Category Archives: Blogs

Free the Feet

RewilderLife Posted on by

 

As a child and teen I never wore shoes, I was known for some tough feet and even had some pretty nasty gashes and wounds due to the habit of wandering in the woods barefoot, riding bikes, playing football or baseball barefoot.  I found every excuse to never stuff my feet into those cumbersome devices called shoes.  Of course as I started working it required shoes. I started to wear dress shoes often as well, depending on the job. My feet slowly lost the ability to be free and do their natural thing.  I never realized how much this contributed to foot, leg, and back problems until I started having major issues with plantar facetious  and my lower back in my late 20’s.  I did PT, I iced them, I changed my diet (which did help) but it wasn’t until a long walk on the beach in beach sand barefoot that I had a break through.  I remember exactly the day.  I was walking lake Michigan with my husband and my feet hurt terrible but I was gritting my teeth and baring the pain because I was determined to enjoy the sun, the beach and the time with him.  10 minutes in I was about in tears, I kept going, 20 minutes in I felt my feet cramp up and not soon after a bit of a release and the pain lessoned.  After that day I had less pain.  I’m not suggesting you go do this, but I’m telling you for me this worked.  I had gone two years having doctors telling me to wear supportive shoes, never be barefoot, etc.. and now I find the very thing I was told not to do helped me. I started returning to bare feet, slowly.  It took time for my feet to gain back the strength, the stamina, the flexibility they once had. It is now rare to find me in shoes unless I am working with objects that require safety or am in a store.  I own a pair of moccasins, tennis shoes, cowboy boots and work boots all of which serve a purpose, but I rarely wear any of them.

My discovery came long before the new fascination with earthing and barefoot walking, it was just by happenstance.  My next pair of shoes may well be a pair of socks with some rubber on them or some minimalist shoes (no suggestions yet, I will keep you posted).  I’d be really happy if I could find a pair of moccasins that didn’t leave me flat on all fours in the winter. The one with leather soles are slippery!

So before I was focused on rewilding myself I was also learning how my body  reacts to  certain changes and stimulus.  But now we know and have studies showing the benefit to earthing and being barefoot. Let us take off our shoes, free our feet and step into some of the why.

But first, what is earthing/grounding and what is the difference between it and being barefoot?

Earthing/grounding is in the simplest terms it is walking barefoot outside with nothing between you and the earth.  It is different than being barefoot because you can be barefoot in your home, on concrete or on your deck.  Each have their own advantages and each come with some risk of injury to your feet.  when you search this topic online you will find devices and gadgets to  purchase, however, I encourage you to just enjoy the great outdoors and all it entails for the overall health and well being.

Did you know you have 26 bones, 33 joints and 100 muscles in each foot?  Crazy and absolutely amazing when you think about the mechanics of it. Your feet support your whole body, when something is off it will cause your body to be out of whack.

 

Balance:

Yes!  It’s amazing for balance. Start stretching, walking, jumping, working out barefoot.

https://www.anklefootmd.com/barefoot-mobility-balance/

Lower Back:

This has been really key to some of my low back issues as has how I sit for some hip pain from an injury and broken tailbone (twice!).

https://www.corestrongkc.com/fix-your-low-back-pain-with-your-feet/#:~:text=Step%201%3A%20Walk%20around%20barefoot,us%20walk%20or%20even%20stand!

Knees:

Thankfully I have not had knee issues long term but this is an interesting study.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16947448/

Inflammation, Sleep, Blood pressure, Wound healing etc..:

Just wow, I really enjoyed this study and reading about the ways being barefoot can help the body heal.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830719305476

 

Of course we need to be sure we start safe and slow. Your feet can get pretty beat up and if you aren’t used to being barefoot it will take time to adjust. Feet are tender and sensitive, they can get infected with cuts, punctures and sores.  So be smart, start slow, maybe start inside your house and on your deck or by standing in or stretching on the grass in your yard. They make shoes that have wide toes and minimal soles so your feet can be in a more natural position if this is a better option for you. We are all different.

It takes time to learn to listen to your body, It means slowing down and taking mental and even physical notes in a notebook. It will take time to develop the skill especially if you have spent years not listening, like I did. But as you do this you will start to be able to tell if you can notice differences or not with the changes you are making.  Slow steady changes are the best so you know what is helpful and worth your effort.

 

Free the Feet!

 

 

*I am not a doctor, consult yours before you make any lifestyle changes. This blog is my journey.

