, with lupus and fibromyalgia.
(Lethbridge, Alberta)
03/03/2016
Mixing with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) would neutralize all the acids (acetic, malic, ascorbic, etc.) that are in apple cider vinegar defeating the purpose of taking it!
(Fountain Inn, Sc)
03/03/2016
To Eric:
Are you certain about the neutralizing effect of Baking Soda? I've read about that a few years ago and the effect was to change the nature of the acid to a different form of acid but the effect was not to completely defeat the acid. Ted, I believe, has written on this very issue.
Apple Cider Vinegar Tips
(Toronto, Canada)
06/23/2008
I would suggest rinsing the mouth with water and not brushing for 2 hours so the tooth enamel can harden again.
Apple Cider Vinegar With the Mother
(Houston, Tx)
02/12/2012
Best kind of organic Apple Cider Vinegar is B______(there is a book available for it with the zillion of reasons why you should drink acv) and So____. Don't bother with Heinz - you want the organic acv. You want it slightly cloudy and with some residue at the bottom. I am currently looking for research regarding Apple Cider Vinegar and cancer. I would presume that taking Apple Cider Vinegar would be a good choice because it would neutralize the effects of sugar on the body.
Apple Cider Vinegar With the Mother
EC: Hi Karen,
Your question about "the mother" has been asked on the site several times over the years. Here's one answer from Ted that we just found via our search box: https://www.earthclinic.com/remedies/acvinegar_questions.html#Question_1722