 

Oral Care from the Woods and Garden

RewilderLife Posted on by

 

One of the blessings of chronic illness is it forces you to take care of yourself. It forced me to listen to my body.  Yeah, I know it sounds woo-woo. But, learning to slow down and take notice of the way things effect my body is one way I’ve found solace from chronic debilitating auto immune diseases. Because I learned to listen I figured out that my toothpaste was causing a stomach ache. Which led me to researching the ingredients and that is when I stopped using toothpaste all together for a very long time.  I just couldn’t find one I was happy with that made my teeth feel clean or had ingredients I was willing to use daily.  I also started diving into wild edibles, wild medicinals and growing medicinals in my garden.  I have tweaked this recipe over the years by adding things and removing others.  Today this is my favorite rendition of toothpaste that I feel leaves my teeth, gums and belly feeling clean and happy.

 

Pine, Yarrow and Peppermint Clay toothpaste:

4 Tbs clay

1/2 t or 1 capsule of charcoal

1/2 t Himalayan salt

4 Tbs tallow, preferably grass fed or wild harvested

Brew the liquid for the tea (combine 2 sprigs of yarrow, 6-8 peppermint leaves and handful of pine needles,  and 8 oz of water) You should first crush the leaves and needles to help the oils release then add them to the water to steep for several minutes.

Add 4 Tbs of this tea to the clay, salt, charcoal and tallow then mix until smooth.  You can now add some essential oils or stevia if you wish.  I prefer to add nothing.

This makes about 3 oz.  If it dries out you can add some warm water and stir.  I store it in a jelly jar.

With the remaining liquid from your tea…

Pine, Yarrow, Peppermint and Salt Mouth Wash

Add 2t of your Himalayan salt to your mouth wash. I store this in a jelly jar on the counter.  It does not last long so I do keep it on the counter.  It makes about 7 ounces.

Bentonite Clay:

One of the two controversial ingredients in the recipe.  It is a natural abrasive and can support inflammation which I struggle with due to my health conditions. Some say it can help remineralize teeth others claim it does not.  It does have a small amount of lead in it, but many, many things do.  Link to more info about clay and lead here.

Charcoal:

Now you can use activated charcoal or homemade charcoal from a safe tree source or you can use tablets as I did.  This is not charcoal you start your barbecue with. I think you have all started to see charcoal toothpaste on the market.  I chose this because it can help whiten teeth and is full of minerals.

Himalayan Salt:

Also chosen for its mineral content and ability to balance oral PH assisting in balancing bacteria in the mouth. There are more benefits but I will link to an actual dental clinic who wrote an article about salt rinses for oral health.

Tallow:

Tallow is the second controversial ingredient because it is a saturated fat and it is an animal product. This is a fat taken from deer, cows or sheep.  One reason is my fats are either locally pasture raised and grass fed or wild harvested.  All other fats in my region must be shipped in or are seed oils, which are heavily processed. Personally I avoid seed oils due to their effects on my inflammation.  Tallow is minimally processed to get to my toothbrush. The other reason is for its healing properties.  Tallow has been used on skin issues for eons.  I will link to a Wiki article about the vitamins and properties that make this fat so desirable for skin and oral health.  And the last reason I chose it is because tallow remains soft but not melted even at normal room temperatures.  It is why it was used in traditional pemmican recipes.

Pine needles:

The main reason for this is the vitamin c content which is much higher than lemon. Vitamin C is excellent for oral health.  They have done many studies on this.  It is the reason I also make my mouth wash with it.

Peppermint:

Cool, refreshing, and tastes good!  I mean do I need more excuses to add it?  I don’t but I  found more because thats what I love to do.  Peppermint helps with bad breath.  It isn’t just a myth, its proven!  So again I will add another study on this.  In the study they use the clinical name for bad breath which is, halitosis.

Yarrow:

I chose yarrow because of healing properties that  help with swollen and bleeding gums which you can have even if you have good oral hygiene due to inflammation and autoimmune disease.  Some interesting info on yarrow and other herbs linked from another dental clinic.

 

All of these ingredients can be purchased but I chose to grow and forage for many of them. Anything you put in or on your body can always have side effects or create reactions so it is important to consult your dentist and/or doctor with questions. I am not a doctor, or a dentist, or a herbalist.  This blog is about how I and sometimes my family do life.  We’ve found that the closer we follow a seasonal and local wildcrafted diet, the better we feel.

Links to articles noted above (also linked above)

https://wellnessmama.com/natural-home/lead-in-bentonite-clay/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallow

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2676112/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894100/

https://www.sutherlanddental.com.au/blog/benefits-of-saltwater-rinse-for-oral-health/

https://www.robinafamilydental.com.au/blog/herbs-and-gingival-health-19465.html

I also must add that the links to purchase products are affiliate links.  I have high standards and only use this for products I have personally used.  The two links I will post are for the clay and charcoal.  I have used both of these products for several years.

Redmonds Clay,

https://amzn.to/3CwmAJZ

Activated Charcoal:

https://amzn.to/3C4DbmZ